Last week was the last week of school. My son attends a small Christian school where the give character awards. My son received the “Respect” award. On the way out of school, he told my sister, “I can’t believe I got ‘respect’!” She chuckled, and then he said, “If they had given me self-control, I’d have to give that one back.” LOL. He’s a work in progress and knows where he needs to grow.
On the flip side of the coin is my daughter. This is her first year in a public school, and there are two teacher that have given her a hard time especially regarding her faith. Without being prompted, she wrote thank you notes to all of her teachers. I wouldn’t have thought to have done that, but she saw it as an opportunity to share her faith once more. She has grown so much in her faith this year, but she too is a work in progress. Aren’t we all?
This Sunday, I had the privilege of teaching my small group, and after a crazy week, Saturday morning, this is where God led me. I’ll be breaking this down over the course of a few blogs, and I’d like to unpack this set of verses down to the word meaning and put it together because it’s so rich with instruction. The words I’ve put in bold are followed by the definition or descriptions in (parenthesis and italicized). Between the verses is the explanation, and we’ll pull it all together at the end.
2 Peter 1:3-4 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
3 His divine (theios – general name of the deities, spoken only of God as Christ, Spirit and Father) power (dynamic – inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature. Think “dynamic” or “dynamite”) has given us everything (each, every, all, everyone) required for life (every living soul) and godliness (reverence, respect towards God) through the knowledge of Him who called us by[b] His own glory and goodness (virtue, course of thought, feeling action, moral, pure, fruit of the Spirit. So it stands to reason that God is good).
When we become children of God, the Holy Spirit (divine power) comes and resides in us bring with Him everything that we need to live a godly life.
4 By these He has given us very great and precious promises (Promises are good things. The opposite would be threats.), so that through them you may share (partner or associate) in the divine nature, escaping the corruption (eternal misery in hell) that is in the world because of evil desires.
God doesn’t expect us to figure out life alone. He partners, He associates with us via the Holy Spirit. He lives in us to help us live a godly life and not a worldly life. He provides an escape (1 Cor 10:13) when Satan attempts to corrupt us, to trip us, to make up fall. This is a promise.
But if you notice in verse 3, we read about the divine power and in verse 4 the divine nature that partners with us. I’d like to remind you about this divine nature. It’s the same divine (dealing with the deities) nature that
· Spoke the world into existence
· Who names every star, keeps the planets and moons spinning and galaxies in their places
· The same power that brought the plagues on Pharaoh
· The same nature that blew the Red sea into two drying the land so the children of Israel could pass
· The same power that flooded the Earth
· The same nature who had a fish swallow a man whole for three days just to spit him out to go preach repentance and a city be saved
· The same divine nature who blessed women who were passed the age of giving birth with babies of their own
· The same divine power that raised dry boned up into an army
· The same nature who used a harlot in the lineage of Jesus
· The same power who gave victory to a small army by simply marching around the walls of a city,
· The same divine power who impregnated a virgin with a Savior
· The same power who performed miracles on Earth the same divine power who fulfilled EVERY PROPHESY foretold about the Savior
· The same power who brought the dead to life, made the blind to see, the lame to walk and the deaf to hear
· The same divine nature who calmed the sea
· The same nature who excised demons
· The same divine nature who knew you were going to sing, was going to need saving, created you anyway knowing Jesus would have to die, and He created you any way
· The same divine power who conquered death and lives again also LIVES INSIDE YOU!
· THIS DIVINE POWER IS VICTORIOUS!
· This list could go on and one because John 21:25 says the world could not contain all the books needed to hold all the things Christ did
My questions for you today are these:
Are you operating in your own power, or are you operating under the divine power within you?
Are you speaking the words the Spirit gives you or are you running your mouth when you shouldn’t?
Are you living in the power of Jesus Christ which is a victorious life, or are you the victim?
Are you using the divine nature within you to serve others?
Let me encourage you to spend time today tapping into the divine power, the divine nature of Jesus Christ through reading the Word, through worship, and through meditation. Life is so different when we operate from the position of God’s strength and wisdom rather than our own.