<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="eph+4:25-32">Ephesians 4:25-32</span></span></p><p>There is a price to pay for our desire to grab at easy answers and that price is "trivialisation". Trivialisation is the acceptance of explanations that ignore the difficult questions of life in order to experience relief from confusion. I have no hesitation in saying that this is a curse of the modern Church. One way trivialisation reveals itself is in the acceptance, by so many, of the view that the major cause of Christians' problems is demonic activity. Demonic activity can be a cause of problems (especially in those who have dabbled in the occult) but it is not the chief cause. The New Testament teaches us the importance of spiritual warfare, but it has much more to say about the influence of our carnal nature on the rise and development of problems. In the early days of my ministry, when people came to me with problems I would frequently engage in the practice of rebuking the devil, and those prayers often brought great relief. But the mistake I made was not to sit down with the people who came to me and deal with the beneath-the-surface problems which had given Satan a foothold in their lives. By making it appear that Satan was the only problem I trivialised the issue. It's a lot easier (and less confusing) to sit down with a person and "take authority" over Satan than it is to think through together the tough and perplexing issues that lie beneath the surface, and then work towards giving some Biblical perspectives. But that is demanded of us if we are to help each other towards maturity.</p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O Father, forgive us for the ways in which we trivialise Your truth in order to avoid facing the tough issues. It feels good to replace confusion with certainty, but help us to be sure that the certainty is Your certainty. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="2pe+1:1-6">2 Peter 1:1-6</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1co+14:20">1 Corinthians 14:20</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1co+13:11">1 Corinthians 13:11</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="heb+5:14">Hebrews 5:14</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What are we to add to our faith?</li><li>What was Paul's admonition to the Corinthians?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

" and do not give the devil a foothold." (v. 27) 

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="ga+5:16-26">Galatians 5:16-26</span></span></p><p>So important is the point we raised yesterday - the need for selective expression - that we will spend another day considering it. Listen to how the Amplified Bible translates  <span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+73:15">Psalm 73:15</span>: "Had I spoken thus and given expression to my feelings, I would have been untrue and have dealt treacherously against the generation of your children" (emphasis mine). Notice that although the psalmist experienced strong feelings of uncertainty, he refrained from expressing these emotions because they would have had a negative effect upon his brothers and sisters. He acknowledged his emotions, but he refused to express them because he knew they would hurt and hinder the family of God. Expression of our feelings with no thought of another's welfare amounts to sinful, selfish indulgence. We must allow ourselves to feel the full weight of our emotions but then subordinate their expression to the purposes of God. Only if it is God's will for us to share those feelings with others must we do so. Thus the apostle could write stinging words of rebuke to the Corinthian church because his words were in harmony with God's purposes. We have to be on our guard here, because whenever we feel angry, and vent our anger on someone, it is so easy to justify our angry feelings by saying, "God wanted to use me to teach you a lesson."It more often than not, if we examine our hearts we will find that our goal was not the will of God but the desire to get those angry feelings out from inside us. Selective expression of feelings is a mature and spiritual response; indiscrimate expression is immature and unspiritual. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Gracious God and loving heavenly Father, forgive me for the times I have hurt others by the indiscriminate expression of my negative feelings. Help me understand and apply this principle of "selective expression" In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="eph+4:15">Ephesians 4:15</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="pr+16:32">Proverbs 16:32</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="2pe+1:3-7">2 Peter 1:3-7</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What is to govern our sharing?</li><li>Why are we to be self-controlled?</li></ul></div></div>

"But the fruit of the Spirit is  self-control." (vv. 22-23) 

