Make Every Effort: Everything Required

Several days ago I ran across a passage in 2 Peter that shook me to the core. It was so rich, I have been dining on it ever since! I've broken it into four sections, and every day will post the entire Scripture, but will place the text I'd like to discuss in bold. I pray you will be as enriched, challenged, and encouraged by them as I have been!

Everything Required

2 Peter :3-4

 For His divine power has given us everything required 

for life and godliness, 

through the knowledge of Him who called us

 by His own glory and goodness.

   By these He has given us very great and precious promises, 

so that through them you may share in the divine nature,

escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires.

   

For this very reason,

 make every effort to supplement your 

faith with goodness, 

goodness with knowledge, 

   knowledge with self-control, 

self-control with endurance, 

endurance with godliness, 

   godliness with brotherly affection, 

and brotherly affection with love.

   For if these qualities are yours 

and are increasing, 

they will keep you from being 

useless or unfruitful 

in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

   The person who lacks these things 

is blind and shortsighted, 

and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. 

   

Therefore, brothers, make every effort 

to confirm your calling and election, 

because if you do these things 

you will never stumble.

   For in this way, 

entry into the eternal kingdom of 

our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 

will be richly supplied to you.

2 Peter 1:3-11

You know, I could just about stop at the first comma in verse 3 and be satisfied. "For His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness..." I could, that is, if He hadn't made me such a curious creature. I need to know the details, and I'm so glad He provided them!

In all honesty, that should be enough for us. God - the Creator and Sustainer of the universe - with His divine power, has given us all we will ever need for life and godliness. What a beautiful confirmation not only that He is willing to do that for us, but that He, and He alone, is able to. Why do we settle for less than godliness if we truly follow Christ Jesus? After all, there is no excuse. He already gave us the ability to achieve it.

So how was it that we obtained this certainty?  "Through the knowledge of Him..." That is the conduit through which we received such a gift. The Gospel. Perhaps that is why Paul says to the believers in 1 Corinthians 2:2, that he was "...determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." There was nothing else they truly needed.

I love what it goes on to say though. God reminds us - in the same breath - that HE was the one who called us to Him: He opened our eyes and ears (Isaiah 35:5) to the understanding of the Gospel of Christ Jesus "by His own glory and goodness." He did it because He is just that good. 

But it gets even better! V. 4, "By these" - His glory and His goodness - "He has given us very great and precious promises..." Not just one promise, but many very great ones:

   We are now His children:  Romans 9:8, Galatians 3:29

   Given the Holy Spirit/Counselor:  Ephesians 1:13

   Receive a crown of life:  James 1:12

   Eternal life in His Kingdom:  Titus 1:2

   Many blessings:  Deuteronomy 1:11

   Forgiveness:  Hebrews 8:12

   Rest:  Joshua 22:4

   His Word written in our hearts:  Jeremiah 31:33

And many more...

He gave us all these... "so that through them we may share in the divine nature...", as co-heirs with Christ and children of God (Romans 8:17), "escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires." Ah. Here's the reason why all of these promises are good in the first place. To escape the punishment for the corruption of sin. We are all sinners, and we are all given one way to escape from the consequences of those sins (Romans 5:19): Jesus Christ. 

With the knowledge of Him in our hearts, and the glory and goodness of God's divine power, we have a way to refrain from sins evil desires.

How amazing, and loving, is that? 

Easter Dinner

Think about a typical Easter dinner with all it's brightly colored fixings...

This year there was something about this feast celebrating our Lord's resurrection that made me laugh out loud. 

What are two "must have"'s for the meal?

Ham and deviled eggs- To celebrate our Jewish God and Savior.

Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor? 

So this year as you enjoy the taste of pork (Leviticus 11:7-8) and the freshness of eggs that have been deviled,... 

Remember and rejoice that all things have been made clean (1 Corinthians 10:31) and the eggs have been split down the middle for a reason!  "And if Satan rebels against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is finished!" Mark 3:26

Mulling

What are you mulling over?

I believe the spiritual term is "meditating upon", but to put it in a language we can all associate with, I call it mulling. There is one particular passage the Lord has brought to my attention recently that will take some time and a lot of research to digest before posting it on here. I love it when He brings Scripture to life like that.

How about you? What Truth has He brought to your attention? Is there a aspect of His Word that is speaking personally to you? Perhaps your mulling is in how to respond. Is there a question you have about Christian living that seems to remain grey to you? Perhaps we can explore it together!

