Daily Devotional

-March 12, 2021-

Good morning, happy Friday,

-We Are So Blessed By The Lord-

“As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

(2 Peter 1:3-4).

Peter, the fisherman turned disciple, became a great preacher, missionary, teacher, elder, and servant. He wrote two epistles, and collaborated with John Mark on the Gospel of Mark. He, along with John, and Paul had a mighty influence on the early church.

Peter took to heart the words that the Lord Jesus told him in John 21:15-18. Our Savior restored Peter after he denied him three times, instructing him to “Feed My lambs, tend My sheep, and feed My sheep.” Lambs are the new believers and the sheep are the older, more mature believers. He was the apostle to the Jews, as Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles.

Peter reminds us in this wonderful passage of four tremendous blessings that we and all believers have: we have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness; we have been given exceedingly great and precious promises; we have been made partakers of the divine nature, and we have escaped the corruption of the world through lust. These come to us immediately upon our conversion to Christ by divine power.

• All things that pertain to life and godliness – Everything we have is from God. James wrote, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17). He has equipped us with everything we need to live for Him and serve Him in this world.

• Exceedingly great and precious promises – There are many wonderful promises we can claim throughout the Scriptures. They are like precious gold nuggets that we must search for and claim for our lives. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” God’s promises encourage us so much, just when we need them the most. Books have been written that catalog all the promises in Scripture.

• Made partakers of the divine nature – Just think, we as believers in Christ have the divine nature through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. When we were born of Adam, we had only the old, sinful nature, but now in Christ, the last Adam, we have the new nature, that is the life of Christ.

• Escaped the corruption in world through lust – We have been delivered from the wrath to come. We live in the world but we are not of the world. In speaking of Lot, Peter wrote, “And delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds” (2 Peter 2:7-8).

We are so blessed. Someone once said, “I am too blessed to be stressed.” We have so much to be thankful for: all things that pertain to life and godliness, exceedingly great and precious promises, partakers of the divine nature, and having escaped the corruption of the world through lust, just to name a few of our spiritual blessings in Christ.

Have a blessed day and weekend counting your blessings. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean