“From: Simon Peter, a servant and missionary of Jesus Christ.
To: All of you who have our kind of faith. The faith I speak of is the kind that Jesus Christ our God and Savior gives to us. How precious it is, and how just and good he is to give this same faith to each of us.
Do you want more and more of God’s kindness and peace? Then learn to know him better and better. For as you know him better, he will give you, through his great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: he even shares his own glory and his own goodness with us! And by that same mighty power he has given us all the other rich and wonderful blessings he promised; for instance, the promise to save us from the lust and rottenness all around us, and to give us his own character. But to obtain these gifts, you need more than faith; you must also work hard to be good, and even that is not enough. For then you must learn to know God better and discover what he wants you to do. Next, learn to put aside your own desires so that you will become patient and godly, gladly letting God have his way with you. This will make possible the next step, which is for you to enjoy other people and to like them, and finally you will grow to love them deeply. The more you go on in this way, the more you will grow strong spiritually and become fruitful and useful to our Lord Jesus Christ.”

From our text, we’re being reminded that, when we repented and received Jesus Christ as our lord and personal savior, everything we needed to live a truly good life was given to us. It is not pending offer rather the scripture confirms that it has already been given to us in the form of a ‘’seed.’’ In Mathew 13: 31 – 32, Jesus gave a parable describing the kingdom of God as a seed that was planted. As at the time it was planted, it was not noticeable but in the course of time it grew and became a big tree and birds made their home there.

What I am trying to help us understand is that the blessings, miracles and everything you believe God for, in your life and in this world, as a Christian is not outside of yourself. It is already inside of you. The day you repented and received Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, the whole package, everything you needed to live life to the max was packaged in Christ and deposited inside of you. Verse 2 of our text says, ‘’Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.’’ And how can this grace and peace be multiplied in your life? The Bible says ‘’…through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord.’’

The more we know Him in a deep and personal way; the more we will do exploits. The Bible says ‘’…but the people who do know their God shall be strong and do exploits’’ [Daniel 11: 32]. The Bible also records that, ‘’And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free’’ [John 8: 32]. When Jesus Christ said the truth would make us free, He was talking about those who already have a personal knowledge of Him. He was not referring to unbelievers. What truth will someone who does not know Jesus as Lord and savior need except to be set free of course. In other words, when you repented and received Jesus as your Lord and savior – you knew some truths, but there are other truths you need to know as you progress in your journey with God. That is why, the more of Him you know – the more your freedom.

If we know the truth about salvation – we’ll be set free but being saved doesn’t mean we’ll be healed; if we don’t know the truth about healing, we’ll be saved but still be sick. But as we study the word and grow in the knowledge of God and know the truth about healing; we will be healed. We can be saved and healed but if we don’t know the truth about wealth and riches and work consciously in the light of it; we will be poor, wretched, miserable and not prosperous. The more we know the truth, the more we enjoy greater freedom in different areas of our lives.

Furthermore, verse 3 of our text says ‘’According as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue: His divine power had already given unto us all that we need to live a truly good life; it is not about to be given unto us now, it has already been given. The scripture also says in verse 4, ‘’Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust’’. All these things have been given to us, but in order to make them a reality in our lives daily, we have to lay hold of the promises of God. We appropriate the promises of God by faith and live in the light of them and insist that these things are ours, because God had given it to us and He had promised that they would be real in our lives.

The Bible in verse 5-8 of our text records, ‘’But to obtain these gifts, you need more than faith; you must also work hard to be good, and even that is not enough. For then you must learn to know God better and discover what he wants you to do. Next, learn to put aside your own desires so that you will become patient and godly, gladly letting God have his way with you. This will make possible the next step, which is for you to enjoy other people and to like them, and finally you will grow to love them deeply. The more you go on in this way, the more you will grow strong spiritually and become fruitful and useful to our Lord Jesus Christ” [TLB]. What this means is that, the more we grow in Christ, the more real the purpose of God for our lives will manifest. It is not just enough to have and believe in Christ, there are other things that bring about our growth – “…building up yourselves in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Ghost.”