What was from the beginning,

what we have heard,

what we have seen with our eyes,

what we have observed,

and have touched with our hands,

concerning the Word of life-

that life was revealed,

and we have seen it

and we testify and declare to you

the eternal life that was with the Father

and was revealed to us-

1 John 1:1-2

Family

I had an experience a few years ago that I still think about on occasion.

One of the best places to listen to worship music is while driving. Not only does being stuck in a fast moving metal box force me to slow my mind down and take time to worship, but I've found that road rage - on my part - is curbed as well. I happened once, to be listening to my favorite local Christian radio station, Way-FM, and was singing along at the top of my lungs to a worship tune that was playing as I pulled up to an intersection. After a few moments I looked in my rear-view mirror and noticed a young man with a huge grin on his face staring straight at me. It took me a second before I realized that he too was singing the same worship song I was! Laughing, I smiled back and we jammed that worship song together.

When the light turned, I slowed down a bit and he pulled up next to me. We grinned at each other as the next song came on and realizing it was time for him to turn, we nodded to one another in recognition of our common Savior and parted ways on this earth.

I can't wait to laugh about it with him in heaven!

Do you ever take the time to realized how blessed we are to have so many brothers and sisters in Christ? I find it amazing that I can meet a perfect stranger and have such a sweet connection, or re-connect with those I haven't seen in years and have an instant spark and interest in our Living Lord. Only God can accomplish such a feat with such stubborn and selfish hearts.

I've also found that parting with fellow Christians doesn't bother me as much either. I've told those who leave that if we never meet again here on this earth, I'll give them a big hug in heaven. What a peace and joy! The more I live knowing this is "not my home" the less the typical sorrows of this world bother me. (2 Corinthians 5:1-4)

Take some time today to thank God for all your siblings in Christ. Marvel at and praise Him for how He connects us by the Spirit, through Jesus, for the glory of God the Father!

The Sound Of Rain

Rain is nature's way of applauding God. Who else deserves such thunderous applause?


The heavens declare the glory of God,
     and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.
Day after day the pour out speech;
     night after night they communicate knowledge.
There is no speech; 
     there are no words; 
          their voice is not heard.
Their message has gone out to all the earth, 
     and their words to the ends of the inhabited world.
Psalm 19:1-4

Peter's Mother-In-Law

Last night I read two verses that challenged me:

When Jesus went into Peter's house, He saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began to serve Him.
Matthew 8:14-15


There are times in life when we are just sick. It may be an actual illness, or exhaustion of some sort. Whatever it is, Jesus will come to heal us at the right time. That is when we have a choice. Do we lay there thinking about how sick we had been? Do we go around telling everyone how sick and miserable we were? Or, do we just get up and serve our Lord?

This is not to say that Peter's mother-in-law didn't think about her illness, or that she didn't share with others what she has just experienced. She just chose to make serving Jesus her number one priority. The rest she could do along the way - to the glory of God the Father.


What has Jesus taken you by the hand and healed you of lately? Have you accepted His healing, or are you still laying there? Have you got on with serving Him, or did you get stuck in the bog of "just can't let it go"? Nothing was ever said about stuffing her illness down and pretending it never happened. This record is what she is remembered for. She is remembered for being sick when Jesus came - He reached out and took her by the hand - and she served the Master. Have you ever thought about the fact He might have healed her for that purpose? To serve Him?

What will you be known for?

Stepping Out

Every once in a while we need to shake ourselves up.

I felt this blog needed a new look. I'm not really sure why, but I thought I'd give it a try. What do you think? Do you like this one of the old one better? Why?

I've found that sometimes God asks us to just look at Him and start walking. Then He'll let me know if that was the right way or not. The interesting thing is, nine times out of ten, whichever direction I go seems to be the right one. The key is focusing on Him first. Without that, nine times out of ten it's the wrong direction.

How about you? Is there something in your life you have been seeking God's direction in? If the time has come that the decision must be made- Look up: Then step forward.

Home

I'm away from my home.

This is spring break for my children, so we drove north to Kentucky for a few days to visit family. As much as I love seeing my family and visiting I realized just how much I miss being home. It's not that I'm not comfortable being in these other places, I just like the relaxing comfort of my own stuff: Knowing where everything is, not having to remember if I packed such and stuff, dressers instead of a suitcase, and my tea in its box in the proper place.

