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| Adding To Our Faith |
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3 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, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
Ingredient #1: ADD TO YOUR FAITH: MORAL EXCELLENCE (VIRTUE)
Step one for the recipe for godliness is "Moral Excellence" Meaning that we are pure, we are good, we are upright, and people of integrity. Christians say they want to be like Jesus, well then Jesus was without sin. Even Pilate concluded that "He could find no fault in Him." I understand that it is a work in progress that we are not perfect however, we can not use that as an excuse for our short-comings. If you know it is wrong, it needs to be dealt with and improved upon. We can't say, "Well, that's just the way I am and God loves me the way I am." Yes, He will always love you, but just like the Prodigal son who returned to his father from a far away country the Father did not expect his son to remain in the condition that the son had gathered at the pig farm, no the Father said, "Get him a robe." When we we come to God we come just as we are, but we have to allow Him to clean us up. So the first step to the recipe of godliness is MORAL EXCELLENCE.
INGREDIENT #2: ADD TO YOUR FAITH SELF-CONTROL
Even as I write this, I am well aware, that this issue in my own life is a glaring weakness. Why has it become acceptable for some sins in Christian circles yet others are considered horrible? Without getting into specifics, I hope you know where I am going with this. So many of us want to excuse our behavior blaming it on others, or on our genetics, on our up bringing or lack of one etc..but when it comes down to it, we all make our own decisions. The decisions that we have made in life has brought us to where we are today. If you have not gained control over certain sin-habits in your life, chances are that you don't want to change bad enough. The Prophet Daniel, one of my favorite Old Testament heroes "Purposed in his heart, that he would not defile himself." We have to make a decision to improve our spiritual life. Yes, it is hard work, but that is where the Holy Spirit's power comes in. As we yield our will and body over to the obedience of God we will experience the power of the Holy Spirit to say "No" to the things we need to say "No" and "Yes" to what we need to say "Yes" to.
INGREDIENT #3: ADD TO YOUR FAITH PATIENCE.
Patience is the capacity to put up with pain, troubles, difficulties, and hardships without complaint or ill temper! I have heard it said so much from the pulpit that it makes me queasy. "Don't pray for patience." Patience is something that Christians need to develop. We in the 21st century are so used to quick results. I remember when we got our first microwave! My mom was so excited! Imagine having food prepared in minutes?! I don't know when the "Drive-Thurs" became popular, but I know that we can't live without them now! My customers at work, have a conniption fit if they can't reach me instantly! I have an office phone, a cell phone, and email. I don't want a crackberry but they are going to make me get one soon! But our society is so impatient! The Bible tells us in the book of James to "let patience have it's perfect work that we might be mature and complete lacking nothing." Imagine that? The fruit of patience brings maturity! We quote this verse all the time, but I wonder if we really understand what it means to "wait upon the Lord" Isa 40:31. I used to work at a military credit union and the soldiers favorite saying was "Hurry up and wait" They understood that everything had a process! It is the same with your Christian life. Don't be looking for Microwave Godliness a spiritual giant in a few days, or months or even years. It takes time and we need to learn to develop PATIENCE.
INGREDIENT #4: ADD TO OUR FAITH: PERSERVERENCE
Perseverance is the quality of being persistent and consistent. The ability to resist temptation and to keep going when the urge is there to quit. How bad do we need this characteristic? So many Christians don't experience personal victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil because they are unwilling to stick it out when times get tough. How close are many of us victory?
We don't always know do we? But, if we quit and give up we certainly will not experience victory then. The Bible exhorts us: "Do not grow weary in well doing for in due season you will reap if you don't faint (quit and give up)." Hang in there! It may be bad, but it could be a lot worse! You have Jesus, you have one another, you have the comfort of the Holy Spirit and the precious promises of God. Hold in there, and lift up thin eyes for your help comes from the LORD!
ADD TO YOUR FAITH PERSERVERENCE!
INGREDIENT #5: ADD TO YOUR FAITH GODLINESS
Here is your definition of godliness: (I always wonder if this should be capitalized or not LOL) ready?: Christ-likeness pious devotion reverent, loyal obedient and earnest. If you possess this quality you are definitely a warrior! Our faith is based on a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you love Him, you will find that His commandments are not difficult or burdensome to keep. Rather you will find that it will be your greatest aspiration to please Him and love Him back. Relationship is built over time, and it built through crisis! Every relationship when it is tested by hard times will soon find out what it is made of. As we persevere through the hard times we will find that our relationship with Jesus will become more and more precious and no amount of silver or gold could ever replace it! ADD TO YOUR FAITH GODLINESS!
