PARTAKING OF THE DIVINE NATURE
Introduction
The divine nature of God is a huge matter. It is all the goodness of God, His mercy and love which is available to all men freely. This can sound incredible for a sinful man, conceived and born in iniquity to be a partaker of the divine nature of God. But, yes, that's what the scripture says - 2 Peter 1:3.
The nature of man is downwards, self-seeking, flawed and limiting, while the nature of God is limitless. Man is in love with pleasure to satisfy his lusts, while God is guiding man to fulfil the His will on earth.
God is our heavenly Father and He has a commitment towards all His creation according to the purpose, for which He created man. It, therefore, means that to partake of the divine nature of God is to experience a totally drastic transformation from the desire for worldly things to the desire to fulfil divine purpose of God, for God's pleasure.
Jesus declared that He came to fulfil the will of His Father in heaven, and that would the confession of all that will walk in the divine nature of God. To be a partaker of the divine nature of God, we would be a unique group of people on earth, spiritually knowledgeable and powerful. We would be like Jesus, with His Spirit living in us.
We would understand the plans and purposes of God, and be zealous to do His will, the same way Christ did. He was normal and did the work of His earthly father, carpentry until His time was due when He went to be baptized. After which the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and a voice from heaven saying "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased".
From that moment forward, He was no more the same Jesus that people knew. His focus changed and His speech became more powerful and quick. The coming of the Holy Spirit made the difference in His life. He became a wonder till the end of His mission on earth.
What is His Divine nature?
What is His Divine nature?
The divine nature of God is unsearchable. The bible says no man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son who is in the blossom of the Father, He has declared Him John 4:12. Nobody can understand the sovereign, All-knowing, and Almighty God. But, we can have a glimpse of it and be empowered to do His will without compromises.
God has absolute attributes, exclusive to Him alone, as well as moral attributes which He shares with the man. Under His moral attributes, we have Love, Holiness, righteousness, Justice etc.
Divine nature is not available for Christians who are still in the world. You have to come out from among them, to a where Christ is and remain there in Christ. Touch not unclean things and God will be your God. But, if you remain in the world, without separation, it will be hard for you to remember that you were saved and redeemed by the blood.
The bible teaches us that:
Divine nature is not available for Christians who are still in the world. You have to come out from among them, to a where Christ is and remain there in Christ. Touch not unclean things and God will be your God. But, if you remain in the world, without separation, it will be hard for you to remember that you were saved and redeemed by the blood.
The bible teaches us that:
God is a Spirit
God is a Spirit means that He cannot be confined to the physical body, nor to dimensions of space and time. He is the invisible eternal God. He has neither flesh nor blood - Luke 24:39, John 4:24, 1 Tim 1:17.
God is not a Spirit, He is the Father of all spirits, He can assume any form that suits His purpose and appear to man, He appeared to Abraham in the land of Canan and also appeared to him again to assure him of the promised son, Isaac.
God is Perfect
To be perfect means to be complete, faultless and without any deficiency. Mathew 5:48 says He is perfect. It says " Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
God is a Living God
God is a living being with self-consciousness, intellect, feelings and will power. God is a spirit being. He is not an influence or unseen force, Hod is an individual that is living and has definite characteristics and will power. In Jeremiah 10:10 the bible says: "But the Lord is the true God, He is the living God"
God has a name, Jehovah, He speaks, enters into covenants and has concerns towards us, His children. In revealed to Moses that He is the I AM THAT I AM - The one who was, who is, and shall be - Exodus 3:14 and in Exodus 6:2-3 He says, I am the Lord; and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty (El-Shaddai), but by my name, Jehovah was I not known unto them.
God is One
Moses declares to the Jews that "Hear O' Israel your God is One Lord - Deut 6:4. and in Isaiah 44:6, the bible says "Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of Host, I am the first and the last, and beside Me there is no God".
God is Eternal
God is everlasting, He has no beginning or end. Before the foundation of the world was made, He was there, He is still there and will remain forever. Psm 90:2, 1 Tim 1:17
God is Immutable
The nature of God is that He cannot change. In Malachai 3:6, He says "For I am the Lord, I change not". In James 1:17, the bible says: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is variableness, neither shadow of turning." and in Hebrews 13:8 says "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever".
God is Sovereign
God is the supreme being, the Ruler of the whole world. He is answerable to no one else. He acts as He wills, without the permission or apology to anyone. He does what He likes to do any all times.
God is Omnipotent
This means that God is all-powerful, He possesses all power. The bible said in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He calleth things that be not as though they exist, in His infinite power creates He whatever He wants to create Job says in Job 42:2 that: "I know that thou canst do anything".
God is Omnipresent
God is present everywhere at one and the same time as Psalms 139:7-9 states that "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there..."
God is Omniscient
This means that God is all-knowing. He has all knowledge and nothing is hidden from Him. In Psm 94:11, the bible says "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man and Isaiah says there is searching of His understanding. Isaiah 40:28.
God is self-Existence
God is the source of all life and being. The creator of all beings and all things that exist. Everything in existence is derived from Him and only Him.
