Last week the thrust of my thoughts to you centered on Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.” I continue to challenge you to pray today but from a slightly different perspective. I also want to offer a practical suggestion.
Last week I shared some thoughts from Matthew Henry regarding God stirring His people to pray as a sign He is about to bestow some special mercy on them. I think I was thinking of a particular event or season of blessing, and though that may be what God is doing as He stirs us to pray I came across another verse last week that broadened my thinking and brought it in line with the vision God has given us for this ministry we share.
As I was preparing for Small Group last week I came across a few verses in 2 Peter 1:3-4. Allow me to select a portion of those verses for our consideration. “As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life…He has promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires and that you will share in his divine nature.” Escaping the decadence all around us and sharing in His divine nature are the supernatural by-products of using His divine power for daily living, appropriated to us as we know Jesus better.
While I am praying for special mercy to come upon us in a remarkable way as a church, these words gripped me right from the first five…“As we know Jesus better”. How do we get to know Him better? By spending time with Him. Prayer is one of the ways we do that.
Now for the practical. I shared with choir a few weeks ago about hearing someone on Christian radio talking about spending different times in prayer and meditation over the course of the day. The Biblical foundation for this is solid with examples like Daniel and David being a couple. I purposed to alter my life a bit to try to include a short time of prayer in the late morning, afternoon, and evening in addition to my quiet time with God in the morning which includes Bible reading and worship.
Over the last week I have begun to practice this with greater regularity. It has heightened my awareness of the activity of God in my life. It has given me a greater burden for those around me with a proportional ability to through the Spirit to show compassion. It has helped me to live in the presence of God, experience Him more and more, and as I obey Him to know Him better.
2 Peter 1:3-4 has come alive to me. I am not saying to be religious or legalistic about it, but I want to encourage you to find a way to know Jesus, because when you do, you will find divine power for daily living, and that is special mercy if there ever was one.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
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