Precious Promises vs Precious Faith

 

Precious Promises vs Precious Faith

2 Peter 1:4 "Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises"

1 Peter 1:7 "Your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire" 

Aspect	Precious Promises	Precious Faith
Meaning	God's commitments and guarantees to believers; God's initiative	The essential faith held by believers; human response to God
Distinctions	• Originates from God's grace • Manifests God's attributes • Eternal guarantees • Based on God's faithfulness	• Originates from human response • Reflects believer's spiritual quality • Requires continuous growth • Based on trust in God
Explanation	Includes: • Promise of forgiveness • Promise of eternal life • Promise of Holy Spirit indwelling • Promise of God's presence • Promise of Second Coming	Includes: • Belief in God's Word • Trust in God's power • Obedience to God's guidance • Perseverance in trials • Hope for eternal life
Examples	• Abraham's promise of a son (Gen 15:4-6) • Davidic kingdom promise (2 Sam 7:16) • Messiah's birth promise (Isa 7:14) • Resurrection promise (1 Cor 15:20-22)	• Abraham justified by faith (Rom 4:3) • Canaanite woman's faith (Matt 15:28) • Centurion's faith (Matt 8:10) • Paul's good fight of faith (2 Tim 4:7)
Application	• Claim promises in prayer • Rely on promises in difficulties • Strengthen faith through promises • Proclaim God's promises • Live in hope of promises	• Exercise faith in daily life • Maintain faith in trials • Pursue growth in faith • Serve others through faith • Demonstrate faith's effects
Related Verses	• 2 Cor 1:20 "All God's promises are 'Yes' in Christ" • Heb 10:23 "He who promised is faithful" • Rom 4:21 "Being fully persuaded God had power to do what he had promised" • Heb 11:13 "Saw them from a distance and welcomed them"	• Heb 11:6 "Without faith it is impossible to please God" • James 2:17 "Faith without works is dead" • Rom 1:17 "The righteous will live by faith" • Heb 12:2 "Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith"
Relationship	1. Mutual enhancement: God's promises strengthen faith; faith experiences promises 2. Complementary: Promises are faith's foundation; faith is the channel for receiving promises 3. Cyclical growth: Experiencing promises increases faith; faith deepens understanding of promises 4. Ultimate goal: Both point toward building intimate relationship with God, fulfilling His will

 

Concluding Remarks:

This comparative analysis demonstrates the vital interaction between God's Precious Promises and Precious Faith in believers' spiritual lives. These elements represent the two-way relationship between God and humans: God's initiative (promises) and human response (faith). Both aspects require practical application through daily life and spiritual disciplines for growth and manifestation.

 

*Please refer to the 2024 Thanksgiving International Blending Conference for God’s Economy, Living the Christian Life and the Church Life under God’s Administration, Chapter 6 Participating in the Divine Nature and Developing the Divine Life and the Divine Nature , enter the eternal kingdom with abundance

The Five "Haves" of Born-again Believers

 

The Five "Haves" of Born-again Believers

John 1:4 "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."

John 3:3,5-6 "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God... Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

2 Peter 1:4 "He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature."

John 4:24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

2 Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory."

John 6:57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me."

 

Item	Meaning	Description	Examples	Application	Related Scripture and Content
Having God's Life	Born-again believers possess eternal life given by God	1. This is God's own life 2. It is eternal and incorruptible 3. Has divine nature	Jesus said in John's Gospel: "I am the life"	1. Live out the divine life 2. Express God's life in daily living 3. Experience and enjoy this divine life	- John 10:10 "I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly." - John 11:25 "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live." - 1 John 5:11-13 "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." - 1 John 1:5 "God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all." - 1 John 4:8,16 "God is love... God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him."
Having God's Nature	Believers partake of God's divine nature	1. God's nature refers to what God is 2. Includes God's riches, elements, and constituents 3. Imparted to believers through regeneration	Believers receive divine nature at regeneration, like a seed containing its life and nature	1. Enjoy what God is 2. Live out God's nature 3. Express God's attributes in living
Having God's Image	Believers are gradually transformed into God's image in life and nature	1. Not in Godhead but in life and nature 2. Similar to God in life and nature 3. A progressive process	Like mirrors reflecting the Lord's glory, being transformed into His image	1. Express God's image in living 2. Live out God's likeness in character 3. Reflect God's attributes in conduct	- 2 Peter 1:3-7 "His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness... applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence..." - Galatians 2:20 "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God." - 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." - Ephesians 3:20 "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think." - Philippians 4:19 "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
Having God's Living	Living a God-man life by the divine life	1. A transcendent way of living 2. Has divine qualities 3. Expresses God's nature	Jesus' life on earth was the perfect example of the God-man living	1. Live a holy life 2. Express divine virtues 3. Practice divine living principles
Having God's Riches	Enjoying and experiencing all God's riches	1. Enjoyed through God's promises 2. Includes all aspects of God's nature 3. Requires escaping world's corruption	Paul said: "My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus"	1. Enjoy God's riches 2. Experience God's supply 3. Draw upon God's riches in living

 

Conclusion:

These five "haves" reflect the divine inheritance received by believers after regeneration, and how to experience and express these spiritual realities in practical living. Each "have" represents an aspect of divine life that believers can enjoy and manifest in their daily lives.

