Reading: Wow, it is amazing how these verses give us a practical game plan on how to live for the Lord and how to submit to his authority. Peter lets us know that if we truly want to see God’s kingdom around us, then the first steps are to control our tongues and seek God’s face. Our tongues are swords that can be used for good or evil. Encountering God and acceptance into seeing the face of God is seeing pure holiness and rest in him. 

For many, we are guilty of pursuing the things of the world in what we watch and listen to. When we do this, we inevitably end up losing control of our tongues and we always end up hurting our relationship with Lord. In this scripture, we are told to seek the Lord and pursue him. By doing so, the Lord will hear our prayers and turn his face to us. If you feel like the Lord is not with you, let us ask you – what are you pursuing? What are you looking at on your phone? Where are you spending your time, and with whom are you spending the majority of your time?

As baseball players, we all go through slumps. It doesn’t matter how long we have been playing the game or how good we are. For some reason or another, sometimes we feel like no matter what we do we can’t get a hit. Coaches will tell you during these times that you need to go back to the basics. Maybe that is shortening-up your swing or spending more time in the cage, or maybe a little tee work. The reason for this approach is for you to do again what got you to where you are. When we are in a slump in our relationship with Lord, it is because we aren’t seeking him, and we aren’t praising him for the God that he is. If you are in slump, seek him and lift him up for saving you. 

That’s the basics of a relationship with God!

Reflection: What are specific things that you could stop doing (or listening to) and specific things you could start doing to seek God?

Prayer Prompt: Father, please help me not to forget who you are and what you have done for me. If I do lose my way, please draw me back quickly.