Foundation of Faith

“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 1:3-4).

Let me emphasize the point here… God’s power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him. We have it – all of it. We have everything we need because we know Him. Do you get the importance of this?

But it’s not all about our knowledge. After all, knowledge on its own leads to pride and arrogance. We don’t want that. That’s why the next verses give us a process to go with the knowledge.

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love” (2 Peter 1:5-7). We need to grow in all these things – faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love.

Notice faith is the foundation of this process. You can read more about the foundation of faith in “Everything We Need: God's Path to Know Him Better.” We start with faith; don’t belittle that because faith is a huge first step! After all, “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move” (Matthew 17:20).

We might be afraid of terrifying the US Geological Survey with tons of mountain relocation. We may want to try stepping out in a different area. So what else can we do with faith? Let’s look at the example of some of our heroes. I took all of these from Hebrews 11.

Faith helps us…

• Understand the whole big process (vs. 3).
• Offer the right kind of sacrifice (vs. 4).
• Not experience death (vs. 5).
• Attain deliverance (vs. 7).
• Separate from the world and draw near to God (vs. 7).
• Obey God (vs. 8).
• Step out even when we don’t know where we’re going (vs. 8).
• Endure now as we look forward to what’s to come (vs. 9-10).
• Receive power to do the impossible (vs. 11).
• Endure painful testing (vs. 17).
• Bless others even when circumstances don’t seem to make sense (vs. 20-21).
• Rest in the future (vs. 22).
• Conquer fear (vs. 23).
• Stand for what is right (vs. 24).
• Persevere when everything is stacked against us (vs. 27).
• Protect our loved ones (vs. 28).
• Accomplish the impossible (vs. 29).
• Watch our enemies’ defenses crumble (vs. 30).
• Receive God’s people with peace (vs. 31).

And that’s not even the half of it! You can read the rest of the list at Hebrews 11:32-40.

I encourage you to find a little seedful of faith…See what you can do with it!