#mark 16:7

“But go, tell His disciples and Peter, “He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there just as He told you.” —Mark 16:7

“When You Messed Up (Praying Through Failure)” By Elevation Church:

“When we first see Peter in the gospels, he is overzealous and filled with fire. Always quick to speak and tell Jesus what he would never do. But after his denial and betrayal on Good Friday, Peter’s fire was replaced with fear and his charisma was replaced with shame.

When faced with his failure, Peter abandoned his calling and went back to what was familiar — fishing. But Peter couldn’t even catch a break there. He fished all night and caught nothing.

That is, until Jesus showed up on the shore. In one of the most beautiful full-circle moments in the Bible, Jesus meets Peter in his frustration and tells him to cast his nets again — just like He had told him to do three years before (Luke 5:1-11). It wasn’t until Peter caught a load of fish too big to carry that he realized the man on the shore was Jesus.

Once Peter recognized Him, he immediately swam to shore, where he found Jesus standing by a charcoal fire. The four gospels mention a charcoal fire like this only one other time — when Peter denied knowing the Lord on the night of His arrest. As the smoke from the fire filled Peter’s nose, shame and guilt must have filled him as the memories came rushing back to him.

But Jesus didn’t build that fire to punish Peter. He wanted to set Peter free — to give him a new memory. No longer would the smell of smoke remind Peter of the time he blew it, but instead that memory would be replaced with how Jesus’ grace covered it all. Jesus brought him back to the point of his greatest failure so he could experience the deepest grace.

On the other side of Peter’s failure was an assignment, which is why God singled him out by name to the women at the tomb — He wanted Peter to know in spite of his denial, He had not deserted him.

God never changed His mind about Peter, and He won’t change His mind about you either.

Your story doesn’t end in failure. God has grace for you today and an assignment for you tomorrow. Jesus didn’t conquer sin just so you could go to heaven one day — He wants you to experience freedom, hope, and grace today. Your shame has been buried. New life begins now. Resurrection power is here.

Father, I praise You because of the new beginning You continually offer me. May the failures I’ve experienced be the starting point of Your grace. Today, I trade my frustration for surrender and I ask You to open my eyes to the assignment You’ve prepared for me. When lies whisper to me, remind me of Your truth — because You conquered death and sin, I don’t have to live in shame! What a gift. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

[Welcome Resurrection Devotional Day 6 of 7: https://bible.com/reading-plans/30678/day/6?segment=0]

“But go, tell His disciples and Peter, “He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there just as He told you.” —Mark 16:7

“When You Messed Up (Praying Through Failure)” By Elevation Church:

“When we first see Peter in the gospels, he is overzealous and filled with fire. Always quick to speak and tell Jesus what he would never do. But after his denial and betrayal on Good Friday, Peter’s fire was replaced with fear and his charisma was replaced with shame.

When faced with his failure, Peter abandoned his calling and went back to what was familiar — fishing. But Peter couldn’t even catch a break there. He fished all night and caught nothing.

That is, until Jesus showed up on the shore. In one of the most beautiful full-circle moments in the Bible, Jesus meets Peter in his frustration and tells him to cast his nets again — just like He had told him to do three years before (Luke 5:1-11). It wasn’t until Peter caught a load of fish too big to carry that he realized the man on the shore was Jesus.

Once Peter recognized Him, he immediately swam to shore, where he found Jesus standing by a charcoal fire. The four gospels mention a charcoal fire like this only one other time — when Peter denied knowing the Lord on the night of His arrest. As the smoke from the fire filled Peter’s nose, shame and guilt must have filled him as the memories came rushing back to him.

But Jesus didn’t build that fire to punish Peter. He wanted to set Peter free — to give him a new memory. No longer would the smell of smoke remind Peter of the time he blew it, but instead that memory would be replaced with how Jesus’ grace covered it all. Jesus brought him back to the point of his greatest failure so he could experience the deepest grace.

On the other side of Peter’s failure was an assignment, which is why God singled him out by name to the women at the tomb — He wanted Peter to know in spite of his denial, He had not deserted him.

God never changed His mind about Peter, and He won’t change His mind about you either.

Your story doesn’t end in failure. God has grace for you today and an assignment for you tomorrow. Jesus didn’t conquer sin just so you could go to heaven one day — He wants you to experience freedom, hope, and grace today. Your shame has been buried. New life begins now. Resurrection power is here.

Father, I praise You because of the new beginning You continually offer me. May the failures I’ve experienced be the starting point of Your grace. Today, I trade my frustration for surrender and I ask You to open my eyes to the assignment You’ve prepared for me. When lies whisper to me, remind me of Your truth — because You conquered death and sin, I don’t have to live in shame! What a gift. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

[Welcome Resurrection Devotional Day 6 of 7]

by Charles Bradley

"But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee." - Mark 16:7

Who was Peter that he should be thus singled out from among the disciples? By what was he distinguished from the other ten that he should be thus honored? We know that at the period when he received this message he was distinguished from them by a preeminence -- a preeminence not in merit but in guilt. Just two days before, he had denied his Master when his Master was about to die for him. "All the disciples forsook him and fled," but Peter went further and added the guilt of falsehood, curses, and oaths to the baseness of desertion. His sin was of the first magnitude, of a crimson dye. It had too this peculiar aggravation, that it brought a scandal on the church when the church seemed least able to bear it. The Shepherd was smitten, the sheep were scattered; and this was the season in which Peter dishonored his Lord and denied his connection with his persecuted followers.

This then was the man to whom the risen Jesus specially directed his angel to send this joyful message. Had the faithful John, who adhered to him in his sufferings and stood by his cross, been thus singled out, it might have excited no surprise. But for Peter -- the treacherous Peter -- to be thus honored seems indeed mysterious. Who can fathom the depth of the Savior's love? Who can measure his unbounded grace?