Apostle Paul in Galatians 4: 1 says, ‘’Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all’’. Although he is the owner of everything but because he is still a child, he cannot have access to those things but when he’s grown, he can now have access to all the things that is there for him. In the face of all the difficulties and challenges of life, whether in Nigeria or elsewhere in the world, as Christians we need to understand that the Jesus we have in us – inside Him — we already have everything we need. Don’t look outside of Him because everything is in Him. It is for us to be serious with our relationship with God, commit ourselves to growth and know God better. Ephesians 3: 20, it says, ‘’Now to Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that is at work in us.’’ How can we do these exceeding and abundant things? It is according to the power that works in us. His power within us is able to do more than we could ever think.

You are carrying the presence of God, you are a living and walking ark; so it is not something we are going to get from outside – it is for us to realize what we are carrying inside of us and then commit ourselves for the rest of our lives developing them. The more you grow and mature, the more these things will materialize in your life and the more you’ll see the fulfillment of God’s divine agenda in and through your life especially during these dark and difficult days. The answer to our problems is not outside of Christ – rather all the answers we need are inside of Christ that lives in us.

Some people think that because things are very hard; we don’t need to pray as we’re used to because we don’t have the time, hence, we need to work more. Wrong. We will work but we are not going to abandon the time we spend developing ourselves in God through reading the Bible, prayers, meditations to internalize the word and getting to know God in a deeper way more than we knew Him yesterday. Never get to a place where you think you have graduated – there is no graduation in Christianity. I am telling us this, because the days ahead are going to be difficult and challenging. Already it has been predicted that year 2023 will be very tough, even if we have a change of Government, it will take some time for the new administration to clean up the mess of this current administration.

In the face of all these – our answers and victory will come from a deeper knowledge of God. God will grant us insight and revelation into what we are to do at any given time. You don’t need to fear anything. There is nothing that is happening or going to happen in the future that God did not know before we were even conceived in our mother’s womb! Nothing takes God unawares; He knows and has planned on how to take care of the situation. The Bible makes us to know that even in times of famine; we shall have enough. What is the key? It is working with God in the spirit – don’t stop adding to your faith, knowledge, wisdom, grace and strength. Keep growing because the more you grow; the more you become strong no matter what the devil throws at you.

In 2 Corinthians 4: 8, Paul wrote: ‘’We are troubled on every-side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair’’ How can we arrive at this point where Paul’s words can become real in our lives? Victory you should know, is not only when we don’t have problems; or that we have problems and call on the name of the Lord and the problems are solved miraculously. Victory also means that even in the face of these difficulties not being solved – it does not stop us from moving forward through the power of Him that is working inside of us. In the book of Daniel 11: 32, it predicted the challenges and problems of these last days and then concluded by assuring us that those who do know their God, regardless of what is happening, they shall be strong and continue to do exploits.

Furthermore, Romans 8: 35 – 39 say, ‘’Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Some may think that when you have all these troubles, it is because God is not with you, but sometimes challenges do come because God is with you and so the devil becomes jealous and throws all manner of things at you to distract you from God. How can we come to that point where nothing can separate us from the love of God; where we remain unstoppable. The greater the challenges and opposition; the more determined we are to move forward. When we consider the things Jesus Christ enumerated about what will be happening in the last days in Mathew 24 and Luke 21, one would expect that being a compassionate savior, He would say in the face of all these just find a place to hide your head until I come and rescue you. Rather He said, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” [Matthew 24: 13]. In the face of all these, we need boldness and courage to move, forward ever and backward never, “… because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world” [1 John 4: 4].

QUOTES:

“What I am trying to help us understand is that the blessings, miracles and everything you believe God for, in your life and in this world, as a Christian is not outside of yourself. It is already inside of you.”

“You are carrying the presence of God, you are a living and walking ark.”

“The answer to our problems is not outside of Christ – rather all the answers we need are inside of Christ that lives in us.”