Wednesday July 29th 2 Peter chapter 1 and 2

WOW the Lord is speaking mighty thru His word and I pray as I share it touches and convicts us all to not just get by as a Christian but to continually grow.
In todays verses again we see the importance of loving others' and of growth in fact growth is essential. It begins with faith and culminates in love for all others', to keep growing we must know God we must keep following Him and to remember what He has taught us and is teaching us. We also need to know His word well so we have discernment to be able to resist false teachers among us.

2Peter chapter 1 says starting in verse:2) Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3) as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the Knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4) by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Many believers want an abundance of God's grace and peace, but they are unwilling to put forth the effort to get to know Him better through the Bible and prayer. To enjoy the privileges God offers us freely, we have "the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord".
speaking about ch.1:3-4 The power to grow doesn't come from within,(that is for sure) but it comes from God we in and of ourselves cant we are not capable. Because we dont have the resources to be truly godly,
God allows us to be "partakers of His divine nature" in order to keep us from sin and to live for Him alone. When we have accepted Him into our hearts He then empowers us through His Holy spirit to be able to do as He wills.
2 Peter ch.1 5-9 reads as follows: 5) But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6)to knowledge self- control, to self- control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,7) to godliness brotherly kindness ,and to brotherly kindness love. 8) For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9)For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
speaking about ch.1:5-9 Faith must be more than belief in certain facts; it MUST RESULT IN ACTION, growth in Christain character, and the practice of moral discipline, or it will die away (James 2:14-17) Peter lists several of faith's actions: learning to know God better , developing perseverence, doing God's will, and Yes again gang LOVING OTHERS'. These actions do not just come automatically, they require WORK. ALSO FRIEND'S THEY ARE NOT OPTIONAL; ALL OF THESE THINGS MUST BE A CONTINUAL PART OF OUR CHRISTIAN LIVES. God empowers us and enables us in doing so thru His Holy spirit within us, but He also gives us responsibility to learn and to grow we must allow this process.
In 2 Peter chapter 2 the one real important thing that stood out to me in all the verses was being able to discern the teaching of false teachers and as our world becomes more and more darker and wicked we see this more and more even some authors whom at one time seemed to be of sound doctrine seem to now be in question this is why it is so important to live our daily lives being in the word of God so we know His truth for ourselves and will be able to say hey wait a minute this is not what God says. Please dont misunderstand there are still many good authors out there in which the Lord uses to minister to even myself however I am saying dont live your life soley by what a book says and always go to the word of God first then use discernment in reading others' books.

Prasie God for your word and for the fact that you do empower and enable us through your Holy spirit may we allow ourselves to be guided and directed by that very holy spirit within. May we take every step in obedience to you Lord.
In Jesus name amen

until next time,
faithfully yours,
cindy