Qualification to partake in Divine Nature
To partake in the divine nature is doing those things that God does. Divine nature of God can only manifest when the Spirit of God is living inside of you, and when that happens, you will see, think and act as God does. There will be no carnality in your life and thoughts any more.
The bible says in 2 Peter 1:3-4 that “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”
The word is saying that we must escape the corruption that is in the world through lust before we can operate in the divine nature of God. That means overcoming the lust of the eyes and the flesh.
The lust of the eyes consists of desire for the things of the world, for pleasure and every good thing you see. While the lust of the flesh has about 17 works of the flesh explained in our publication "The Flesh and how it affects your spiritual authority and power".
When you look at the absolute characteristics of God, you will agree that it is a privilege for us to be partakers of His nature. God is spirit, and partaking of His divine nature is for us to walk in the spirit and do the things that God does. God is never sick, but if you are sick, you should speak His word concerning healing and believe you are healed and that's it.
After overcoming the lust that is in the world, we will need the following additional requirements to partake in the divine nature of God.
1. Dead to Sin
When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are saved (Acts 16:31), and we undergo a radical spiritual transformation. We are made new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are born again (John 3:3). We died, and now our lives are “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). We are “in Christ” (Romans 8:1).
Our old nature is done with, and we receive a new and divine nature that desires the things of God (2 Corinthians 5:17). We love what He loves and hate what He hates (Galatians 5:22; 1 John 4:4). The passions of sin can no longer hold us down and we have the power to conquer every temptation that comes against us (1 Corinthians 10:13).
2. Holy Spirit
Believers have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of them and we are more than conquerors by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us Romans 8:37. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee or down payment of eternal life and is the power that makes it possible for our minds to be renewed and transformed to become like God’s mind (Ephesians 1:14; Romans 12:2).
3. The Word of God
The word of God is powerful and quick. When you sit with the word, you receive the Light of God illuminating your heart, spirit, soul and body, and you are immune from the darkness. If you have the word of God, you will be bold to speak to any man, but without the word, you will be afraid. Fear is not the nature of God but from the devil.
That’s why we must remain in the Word. We cannot take a break from it. You are empowered by the Word of God. We must, therefore, sow the seed of the Word first into our lives and the lives of others.
The word of God makes us partakers of the divine nature of God. If you take a break from planting the Word of God, it can put your salvation in jeopardy, because we are born again, by the Word of God living in us.
4. Faith
We partake in the divine nature of God by faith. Faith is never a silent matter. It is trust and dependence on the Lord God for everything. Faith is believing in the Word of God and His promises and obeying and acting on them. When you have faith in God, you will have to express it, speak and act it. The word of faith you are speaking should agree with the work of faith you are doing.
God is a God of faith, who calleth forth things which be not as though they exist. We have the priviledge to create the future and life we want through the spoken word of faith and our actions of faith.
5. Obedience to the Word of God
Men and women of God obey His word and instructions to the letter. Obedience to the Word confirms our faith in God and His words.
6. Christian Virtues
These are godly behaviours and practises that makes a person consider the mind of God before he takes any step or action. You want to find out whether what you want to do will please God or not. Whether it is according to the Word of God or the flesh. This is what Apostle Peter was saying in 2 Peter 1: 4-9, that if we have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, we should:
Giving all diligence, add to our faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
He continued, that if these virtues are in us, and abound, they make us to be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
How do we partake in the divine nature?
How do believers partake of the divine nature of God, which consist of life in the spirit, loving and showing great kindness and mercy to people? A life of compassion on the weak and desperate people, a life of being a father to the fatherless, mother to the motherless. A life that sees that the oppressed received judgement.
How do we walk in the ways that bring glory to the name of the Lord? It is to bring glory to His name, to show mercy and compassion that the miracles, signs and wonders take place.
Whenever a sick person cries unto the Lord with all his heart, in faith, the Lord stretches His healing hands upon that man or woman, and the result is healing and deliverance.
Believers partake in the divine nature of God by standing as servants and Ambassadors of Christ, who have received the authority to do greater things. The authority Christ gave us in Mathew 10:8, Luke 10:19 and Mark 16:17-18 is therefore seen in the life of such servants of Jesus.
That is why the Evangelist pray for the sick persons he is witnessing to, and such a person will recover. Operating in the divine nature of God means that we go to places and do everything in His name and not our own name. We do everything in the name of the Lord and return all glory to Him.
As Ambassadors, we bring 'Light' to dark places of the earth, through the Word, teaching and preaching the truth of the word of God with power. We are vessels of God unto healing, deliverance and power. People who operate in the divine the nature of God are people, in whose life, you will see the wisdom of God in operation also.
Operating in the divine nature of God means that we are men and women of faith, who believe that with God, there is no impossibility. We are sold-out to doing His will and pleasing Him. The life we live is no longer ours, but the Lord's and our body His also. Our ultimate goal is to run our race and complete the course and be with the Lord in the end.
CONCLUSION:
Heavenly Father, I come in prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. I repent of my sins and confess them to You, ask for forgiveness. I believe that Jesus died for my sins and rose again for my justification. I invite Jesus into my heart to reign as Lord and Saviour of my life.
Thank You for answered prayers, I am born again.
FIRE...
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