“You May Have Peace” Part Four

Note: To get a better understanding, read “You May Have Peace” Part Three.

It could be, or course, that your present disquietude is due not to past sins but to present temptations. You are worried lest you may fall into some trap the enemy of all good is laying for you. But here again God has made provision for the dispelling of your fears.

“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation,” says the apostle Peter (2 Peter 2:9). He is right. God does know how to do it. As Jude says, He “is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (verse 24).

But, you say, maybe I shall sin again. Suppose you do. This will not take God by surprise. He has made provision for such a slip on your part. Should your conscience ever tell you that you have done something displeasing to Him, remember that you have “an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). He who died on Calvary for our redemption is now “even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:34).

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (verse 26).

So we have strong help in heaven. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who together form the Holy Trinity of love, are eager to help us in our struggle with sin. They yearn for our victory. All the angels, too, are dedicated to be “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Hebrews 1:14).

There is nothing God is not willing to do to help those who have surrendered their lives to Him. With such ample assurances why worry so?

From “Your Bible and You”, by Arthur S. Maxwell, pgs. 143-145.

End of Part Four.

“Partakers Of The Divine Nature”

Morning

“Partakers of the divine nature.” 2 Peter 1:4

To be a partaker of the divine nature is not, of course, to become God. That cannot be. The essence of Deity is not to be participated in by the creature. Between the creature and the Creator there must ever be a gulf fixed in respect of essence; but as the first man Adam was made in the image of God, so we, by the renewal of the Holy Spirit, are in a yet diviner sense made in the image of the Most High, and are partakers of the divine nature. We are, by grace, made like God. “God is love”; we become love–“He that loveth is born of God.” God is truth; we become true, and we love that which is true: God is good, and he makes us good by his grace, so that we become the pure in heart who shall see God. Moreover, we become partakers of the divine nature in even a higher sense than this–in fact, in as lofty a sense as can be conceived, short of our being absolutely divine. Do we not become members of the body of the divine person of Christ? Yes, the same blood which flows in the head flows in the hand: and the same life which quickens Christ quickens his people, for “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Nay, as if this were not enough, we are married unto Christ. He hath betrothed us unto himself in righteousness and in faithfulness, and he who is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Oh! marvellous mystery! we look into it, but who shall understand it? One with Jesus–so one with him that the branch is not more one with the vine than we are a part of the Lord, our Saviour, and our Redeemer! While we rejoice in this, let us remember that those who are made partakers of the divine nature will manifest their high and holy relationship in their intercourse with others, and make it evident by their daily walk and conversation that they have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. O for more divine holiness of life!

From “Morning And Evening”, by Charles Spurgeon

Devotion is from http://www.biblegateway.com

“Fellowship With God”

I have loved you even as the Father has loved Me. Remain in My love.  John 15:9

The three Persons in the Godhead are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit–each one is different from the others. God desires to reveal Himself as a person. Each one of us is an individual distinct from others and standing in certain relationships to others. God will reveal Himself to us as a person, and we are called to enter into fellowship with Him.

God greatly desires this relationship with us, but sin has come between us and our God. Even in Christians who know God, there is often great ignorance and even indifference to this personal relationship of love to God.

People believe that at conversion their sins are forgiven, that God accepts them so that they may go to heaven, and that they should try to do God’s will. But they do not realize that, even as a father and his child on earth enjoy being together, so they must have this intimate fellowship with God each day.

Our relationship to Christ rests on His deep, tender love to us. We are not capable on our own to render Him this love, but the Holy Spirit will do the work in us. Meditate quietly on this thought: “And because they love Me, My Father will love them, and I will love them” (John 14:21). Take time to experience this personal fellowship.

From “God’s Word For Growing In Prayer: Devotional Thoughts On Talking With God”, Compiled From The Works Of Andrew Murray, pg. 10