You Already Have Everything You Need

Photo by Felipe Bastias on Unsplash

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. - 2 Peter 1:2-4 (NIV)

Last weekend our team was in Pennsylvania for one of our Spirit & Truth Awakening Weekends with a local church. As always, it was a beautiful time and the Lord moved throughout.

As the weekend began the Lord brought these verses from 2 Peter to mind. In particular, he brought my attention to these words: “His divine power has given us everything we need…”

Our human tendency is to always think we need one more thing to be happy. If I could just get this _________, then everything would be great. If I could just nail down this one job. If our money situation could just get a little better then I would feel at peace. If I could just fix this one relationship. If my one kid could just find happiness. On and on…

We do this in the church world too. If we could just hire the right youth pastor. If we could just get more people to serve more. If we could just get better worship music. If our giving would just improve a little bit, then we could really do ministry. On and on…

But here is the truth. You already have everything you need if you have Christ. If God has already given us himself, then he has given us more than enough. This is not to diminish real needs in our lives, but we are never simply one situation, staff member, or program away from a successful ministry any more than we are one break away from a happy life. Real ministry is not a product of what things we can add but whether or not we will learn to live in cooperation with the Spirit of God, which we already have.

Peter reminds us that Jesus has already given us everything we need for a godly life and this affords us the opportunity to “participate in the divine nature.” We have been given the indwelling Holy Spirit and along with him the invitation to share in the very life of God! And there is literally nothing you can add to your life or church that carries more power, wisdom, or potential than that!

So I guess my basic encouragement to you today is simple. Stop longing for something to change and start listening and obeying the Holy Spirit right where you are. He will guide you into the fullness of life and into ministry opportunities without you having to add anything else. The Spirit-filled life doesn’t require a bigger budget, a new program, or a building program. None of those things are bad, but they are not required. The only thing essential God already gave you as a gift. Rest in that. Trust him. He created us and knows best what we actually need.