They came out of great tribulation
1 year ago
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Daniel Meets His Great-Great Uncle and Aunt
My uncle and aunt from the Portland, Oregon area came up for a visit this afternoon to meet Daniel. Thought it would be fun for you to see a few pictures... The cute red-head is my cousin Carla. Daniel was ready for a nap by the time he made it to her lap...and he was the farthest away from his mama too! Fun afternoon!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Make Every Effort ...
The believer has been given such an abundance of divine grace. God's power grants us everything pertaining to life and godliness. Such blessing calls us to total dedication to Him. The Christian life cannot be lived to the honor of God without effort. The Holy Spirit through Peter tells us we are to make every effort towards these seven virtues...
We should make every effort to increase in our knowledge of God's character and His will. This requires diligent study, setting aside time to be in His Word. We should be after the pursuit of truth in the Word of God.
We should make every effort to hold ourselves in, to strengthen our power of self-control. (It begins with how we think...)
We should make every effort to enlarge our capacity for patience in doing what is right, not giving into temptation, to have steadfast endurance under adversity. We want to be willing to die before we give in. Perseverance is a virtue that can endure with vibrant hope, when the mind is set with an eternal perspective.
We should make every effort to live reverently, loyally, and obediently toward God. We want to make every effort to develop a heart for God.
We should make every effort to grow warm in our affection for fellow believers, to be concerned for other's needs.
We should make every effort to exercise "you before me" love, sacrificial love, the love of the will.
These qualities are not merely to be possessed but are to be held in increasing measure. There is to be a growth in grace on our part. If these things have stopped becoming our earnest concern, we have forgotten the beauty of the Lord Jesus Himself. We have forgotten the joy of being forgiven. If the flame of effort is on low or has grown cold, we can ignite it by setting our minds on Him. He loves us with lavish grace...we should love Him with maximum effort. Go all out for Him!
2 Peter 1:11 - "For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you."
- Moral excellence
- Knowledge
- Self-control
- Perseverance
- Godliness
- Brotherly kindness
- Love
We should make every effort to increase in our knowledge of God's character and His will. This requires diligent study, setting aside time to be in His Word. We should be after the pursuit of truth in the Word of God.
We should make every effort to hold ourselves in, to strengthen our power of self-control. (It begins with how we think...)
We should make every effort to enlarge our capacity for patience in doing what is right, not giving into temptation, to have steadfast endurance under adversity. We want to be willing to die before we give in. Perseverance is a virtue that can endure with vibrant hope, when the mind is set with an eternal perspective.
We should make every effort to live reverently, loyally, and obediently toward God. We want to make every effort to develop a heart for God.
We should make every effort to grow warm in our affection for fellow believers, to be concerned for other's needs.
We should make every effort to exercise "you before me" love, sacrificial love, the love of the will.
These qualities are not merely to be possessed but are to be held in increasing measure. There is to be a growth in grace on our part. If these things have stopped becoming our earnest concern, we have forgotten the beauty of the Lord Jesus Himself. We have forgotten the joy of being forgiven. If the flame of effort is on low or has grown cold, we can ignite it by setting our minds on Him. He loves us with lavish grace...we should love Him with maximum effort. Go all out for Him!
2 Peter 1:11 - "For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you."
Friday, March 26, 2010
"In your faith supply moral excellence..."
A person's response to God's election and the convicting work of the Holy Spirit is faith. Faith, the capacity to believe, is the expression of the human side of salvation. God must grant the capacity to believe however, because man is dead to spiritual things, because of his sin - Eph. 2:1. (When thinking on this one time while my mom was visiting, I asked her if a dead person can do anything, just to see how she would respond. She came right back with this quick wit, which is so my mom, "A dead person can stink!") Once God grants faith, that faith is permanent. (God has to grant it because the only thing a dead person can do is stink!) Genuine, God energized faith will never die because God continues to preserve it and protect it by His power. God keeps us secure through the faith He gives us - 1 Peter 1:5.
After God grants faith, what are we to do next? The Holy Spirit says through Peter that we are to strive to become godly...
"...applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love" - 2 Peter 1:5-7.
Peter says in verse three that God has given power for godliness....
"...seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness..."
We are to labor and work for virtue because God has already labored for us. Once we make a profession of faith in Christ, we are not to drift along in the current of corruption we just escaped - 2 Peter 1:4. We are to strive, we are to labor, we are to pursue, we are to make the maximum effort to live for the honor of God.
I love what John Piper says is Peter's point here in these verses, "God is for us with divine power. Of that we may be sure. Now, in the confidence of that power, take pains not to live unworthily of His love."
Verses eight through eleven basically tell us that if the qualities listed in verses five through seven are ours and are increasing, we can have confidence that we are God's elect. Piper says it this way, "The evidence that God's power has been given to you by faith is that you are now making every effort (as verse five says) to advance in the qualities of Christ." In other words, if we have made a profession of faith but have never put forth the effort to then live Christ-like lives, or we have stopped making the effort, we can have no confidence that God began a good work in us.
In my next post...we'll take a closer look at those qualities listed in verses five through seven. May we take great pains for Him not to live unworthily of His love for us! Consider what the love of Jesus did for us - He bore the wrath of God on our behalf. Let that be the catalyst of our love for Him and may we pursue hard after being like Him!
After God grants faith, what are we to do next? The Holy Spirit says through Peter that we are to strive to become godly...
"...applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love" - 2 Peter 1:5-7.
Peter says in verse three that God has given power for godliness....
"...seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness..."
We are to labor and work for virtue because God has already labored for us. Once we make a profession of faith in Christ, we are not to drift along in the current of corruption we just escaped - 2 Peter 1:4. We are to strive, we are to labor, we are to pursue, we are to make the maximum effort to live for the honor of God.
I love what John Piper says is Peter's point here in these verses, "God is for us with divine power. Of that we may be sure. Now, in the confidence of that power, take pains not to live unworthily of His love."
Verses eight through eleven basically tell us that if the qualities listed in verses five through seven are ours and are increasing, we can have confidence that we are God's elect. Piper says it this way, "The evidence that God's power has been given to you by faith is that you are now making every effort (as verse five says) to advance in the qualities of Christ." In other words, if we have made a profession of faith but have never put forth the effort to then live Christ-like lives, or we have stopped making the effort, we can have no confidence that God began a good work in us.
In my next post...we'll take a closer look at those qualities listed in verses five through seven. May we take great pains for Him not to live unworthily of His love for us! Consider what the love of Jesus did for us - He bore the wrath of God on our behalf. Let that be the catalyst of our love for Him and may we pursue hard after being like Him!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
"...you, who are protected...
...by the power of God through faith..." - 1 Peter 1:4b, 5a
Genuine faith endures because faith is sustained by the power of God, not by us. Fantastic truth, isn't it? Faith is His gift to us (Eph. 2:8) and then He sustains that faith by His power.
So, what are we responsible for?
Plenty...and that is what I will looking at over the next few posts.
Genuine faith endures because faith is sustained by the power of God, not by us. Fantastic truth, isn't it? Faith is His gift to us (Eph. 2:8) and then He sustains that faith by His power.
So, what are we responsible for?
Plenty...and that is what I will looking at over the next few posts.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Pure Fun - The Happy Hiker
My husband and daughter went for a hike on Monday. They stopped to rest a bit and some small, annoying bugs came flitting around. Annie started to blow at them and Daniel thought that was the funniest thing. Annie played it up to get more laughter. Tim caught some video of it. You'll see why I call Daniel a "Heart-melter!"
(I think you'll get a kick out of his gloves, too. They stayed on his hands better than regular gloves...)
Monday, March 22, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
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