Take this whole world, but give me Jesus…
These are the words of a song that really emphasizes the true meaning of life… to know and follow Christ!
Read 2 Peter 1:1-22 (NLT)
2 Peter 1 presents an inspirational and transformative journey, inviting us to partake in God’s divine nature and grow in faith and virtue.
Peter’s affirmation of Christ’s glory and his emphasis on the power of prophecy reminds us of the certainty of Christ’s return and the validity of our faith.
Peter’s relationship with Christ transformed his life.
You too can be transformed, which is the whole point of our being Christian and following Christ.
It all starts with REPENTANCE, which means we need to change the way we think.
Jesus calls us to be all we can be!
When Joey Barrow was a teenager, his schoolmates labeled him the class sissy.
At eighteen, while the other guys were involved in more “masculine” activities, Joey was taking violin lessons.
One day, they called him “sissy” one time too many. Joey smashed the boy who made fun of him smack on the head with (you guessed it) his violin.
It didn’t help. The story simply brought another round of laughter from Joey’s classmates.
One boy did not laugh. Big, strapping Thurston McKinney decided it was time Joey got involved in something with a little more muscle.
Thurston exercised regularly at a local gym and asked Joey to come along.
As always, Joey had his violin with him. “If you want to work out with me,” said Thurston, “you’ll have to rent a locker.”
Locker rental was fifty cents. The only money Joey had was what his mom had given him for that week’s violin lesson.
So Joey borrowed some gym trunks and some old tennis shoes from Thurston, rented the locker with his violin money, and put the violin inside.
The first time Thurston invited Joey to spar with him, Joey clobbered him. Flattened him.
The dazed response of Thurston McKinney, himself already a Detroit Golden Gloves Champion, was, “Boy, throw that violin away!”
With the money his mother had intended to finance weekly violin lessons, Joey kept a permanent locker.
In five years, Joey Barrow would turn twenty-three and be the heavyweight boxing champion of the world!
The anthologies of athletics say little about Thurston McKinney, but he took Joey Barrow under his wing.
Joey dropped his last name, Barrow, so his mother wouldn’t know the newspapers were talking about her son.
The world knew for years before she did that sissy Joey Barrow had been transformed into the unbeatable “Brown Bomber,” Joe Louis.
Another transformed man wrote 2 Peter. His name is Simon Peter.
His transformation did not produce a fighter, but just the opposite.
Peter was transformed from a fighter into a servant of Jesus Christ.
So dramatic was the change in Peter’s life that he wrote this letter to remind his readers that Christian faith was never intended to remain unchanged or static. Christian faith always adds something. It is always growing. Christians continually experience change or transformation in their lives.
On a side note, the above testimony about Joe Lewis is of interest to me, because I remember, as a young teenager, I spent most of my summer vacation time with my cousin in Chicago.
Joe Lewis’s son (Punchy was his nickname) lived across the street and we used to play touch football in his backyard, and I actually had never heard this story about his father before.
This was in my before Jesus days and just hearing the story brings back fond memories of a time long ago, and I had lots of fun times back then.
It’s just interesting to me as I look back on my life, on how God truly does choreograph our life as we’re told in He does in Psalms 139:16, before we were even born.
Looking back in retrospect I do see his hand and His protection and guidance that has directed me to where I am today.
I think pretty much all of us, as we look back on our life, can say the same thing.
That’s why it’s so important that we not waste our lives, but that we keep our focus on Jesus, so that we can be all that we can be for Him.
I know that’s where my head is right now, I just want my life to count for Him and to make a difference, which brings me to verse 2 of the scripture we just read In 2 Peter 1…
“May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.”
Many believers want an abundance of God’s gifts and provision in their lives, but they are unwilling to put forth the effort to get to know Him better through Bible study and prayer.
To enjoy the privileges God offers us freely, through our daily fellowship and relationship with Him, it’s worth more than all the gold and silver in this world and is the only thing that will fulfill our life.
We must all, as followers of Christ, seek to grow in our knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
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Tuesday, Sept 3
cFaith Devotions
GO FOR REVELATION KNOWLEDGE
by Kenneth Copeland
From Faith to Faith
“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our LORD.”
— 2 Peter 1:2
If you were to look up the Greek word that’s translated “knowledge” in that scripture, you’d find out that it means more than just a mental understanding of something, more than the kind of knowledge that can be gained through your senses.
It means exact knowledge.
Knowledge that’s been revealed directly to your heart by the Spirit of God.
I call it revelation knowledge.
The lack of that kind of knowledge has caused more faith failures than anything else I know.
That’s because most Christians believe the Word with their minds, but they haven’t meditated on it enough for it to “light up” in their hearts.
If they had, that Word would absolutely revolutionize their lives.
Nothing in heaven or earth would be able to shake them loose from it.
I know a widow who got hold of that kind of revelation one afternoon.
She’d been meditating in the scriptures that say if you’re a widow, God Almighty has taken His place as your provider and leader of your household.
She’d been feeling a little sorry for herself up until then.
But when she received the revelation that God was actually head of her household now, she started talking to Him like she would a husband.
“I’m telling You, Lord, the plumbing in this house is pitiful. Will You please get it fixed?” she said.
From that moment on, she never had any more trouble with her plumbing.
If you need something from God, determine right now that you’re going to do what that widow did.
Determine that you’re going to meditate the Word until you get a revelation like that.
Keep that Word before you until you receive a revelation of Jesus as your HEALER or your DELIVERER or your FINANCIER – whatever you need Him to be.
Don’t settle for a shallow mental understanding of Him. Get a deep revelation and His grace will be multiplied to you!
[Source: From Faith to Faith Devotional by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland]
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