Some roads in life are more comfortable than others; some are incredibly difficult. Exercising faith in God develops good character traits to make it successfully. Without the belief that God has good things for us, we face the prospect of failure. Faith is powerful and helps us walk positively through any circumstance. Hope helps us believe God’s promise for what we can’t see.
“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm,” the writer to the Hebrews penned, “for God can be trusted to keep his promise” (Hebrews 10:23, NLT). We can trust God to keep His promise.
“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life,” Peter wrote. “We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4, NLT).
God has given us everything we need for His righteousness to live in us. AND we received "all of this" we need the day we believed in Him. We received Jesus by faith, and we also received everything we need to live in His power. God has also given us great and precious promises that enable us to share in His divine nature. But if we don’t know what we have been given we live defeated and powerless lives? How do we grow to understand what we have already received by coming to know Jesus? We exercise faith and allow the Holy Spirit to renew the way we think. We learn to see from God’s perspective instead of what we see in the natural. The full righteousness of God lives in us, but we can’t know what that means until we allow our faith to transform our understanding.
“For this very reason,” Peter continued, “make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love (2 Peter 1:5-7, NLT).
Make every effort to add to your faith. Not just attempt, and then when it gets too challenging, give up. You decide to add these virtues in your life, but GOD provides the power which fosters personal growth and results in spiritual understanding. You decide to grow. You decide to change. You decide to forgive. You decide to persevere. You decide to be patient. You decide to surrender to His hand and allow Him to mold your mind. HE empowers your choices, and carries you in His strength—your perception changes to His. You are transformed in the spirit of your mind. You receive the mind of Christ. Then peace is not just a dream. You discover it more quickly. Fear is defeated more easily. Walking the road of life is easier because your eyes are not on the road but God.
Life will always present trials. Whatever you face will either spur you on or hold you back. Christ promises success, but you decide to believe what you have received. Without allowing the Truth of His Word to impact your mind, you will not understand the wonderful gift of righteousness He has given you. His promises are true, but if you don’t know them, you remain in bondage. Faith comes by hearing the Word. Knowledge of the Word sets you free. And faith gives wings to His promises.
“The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Peter wrote in conclusion. “But those who fail to develop in this way are short-sighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins” (2 Peter 1:8-9, NLT).
Are you forgiven but don’t experience freedom from guilt and shame? Do you live in bondage to fear? Are you in bondage to who you were before you knew Jesus? Maybe you haven’t allowed the Holy Spirit to help you grow in spiritual understanding of what Jesus has actually done for you. Don’t remain short-sighted in your knowledge and understanding of the grace of Jesus. Make every effort, and HE will transform your understanding. The glass is no longer half-empty or even half-full. It is overflowing.
© 2019 Lynn Lacher
www.lynnlacher.com2019/10/overflowing.html
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