Day 2

Be Still:  Dear Father, we thank you for Your words about the Word.  Please be with us as we read words which can sometimes be difficult to read.  In Jesus’ name, through the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen

Be Strengthened:  Matthew 16:21-27

²¹From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

²²Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"

²³Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. ²⁶What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.”

Be Stretched:  Do you have in mind the things of God, or of men?  Jesus has difficult words for His disciples, including us.  Ask Him to help you put aside anything that keeps you from following Him.  Ponder what it means to take up your cross.  Be thankful that what we cannot do for ourselves, Jesus completed on Calvary, giving of Himself in exchange for our souls.