Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – 2 Peter 1:1-11
Set – 2 Peter 1; John 1
Go! – 2 Peter 1-3; John 1
2 Peter 1:1-11
1 Simon Peter, a servant and emissary of Jesus the Anointed One, to those who have received the same precious faith we share through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus the Anointed. 2 I wish you a full measure of grace and peace as you grow in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has given us everything we need to experience life and to reflect God’s true nature through the knowledge of the One who called us by His glory and virtue. 4 Through these things, we have received God’s great and valuable promises, so we might escape the corruption of worldly desires and share in the divine nature.
5 To achieve this, you will need to add virtue to your faith, and then knowledge to your virtue; 6 to knowledge, add discipline; to discipline, add endurance; to endurance, add godliness; 7 to godliness, add affection for others as sisters and brothers; and to affection, at last, add love. 8 For if you possess these traits and multiply them, then you will never be ineffective or unproductive in your relationship with our Lord Jesus the Anointed; 9 but if you don’t have these qualities, then you will be nearsighted and blind, forgetting that your past sins have been washed away. 10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, work that much harder to confirm that God has called you and claimed you. If you do this, then you will never fall along the way; 11 and you can be sure that you will be richly welcomed into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
I talked a few days ago about Paul’s words to you to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Peter gives you a formula to help you in those efforts with the words you heard today. This effort in faith requires character building. I want you to want Me as I’ve told you many times. I want you to desire to be like Me. To be one of My disciples. To be a disciple takes work, devotion, commitment. It comes about by a change of habits and lifestyle. It takes changing your very character. I help you with the process, but you also play a part in that transformation in your willingness to let Me transform you.
Peter reminds you of the process that builds character in you as your faith in Me grows. He tells you to add virtue to your faith. What is virtue? Behavior showing high moral standards. Let others see your good behavior. Then to virtue add knowledge. Know good from evil by knowing My word. Knowing My word, you will begin to know Me. Then to knowledge add discipline. You must discipline your mind and body to obey you to keep from falling to the temptations Satan puts in your path. Discipline keeps you on the narrow path of obedience that My followers trod.
After discipline, add endurance to your bag of character traits. Compared to eternity, life is very short, but each day seems long when in the middle of it. To follow Me, though, you will need endurance. The race is not for the faint of heart. Next add godliness to your portfolio of character traits. Godliness only comes by letting Me live within you and transforming your mind to Mine. Then show affection toward others. This gets rid of the selfishness that springs up inside you when you focus on the needs of others rather than your own.
Finally, to affection add love, the real key to following in My footsteps. When you truly love, the other characteristics will also mature and flow through you unhendered. Love will become the foundation of your character and you’ll demonstrate it continually in your behavior toward others and toward Me. And, as Peter tells you, you will never become ineffective or unproductive in your efforts for Me with these characteristics in your life. You will become who I made you to be and accomplish My purpose for you.
Will these changes come easily or quickly? Not necessarily. I Might have you working on some of these character traits for a lifetime, but never give up. I can change you if you’ll just listen to Me and walk the path I lay out before you. Trust Me to give you the strength you need to become the person I made you to be.
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