Living as Children of Light: Following Christ’s Call

May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation,
The righteous character produced in your life by Christ Jesus,
For this will bring much glory and praise to God.
Philippians 1:11 NLT

For the third time Jesus said to Peter, “Feed My sheep. I tell you the truth, Peter, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”  Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then He said to him, “Follow me!” John 21:17-19.

“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door of your heart and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with Me. To those who overcome, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne,” Revelation 3:19-21.

“Peter, I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for My sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first,” Matthew 19:28-30.

“As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you, Peter. Now remain in My love. If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete,” John 15:9-11.

“Peter, because you trust in Me, God will fill you with all joy and peace so that you will overflow with hope by the power of the Spirit of Truth,” Romans 15:13. And this is My command: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that they lay down their life for their friends. You are My friend if you do what I command,” John 15:10-15.

“Peter, I call you friend, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. This is My command: Love each other,” John 15:15-17.

“But if you don’t go all the way with Me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve Me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to Me, you’ll find both yourself and Me.”

“We are intimately linked in this harvest work. Anyone who accepts what you do, accepts Me, the One Who sent you. Anyone who accepts what I do accepts My Father, Who sent Me. Accepting a messenger of God is as good as being God’s messenger. Accepting someone’s help is as good as giving someone help.”

This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won’t lose out on a thing,” Matthew 10:38-42 Message.

“Peter, if the world hates you, keep in mind it hated Me first. As it is, you do not belong to the world, for I have chosen you out of the world. This is why the world will hate you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also. You will be treated this way because of My name, for they do not know the One Who sent Me,” John 15:18-22.

“They would not be guilty of sin if I had not come and spoken to them. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. Those who hate Me hate My Father as well. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason,” John 15:22-25.

“Peter, I will send to you the Counselor from the Father. When the Spirit of Truth goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me. You also must testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning.”

“All of this I have told you so that you will not go astray. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills My disciples will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or Me,” John 15:26-27,16:1-2.

“Now I am going to Him Who sent Me. And I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.”

“In regard to sin, because people do not believe in Me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see Me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned,” John 16:5-11.

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own. He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. And this is to My Father’s glory: That you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples,” John 16:12-15,15:8.

You will develop spiritual strength and moral excellence, as the fruit of Holy Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control grows. For against such things there is no law that can bring a charge (Galatians 5:22 AMP).

Yes, Peter lived as a child of Light and sought what pleases the Lord. And this is what heaven’s Light produced within him – goodness, righteousness, and truth (Ephesians 5:8-10). Peter did what the Lord asked of him – Feed My sheep – so they would be established in the Truth.

He wrote: I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me (2 Peter 1:13-14). Since Christ suffered in the flesh for us, for you, arm yourself also with the same thought and purpose. For whoever has suffered in the flesh, having the mind of Christ is done with intentional sin. They no longer spend their natural life living by human appetites and desires; instead, they live for what God wills (1 Peter 4:1-2).

“I have told you these things,
So that in Me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart!
I have overcome the world!
John 16:33