Everything We Need

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." 1 Peter 1:3

Yesterday at church, Pastor shared this verse with us while we was talking to us about faith and virtue. He kind of lost me for a little while after he shared this verse, because I kept reading it over and over- to make sure it was saying what it was actually saying. I mean, look at it!

"His divine power has given us EVERYTHING we need..."

Everything we need for life, and to live a Godly life has already been given to us! For so long, it seems we heard so many messages in churches and from other people about how we're human, and we're meant to fail. But that it was okay, because there is grace, so when we fail, we can just ask forgiveness and start over again. Of course, we can do that, anytime we stumble, God forgives us and we can try again, but I can't help but wonder if we're just making it too hard on ourselves. If we have already been given everything we need to live that Godly life, it shouldn't be so hard, and it should really just be a matter of changing the way we think.

There is a catch though, and it's right there at the very beginning of the verse. It's His divine power that gives us everything we need, and that power is straight from the Holy Spirit.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

It tells us right there in Acts that when we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that we also receive power-that is the divine power being talked about in our verse today from 2 Peter. So many Christians seem to be afraid of the baptism of the Holy Spirit these days... I was baptised in the Holy Spirit when I was 11 years old, which, oddly enough, was two years BEFORE I was even baptised in water. But I received the Holy Spirit at camp that year, and really, it wasn't until recently that I've begun realizing that there is more to what I received over 20 years ago than simply speaking in tongues. (Yikes. Did I really just write 20 years ago?)

Yes, speaking in tongues is part of receiving the Holy Spirit, but it's all the other things, it's the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that just makes life so much easier. Really! Go back to our verse that says that the power gives us everything we need to live in Godliness. When I am about to do something that maybe I shouldn't, let me tell you, the Holy Spirit speaks up loud and clear, and I know that I am not to do or say what I was going to. And reading the Bible... I'm sure I'm mucking this all up, but reading the Bible has gotten different lately. I've started praying before I read the Bible. That may not seem like a big deal to you, but my usual procedure used to be that I'd sit down with the Bible, flop it open, read something, and then pray afterwards, basically thanking God for His Word. Now, I sit down, and before I even open the Bible, I bow my head and I pray. I ask for guidance, and I ask the Holy Spirit to make what I read real to me, and to show me what I need to be shown. And I thank Him in advance for His precious Words. Then I open my Bible, and every single time- it speaks to me. Just as it did yesterday when I opened up to 2 Peter 1:3.

There is more to our verse than just the part where we find out we have everything we need through the Holy Spirit. It also says that everything we need comes through our knowledge of Him. And there's only one way to get that knowledge- and that is by spending time in our Bibles. I feel like a broken record these days as I just feel like I need to encourage everyone that we are in a season of revelation and the Word. When I open my Bible, which I've read many times in my life, it seems like I find something new every day! How can it be new? I've read it already, several times, in several translations. And yet, there it is. The Holy Spirit brings the words to life and the leap right off the page and straight into my soul. It's just incredible.

So take encouragement this morning. And open up your Bible- let it speak to you. Let that precious Holy Spirit talk to you, ask Him to reveal Himself in His precious Words today. You won't be disappointed, and you'll be even closer to that Godly life which we are all striving towards.