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Has God Provided Everything We Need?

Some might question whether God really does provide “… all things that pertain to life …” (II Pet. 1: 3 ESV). When they look at this world, they have questions. This daily devotional explores who God provides for life and godliness.

Nuggets

  • God is interested in more than just the physical life.
  • He is more focused on the eternal life.
  • After we admit our sins, believe on His Son Jesus as Redeemer, and confess Him as Sovereign Lord, God wants us to grow in knowledge of Him.
  • This helps us to be partakers in His divine nature.
  • God has blessing that He wants to give to us but can only do that if we have committed ourselves to Him.
  • Committing ourselves to Him and growing in His grace will help us to escape the corruption of this world.
Flowers with title Has God Provided Everything We Need?

I would bet that some people would disagree with the first part of Peter 1: 3. Many would question if God has provided everything we need. They would argue there wouldn’t be poverty, disease, divorce, or many other things that keep us from having a good life if He did.

We question the other part of the list: “… and godliness…” (II Pet. 1: 3 ESV). Most of the time we would really question if we can live up to the godliness.

All Things That Pertain to Life

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire" (II Pet. 1: 3-4 ESV)

Let’s look at the first verse in the Holman Christian Standard Bible: “His divine power has given us everything required for life …” (II Pet. 1: 3). What life is Peter talking about?

Psalms 134: 14 says, “I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made …” (CSB). But God calls us to more than just this physical life.

We have the potential for eternal life. No, not in this body. That was the original intent, I believe, but the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin messed that up. That is where the poverty, disease, yada, yada, yada came into the world. (i.e. Satan, not God.)

We can, in these bodies, gain salvation. In fact, God invites us to do just that.

Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.

  • Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
    • Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
      • Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
        • Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
        • Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
        • Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
      • Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin. 
      • Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
  • Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
    • Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
  • Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
    • The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.

The ABCDs of Salvation

If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.

A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord

Plan of Salvation

D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us

The Disciple’s Job Description

The Disciple's Job Description

Glossary

Salvation
Sin
Perfect
Spiritually Dead
The Original Sin

We can secure the gift of God’s salvation by doing our ABCs. We choose God by admitting we are sinners, believing Jesus’ death was God’s gift to make salvation available to us, and confessing that God is now our Lord of lords and King of kings.

Accepting God’s plan gives us real life.

But we don’t stop there. We choose to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as He convicts us and shows us of our need for the Savior.

This is called working out our salvation (Phil. 2: 12). God reveals Himself to our hearts and minds. We become closer to how God originally made us as we grow in Him. How does God reveal Himself? 

Through Knowledge of Him

We grow closer to Him by increasing our knowledge of Him. His grace and peace is increased in us. This is how we tap into His blessings through His answering our prayers.

  • Grace is a free and unmerited gift of love from the Heavenly Father, given through His Son, Jesus Christ, that enables salvation and spiritual healing to believers by the work of the Holy Spirit.
  • Peace is a fruit of righteousness manifested in an inward tranquility resulting from a balanced life with spiritual order, equity, and truth that implies cooperation, humility, integrity, communication, and cohesiveness; and is a fruit of the Spirit that translates rest into tranquility with God, ourselves, and others.

Growing in knowledge of God will bring us peace and strength. We will see how much He truly loves us. We can see what we need to do to be obedient to Him — which helps us grow even more!

As we grow in knowledge, we want to know even more. This is how we grow in our faith, drawing us closer to Him.

Ephesians 3: 14-19 is a wonderful prayer that Paul prayed for his readers. It shows us why we are seeking knowledge of Him.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3: 14-19 ESV emphasis added).

You know, this takes work and interaction with God. It means doing several things:

  • Hearing His Word: “So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ” (Rom. 10: 17 NLT). If we find a group of like-minded believers, we gain so much through listening to their interpretations.
  • Reading His Word: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near (Rev. 1: 3 ESV). We’ve got to read it for ourselves. We have to know what it says straight from God. This changes the knowing about Him to actually knowing Him.
  • Praying to Him: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4: 16 ESV). We can go directly to God. This one-on-one time cements our relationship with Him.
  • Studying His Word: “They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth” (Ac. 17: 11 NLT). See! They didn’t just take Paul and Silas’ word for it. (And don’t just take my word for it!) We need to dive in. Do topic studies. Do word searches. Get a good commentary. Dig in.
  • Meditating on His Word: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Ps. 1: 1-2 ESV). Once we’ve studied, we have to think about it. What new nuggets did we learn? How does it compare to what we already know? Does it complement, contradict, or enhance our beliefs?
  • Memorizing His Word: “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Ps. 119: 11 NLT). Oh, that is the hard part for me. I can paraphrase a lot. Hopefully, I get it right. But His Word has to be right there in our hearts so we can pull it out when we need it — and when we think we don’t.

Didn’t Jesus stress the importance of knowing God? “Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me” (Jn. 17: 7-8 ESV).

In plain English, that says the disciples know the Father because Jesus has told them and shown them Him.

Many people have said that knowledge is power. In this case, our knowledge of God unleashes His power. That, along with His promises, sustains us.

Searching for and Seeking God

Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).

God’s Promises

There is a start of a list of God’s promises in a previous devotion.

To read a related devotion, click the button below.

Why Is God Slow to Fulfill His Promises?

Number One promise is the forgives of sin. First John 1: 9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (ESV). Psalm 86: 5 says, “For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you” (ESV). Remember, ABC.

The problem is, we might not understand all of God’s promises. Remember, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD” (Isa. 55: 8 NIV). He may be blessing us, and we don’t know it.

Another problem is that we focus on the here and now. “Oh, Lord. Heal Friend Tom, and help Aunt Becky find a job.”

God is more focused on spiritual promises — knowledge, salvation — eternal life. From way back in Genesis 3, He was promising a Savior: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3: 15 ESV).

Partakers in Divine Nature

You see, our goal should be to “… become partakers of the divine nature …” (II Pet. 1: 4 ESV). We do that by ABCDing, hearing, reading, praying, studying, meditating, and memorizing.

We do all of that, and we will grow closer to Him. His nature will take root in us. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5: 1-2 ESV).

Escape from the Corruption

Paul had just told us in Ephesians how we can escape from the corruption. We need to “… put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 22-24 ESV).

This doesn’t happen automatically when we become a new creation (II Cor. 5: 17). This is part of the working-out-our-salvation bit (Phil. 2: 12). It will help us escape the corruption of this world.

has-god-provided-everything-we-needFB

How Do We Apply This?

Yep, I am going to say it again: ABC, hearing, reading, praying, studying, meditating, and memorizing.

Yes, I might be a broken record. But that is the theme throughout the Bible.

God loves you. He wants you to confess your sins. Then He wants you to grow in Him. That is the bottom line.

You can only grow in Him if you communicate with Him. Since God doesn’t sit in the chair next to us, have a cell phone number, and isn’t on any social media account, we have to go to Him.

Church

There is so much God wants to do for us. He can only do it is we put our faith and trust in Him.

Gracious Lord. You love us so much. You sent Your Son to die so that we might be restored to You. You give us salvation. You promise us blessings for this life and a life eternal with You. Help us to admit, believe, and commit. Amen

What do you think?

Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.

If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.

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