2 Peter 1:3


His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness ~ 2 Peter 1:3

There is something about the way Peter writes which captures me. Perhaps it is his honesty and clarity about the transformation God through Jesus made in his life, and I find that easily relatable. Here we have a statement of strength and power, not which comes from Peter’s inner man, except by the power of God. As God gifted Peter to draw three thousand converts to Christ through the Holy Spirit, so the Divine Power gifts us and enables us to live holy lives, to live as Christ lived. Through His Holy Spirit, we have the power to preach and defend the Gospel message, we have the gift of God’s Wisdom to guide us through life’s circumstances and to lead us on the path of life we should take. What I find interesting is Peter is not saying he has everything he wants, but he does have everything he needs. Many of the first disciples suffered greatly, much as we note happens in our world in other countries where Christians are persecuted, so Peter is not saying they had everything that related to life, yet there is the power of God to work on their behalf for what they truly needed: a sustained life, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. As Peter’s contemporary wrote: “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord” (Rom 14:8).  We are called into glory with our Lord, into a resurrected life. Eternal life is given to us, and a life of godliness here and now leads to the life to come. We live for Jesus, in Jesus and through us, Jesus lives.
Devotion by Pastor Julia

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comments

Popular posts from this blog

Proverbs 18:2

Image
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in sharing their own opinions ~ Proverbs 18:2 If we are going to understand something, we must fully digest it so that when we speak, we speak with wisdom. When we have only half truths in our mind, our words become empty and senseless. We then puff out air rather than understanding when we speak. A wise person will want to improve their mind through learning in various ways from the world around them. A person who delights in spiritual understanding will find peace and enjoyment in reading the Word of God on a daily basis, and in participating with God’s people in a learning and praising environment – the church! We come together in corporate worship with the understanding that not one of us knows all things, but we bend our mind and heart to learn what God has to show and say to us. A foolish person makes a show of what they “know” to please their friends or to save face in front of them. More often a wise person will hold t
Read more

Romans 8:26

Image
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans ~ Romans 8:26 Many days, many times, I have the words for prayer. It comes forth and flows fairly naturally as I converse with my Lord God. I hope in the God I worship to hear me, and to receive my words, as I pray in the name of Jesus and believe in Him, my intercessor. He is my Living Saviour, my High Priest, standing at the right hand of God the Father. But there are times when my pain has been so deep that my words will not come. There are times when my agony is so piercing that what words I may speak would not be enough. And so, in my deep, black moments, I come before my God and let my darkest emotions erupt in sounds that only He can understand. The Holy Spirit within me cries out in my stead, and He becomes my second intercessor. It is not that He is not there with me in all my prayers, but there are times wh
Read more

Isaiah 43:19

Image
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert ~ Isaiah 43:19 When we meet a challenge, we are often found discouraged, lost, even hopeless. Nothing is working, everything seems to be against us. We do not know how to move forward, so we remain curled up in a ball. Then, a glimmer of light shines through! Hope is regained and movement is stirred within. Don’t we become excited when we begin to feel it? God moves like that. We cannot see our way around it, but He can and does. And He makes a way for us out of the calamity of our fears. It is the feeling of springtime after a long winter, or the smell of fresh cut grass. Life stirs within and we move and we see what God saw all the time – the answer to our dilemma. Our desert place becomes an oasis, and we can do what we are called to do. Something totally unexpected happens, something unheard of, but it begins in our life, and we feel the
Read more