GrowInKnowledge | Kristi's Morning Devotional

May 3, 2024May 3, 2024

Ready to Receive?

For the better part of a week, I’ve been re-reading one particular group of verses. That’s not uncommon, I often mull over Scriptures and meditate on their meaning. These verses have been a part of my return reading for over 40 years.

“I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, ¹⁷asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. ¹⁸I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

¹⁹I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power ²⁰that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. ²¹Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. ²²God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. ²³And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.” Ephesians 1:16-23 NLT

Please go back and re-read those verses one more time.

Spiritual truth doesn’t have to be “deep” and hard to comprehend. But it does have to be received by faith. I’ve been practicing receiving from the Lord for years.

We are Christ’s body and we are God, the Father’s, inheritance!

I heard one teacher contrast the difference between receiving and getting. Getting implies working hard, striving, manipulating, using your effort to obtain. Receiving, on the other hand, is opening yourself to accept what someone else has done. You receive a gift with gratitude.

Receiving from the Lord is accepting what Jesus has already done – that’s faith. We don’t “work” to “get” from the Lord we walk by faith and accept His gifts of grace.

He wants us to understand and grow in our knowledge of Him. God isn’t trying to hide from us; He is eager for us to get to know Him. He wants our hearts to be flooded with hope as we learn about His power that He has made available to us.

“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” Romans 8:11 NLT

“I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].” Philippians 4:13 AMPC

Are you ready to receive? Hold out your hands and thank God for the wonderful gift of His love, power and strength.

June 6, 2022June 6, 2022

The Right Thing

Yesterday morning after breakfast Dave and I decided to walk the campground. It was a nice morning, no wind, and we could hear laughter from some of the different sites. We weren’t working, it was our day off. We stopped and visited with campers along our way.

We are in what the Forest Service calls “Stage II Fire Restrictions”. No wood or charcoal fires, propane only. Limited generator hours. No smoking except in enclosed vehicles or buildings. Every camper was given a list of the restrictions when they arrived and we also told them verbally. Obey the restrictions but have a good time.

As we walked, we had to stop and tell a few campers it was time to turn off the generators and remind them of the restrictions. They were quick to comply. They definitely didn’t want to cause a fire!

They were eager to do the right thing!

This morning I’m not writing a thought that will inspire or encourage. No, it’s a reminder to do what we have already been taught. We should never stop learning, never stop receiving good teaching but it’s imperative that we LIVE what we’ve already been taught.

“17 Everything good comes from God. Every perfect gift is from him. These good gifts come down from the Father who made all the lights in the sky. But God never changes like the shadows from those lights. He is always the same. 18 God decided to give us life through the true message he sent to us. He wanted us to be the most important of all that he created.

19 My dear brothers and sisters, always be more willing to listen than to speak. Keep control of your anger. 20 Anger does not help you live the way God wants. 21 So get rid of everything evil in your lives—every kind of wrong you do. Be humble and accept God’s teaching that is planted in your hearts. This teaching can save you.

22 Do what God’s teaching says; don’t just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves. 23 Hearing God’s teaching and doing nothing is like looking at your face in the mirror 24 and doing nothing about what you saw. You go away and immediately forget how bad you looked. 25 But when you look into God’s perfect law that sets people free, pay attention to it. If you do what it says, you will have God’s blessing. Never just listen to his teaching and forget what you heard.” James 1:17-25 ERV

God’s instructions were written for our protection and to provide us with a better way of living. Each of us need to make practical application of the teachings in Scripture and do the right thing.

April 6, 2022April 6, 2022

Unpacking Knowledge

This morning I’m going to ask you to use your unpacking skills. There are a few verses we will be examining closely and we’ll need to unpack them phrase by phrase to understand the depth of their meaning.

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory be to him, now and forever! Amen.” II Peter 3:18 ERV

We grow in knowledge of Christ the same way we grow in all our relationships. Dave and I will be celebrating 49 years of marriage next week. Oh my! Has it really been that long? When we first met, I was eight years old. I have certainly grown in my knowledge of all things Dave over those years but there is still much more to learn.

When we love someone we want to know all about them. Our relationship with God should be no different. The Apostle Peter, in his second letter, is encouraging us to do just that.

“From Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. To everyone who shares with us in the privilege of believing that our God and Savior Jesus Christ will do what is just and fair. ²I pray that God will be kind to you and will let you live in perfect peace! May you keep learning more and more about God and our Lord Jesus.”

This book of II Peter is written to everyone who shares the privilege of believing that God and Jesus are just and fair. If you believe that then this book is written to you. God, our Father, is kind and gives us peace.

These are the first things we learn about Him. This was the message the shepherds heard when Jesus came to earth. The angels gave a proclamation of the Father’s intentions – Peace had come to the earth in the form of a babe and the Father’s good will, kindness, would be revealed through Him.

There is so much to learn about our relationship with the Father and His Son.

I realized when I embarked on this teaching that it will take a couple of days to unpack these verses. I hope you don’t mind.

“We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness.” II Peter 1:3 CEV

Our Father wants us to understand Him. He wants us to know Him better. He isn’t trying to be mysterious and aloof. In fact, the verse above tells us that God has given us everything, not just partial information, but everything we need to live a life that is pleasing to Him. If we aren’t sure if He’ll be pleased by a certain action, all we have to do is ask and He’ll provide the answer.

“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 NKJV

I once told a young woman that if she would like I would teach her to cook. I invited her to our home. She came and I supplied everything. We worked together, side-by-side. I shared my knowledge and she shared in the goodness.

We learn from the Father by His invitation. He has invited us to share in His goodness. He has supplied all we need.

Enough unpacking for today, we’ll do more tomorrow. Ask the Father to share something new about Himself. He will – He wants us to share in His goodness.