Home is just home.

That's why I just can't wait to go home sometimes...


For we know that if our earthly house, a tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And in fact, we groan in this one, longing to put on our house from heaven....
Therefore, though we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord - for we walk by faith, not by sight - yet we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord.
Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to Him.
2 Corinthians 5:1-2, 6-9

Wolves in Sketter Clothing

It's warm enough the Sketter Eaters are coming around again. If you have never seen one, they look like large, lanky mosquitoes and usually cover the eastern side of my house near dusk in the summer time. I use to kill them until learning that they do not bite humans, but rather feed on regular mosquitoes. They are now my friend.

When I saw the first of the season the other day it reminded me of  Matthew 7:15-16a; "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. You'll recognize them by their fruit."

We as Christians (True Sketters) must love everyone unconditionally, but are also told to keep a look out for the evidence of fruit. Don't forget this can be a long process. Some fruit may take months or even years to come to fruition. This doesn't mean we shouldn't trust, it just means we need to be diligent in prayer, asking for discernment to know what is of God and what is not. We must try to guide those around us lovingly, but trust God to accomplish His good will even in the midst of some rotten fruit. We trust Him alone completely to reveal all fruit in its truth at the proper time.

Next time you see a Sketter Eater, offer up a prayer to God, asking Him for discernment. Allow Him to separate the Sketters from the Sketter Eaters.

Difficult Christianity

Do you ever sit there and think about how difficult it really is to be a devoted Christian? Truly, there are moments where putting legs to your faith smacks you in the face.

Let what Jesus tells us in Luke sink in to you today:

But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, so good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone hits you on the cheek, offer the other also.And if anyone takes away your coat, don't hold back your shirt either. Give to everyone who asks from you, and from the one who takes away your things, don't ask for them back. Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do what is good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is gracious to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
Luke 6:27-36


The first thing Jesus says here is, "...to you who listen:..."  Every once in a while I have to be honest with my husband when I am busy. He'll be talking to me and I have to stop him and say, "I'm sorry. I heard you, but I wasn't listening. I have no idea what you just said." We have do more than simply hearing, or reading, Him in order to receive this difficult command: We have to earnestly listen.

Have you ever prayed for someone as this passage tells us to? I mean, really prayed. It amazes me that God places such a compassion for them, and sometimes a pity, in our hearts. Ask the Lord to allow you to see them through His eyes- you'll be amazed.

Yet, I have to admit there have been times I don't want to pray as I should because I want to be angry at them. Do you know what the problem with that is? Now you have to repent of that before you ever get around to doing it right. And remember, "Don't let your spirit rush to be angry, for anger abides in the heart of fools." Ecclesiastes 7:9 


How do we combat these feelings and glorify Him in difficult situations such as this? I was directed to a wonderful set of verses in the Psalms recently. It's funny how so often when others give me Words of comfort, I turn to find they were already underlined in my Bible:

Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken. My salvation and glory depend on God; my strong rock, my refuge, is in God. Trust Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:5-8 Emphasis mine


We give it to God- it's as simple as that. There is no magic formula, or check-list of duties.

You simply give Him your anger and hurt, and allow Him to give you graciousness and mercy in return.

Your Church

Christians are all called to be part of a local body of believers, called the church. We are meant to love, encourage, correct, rebuke, serve each other, and so much more.

Today, I want to hear about your church.

 

Was it a surprise to find yourself there, or are you at the same one you've always attended? 

What draws you there?

How is your local body good at encouraging/serving you? 

How do you enjoy serving them? 

What is it about this particular group of believers that makes it home for you?

What about your church do you love?

Knowing When: 1 Corinthians

Meditate on this often, and God will give you the right heart to know when to say something to others. The following passage is long, but sums it all up well. Take it one section at a time asking the Lord to reveal His message to you through His living Word. This has struck me deep enough that I will be meditating on it for the next few days, and will leave this post up as the most current. you take a few days as well, coming back to read it again and again.

1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16
For those who are perishing the message of the cross is foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is God's power. For it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and I will set aside the understanding

of the experts.

Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn't God made the world's wisdom foolishness? For since, in God's wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. 

For Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God's power and God's wisdom, because God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

Brothers, consider your calling: not many are wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen the world's foolish things to shame the wise, and God has chosen the world's weak things to shame the strong. God has chosen the world's insignificant and despised things - the things the world viewed as nothing - so that He might bring to nothing the things that are viewed as something, so that no one can boast in His presence.

