I've always found these verses to be exceptional in that there is a promise at the end-that if we practice these things, we will never stumble (or fall!) Surely that is something to be taken seriously. I've noticed that in the life of the believer we must always be pressing forward, like it says in (Philippians 3:12-16), to press towards the finish line in the race we are running.
In the same way when we are ill, or injured, or we have suffered some kind of loss or trauma, we need to press forward against the odds of pain or trauma, and the sometimes terrible realities of what has happened to our bodies or families, or businesses, or whatever the situation. Fuelled by the power of prayer, we will be able to do something today that we couldn't do the day before. Likewise, in the spirit, we are to press forward in our walk with Jesus, never being afraid of the impossible which we see in ourselves, but believing that he who has called us will finish the work he has begun in us (Philippians 1:6).
One of the main challenges in our walk with the Lord is our constant need to be moved out of our comfort zones. How hard it is for us to be willing to be stretched by the Lord into the place where he ultimately wants us to be. And what is that place? It is to move from brotherly affection to real love for our brothers and sisters in the body, to consider one another as family in the true sense of the word, and not just friends. This was made real to me at a meeting of seventy congregational leaders and workers who gathered one morning in our congregation for prayer. It was an amazing morning for me as I heard the Holy Spirit say clearly that we need to be different from now on, we need to love one another with a burning love and zeal.
Yes, those qualities listed in (2 Peter 1) can be ours through the working of the Holy Spirit in us. All we need are willing hearts.
- 15 NOVEMBER -