Our Precious Promises and Faith Is Already Granted

 Our Precious Faith and Promises are linked Together

2 Peter 1:4 - "Whereby are given unto us great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine Nature."

The Promises excite the Faith

In 2 Peter 1:1-4 precious FAITH and precious PROMISES are linked together. The PROMISES excite the FAITH and FAITH contribute and reckons upon the completion of the PROMISES.  We sometime asked why it is that God's Word seems to fail, and the righteous do appear to be forsaken and the unrighteousness seems to be flourishing. The reason is, not that there is any failure on God's side to fulfill His Promises, but that the promise is left unclaimed by most of us. It is possible to carry around a wallet full of cash and checks, and to die of starvation because they have not yet been cashed. When we have found a promise that just fits our needs, do not rest content until we laid it before God and claim its fulfillment.

In 2 Peter 1:3, everything that is needed for our lives and godliness is already granted to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. We have not to pray to our Father for things which He has not anticipated, but we must claim those which God has already given to us. The one purpose of God's preparation is that we should not only escape the corruption of this world, but become "partakers of His Divine Nature." What a marvellous promise is this, which almost passes human thought and comprehension, that we should become animated and filled by the very nature of God! Note the recurrence of the phrase "these things" in the verses. When they abound in us we cannot be idle or unfruitful. Faith apprehends everything else--manly courage, knowledge, sell-control, patience, godliness, kindness, and above all, love. To be deficient in "these things" is to be short-sighted .

The Apostle says that the soul which has incorporated into itself these qualities of character will be welcomed into the Eternal Kingdom. It will enter the Harbor royally, with every sail set and pennant flying, and receive a choral entrance from the eager crowds that await its approach (2 Peter 1:11). Let us be diligent in our appropriation of God's great and precious promises, so that we shall never fail.

AMEN.

Taniela Fonua (AKA) Lapaifonua