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Adding with all desire

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 18, 2025

More on 2 Peter’s description of God’s gifts to us—specifically the first three tools.

Foundationally, faith is the gift God gives us so we can believe:  Peter writes to “those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours….”
 
Then he commands us to add to our faith the other gifts in a specific order, and to do so with “every effort.”
 
First, “..make every effort to add to your faith virtue….”  Virtue is basically agreeing with God, doing what He wants us to do. And it involves making up our minds ahead of time to obey. To give a couple of simple examples, I don’t wait until Sunday morning to decide to go to church or not; no, I make up my mind to just go every Sunday. Or I don’t wait until each  morning to decide to have a quiet time or not; I just make a decision to do it every day. This is true for every decision: not adultery, no lying, no cheating, no stealing, etc.
 
Then to virtue, we are to add knowledge. This is application of virtue, delving into the Word, reading, memorizing, meditating. Thus we can think God’s thoughts and know what He wants us to do. Without this knowledge we are left to flounder with our warped natural ideas.
 
Then to knowledge we are to add self-control. Simply put, this means doing what we know to be right. We now have the knowledge to know what is right. We don’t always want to do that, but acting out of virtue, and taking up and using self-control, we can overcome our negative natural desires and do what is right, good, godly.
 
Next comes endurance. This is next because even when we do the right thing, we may get flack. Share about Jesus and some will object. But we shouldn’t give up because of that opposition. We press on with endurance, which means “moving through with power.” (Hebrews 12:2) Jesus is our example:” fixing our eyes on Jesus” who “for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” So we, too can endure as we take up His endurance.
 
More tomorrow.
 
Picture: endurance
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Tools for the Kingdom Life

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 17, 2025

Tonight I had a Bible study with a friend, looking at 2  Peter 1:1-8. It struck me again what tremendous, wonderful and amazing truths there are in this passage. Let me mention three.

Verse 3: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life…” EVERYTHING!  We already have it—we just have to learn to appropriate and use what He’s given us, such as patience, grace, joy, peace and self-control. For instance patience: when stressed, we can  turn to God saying,”Thank you for this hold up, Lord. I repent of my impatience and take up your great patience, remembering that my times are in your hands.” 
 
Then verse 4 with an even more astounding statement: “…through his very great and precious promises you may participate in the divine nature….” Participate in the DIVINE nature! The nature that created the universe, hung the earth on nothing, redeemed our lives. This nature resides in us as the Holy Spirit. What a tremendous privilege as every day we walk around with the divine nature within us, with us, working through us. What a great truth!
 
And verse 5 says, “…make every effort to add to your faith goodness… knowledge…self-control…perseverance…godliness…mutual affection…love.” What this means is that God has provided these things for us to take up and add. It is like God has presented us with a big box filled with tools for living a godly life. If we don’t open the box and take up the tools, they are useless to us. So, God has laid out the course, readied the supplies, we only need to learn to take them up and add them. What wonderful provision. Are we going to join Him in the adventure? 
 
Tomorrow we’ll talk more about appropriating and using these spiritual “tools” God has given us.
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Know the enemy

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 17, 2025
More on discerning what Jesus wants versus what Satan wants us to  do.
 
The devil is clever and does not want us thinking about his desires; he wants us to unknowingly mix our personal and cultural bias in with a bit of Scripture and do things that make us feel good.
It is easy to fool ourselves into thinking that our preferences as Christians are the same as God’s. For instance, in our culture we have come to confuse busyness with being spiritual, having results with being blessed, and talent and training with being spiritually mature. When faced with an opportunity for more ministry, we need to think about what Jesus would do, and what Satan would have us do.
Satan is happy when we are striving to push ahead in our own effort, keeping very busy “for the Lord”, wearing ourselves out for others. He is not happy when we spend time first in prayer and in the Word, seeking God’s direction, weighing our motives before Him, waiting for His timing–and then working hard as He directs.
As a concrete example of this concept, here in the Middle East we have often had opportunities to help believers financially. “Of course Jesus would have us give to them!” we thought. Yet as we look back now, it is clear how in the early years of ministry, channeling funds to seemingly desperate needs produced far more bitter and unhealthily dependent relationships than anything else. Our help was toxic, not a tonic.
We have to admit that our estimation of what Jesus wanted was not fully correct. Yes, it made us feel good to help and we got the believers out of binds, but also often prevented them from learning the lessons God had for them.

Later, when God had gotten our attention and made clear that we should step back from such rescuing attempts and let Him teach important lessons of character, believers matured and grew in new ways. There are times to help, but wisely, in cooperation with God, not with Satan’s feel-good solutions.

