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Ultimate Security

More on what David had right in Psalm 33:20-22:

“We wait in hope for the LORD.” Why? There is no one else to wait for!

“…he is our help and our shield.” You give us grace and protect us from what is truly harmful.

“In him our hearts rejoice.” Your love, your kindness, your faithfulness, your power and goodness are more than enough reasons to rejoice.

“for we trust in his holy name.” You are the holy and powerful God, the most High whose might can accomplish all that is necessary to save us  for eternity–and for today.

“May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,” Praise you for your love that never ceases.

“even as we put our hope in you.” The key to participating in your power, Lord, is to trust in you rather than in ourselves, to put our hope in you. Help us to do that consistently, like Paul, boasting in our weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest on us (2 Cor. 12:9,10).

Glory and honor be to you for the power found in hoping in you, the certainty that you will do what is good and right and best.

Picture: God holds us in His hand.

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Our Every Present Help

“We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.” Psalm 33:20

 

Life is full of problems: fear-producing events, the unexpected and the unjust—all results of sin warping creation.

But you, Lord Jesus, are the rescuing Savior, the One whom we can trust in the midst of this tragic twisting of the universe. You are at work to bring an end to the destructive effects of sin. You are the good One, you are the powerful One, you are the loving One, you are the wise One.

Your plan to restore righteousness is perfect: you move at the right speed to bring the right outcomes at the right time. You allow what is painful now to bring glory in the future. You are absolutely right and absolutely trustable, always providing much more grace than we need.

 

You are the One to be praised in the midst of difficulty because you are bringing us through it into a wider place. You have a plan and will bring it to pass. 

We can trust you, rely on you, praise you; we can rest in you when all about us is falling apart. No human resource, no earthly power, no political plan can protect us. But you can, Lord Jesus and you have made a way for all to escape the corruption and destruction of the world and to be transported into the glory of the next world, spending eternity with you—if we believe in your Name.

David had it right in Psalm 33:20-22: “We wait in hope for the LORD.” And in Psalm 143:9, “There is no one else to wait for! AS David said in Psalm 143:9, “Rescue me from my enemies, LORD, for I hide myself in you.” May we remember that when we are tempted to run to others for help.

Picture: Jesus to the rescue

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What’s in a name?

One religion I know of says that there are 99 names of God known to man, but only the camel knows God’s 100th name. However, the apostle Paul had something to say about that in Colossians 1:25-227.

“God gave me…the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people…which is CHRIST in you, the hope of glory.” And part of this mystery is that Jesus Christ is God. So we can tell people who only know 99 names of God that we know the 100th name of God: Jesus!

“Jesus” is not just a name, it is a title (“Savior”), and it is powerful, as is shown inActs 3:6, “Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” And the man was healed.

The demons must obey it,  In Acts 6:18 Paul said to a demon in a girl,’In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!’ At that moment the spirit left her.”

It is the name of the King who is to be obeyed, as it says in Phil. 2:10, “… at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth….”

Jesus promised us: “And I will do whatever you ask in my name….”  John 14:13

The name of  Jesus is power, light, wisdom, a doorway to grace and an honor to the Father. Let’s remember that and live/think accordingly!

Picture: what’s in the name of Jesus?

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Then Wonderful Names of God

What’s in a name? A person? A world? the Universe? Eternity?

The names of Godard all of these. Take some moments and think about the rich depth of meaning in the names of God. This is your God in all His glorious Majesty, Mighty and Magnificence!
May be an image of text that says 'The Elohim ("God") Gord Gen.l:i The powerful creator, the strong and faithful one who swears and is able to keep His word Jehovah Gen. (YAHWEH) ("LORD") Gen.2:4_ The selfexistant LORD who is holy, hates and judges sin, but loves sinners. Adonai ("Lord") Gen 15:2 Lord, Sovereign, the Master who deserves absolute obedience, promises all needs to be met, gives direction and provision © 1998ADS'97 998 Page d3'
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Light of the Gospel

Light is such a powerful factor with God and is mentioned often:

“In him (Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4,5)

“The true light (Jesus) that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” John 1:9 (note that word “everyone”)

Satan knows the importance of light: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Cor 4:4

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Pet 2:9

“…the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

“You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” 1 Thes 5:5

And Peter Adds a beautiful Description of light in our lives: “…pay attention to the prophetic message (of Christ), as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

Here’s how we can apply this emphasis: ever walking in the light, moving forward in the light of Scripture:

“But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.” To live without Christ is to live in darkness, where people can’t see the pitfalls Satan has for us. So they keep making the same mistakes over and over.

In contrast “The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” Proverbs 4:18,19.

As we come to Christ, it is the first light of morning, then as we walk with Him, the Son rises and gives us more and more light. Let’s go on with Him, ever more into the LIGHT!

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The Outcomes

Now for the climax in 2 Peter 1.

After urging us to add to our faith knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly love and agape love, Peter goes on  to tell of the rewards for doing this–great rewards.
 2 Peter 1:8, “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
There is the prescription for spiritual success in life! Adding and using these qualities which God has provided for us will make us effective and productive in our walk with Him. What believer wouldn’t want that?
 
Then in verse 10, is the second reward. “For if you do these things, you will never stumble….” By adding these qualities, we will be guided around the traps, pitfalls and  dangers in life. We be protected and carried forward by His power, brining honor to Him.
Then third, in verse 11 comes the final reward, “…you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” As we cooperate and obey Him, when we get to Heaven there will be a rich celebration for us. Maybe a choir of angles, a large orchestra, a parade. It won’t be something small. But if we don’t add these qualities, we will get in, but without any fanfare, kind of being let in by the back door. Which would you prefer?
 
God is so good to us, laying things out so clearly, and making them doable. Let’s join Him, “making every effort to add to our faith……”
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Picture: And our arrival in Heaven will be a rich celebration–if we make every effort to add…..
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Add Well!

More on 2 Peter 1:5-7

We’ve looked at the first four  of the seven gifts God has given to add to our faith (virtue, knowledge, self-control and endurance).
The next quality is godliness, something not hard to define. It is being like God, thinking his  thoughts, developing His qualities in my life, like grace, mercy, goodness, kindness and forgiveness.
Godlines comes in the list right after endurance because, as we endure through difficult times, as we look to God for help, insight, direction, transformation come. As it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18,
“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
So as we gaze on Him in our troubles, He makes us more godly! Without suffering, difficulties, problems this would not happen as much.
 
Then come brotherly kindness. Why does it  come so far down the list? Because we need to have the other qualities to fully love our brothers and sisters, who can be prickly, difficult and troublesome (as can we be at times). But if we have added the first 5 qualities, we are equipped to deal with difficult situations. The key point is mentioned later in the chapter: whoever does not have them [these qualities] is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. If we remember how much we have been forgiven, it is much easier to forgive others and love them.
 
And last comes love, but not just any love, this is agape love, the love of God that goes on no matter how we respond. And this is the love we are to have not just for believers, but for the world, the lost, hurting people in the world. It is God’s desire that all be saved, and He gives us a part in this. As we love others we will share our faith with them.
 
I would suggest  that you begin to add these qualities by praying through them each morning, asking God to help you add them.
 
Tomorrow we will look at the amazing results of consistency adding these seven qualities.
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Adding with all desire

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

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

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.