1Peter 3:22 - Prayer Tents

Cultivate Inner Beauty

3The same goes for you wives: Be good wives to your husbands, responsive to their needs. There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivatedG3668G1135G5293G2398G435G2443G1536G544G3056G2770G2532G2770G427G3056G2770G1223G391G11352by your life of holy beauty.G2029G5216G53G391G1722G54013What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—G3739G2889G2077G3756G2077G1855G1708G2359G2532G4025G5553G2228G1745G24404but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in.G235G2927G444G2588G1722G862G4239G2532G2272G4151G3739G2076G1799G2316G41855The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way, and were good, loyal wives to their husbands.G1063G3779G4218G40G1135G2532G3588G1679G1909G2316G2885G1438G5293G2398G4356Sarah, for instance, taking care of Abraham, would address him as "my dear husband." You'll be true daughters of Sarah if you do the same, unanxious and unintimidated.G5613G4564G5219G11G2564G846G2962G3739G5043G1096G15G2532G5399G3361G5399G3367G44237The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don't run aground.G3668G435G4924G2596G1108G632G5092G1134G5613G772G4632G2532G5613G4789G5485G2222G1519G5216G4335G1581G3361G1581

Suffering for Doing Good

8Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble.G1161G5056G3956G3675G4835G5361G2155G53919That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.G3361G591G2556G473G2556G2228G3059G473G3059G1161G5121G2129G1492G3754G2564G1519G5124G2564G2443G2816G212710Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, Here's what you do: Say nothing evil or hurtful;G1063G2309G25G2222G2532G1492G18G2250G3973G846G1100G575G2556G2532G846G5491G2980G3361G138811Snub evil and cultivate good; run after peace for all you're worth.G1578G575G2556G2532G4160G18G2212G1515G2532G1377G84612God looks on all this with approval, listening and responding well to what he's asked; But he turns his back on those who do evil things.G3754G3788G2962G1909G1342G2532G846G3775G1519G846G1162G1161G4383G2962G1909G4160G255613If with heart and soul you're doing good, do you think you can be stopped?G2532G5101G2559G5209G1437G1096G3402G1814Even if you suffer for it, you're still better off. Don't give the opposition a second thought.G235G1499G3958G1223G1343G3107G1161G5399G3361G5399G846G5401G3366G501515Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you're living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy.G1161G37G2962G2316G1722G5216G2588G1161G2092G104G4314G627G3956G154G5209G3056G4012G1680G1722G5213G3326G4240G2532G540116Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They'll end up realizing that they're the ones who need a bath.G2192G18G4893G2443G1722G3739G2635G5216G5613G2555G2617G1908G5216G18G391G1722G554717It's better to suffer for doing good, if that's what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad.G1063G2909G1487G2307G2316G2309G3958G15G2228G255418That's what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others' sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.G3754G5547G2532G530G3958G4012G266G1342G5228G94G2443G4317G2248G2316G2289G3303G4561G1161G2227G415119He went and proclaimed God's salvation to earlier generations who ended up in the prison of judgmentG1722G3739G2532G4198G2784G4151G1722G543820because they wouldn't listen. You know, even though God waited patiently all the days that Noah built his ship, only a few were saved then, eight to be exact—saved from the water by the water.G4218G544G3753G530G3115G2316G1551G1722G2250G3575G2787G2680G1519G3739G3641G5123G3638G5590G1295G1223G520421The waters of baptism do that for you, not by washing away dirt from your skin but by presenting you through Jesus' resurrection before God with a clear conscience.G499G3739G908G4982G2532G3568G4982G2248G3756G595G4509G4561G235G1906G18G4893G1519G2316G1223G386G2424G554722Jesus has the last word on everything and everyone, from angels to armies. He's standing right alongside God, and what he says goes.G3739G4198G1519G3772G2076G1722G1188G2316G32G2532G1849G2532G1411G5293G846