To discern is an important skill that comes only from spending time with Jesus in His Word, in worship, wanting  His will rather than our own or culture’s will. 
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Triple Blessings

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 16, 2025

The Apostle Peter was a man on threes. He denied Jesus three times, and Jesus restored him by asking him three times, “Do you love me?”

And following Jesus’ example, in 2 Peter 12-15, the Apostle gives us a triple reminder: “So I will always REMIND you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to REFRESH YOUR MEMORY as long as I live in the tent of this body…And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to REMEMBER these things.

In our culture, repetition is not a valued thing—we hear it once and that’s enough. But biblically, repetition is highly valued and important—both because there are always new things to learn from Scripture, and because we all need ongoing reminders of Truth. For example, I have to remind myself to not complain (a very natural thing for me) but to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving (a supernatural thing to do.

In following Peter’s example, every morning my wife and I pray on the armor of Ephesians 6:10-18, and it is always a good reminder of the battle we are about to enter. It’s like “tuning up” our thinking, preparing us for what may come.

So don’t shy away from repetition of truth, in fact aggressively employ it so that Truth can sink deeply into your soul and then come out in biblical living.

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What would Satan have you do?

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 13, 2025

“For we fight not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand in the evil day and having done all to stand.” Ephesians 6:11

 

While talking recently with a person struggling with feelings of inadequacy, any advice I gave proved to be totally ineffective. Then a thought came to mind that turned out to be the key to opening the door to this person’s emotional prison.

“This feeling of inadequacy is exactly what Satan wants you to focus on. Of course we are inadequate; we are human beings and have limitations. In contrast, God wants us to focus on Him, to find our adequacy in Him, our acceptance in Him, our worth and joy in Him.

“Satan, however, wants us to focus on what we can’t do; he wants us to work for our worth and to seek for the elusive happiness of accomplishment. So, whose lead are you going to follow? Are you going to fall into devil’s trap, or sidestep it with God’s truth?”

Asking “What would Jesus do in this situation?” helps us think biblically. Adding the question, “What would Satan want me to do?” will bring additional biblical clarity. Paul refers to this in Ephesians 6 when he says, “Put on the whole armor of God so you will not fall in to the wiles of the devil.”

Picture: remember what happened when others listened to the lies of the serpent!

May be an image of 1 person and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo

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7 Qualities to bring peace

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 12, 2025

More on things that hamper peacemaking. Last night we talked about the trap of being a victim which short-circuits resolving conflicts.

Now we will talk about the other obstacle. This is seeing ourselves as better than those sorry people who hurt us. By looking down on them, we can excuse our unforgiveness because they, of course, do not deserve to be forgiven.

However, In having this attitude, we fail again to take up the grace of God, to see the reality that we are all sinners.  In 2 Peter 1:5-7, the Holy Spirit lists out seven qualities we are to take up and use in our lives:

–virtue, (agreeing with God)

–knowledge (of Jesus and our natural condition of depravity, along with our unnatural condition of being forgiven, adopted and dearly loved by God),

–self-control (doing what we know is right, like forgiving),

–endurance (pressing on with what is right even when things don’t work out),

–godliness, (thinking and acting like God),

–brotherly kindness (the essence of peace making),

–and agape love (love that is not influenced by the response of others).

Looking at that list is impressive—if we added those qualities regularly, conflicts could be quickly resolved from our side.

Then God goes on to say that  “whoever does not have these qualities in his life is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.” This leads to thinking of himself better than others.

In contrast, He says of those who DO add these qualities, “they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So if we want to be effective and productive in our knowledge of Jesus, here is a clear map to achieve that.

Humility is a key part of peace making, and humility can be defined as “seeing ourselves as God sees us,” both in our depravity and in our redeemed, imputed righteousness.

When we move towards this, we can forgive, remembering how much we have been forgiven, we can let go of our hurt and  with God’s grace rise above the difficulties of life. This help make peace in the most difficult relationships, thereby pleasing and honoring God!

May be an image of heart and text that says 'openness conviction //eи equanimity fnendshipequanimity aring NÖNJUDGMENT reasonıngatte KINDNESS respe insight uΛρΝaΣΝ generosity altruism patiencelonn reflectionc eflection ommunity Radhada wilngness. commitment LOVE IS gratıtude LOVEIS humilty, humiliti'

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Trap Number 1

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 11, 2025

Thoughts springing from my pastor’s ongoing series on peace making.

Peacemaking is hard because it is against our nature—it requires us to be humble, to forgive, to let go. We would rather avoid, gossip and punish the one who hurt us.

The key to peace making  is remembering how much WE have been forgiven. When we forget that, we fall into one of two traps (sometimes both at the same time).