Was Peter singled out then on account of his peculiar guilt? God forbid. Never let us attempt to magnify the grace of God by making that abominable thing which he hates a recommendation for his favor. It is true that he is ready to pardon the greatest, the vilest sinner who really seeks his pardon. It is true that he has sometimes shown the riches of his grace by making a heinous sinner a holy saint. But are we therefore to "sin that grace may abound?" Does the greatness of the sinner's guilt plead with the greatness of divine mercy? Never. Sin may draw down vengeance from heaven on a transgressor's head, but never has it drawn down mercy and grace.

Why then, it may again be asked, was Peter thus distinguished and honored? We have hitherto taken only a partial view of his conduct. Let us more closely examine it.

Peter was not only a great and scandalous sinner, he was also a penitent, mourning sinner. Scarcely had he denied Jesus in the hall of Pilate when a look of love and pity from his injured Master melted his heart and filled him with the deepest sorrow. We do not see him trifling with sin, making light of his transgression, and attempting to excuse or palliate it. We do not find him comforting himself with the thought that he was a disciple of Christ and therefore might sin without fear; and, that though a heinous transgressor, he was a child of God and could not be finally cast away.

Rather, we see in Peter nothing but self-loathing and contrition, sorrow and tears. St. Matthew says that "he went out and wept bitterly." And Clement, an ancient Christian writer, relates that throughout all his future days, every morning when he heard the cock crow, Peter fell down on his knees, and with tears streaming from his eyes he supplicated pardon for his dreadful sin. Here, then, we see that it was not the guilty Peter who was thus honored; it was the sorrowful, contrite Peter. It was not his cursing and oaths which brought this mercy to him, but his penitence and tears.

There is no comfort, then, in this scripture for the careless, hardened sinner; no comfort for the self-righteous sinner; no comfort for the man who, in the midst of his iniquity, feels no self-abhorrence, no deep contrition for his guilt. There is no comfort for such characters as these.

by Charles Spurgeon

"He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you." - Mark 16:7

Where He appointed to meet His disciples, there He would be in due time. Jesus keeps His trust. If He promises to meet us at the mercy seat, or in public worship, or in the ordinances, we may depend upon it that He will be there. We may wickedly stay away from the appointed meeting place, but He never does. He says, "Where two or three are met together in my name, there am I"; He says not, "There will I be," but, "I am there already."

Jesus is always first in fellowship: "He goeth before you." His heart is with His people, His delight is in them, He is never slow to meet them. In all fellowship He goeth before us.

by Charles Bradley

"But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee." - Mark 16:7

Who was Peter that he should be thus singled out from among the disciples? By what was he distinguished from the other ten that he should be thus honored? We know that at the period when he received this message he was distinguished from them by a preeminence -- a preeminence not in merit but in guilt. Just two days before, he had denied his Master when his Master was about to die for him. "All the disciples forsook him and fled," but Peter went further and added the guilt of falsehood, curses, and oaths to the baseness of desertion. His sin was of the first magnitude, of a crimson dye. It had too this peculiar aggravation, that it brought a scandal on the church when the church seemed least able to bear it. The Shepherd was smitten, the sheep were scattered; and this was the season in which Peter dishonored his Lord and denied his connection with his persecuted followers.

This then was the man to whom the risen Jesus specially directed his angel to send this joyful message. Had the faithful John, who adhered to him in his sufferings and stood by his cross, been thus singled out, it might have excited no surprise. But for Peter -- the treacherous Peter -- to be thus honored seems indeed mysterious. Who can fathom the depth of the Savior's love? Who can measure his unbounded grace?

Was Peter singled out then on account of his peculiar guilt? God forbid. Never let us attempt to magnify the grace of God by making that abominable thing which he hates a recommendation for his favor. It is true that he is ready to pardon the greatest, the vilest sinner who really seeks his pardon. It is true that he has sometimes shown the riches of his grace by making a heinous sinner a holy saint. But are we therefore to "sin that grace may abound?" Does the greatness of the sinner's guilt plead with the greatness of divine mercy? Never. Sin may draw down vengeance from heaven on a transgressor's head, but never has it drawn down mercy and grace.

Why then, it may again be asked, was Peter thus distinguished and honored? We have hitherto taken only a partial view of his conduct. Let us more closely examine it.

Peter was not only a great and scandalous sinner, he was also a penitent, mourning sinner. Scarcely had he denied Jesus in the hall of Pilate when a look of love and pity from his injured Master melted his heart and filled him with the deepest sorrow. We do not see him trifling with sin, making light of his transgression, and attempting to excuse or palliate it. We do not find him comforting himself with the thought that he was a disciple of Christ and therefore might sin without fear; and, that though a heinous transgressor, he was a child of God and could not be finally cast away.

Rather, we see in Peter nothing but self-loathing and contrition, sorrow and tears. St. Matthew says that "he went out and wept bitterly." And Clement, an ancient Christian writer, relates that throughout all his future days, every morning when he heard the cock crow, Peter fell down on his knees, and with tears streaming from his eyes he supplicated pardon for his dreadful sin. Here, then, we see that it was not the guilty Peter who was thus honored; it was the sorrowful, contrite Peter. It was not his cursing and oaths which brought this mercy to him, but his penitence and tears.

There is no comfort, then, in this scripture for the careless, hardened sinner; no comfort for the self-righteous sinner; no comfort for the man who, in the midst of his iniquity, feels no self-abhorrence, no deep contrition for his guilt. There is no comfort for such characters as these.