But from Him you are in Christ Jesus, who for us became wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in order that, as it is written: The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.

When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, in fear, in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power, so that your faith might not be based on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

However, among the mature we do speak a wisdom, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. On the contrary, we speak God's hidden wisdom in a mystery which God predestined before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age knew it, for if they had know it, they would have not crucified the Lord of glory.

But as it is written:

What no eye has seen

and no ear has heard,

and what has never come

into a man's heart,

is what God has prepared

for those who love Him.

Now God has revealed them to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the concerns of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows the concerns of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, in order to know what has been freely given to us by God.

We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.

But the natural man does not welcome what comes from God's Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to know it since it is evaluated spiritually. The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. For:

who has known the Lord's mind,

that he may instruct Him?

But we have the mind of Christ.

Knowing When

The one who corrects a mocker will bring dishonor on himself;

the one who rebukes a wicked man will get hurt.

Don’t rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you;

            rebuke a wise man and he will love you.

Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still;

            teach a righteous man, and he will learn more.

Proverbs 9:7-9

Something Christians must learn to develop in love, is timing. I’ve found we usually tend to fall into one of two catergories:

 1.) We never say anything because we are afraid of offending someone and/or not being accepted ourselves, or,

2.)  We don’t know when to not say something, sticking our foot in our mouth up to the kneecap.

How do you handle these situations? What other factors might there be? Post some comments/questions, and I’ll add more to this tomorrow.

Take Your Medicine

Have you ever had to take medicine that made you feel worse before it cured you? That's what I am doing. There is a virus that had settled so deep in my system that it will take several months to pull out with a remedy series. What's annoying is that about a week to three weeks after beginning treatment, symptoms will often get worse for several days, but there comes a time in life when it's still worth it.

It's the same with drawing sin out of our lives that has settled so deep within us. We have grown so use to their effects, and have taken root so deep, that we often need to have a remedy series to remove them. For the virus in my body, I am taking a vial every three days which has a stronger and stronger dose of medicine. I have to work up to the maximum dosage. It's the same with sins we are ridding ourself of. We need a strict regiment of prayer, God's Word, and perhaps an accountability partner- someone to remind us to and make sure that we take the next dose.

The beautiful thing about it is God knows when to up our dose. I have found that when working on a particular flaw in my Christian walk, verses in the Bible hit me as they never have before. I may have read a certain verse time and time again, but suddenly one day- WHAM - the Spirit opens my eyes and I am convicted. That is an upped dose. And let me tell you, sometimes it doesn't feel so good.

So then we have a choice:

Do we continue on to be cleansed, or do we allow it to settle back in?

...Rather, train yourselves for godliness, for, the training of the body has a limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. In fact, we labor and strive for this, because we have put our hope in the living God, who the the Savior of everyone, especially of those who believe. 
1 Timothy 4:7-10

Practice Time

There is a concept we as modern American's don't like to think about: Truly humbling ourselves. In general we  pridefully humble ourselves - Look how humble I am! -  but to truly do it is another thing. We are taught to build our self-esteem and see how preciously unique we are, and while that is true, we lean too heavily upon it.

A random verse in Numbers caught my attention this morning. The Lord is giving a long list of "orders" to the Israelites before they crossed over to the promised land, and there is one we would do well to not forget. "You are to hold a sacred assembly on the tenth day of this seventh month and practice self-denial; you must not do any work." Number 29:7  As much as I'd like it to, "self-denial" does not mean to refrain from chocolate cake or a Big Mac.

The actual phrase for "practice self-denial" in Hebrew is anah et nepes. Another, longer, way to translate this is "Inflict oppression, subdue, humble, deal harshly with your own soul, the essence of your being." (The Complete Word Study Old Testamant) Why would the Lord command this of the people? Because we need to remember at times that we are not all we think we are. We need to remember Whose we are. We are slaves of the Most High God! (Daniel 5:21) Yes, He loves us and has adopted us as His own allowing us to be heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), but we are His slaves here - now - on this earth (Romans 6:17), and it is good for us to remember that.

Praise God though that they were only required to do this once a year. Our heavenly Father does not want us to walk around defeated and feeling worthless. He loves us dearly; to the point of having His only son crucified for us! It is just good for us to take the time to remember we belong to our king and are here for blessing His name in all things, not our own.