NEW BEGINNINGS 2013 DAY 9: EVERYTHING NEEDED

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  2 Peter 1:3 NIV

New beginnings seem hard when people feel they don’t have what it takes. They feel they must acquire qualities that don’t come naturally. Failure is inevitability. Each think, “If only I had what I lack, what I need to succeed in changing!” But God Himself provides this need. He has already provided! 

1. His provision is unlimited power. 
2. It is for life and godliness. 
3. It comes through intimate connection to Him. 

The issue is a lack of power. Whether motivation or ability, some feel they just don’t have it in them. But what if they did? What if the issue wasn’t power, but simply a choice to act? God gives this! By trusting in Him, the issue is never power, but the choice to believe God is all powerful. His power is for their life and the change they seek: godliness. Wherever a person is in life, he can know that God has already given him power in that very circumstance. God always supplies for His will. 

Everything in life that is God’s will already has God’s power. God’s will is godliness: that she may be like Christ would be in her situation. So whenever her goal is godliness, she can assume that God has already empowered her. Perhaps she is a mother, and needs patience. The power to be patient is already hers, the power of God Himself to be patient! If she prays for patience, then acts by faith, then she simply needs to act AS IF SHE IS ALREADY PATIENT, as C.S. Lewis said, 

“Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to act as if you had it already.” 

She must act after prayer if she wants to feel the power already there. She must also stay intimately connected to God, the only source of unlimited power. 

In scripture, to know someone means intimate connection, not mere intellectual knowledge. By intimate connection with God, a man who needs self-control will have the power. He is a plug in a socket. As long as He stays connected, the power is there. 

God already provided everything needed for life and new beginnings.  Everyone has the power they need, and they have no lack of power! Success is natural. Failure is not inevitable. It is not hard because they have what it takes: God’s unlimited power, available through prayer and acts of faith!