Tuesday, May 14, 2019

YOUR SPIRITUAL RESPONSIBILITIES

My Dear Precious Child,
    Peter laid aside his belief that Christ Jesus was soon going to physically appear and set up His kingdom visibly in the earth.   His emphasis changed and He began encouraging My children to get to know Me personally and intimately.  He even wrote in his second letter to the churches that more grace and peace will come to you through your knowing Me more and more intimately.  He wrote that it is through the divine power of My Holy Spirit that I have given to you everything necessary for your having the abundant life and My godliness while you live on earth.  That was a big change from his former emphasis of expecting Christ to soon come to earth and He, Himself, cast out the demons from the earth, and then His setting up a physical and political kingdom on earth.  (II Peter 1:1-3)
     The emphasis on My gifts of the Holy Spirit given to My individual children as a means of bringing My kingdom of heaven into the lives of My children on earth was a new revelation for Peter and many of the believers of Christ.  Many of them were convinced that My plan of bringing My kingdom to earth was to be through the Jewish government and they were intent on Christ making Israel the most powerful nation on earth.  They were earthly minded instead of spiritually minded. When they asked Jesus if that was the promise that was going to be fulfilled, He answered that no, My promise was that they would individually be filled with the power of My Holy Spirit, which was the fulfillment of all of His teachings on My kingdom of heaven coming on earth as it is in heaven, and that they would be My witnesses to the entire world.(Acts 1:1-8)  Christ Jesus was referring to My promise that I would make the earth and the heavens new because I would come to live in My children of promise, writing My words in their hearts and in their minds through My Holy Spirit.  When Christ Jesus went to hell He changed the heavens because He took back from the devil the authority to heaven and earth, which also changed the heavens and the earth. (Matthew 28:18-20; Jeremiah 31:31-34)  When I came to earth to live inside of My children, I changed the earth completely because I had only previously lived inside of Jesus Christ.
   In proclaiming that it was through My gifts of the Holy Spirit that My children would have everything that is necessary for having the abundant life and My godliness while in the earth, Peter added that there are certain things that you and My other children need to add to My gift of faith that I have given to you.  He said that these character traits of Mine will enable you to attain the abundant life and godliness through your growing up into My righteousness by adding to your personality these attributes of the Holy Spirit along with My gifts of the Holy Spirit that I give to you:
      Add My goodness to your gift of My faith;
      Add My wisdom and understanding to goodness;
      Add My self control to wisdom and understanding;
      Add My patience to self control;
      Add My true devotion to patience;
      Add My kindness for your fellow man to devotion;
      Add My love to My kindness in you.
    Peter wrote in his second letter that if you have a generous supply of those gifts and attributes of My Holy Spirit that you will not be ineffective or unproductive but those spiritual attitudes and actions will bring you to a real, intimate knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He also wrote that without those gifts and attributes of the Holy Spirit that a person is spiritually blind or short sighted and that My children have forgotten that their own sins were washed away.  You owe it to others to love them unconditionally which washes all of their sins away. (Romans 13:8; John 20:23)  He encouraged you to work hard by allowing My Holy Spirit to change you into My image in the earth.  Peter wrote that if you do all of those things that there will be no danger that you will fall away from your calling from Me.  The bonus is that you will enter into My kingdom of heaven while in the earth, the one provided to you by your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Christ Jesus told you to pray for it.  My kingdom of heaven cannot become real in your life unless you believe it is for you in your life on earth. (Matthew 6:10)
     Recalling the same truths over and over again to My children was Peter's strategy so that My children would be constantly determined to increase in the attributes of My Holy Spirit and in your use of My spiritual gifts which change the world because My gifts of the Holy Spirit change people, including you, yourself.  Peter wrote that it was his duty to keep reminding My children of My strategies for the salvation of the earth because he would soon take off his own earthly body, as foretold to him by Christ Jesus.  He knew that because of his constantly reminding you and My other children of these truths, that you would recall them easily after he was gone.
    He wrote that what he had taught to My children were not myths when he brought to them the knowledge of My power of the Holy Spirit and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to live inside of them because Peter had seen My majesty himself.  Peter quoted My words when He reminded you and My other children that I honored and glorified Christ when I, whom he called the Sublime Glory, said, "This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I am well pleased."   He proclaimed that he and other believers had heard the words themselves, spoken from heaven, when they were with Him on the holy mountain.
    Peter reminded you and My other children that I confirmed what was previously prophesied; and that they should depend upon the prophesies and use them as a lamp for lighting the way through the dark until dawn comes and the morning star rises in your mind with revelation knowledge.  The interpretation of scripture is never merely for individuals themselves, because when people spoke for Me in prophesies it was the Holy Spirit who moved them to prophesy.  It was never from their own initiative or they would boast.
   It was My desire through Christ and it was Peter's desire that My children seek to intimately know Me, just like it was Paul's desire that he come to a full and intimate knowledge of Me, also to the knowledge of My Son Jesus Christ, knowing the fellowship of His suffering and also the power of My Holy Spirit that I gave as a gift to those who believe. 
   Peter's revelation was necessary because My children needed to be equipped with the gifts of My Holy Spirit and the fruit of My Holy Spirit in order to walk in the abundant life and increase in My righteousness while they live in the earth.  As he said, the reason for increasing in My attributes of the Holy Spirit was so that they could love everyone as I love them and then they would enjoy life on earth.  Jesus Christ promised that those believers who leave their old lives behind would be rewarded a hundred fold in this life and eternal life in the world to come. (Mark 10:30)
    Believe the prophets and believe the prophesies of Christ Jesus.  They were prophesies given to encourage you to receive My good gifts that I have for you, to use them to overcome evil, and to grow in intimate fellowship with Me.
    Your Father of Great Rewards

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