July 26th, 20

JULY 26,   NEED A CONFIDENCE BOOST?

Today’s readings are Isaiah 50 – 52, Psalm 92, and II Peter 1.  We are reading from the New Living Translation.

Peter’s experience on the Mount of Transfiguration filled him with confidence.  He recalls the experience in II Peter 1:19 when he says:  

Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets.

His confidence-building experience was hearing the voice of God.  God’s voice was proclaiming His love for His Son.   God’s voice broke out and said,

This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!  (Mt 17:5 NLT)

God the Father is proclaiming his love for his Son.  The Father’s Word rested, not only on Jesus, bracing him for the journey ahead, but it did the same for Peter, too. And here in I Peter we see Peter still drawing confidence and comfort in this Word – this declaration of God’s love for his son.  

Peter is drawing confidence and comfort from this experience because he has come to realize that God has sent his Son.  In John 17 Jesus says,

I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

The love of the Father for his Son, on the Mount of Transfiguration, was being revealed to the heart of Peter.  Through that experience Peter knew that that same love resided in Him, through Christ.  It was this knowledge and experience of God’s love that gave him confidence to move forward, regardless of the circumstances.  

Have you experienced the love of the Father?  Knowing and experiencing His love transforms us from the inside out.  It gives us the confidence, comfort, and courage, to move forward in this life – to be all that God has called us to be.  We can take every step with Him, knowing that we are loved.  

Allow this experience to be yours, as you listen to God’s word – the word of the Father.  It’s the same Word of love that He proclaimed over His beloved Son, on the mountain.  Jesus, through His life, death, and resurrection,  proclaims that Word of love over you.  You are loved.  Know this transforming, confidence-building, comfort-offering power, found only in Him.

You are loved!