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="2pe+1:1-11">2 Peter 1:1-11</span></span></p><p>It is one thing to accept the faithfulness of God as a clear biblical truth; it is quite another to act upon it. God has given us many great and precious promises, as our text for today puts it, but do we actually count on them being fulfilled? We have to be careful that we do not hold God to promises He has not given. I have seen a good deal of heartache suffered by Christians because someone encouraged them to take a statement from the Word of God, turn it into a "promise," and urged them to believe for it to come to pass. Then, when nothing happened, they became deeply discouraged. One woman told me that many years ago she had taken the words found in  <span class="scriptRef" ref="ac+16:31">Acts 16:31</span> - "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household" - and claimed them as a promise. When her husband and son died unrepentant she was devastated. I pointed out to her that even God cannot save those who don't want to be saved, and that the promise given by Paul and Silas was for the Philippian jailer, not anyone else. There are hundreds of promises that God has given in His Word that we can claim without equivocation. "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee"  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="heb+13:5">Hebrews 13:5</span>, KJV) is just one among many. Someone who has counted all God's promises in the Bible numbers them as being over 3,000. That ought to be enough to keep you going if you lived to be a hundred. Be careful, however, that it is a general promise you are banking on, not a specific one.</p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Father, I have Your promise that You will guide me into all truth, so my trust is in You that You will give me the wisdom to discern between a promise which is general and one that is specific. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="heb+1:1-12">Hebrews 1:1-12</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="heb+13:8">Hebrews 13:8</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="2co+4:18">2 Corinthians 4:18</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Why is Jesus so dependable?</li><li>Where do we fix our eyes?</li></ul></div></div>

" he has given us his very great and precious promises " (v. 4)

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him"</strong> (<a id="verse_1632879494102916" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/2/6">Col. 2:6</a>).</p>
</blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">How readily and eagerly we take His Word when He says, "I go to prepare a place for you" (<a id="verse_1632879494799086" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/John/14/2">John 14:2</a>), yet how slow of heart we are to believe that He has prepared a walk for us, here and now! For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us, (taking paths which He prepared ahead of time) that we should walk in them - living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live" (<a id="verse_1632879494373992" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Ephesians/2/10">Eph. 2:10</a>, Amp.).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (<a id="verse_1632879494790291" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Ephesians/1/3">Eph. 1:3</a>, ASV). If you can run over in your mind and find one single blessing with which God might bless us today, with which He has not already blessed us, then what He told Paul is not true at all, because He said, God hath....' It is all done, It is finished.' God hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies! The great pity of it all is that we are saying O God bless us - bless us in this, bless us in that! and it is all done; He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ in the heavenlies. It is our place to believe and receive." -L.L.L.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness"</strong> (<a id="verse_1632879494768782" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Peter/1/3">2 Pet. 1:3</a>).</p>

A 365 day devotional that will help you in your Christian growth and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.  This devotional is a collection of quotes from some of the best authors in the realm of Christian growth that has been organized by Miles J Stanford.  This devotional study is divided into 12 sections each containing 31 daily portions.

None but the Hungry Heart

 Prearranged 

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue"</strong> (<a id="verse_1632879886733542" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Peter/1/3">2 Pet. 1:3</a>).</p>
</blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">It is necessary for our Father to utilize very firm means in order to separate us from the ingrained idea that sanctification is produced by our work, plus His help.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"A superficial acquaintance with God's plan leads to the view that while justification is God's work, by faith in Christ, sanctification is our work, to be performed under the influence of the gratitude we feel for the deliverance we have experienced and by the aid of the Holy Spirit. But the earnest Christian soon finds how little gratitude can supply the power. When he thinks more prayer will bring it, he finds that, indispensable as prayer is, it is not enough. Often the believer struggles hopelessly for years, until he listens to the teaching of the Spirit, as He glorifies Christ again, and reveals Christ, our Sanctification, to be appropriated by faith alone." -A.M.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"Look not upon a life of holiness as a strain and an effort, but as the natural outgrowth of the life of Christ within you. And let ever again a quiet, hopeful, gladsome faith hold itself assured that all you need for a holy life will most assuredly be given you out of the holiness of the Lord Jesus. Thus will you understand and prove what it is to abide in Christ our Sanctification. -A.M.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature"</strong> (<a id="verse_1632879886321642" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Peter/1/4">2 Pet. 1:4</a>).</p>

 Rest Of Sanctification 

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna"</strong> (<a id="verse_1632879970467584" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Deuteronomy/8/3">Deut. 8:3</a>).</p>
</blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">The wilderness wanderers were maintained by manna, but those in Canaan flourished on "the old corn of the land." The carnal Christian exists on the milk of the Word, while the hungry-hearted believer feeds and matures on the meat of the Word.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"The old corn of Canaan typifies what the risen and ascended Lord ministers directly to us now by the Holy Spirit. Those who appropriate their position in Christ feed no longer merely on the manna, which represents Christ as supporting our life while we yet know Him not' as regards any intimate fellowship.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"If positional truth, rather than the duties of attainment, were taught first to the saints, much more satisfactory results would follow the ministry of many Christian workers. We should note most carefully that Israel was brought into Canaan, all uncircumcised and unworthy as they were, before they were asked to take the circumcised, separated position as the people of God, or enter upon their warfare.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"So we, as believers, have been already brought by Jesus Christ our Head, in His death and resurrection, into the heavenly places,' and to us have been given all things that pertain unto life and godliness' (<a id="verse_1632879970493925" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Peter/1/3">2 Pet. 1:3</a>). And it is always on the ground of where we already are, and what we already are, and what we already have, that the Holy Spirit shows us our blessed privileges and responsibilities of the calling wherewith we are called.'" -W.R.N.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land"</strong> (<a id="verse_1632879970492840" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Joshua/5/12">Joshua 5:12</a>).</p>

