Got Peace?

May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom form fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him. Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue). By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature. ~ 2Peter 1:2-4

Let's break up what Peter is saying here into bite sized pieces. First of all I want to mention how both Peter and Paul address all of their writing in the Bible, except for the book of Hebrews. They always write that grace and peace be multiplied towards the people. The people that they are wanting and asking grace to be multiplied towards are the people that are believers, believers in the personal knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. In the book of Hebrews there is not this greeting. The reason for this is because the book of Hebrews was addressed to the Jewish people, who didn't have have the knowledge of Jesus as the messiah and Lord. So because they didn't have this knowledge they could not enter into nor obtain the grace and peace that comes form God.

Now, let's look at the second letter of Peter. He says may grace and peace be multiplied to you. And the way that the grace and peace that comes that from God and is multiplied to you, is through the full and personal knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. The more knowledge that you have about God. The more you know who He is, and what He is like, the grater your grace and peace becomes. The more you invest your time in seeking God, and trying to develop your relationship with Him the more peace and grace you have. If you don't seek, if you don't gain personal knowledge, you will not be able to enter into into God's grace and His supernatural peace.

The Bible tells us that faith comes by hearing. Hearing the word of God over and over brings you personal knowledge and this gives you faith. This brings to you the faith of God. Through this faith or personal knowledge you can now have God's grace, and you will have His supernatural peace, that will keep you free from fear regardless of your situation.

Next, Peter says that God has already given us all things, not a few things, not many things, not even most things, but ALL THINGS that we need for life and godliness. We have been given everything we need for a successful life right now. We also have been given all things for godliness. These are not things that God is going to some day give us when we are "good enough" but that God has already given them to us. So someone might say, "No, I don't have that." But, if you have asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, God says you do have it. And if God says it's true, than it is true. But, the thing that is stopping you from seeing the evidence of this in your life is the lack of knowledge of this truth. You have the divine power of God Himself, He has already deposited His divine power in you, when you were born again. But, it will not show it's self just because it is there. It takes an effort on your part to gain knowledge through the Word of God to bring this power out and into your life.

Faith comes by hearing the word of God. But, not just by hearing it once and saying, "Ok, I have heard that already, I don't need anymore. I have it all." No, the Bible doesn't say faith comes by heard. It says faith comes by hearing and hearing. Personal knowledge about God comes by hearing and hearing. Relationship with God comes from hearing and hearing. This is what God said, and He is God, and He gets to decided how life works. I come across so many people that think that they have decided who Gods is and what He is like. But, God is who He says He is, and that's it. He told Moses, "I AM that I AM." And the only way to have peace and grace, power and authority, that supersedes every circumstance in your life is through the personal knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. Every other means to try to obtain peace, grace, power, authority, and especially salvation will fail. It may keep you afloat for awhile but when a circumstance comes against you in life you will sink.

Peter goes on to say that you can avoid, and that there is a way to escape the trials of life and only have the promises of God. He says that you are able to be a sharer or participator in God's divine nature. And He states that it is through the means, or through knowledge of God.

For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises] employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy) and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence). ~2Peter 1:5

Here Peter is encouraging people to seek God, to learn about God, to put your whole self into the pursuit of knowing God. This will develop your faith in God, and this is the only way to have God's peace. This is the only way to have God's grace. This is the only way to have God's blessings. This is the only way to have God's victory over anything that comes against you. This is the only way to receive the salvation that is a gift of God.