INGREDIENDT #6: ADD TO YOUR FAITH: KINDNESS
Kindness is being sympathetic, helpful, friendly, thoughtful, and gentle. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians: "Be kind one to another, tender-hearted." I imagine from what I have learned about Jesus that He was kind-hearted. Look how he dealt with the lepers and the infirmed? Look at how he dealt with the hurting, the grieving and the outcast? I am sure it bothered Him very much that there were 5,000 plus people following Him, yet them having nothing o eat. Look how he spoke to the thief on the cross? We are admonished to "Do good to all, but especially to the household of faith." Wouldn't it be a better world, if we would just take the opportunity to be kind. I think that kindness is the one thing that we can do that will bring more attention to Jesus than anything else we can do because kindness is so rare and unexpected in our society. ADD TO YOUR FAITH: KINDNESS
INGREDIENT #7: ADD TO YOUR FAITH: LOVE
Wow! Why did Peter throw that in there? Because love is the greatest gift of all. By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another. Since God is love, it is only "spiritual/natural that we His people should reflect that spirit of love." Love is patient, love is kind, love doesn't seek it's own, it does not behave rudely. Love keeps no record of wrong, it thinks no evil, speaks no evil and bears all things. Above all things we should be known as people of love. This love comes directly from God! As we learn to accept His love in our life, we are then able to share that love with others and for them to experience the love of God for themselves. The final and most important ingredient to this recipe for Christ-likeness is: LOVE!
I know this is a longer than usual message. 7 items that need to be added to our faith! So, who we become in Jesus Christ depends on how much we are willing to diligently add these principles to our life. Peter promises us that if we will add these things then we will: beneither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we put that is forward terms: You will be fruitful in your knowledge of the LORD. To know the LORD will change you for sure from the inside out! |
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| To add a comment to "Adding To Our Faith" |
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| September 01, 2008 |
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Very very deep........patience is my problem, LOL.
Ah, the last ingredient LOVE.....leaving love out would be like making bread, you add all of the ingredients and leave out the yeast (love).....it's just a lump of dough, it doesn't rise :)
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| September 01, 2008 |
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Brother Todd, excellent blog. This is most helpful... thank you for your diligence to help us learn.
you have a good heart,to want us to grow in our faith.... thank you for sharing this post.
God bless! |
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| September 01, 2008 |
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Cinderelly: I think we all have "problems" that is why we need to work at it and yes! the greatest of these is love!
Marilyn: I am glad that it is helpful to you. It is a lot to read as it is to write. It is my blessing to share! |
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| September 02, 2008 |
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"What makes us different is the degree of diligence we have applied to this 'great salvation' that has been given to us." WOW! You said a mouthful, Brother Todd!
I love this passage of scripture, because it contains the very DNA of a Christ driven life. Thank you for breaking it apart into individual building blocks...as I'm reading this, I'm thinking...I need to work here and here...awesome! |
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| September 02, 2008 |
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| Thanks for sharing this powerful lesson Brother Todd...Our walk with God is truly indeed a growing process, and our maturity does not happen over night. Many in the Body of Christ have been deceived into believing that all they have to do is come to Jesus, and accept Him into their hearts and that is all that is required...WRONG...there are some things that need to be done. The straight and narrow road involves sacrifice...it involves discipline..it involves spending quality time in the Word of God, and prayer.....and even then after all of this...God requires us to do something with with it....Oh yeah it may not be easy, and many times you may have to walk alone...but one thing is for sure... it will most definately be profitable to the Kingdom of God ;o) |
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| September 02, 2008 |
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| Birdie: I too like passages that are helpful in understanding what I am supposed to do. As we go down the list I am sure we all can find areas to work on. That is the beauty of the Christian life. We aren't as bad as we once were, but we all still have a ways to go. |
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| September 02, 2008 |
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| Marjay: That growing process is called sanctification. That means we are progressively growing in Christ. God certainly has done a lot for us, but we too must act on this great gift that has been given to us. How can we neglect such a great salvation? |
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| September 02, 2008 |
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Amen, again a deeper walk is in my life....thank you God, I need you Father to show me how to walk this in your way.
Thanks brother~ |
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