First we can fall into the victim trap, feeling sorry for ourselves when others hurt us. Our culture pushes us to take this position.

Being a victim makes us focus on our hurt rather than on Jesus. Therefore we fail to take up the grace of God (trusting Him in His understanding of the situation, His working in our lives through this hurt, His great plan for our lives).

Hebrews 12:15 says, “Take heed lest you fail to take up the grace of God (the wisdom, insight and help he offers), lest a root of bitterness spring up troubling you, and many thereby are defiled.” Being a victim brings trouble to all around—and especially to you! Being bitter will trouble us deeply and others, too.

Jesus says, “Forgive as I have forgiven you,”(Col 3:13) not “nurse that grudge and make them hurt like they hurt you!” Forgiving is taking up the grace of God. It frees us from the anguish of victimhood, from the pollution of bitterness and brings us joy and peace as we trust God (Romans 15:13), knowing that He will use this hurt for good in our lives.

I will tell you about the second trap tomorrow.

Picture: unforgiveness and bitterness will only lead us into darkness.

May be an image of 2 people, grass, the Cotswolds, fog and castle

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Open the door

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 10, 2025
New England is a hard place to share your faith. People here are private, self-sufficient, and in general not interested in “religious” things. You can talk about work, family or politics, but faith is off limits.
Well the Lord has showed me a way to share about biblical truth with almost anyone. This came about because of a number of deaths around us from cancer and drug overdoses. I would tell people about these as an introduction. Another intro I use is, “I have a terminal disease, called “A G E.” it often takes people a bit to get that I’m talking about ‘age.” and then say, “You know, we all are going to die. So after you die and get to the gate of Heaven, and the angel asks you, ‘why should I let you in?’ what will you say?”
I have never had anyone object, cut me off, or turn away from this question. They all give similar answers: “I did my best” “I was a good person” “I went to church often” “I helped people”  or “I want to see my family.”
My reply is, “Well that’s good, but it won’t get you into Heaven. In Heaven there is no sin, and we are all sinners, so God won’t just let us in.” Almost universally there’s no objection.
Sometimes they ask, “Well, what is the right answer?” More often I have to ask, “Would you like to hear the right answer?” They always say, “Yes!” Then I give a short presentation of the gospel, which is often followed by an engaging conversation. Then in conclusion I give them a 4 spiritual laws booklet. No one has ever rejected it, and many say, “I’m going to read this.”
Young, old, blue collar, white collar, ragged folks, well to do folks, doesn’t matter. They listen.  Today I shared this with a septic tank pumper, then later with a funeral home director. Same positive response. Give it a try!
Picture: what you can do on a walk and a talk.
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The Outcome

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 9, 2025

This past week I was treated unjustly by some local bureaucrat, and it cost me quite a bit of money. But my Lord is in control here; He can bring the justice that is so lacking in this world. You, Lord, are the One who loves righteousness and justice, and our lives are full of your unfailing love.

To you be honor and glory for what you will do in my life, for, I know it will be good, just as you are good. The outcome may be hard, for you allow suffering for high and wise reasons. At the same time, you will also give more than enough grace to move through the experience with power and wisdom and joy. AndiIn the end of this bureaucratic incident, God showed His unfailing love, using the unjust demand  it to protect me from making a big and much more expensive mistake.

You are the True God, the only Wise One, the Source of all Good. We can and will praise you now for what you will do before seeing any conclusion to this situation. As it says in Psalm 33:10, “The Lord foils the plans of the nations, He thwarts the purposes of the people. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever and the purposes of His heart through all generations.”

Prayer: “Lord God, King of the universe, help me to trust in you today, to praise you in all that comes, pleasant or not, desired or feared, for you have great plans which will always include difficulties designed to make us grow. May you be glorified in my responses to today’s difficulties. Amen.”

When thing look bleak, God is there at work.

May be an image of 1 person and Bactrian camel

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Trust in Who?

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 7, 2025

“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.” Psalm 37:5,6

How  many times have I seen the Lord lead me to trust Him instead of defending myself. And then He brought forth the truth to exonerate me. Not that I’m always right (!) but one of the Devil’s methods is to accuse us of wrong doing we did not do. In such a situation, rather than defend ourselves, it is much better to commit our way to Him, and wait for Him to work things out. Then our part is to forgive those who accused us falsely, to bless them in our words and prayers so God can break into their lives and protect them.

“You, Lord, are the God of all forgiveness; give us grace to grasp how much we are forgiven so we can forgive ourselves and then forgive others. May we keep on the whole armor to be useful to you and bring glory to your name. Amen.”

Picture: Who am I going to trust in the midst of the storm?

May be a doodle of 1 person, ocean and water

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