Enough

Can you imagine God greeting you, "O mighty man of valor," when you, like Gideon, are cowardly hiding from the enemy and troubled by what is going on in the world?  Does it sound too good to be true, that God sees you as an overcoming, mighty one who is always led in triumph and who crushes the evil one under your feet?  Yet, what He has done is enough to make you more than you could think or imagine.  Let God be true and every man a liar, according to the words of Romans 3:4.  

In Psalm 50 God closes with the words, "to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God."  Salvation is the noun describing being saved or delivered from.  When Jesus healed or touched someone, He would say "be made whole."  To be whole is to be completely delivered or saved from sin and all the effects of sin.  However, until God is able to transform our thinking and heart to know our "we are made whole" salvation, we continue to limp between two different opinions. On one hand we are filled with faith that the "Christ is in you" life of God is overcoming all circumstances, and on the other hand, that we are just weak human beings who fail often.  Our verse in Psalm 50 affirms that as we choose to obey God, He begins to show us His salvation, how He has made us whole and overcomers and how totally we are free from the old fallen-nature ways.   Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph.

Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would lead us and guide us into all truth.  As we let the Word dwell in us richly, the Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit until we "know" what Jesus has given us and are able to walk in it.  In the first letter of John, there are something like 23 "by this we know" statements.  The ultimate definition of eternal life given by Jesus in John 17 is "that they may know the Father and Jesus Christ whom He has sent."   God wants us to know we are whole in Him and has made provision for us to come to that conviction that it is already accomplished.  

Jesus declares He is the first of many brethren, who share His life and nature.  It seems almost unbelievable and too much to grasp that what Jesus has done has literally made us like Him.  We just need to receive it.  Note the words of 1 John 4:17, "as He is, so are we in the world." We are partakers of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4), but the remainder of that section describes how to press in to make it our own, namely to diligently add to your faith, virtue; to virtue, knowledge; to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, brotherly kindness love; to brotherly kindness love, love.  Therefore, He can conclude the clincher, that if we do these things we will never fail or be unfruitful.  

The point is Jesus has accomplished what the name Jehovah JIreh declares, God is enough. There is a song, Jireh by Maverick City, that states "You are enough, forever enough, always enough, more than enough."  Our hope of glory, Christ in us, establishes that the overcoming power and love of God lives in us and causes us to always be more than enough for every challenge.  Praise God forever for His glorious salvation!

Life and Godliness

Consider what God has given you, "His divine power has given to us all that pertains to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him."  This is an awesome, almost beyond grasp, reality.  And to ensure that we are able to bring this home, the verse in 2 Peter 1 continues "by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you might become partakers of divine nature...."  Obviously, the more we know Him the more we become like Him, and the more we understand the promises of God, the more we are able to believe and receive them.    

Consider also the truth that runs contrary to our natural mind, namely, everything that we ever need and that changes us into the likeness of God has already been given to us, we already have it.  God's kingdom has come, it is finished, and God waits to be gracious to us.  Instead of trying to get something, we are given God's "exceedingly great and precious promises" so that we will understand how great He is and because of His love, what He has given us.  He is waiting for us to know it is ours and to accept His gift of everything we could ever need for life and for being godly.  

The Greek word for saved, or salvation, is sozo, which is often translated "be made whole."  We have been delivered or saved from all the consequences of sin, old things have passed away, the new creation has come.  Our minds simply have to be renewed to know this truth which sets us free.  As a man thinks, so is he. Notice how Paul told the Ephesians in Acts 20, "So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified." 

What inheritance?  Jesus said all that the Father has is mine, and Jesus bestows that power and authority to us to exercise in His name.  Furthermore, scriptures like Ephesians 3 speak of coming to know His love and being filled with the fullness of God.  Christ is our wisdom, our strength, our life is hidden in Him.  

Therefore, it follows that our hearts need to be opened and our minds renewed to know Him.  As He reveals Himself, we have the mind of Christ and can think like God thinks.  The more we let His thoughts "dwell in us richly" (Colossians 3:16), the more we see His goodness and are able to just receive all He has given by faith.  Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

What would it take for you to have more of this resurrected life that Jesus has freely given you?  Do you desire "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened..."  Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find.   Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a fresh desire.  Be like David who refused to sleep and be at ease until there was a place for God.