Shone in our hearts:

 

2 Corinthians 4:6-7

6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;

 

            God Himself “lit up” our hearts. They were in darkness in this world, but He brought the light of His glory (Jesus) into them. Jesus said that when we walk in the light, we won’t stumble. This light should shine out of our hearts to light up the lives of those around us. Truly this is a treasure. And as it says here, the surpassing greatness of the power is of Him and not us. Therefore, we can’t brag. Just because you are an earthen vessel, doesn’t mean you are nothing and worthless. He will make you a vessel to honor if you allow Him to do so.

 

If you could hear God speak, I believe this is what He would say:

            "How can you say that you cannot see the way to go? I have given you My light dwelling within you. That light will shine on your path to show you which way to go. I haven’t deserted you. I did not choose you to lose you. I chose you to become a light to those around you. Do not resist My Spirit when He tries to lead you along the path of righteousness. He will shine His light on your path to show you the way. It is not your power, nor your righteousness, but Mine. I will bring you into My freedom as you allow My Spirit to guide you.”

 

            8. He has shone in my heart and given me the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

 

Chapter 2

 

Relationship with the Father

 

 

 

            When we have a relationship with someone, that means we have something in common. If it is a friendship type of relationship, we share like goals and ideas in many areas of our lives. If it is a kinship type of relationship, we share many physical characteristics usually along with like goals and ideas. The first part is guaranteed, while the second, though common, is not. When we grow up in a family, the children, at least in the beginning, do share like goals and ideas. As they grow older, the children may drift away from those of the family’s.

            Our relationship with God has both. We share many spiritual characteristics. We are His children, so we should appear to be like Him. This is because His Spirit indwells us. Our spiritual man will “look” like Him. We also share His goals and ideas. Just like with natural children, we could drift away from those goals and ideas. Our spiritual man still desires to act like Him, but we may decide to go our own way.

            We are going to look at those characteristics that we are destined to acquire, being children of God.

 

How we come to the Father:

 

            Partakers of the divine nature:

 

2 Peter 1:4

4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

 

            Would you look at that? We partake of the divine nature … God’s very own nature. We sure don’t act like it sometimes. How awesome that God chose to allow us to literally become like Him. Of course, children become like their earthly fathers in various ways, so why shouldn’t we become like Him? How do we accomplish this? It tells us in this verse … by His precious and magnificent promises. In other words, by putting His Word into effect in our lives, we can become more and more like Him. His Spirit inside of us needs something to work on. The Holy Spirit can accomplish some things even if we haven’t heard the Word about an area in our lives that needs changing. He can do much more if He has something to work with. Remember from Hebrews 4:12 that His Word is actually living and working inside us. The Spirit through this living Word can help us determine when something is from our soul versus from our spirit.

            By the way, I simply love the poetical-ness of Second Peter chapter one. Read it and notice how many times things come in pairs. In this verse … precious and magnificent promises.

 

If you could hear God speak, I believe this is what He would say:

            "My children, you have partaken of My nature. You had the nature of the world … that nature which only wants your own good, not that of your neighbor. You have received of My life, and that life brings good to all … not just to you. Do not go against My nature and do the things of the world which you used to do. I will bring you into maturity because that is My nature in you.”

 

            7. He has made precious and magnificent promises to me and through them I have become a partaker of His divine nature.

Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins

 Forgiveness:

 

            Forgiveness of sins: Acts 10:43

 

Acts 10:43

43 “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”

 

            Again we have the significance of believing in His name. Through this we receive forgiveness of sins. It doesn’t say that we have to do anything else to receive this forgiveness. We don’t have to earn this forgiveness. It is not by our labors, but by His one-time substitutionary death in our place. We deserve to die for our sins, but He took our place. We don’t have to keep asking forgiveness for all the sins we committed before we made Jesus Lord of our lives. However, whenever we sin after becoming Christians, we do have to ask forgiveness for those sins.

 

If you could hear God speak, I believe this is what He would say:

            "You have forgiveness of sins, My children. When you were in the world, you had no forgiveness. But now, you have come unto Me and have believed in Me. Through this you truly have forgiveness … not as the world forgives … for those of the world many times hold onto grudges, though they say they forgive. I truly forgive and cast them into the sea. I do not hold them against you, but truly forgive you. Do not fear that I will bring them back. When I remove them, they do not return.”

 

            6. Through His work on the cross, I have forgiveness of sins.

God has many things destined for us to receive. However, we cannot receive any of them until we ask Jesus to come into our lives and take control. We cannot experience the fulfilling life of a believer until we are a believer. This book is written for those who have received Jesus as Lord of their lives. If you have not, you can right now.

            Tell Jesus that you are sorry for all the wrong things that you have done. Thank Him that He died on the cross so that you would not have to pay the penalty for doing those sinful things. Ask Him to come into your life and to take complete control. Thank Him by faith that He did come in.

            You may or may not feel something. Different people have different experiences. He said He would come in, if you asked. Trust Him to do what He said He would do. The feelings will come later, if not now.

“I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

 Eat of this bread – live forever. Jn 6:51

 

John 6:51

51 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

 

            We’re not going to argue whether or not the “bread” of communion actually becomes the flesh of Jesus Christ. What is important is that you have eaten of this bread (not the bread of communion of which one may participate in many times during his/her life, but the one time eating of the Bread of salvation). When one eats bread, that bread becomes a part of his/her body for a season. When one eats this Bread, He becomes part of your very soul-life forever.

 

If you could hear God speak, I believe this is what He would say:

            "When I came to give life, I came to give it through My death. The life you live is through Me. You partake of Me through the bread you share. Just like bread gives your flesh life, so My body that was broken gives your soul life. Eat of My bread daily to grow in Me.”

 

            5. I have eaten of this bread of Life and shall live forever with Him.