What Do I Need?

I'm reading 2 Peter .....look at these verses:

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and goodness...that you may participate  in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, 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, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love...

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive....

But if anyone does not have them he is nearsighted and blind and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins...2 Peter 1:3-9

All the times I have read this passage -- and now this thought jumps out at me: To lead holy lives we must constantly remember that we have been cleansed of all our sin -- I'm doing that this week - reflecting, not on my own failures and weaknesses, but on His perfect atonement -- remembering, not where I am, but where I came from - not wallowing in it - but glorifying in it!

That's how we 'participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world'!

The key to acquiring those godly qualities listed, in increasing measure, is to remember where we came from and the price our Redeemer paid!

So those times I recognize that  I am not growing in those areas of holy living, then I must stop and ponder: He has given us everything we need to live
the life He wants us to live. He brought us from where we were for that purpose.

It's all about the cross. That's where I came from and where He found me.


Participating in the 'divine nature' - just how amazing is that?

Near the cross, O Lamb of God

Bring its scenes before me

Help me walk from day to day

With its shadow o'er me.

Promoted to Servanthood

And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said.

He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.

Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.

The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.


Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him.

So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD commanded Moses.

Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt -- to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land.

For no one has ever shown the mighty power and the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
                                                     -- Deuteronomy 34:5-12

This is the only passage where Moses is called "the servant of the LORD."

Just a few verses before, in Chapter 33:1, he is called "the man of God."

Being called a "man of God" is a high calling -- reflecting exacting standards and lofty position.

But is being titled "servant of God" an even greater
distinction?

In the Chumash (a traditional Jewish commentary)
the sages write:

     When he was alive he was called man of God,
     but in death he is called servant for the first time,
     to allude to a new and higher status, for a  
       servant is permitted, as it were, to enter the
     chamber of the king.

     So, too, once the impediment of his body was
     removed from him, Moses' soul was able to
     perceive even more than before.

     A servant, literally a slave, is unique in that
     he is the property of his master and has no
     independent identity or legal status, for he
     lives totally for his owner.

     In receiving this title, Moses was given the
     highest possible compliment: he lived
     completely and solely for the sake of God.

His Banner of Love

He has taken me to the banqueting hall,

and his banner over me is love.

  -- Song of Songs 2:4

So many vibrant images in this single verse - we see  the "not so special" Shulamite girl who gave her heart to the young shepherd. When he returns for her she realizes that he is King Solomon, and he takes her back to the palace, into the banqueting hall, and she sits under his banner.

We also imagine great celebrations throughout history when the conquering armies sat in castles, enjoying feasts of victory, with their colorful banners posted all around them.

And on battles fields, banners flying high over the hastily erected tents and barracks of the invading and defending armies.

Sometimes the banners bore family crests, or special symbols of power and feats of valor - like St. George and the Dragon.

We picture great armies going into battle with their banners waving proudly above them.

(Has an army ever marched without its own banner?)

Maybe we see soldiers hoisting the flag at Iwo Jima,
or the dusty, shell-scorched dawn sky over Ft. McHenry when Francis Scott Key waited anxiously to see if "that star-spangled banner" still waved "o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

Ever notice in Texas how often you see the "Lone Star" displayed, not only on flag poles but in frames on walls and on license plates and fences and barns and buildings...even painted by pedicurists on my sister's big toe nail?

Is there anyone in the whole world who does not recognize the symbol of the Lone Star State? (I mean, who even knows what the flags other states look like?)

In earlier times, an army's banner was its symbol of conquest.  In 1865, the Confederate flag was lowered in Richmond, Virginia, and the Union US flag hoisted in its place.

The banner is also a symbol of protection. A tourist or ex-patriot in a foreign land looks to the US Embassy and its American flag for help and protection. The US embassy is supposed to be a refuge for Americans, and often for others who need a place of safety.

And the flag is also the emblem of enlistment, flying proudly over the place where volunteers can join the army. 

That "banner of love" the Shulamite girl sat under at King Solomon's banqueting table is floating over us today.

It is still a symbol of conquest. Christ has won us in a great battle for our souls. We now belong to Him.

     For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this
       is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith. Who is
       he that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus
       is the Son of God.
                      -- 1 John 5:4-5

It is still a symbol of protection. "My sheep listen to My voice," Jesus said.

     I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life and   
      they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My
      My Father's hand.
               -- John 10:27-28

And it is still the emblem of enlistment.  God's army
is a volunteer regiment. Banners are not hidden - they are waved proudly!

     I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your
       bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God --
       this is your spiritual act of worship.
                    -- Romans 12:1

What's on His banner? A simple cross - the cross of love.

"His banner over me is love."

And the banqueting hall? It's in our future.

     Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage feast of  
       the Lamb....Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
       Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the
       wedding of the Lamb has come and His bride has made
       herself ready.....
                -- Revelation 19

I opened my invitation and sent in my RSVP -- I will be there at the marriage feast under His banner of love -- will I see you there?
               

    

Faith not Moods - C S Lewis

Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding onto things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.

For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes.

I know that by experience.

Now that I am a Christian,  I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable.

This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway.

That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods 'where they get off', you will never be a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but a creature of dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion.

Consequently one must train their habit of Faith.

The first step is to recognize the fact that your moods change.

The next is to make sure that, if you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day.

That is why daily prayers and religious reading and church-going are necessary parts of the Christian life.

We have to be continually reminded of what we believe.

Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind.

It must be fed.

And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?

--From Mere Christianity, Book 3, Chapter 11,
                  by C S Lewis

No Better News!

                                                                

                                                         There is no better news!

Perfect day to read these words:

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.

God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesús Christ.

This is what He wanted to do and it gave Him great pleasure.

So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong  to His dear Son."

                                --- Ephesians 1:3-6

(I told you - perfect message for this day and every day!)