Friday – September 30, 2016
Praise the Lord that our Heavenly Father so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son for you and for me. You talk about love, this is love, sin is such a repugnance to God yet He gladly bore the shame because on the other side of the shame was a family that included you and me. Let us all be reminded to pray for the Church of Jesus Christ. To be clear once again, I am not talking about Church buildings, I am not talking about any denomination, I am talking about those who call Jesus Lord and have entered the Kingdom of God. The last few days I have been talking about our knowledge of Him and receiving the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Ephesians 1:17 (KJV)
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
I for one know that I want to increase my knowledge of Him, with all my heart I want the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in all fullness. I don’t just want rote knowledge, I want clear and precise knowledge that is at the very core of Truth so that as led of the Spirit of God I can operate as Jesus did in all wisdom and revelation. Let’s take a look at how the Apostle Peter approached this topic, a necessary area for us all.
2 Peter 1:2-8 (KJV)
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice right off the bat that grace and peace are multiplied by the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. It would immediately seem to be a worthwhile endeavor even to the casual observer to set about increasing our knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. Grace is the work of the Holy Spirit on our behalf when we are in right standing with God. Peace is the knowledge and reality of our wholeness in Christ Jesus. We are one with God, therefore, however any situation affects Him is how it should be affecting us. Can anyone reading this see a downside to increasing their knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord? This process of course is done because we are pursuing Him and want to please Him. Of course we know that pleasing Him will have an abundant payoff but we have to make the effort, take the first step. Can you imagine, the Holy Spirit Himself working on our behalf and the progressive unveiling of our place in God causing our faith to rise and we start to ignore the circumstances of life, which is to say they are not the focus. We can walk above the circumstances just as Peter walked above the waves until he focused on the waves.
2 Peter 1:3 tells us: 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
His divine power (Holy Spirit) will give us everything we need for this life and to be like God in this life but we must increase in our knowledge of Him. God has called us to glory (experience all of His goodness) and to virtue (excellence). All that we do should reflect a level of excellence not seen in the world and the goodness of God in that excellence should be readily seen.
2 Peter 1:4 tells us: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
God has given us obtainable promises and they are obtained through our increasing knowledge of Him and the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we can be like Him, a partaker of the divine nature. The obtaining of these promises also empower us to separate from the world and lusts of the flesh, the eye, and the pride of life that bring all kinds of corruption into our lives. What a good God, He has provided all that is needed to live like Him NOW! Remember this is all associated with our choosing to increase in our knowledge of Him and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Peter then gives us a list of things that bring us into the very highest functions in the Kingdom of God.
2 Peter 1:5: And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
He tells us that all of this will require diligence, faith, excellence, knowledge (notice the position of knowledge), self-control, patience, godliness (set apart for His use), kindness, and finally love (agape). The final common pathway is love, faith powered by love in the presence of diligence, excellence, knowledge, self-control, patience, a setting of aside of our fleshly agenda for God’s agenda with kindness to all. So what is the overall effect for the Kingdom, for you?
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Pursue the knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ and barrenness will be turned into fruitfulness for the Kingdom of God.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
