Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from 2 Peter 1:4.

 

“For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”  2 Peter 1:4.

 

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By God’s precious promises, we become partakers of the divine nature.  Therefore, we “gold mine” through Scripture, carefully searching for these gold nuggets of precious promises. 

 

And, the “field” in which these gold nuggets exist is the knowledge of God as we learned yesterday in the prior two verses.  “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;  seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”  2 Peter 1:2-3. 

 

Here are some Practice Principles:

 

First, we meditate on God’s word.

 

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.”  Psalm 1:2-3.

 

Second, we remember God’s word.

 

“Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done,
His marvels and the judgments from His mouth,
O seed of Israel His servant,
Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!
He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
Remember His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,”  1 Chronicles 16:12-15.

                       

Third, we do God’s word.

 

“Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.  But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;  for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.  But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”  James 1:21-15.

 

Here are some Practical Preferences to help us find and remember these precious promises.  They are preferences, because they are not expressly mandated by Scripture, but they are helpful.

 

First, we remember the key words of the precious promises.  The key words will help us find the precious promises whether we use a printed index or an online keyword search such as the following.  (You may want to save it as a favorite bookmark,)  Click here: BibleGateway.com: Search for a Bible word or phrase in 60 languages and 160 versions.

 

Second, we remember the book and chapter within which the precious promise is located.  When you consider that there are many precious promises to remember, I have found that if I try to remember all 3 categories (book, chapter, and verse), then I would forget the location altogether, but if I just remembered 2 categories (book and chapter) then I could find the precious promise within that chapter.  I was able to remember many more locations of the many precious promises using that 2 category search rather than the 3 category search.

 

Third, we write about the precious promises and keep the record.  At first, many times when I discovered a precious promise, I wrote and mailed a letter of the Scripture to my friend Harry.  I kept copies of these letters.  These were my “Letters to Harry”.  Later, I posted the best of them online at my web site.  They became “Gold Mining”.  Click here: Gold Mining « Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions  I often go back to them, re-read the letter that deals with the subject matter that I want to remember.  It strengthens my faith as I remember God’s word.