 Risen Fare 

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>For it is God who works in you both will and deed"</strong> (<a id="verse_1632880407631087" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/2/13">Phil. 2:13</a>, Cony.)</p>
</blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">As we mature we come to see more and more clearly that our Father just as fully controls our lives as He does the universe. As C.A. Fox said, "Climb on, and you will find the correcting, the chastening, the cleansing, the calming of the deep affection of God."</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"All the testing and trying is to first deal with, by the Cross, that which can never stand the stress and which must be forever failure to the Lord, and then to develop that which is Christ within us. That is the spiritual life - Christ in us in all His fulness. I will make him a pillar.' I will write upon him the name of my God.' He is going to do it. All the striving will never bring that end about, but He will do it.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"The great majority of us would say, If it all depends on me, then it is a bad lookout!' Well, of course, that is true, but let us look at the blessing of Joseph - 'The arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob . . . even by the God of thy father' (<a id="verse_1632880407904830" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Genesis/49/24">Gen. 49:24</a>; <a id="verse_1632880407982654535" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Genesis/49/25">25</a>)." -C.O.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"Let a man renounce himself, and see himself as crucified with Christ, and soon another Himself - the Lord Jesus Christ - will take the central place in the heart, and quietly bring all things under His sway."</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"It is a great thing to offer the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour to sinful man, but it is still greater to express Him in a world where He is rejected." -J.B.S.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness"</strong> (<a id="verse_1632880407793076" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Peter/1/3">2 Pet. 1:3</a>).</p>

 God Will Do It 

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus"</strong> (<a id="verse_1632877232698702" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/4/19">Phil. 4:19</a>).</p>
</blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">How difficult it is for the hungry heart to adjust to the Father's pace. He is so deliberate and thorough, while our need is so pressing and paramount. Apart from never being behind time, our Father is an eternity ahead of time! We have but to see in the Word what He has accomplished on our behalf in the Lord Jesus, and then quietly rely upon Him, "according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (<a id="verse_1632877232452464" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Peter/1/3">2 Pet. 1:3</a>).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"God will perfect that which concerneth His own; and even where there are mistakes and failures, as alas! there are in abundance with all of us, the Lord's rich grace abounds over all, and actually takes occasion from our very mistakes to shine out all the more brightly - though, assuredly, the mistakes and failures must produce their own painful and humiliating results.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"It is the remembrance of this which alone can give calm repose in the midst of the most discouraging circumstances. If we take the eye of faith off God, our souls must soon be overwhelmed. It is our privilege to be able, in our little measure, to thank God in view of everything, and take refuge in His eternal counsels, which must be made good despite all the unbelief of man, and all the malice of Satan."</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"May God give us to increasingly know Him! If we had only to learn what we are, we should surely be cast down, and sink into despondency; but His object in giving us a knowledge of ourselves and of His grace, is to give us an expected end."</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life"</strong> (<a id="verse_1632877232164247" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Psalm/23/6">Ps. 23:6</a>).</p>

 Guarded And Guided 

<p><h3>Confirming One’s Calling and Election</h3></p><p><span class="bible-text "> <sup class="verse-num ">3 </sup>His divine power   has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him   who called us   by his own glory and goodness. </span></p>

2 Peter 1:3

His divine power<cr>1</cr>  has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him<cr>2</cr>  who called us<cr>3</cr>  by his own glory and goodness.

 3 His divine power   has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him   who called us   by his own glory and goodness.

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

<p><span class="bible-text ">His divine power   has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him   who called us   by his own glory and goodness. </span></p>

 His divine power   has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him   who called us   by his own glory and goodness.

Bible Verse of the Day

April 13, 2021

2 Peter 1:3 NIV

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