A Call to Holiness pt 5

01-26-2019

Like Precious Faith!

I have decided to skip past 1 Peter 5 because it is written to the Elders/Overseers of the body of Christ. Although (as an elder in the church) I have studied it out extensively, I believe this is a teaching for “in” the church, not really for blogging. Maybe I will someday but not in the series.  So, we will go straight into 2 Peter. 

I have discovered that Apostle Peter was just amazing. He was able to overcome so much and become a powerful, atmosphere shifting, glory carrier for the Kingdom of God! Oh, do I ever want to be like him!!

Today I am only going to cover verses 1-4 in 2 Peter 1, there is a lot of depth to this and we do not want to skip over any of it!

Over the last year almost a lot of my teaching has shifted to kingdom. The reason for this is because this is our ‘WHY’, this is why the body of Christ is on this earth! We are here to bring the culture of the kingdom to the earth, that’s it, point blank. This of course will be done in so many different ways as everyone is gifted and created differently to carry out God’s purpose and that’s one of the coolest things, I think God could do! Think about it, He created each of us with our own little piece to the kingdom puzzle, I like to think of this as my ‘what’ – I know ‘why’ I am here, but ‘what’ is my personal part? Why would He create us with our own little piece? So that we would learn that it takes team work, we NEED each other and that no one person was placed here to do things alone!! We are referred to as THE BODY OF CHRIST, not the lone rangers.

This kingdom business would be so much easier if we could grasp the knowledge of our personal puzzle piece, our “what”, then team it up with those God connects us with.

In order for us to carry out God’s purpose on this earth we need to understand that God has given us all that we need to do so. This is what I believe Peter is trying to tell us here in todays study. It is a walk of faith which we need to grow in every single day! This letter is written to those who have obtained like precious faith by the righteousness of our Father and Jesus Christ.

What on earth is ‘like precious’ faith? When you look that up in the Greek, it actually means of equal value or equal honor. Peter is saying that those of us who walk in faith equal to theirs. The ESV version says it like this: “To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours…” The Apostles carried a level of faith that I don’t believe many of us have even barely tapped into. I’m not talking of faith for money, faith for new things, faith for what many of the people of this world and church believe they have faith for. I’m talking about a faith that ushers in the glory of God to a level that none have seen. A faith that believes without a single ounce of doubt that God is going to heal that person in the wheel chair that can’t walk, that the cancer in a person’s body can literally disappear in the presence of His glory, faith so strong that we KNOW the divine power and influence we carry! That kind of faith.

Peter goes on to say, “Grace and peace be multiplied (lavished) to you IN the rich knowledge (‘the knowing’, discernment, to know WELL)  of God and of Jesus Christ, 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…”

Are you seeing what Peter is saying? I want to go back to walking in the holiness of God for a minute. To walk in the true holiness of God we have to know the truth of who He is, and we must grasp ahold of the knowledge of who Jesus Christ is IN US! It is only IN and THROUGH the knowledge of Him that we are able to mature in our faith and receive DIVINE POWER, GRACE and PEACE… This takes ‘like precious’ faith!

Why do we need His divine power working in our lives? Look at the verse again… “His divine power has given us ALL THINGS that pertain to life (zoe- vitality, to live to the fullest) and godliness (holiness, piety).” It is through His divine power that we are able to live the life He has given us to its fullest and it is through His divine power that we learn to walk the kingdom life of holiness, signs, wonders, miracles and the supernatural!! This is the power Peter and the other Apostles walked in and much of the church is missing.  This is the power promised to those who KNOW Him!!! I want to know Him more and more! This is the power that directs us to our personal puzzle piece, our “what” – our calling, in the kingdom mandate!

Each one of us were called by glory and virtue! Did you know that?

Peter says, “He called us by glory (honor, pleasure) and virtue (excellence), by which have been given to us exceedingly, great and precious promises, that through these (great and precious promises) you may be partakers of HIS DIVINE NATURE (HIS KINGDOM) and it is in His divine nature that we escape the corruption in the world.”

His great and precious promises are listed all throughout the Word of God. These promises offer us the glory and virtue of Christ as the basis for our growing participation in His divine nature, our growing a participation in His kingdom, our maturing into our “what”!

My gosh, there is so much packed in this little piece of 2 Peter, so much! One of the greatest promises is John 14:23 “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and MAKE OUR HOME WITH (IN) HIM.”

That promise right there is one of glory and virtue! It is through Him IN US that we are able to know Him and become a new creation in Christ, letting go of the old behaviors (corruption of the world) and becoming more like HIM… Christlike…. His Divine Nature…. Holy… Glory Carriers…. Divine Power Conduits…. Kingdom Power Houses with a “what” that will not stop! Paul was a great example of this… That man, Saul at the time, had a passion for killing Christians, I mean… he was ruthless in his pursuit to prove he was right… all in the name of ‘religion’ but he had an encounter with Jesus Christ that changed him forever. He was able to take that same passion of ‘proving’ his own truth and use it to prove THE Truth! Through the knowledge of Jesus Christ IN HIM, he found his “what” in the kingdom puzzle and he never stopped!

And all of this is done through like precious faith!! Faith that is equal to that of the first church!!!!

Father teach us to walk in ‘like precious’ faith! Let the truths of Your word soak deep into the recesses of our soul (our mind, our will, our emotions). We know our spirit man is renewed in you and the faith is already there because You are IN US so God, we declare that our souls line up and grasp every ounce of truth!! Father we want to be a people holy before You, a people that carries Your glory and walks so close to you that we stay under your shadow, a people that KNOWS You and walks IN and THROUGH that knowledge becoming more and more like You! We will walk in Your divine nature, divine power, glory, holiness and be Kingdom warriors with a passion that never stops growing!! Reunite us to our first love, You and You alone! In Jesus name, Amen.