 

*Please refer to the 2024 Thanksgiving International Blending Conference for God’s Economy, Living the Christian Life and the Church Life under God’s Administration, Chapter 6 Participating in the Divine Nature and Developing the Divine Life and the Divine Nature , enter the eternal kingdom with abundance

How Christians Apply God's Love in Life (Church, Marriage, Family)?

 

How Christians Apply God's Love in Life (Church, Marriage, Family)?

 

1 John 4:16 "God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God"

Matt 5:44-45 "Love your enemies... For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good"

1 John 4:16 "We have come to know and believe the love God has for us"

 

Aspects	Church Life	Marriage Life	Family Life
Reason	• Love among brothers and sisters may be superficial, lacking life supply and healing power • Need the element of divine love	• Marriage needs noble love • Purely emotional love is easily affected by moods	• Family needs stable and lasting love • Needs wise love
Method	• Love brothers and sisters with wisdom and discernment • Give appropriate amount of love according to individual needs • Not just emotional love, but with divine elements	• Love each other with divine love • Maintain consistent love	• Treat family members with divine love • Maintain moderate and discerning love
Explanation	• Divine love can supply life • Contains spiritual "antibiotics" effect • Not affected by emotional fluctuations • Consistent and discerning	• Not affected by emotions • Love with wisdom and discernment	• Love should be consistent • Must have wisdom and moderation
Examples	• When brothers have lacks or weaknesses, don't just teach or correct • Instead, love them with noble love for life supply and healing	• Husbands should honor wives according to their portion • Wives should learn to love beyond emotions	• More experienced believers can love family consistently • Express love in moderate and discerning ways
Application	• Love with wisdom • Don't spoil others with excessive love • Love within measure and boundaries	• Cultivate noble love in marriage • Express love unaffected by emotional fluctuations	• Practice divine love in family • Cultivate stable and wise love
Related Verses	• Matt 5:44-45 "Love your enemies... For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good"	• 1 Peter 3:7 "Live with your wives in an understanding way... as heirs with you of the grace of life"	• 1 John 4:16 "We have come to know and believe the love God has for us"

 

Conclusion:

 The application of God's love across different life spheres emphasizes:

1.      Love must have wisdom and discernment

2.      Must transcend purely emotional level

3.      Emphasizes consistency

4.      Need to give appropriate love according to recipients' needs

 

*Please refer to the 2024 Thanksgiving International Blending Conference for God’s Economy, Living the Christian Life and the Church Life under God’s Administration, Chapter 6 Participating in the Divine Nature and Developing the Divine Life and the Divine Nature , enter the eternal kingdom with abundance

Conditions for Partaking of the Divine Nature

 

Conditions for Partaking of the Divine Nature

 2 Peter 1:3 Now his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through our full knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue.

2 Peter 1:4 By which he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, give every effort to supply your faith with grace, and grace with knowledge,

2 Peter 1:6 Knowledge supplies self-control; self-control supplies patience; patience supplies godliness,

2 Peter 1:7 In godliness supply brotherly love; and in brotherly love supply love.

 

Aspect	Conditions for Partaking of the Divine Nature
Meaning	• Partaking of the elements and constituents of what God is • Making all aspects of what God is our enjoyment • Becoming the same as God in life and nature (but not in Godhead)
Conditions	• Escaping the corruption in the world by lust • Living continuously in the cycle of escaping and partaking • Enjoying and partaking of the riches of what God is
Examples	• Partaking of God's righteousness • Partaking of God's holiness • Partaking of God's kindness • Partaking of God's love • Partaking of God's mercy
Application	• The more we escape corruption, the more we enjoy God's nature • The more we partake of divine nature, the more we can flee corruption • Express God in all that we are and do • Allow the riches of divine nature to develop in our life
Related Scriptures	• 2 Peter 1:3-4 "His divine power has granted to us all things...that you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." • 2 Peter 1:5-7 regarding the development of divine nature • 2 Peter 1:1-4 describing the enjoyment of God's economy

 

Conclusion:

The table shows that partaking of the divine nature is a dynamic spiritual process requiring our active cooperation and continuous experience. It is not merely a static spiritual state but an ongoing spiritual cycle that enables us to increasingly experience and express God's riches.

 

*Please refer to the 2024 Thanksgiving International Blending Conference for God’s Economy, Living the Christian Life and the Church Life under God’s Administration, Chapter 6 Participating in the Divine Nature and Developing the Divine Life and the Divine Nature , enter the eternal kingdom with abundance