True growth in grace and knowledge: part 1

2 Peter 3:18 “But Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”

First things first. 

Contrary to popular belief, Grace is NOT (as so many people teach) the “unmerited favor of God.” 

Favor from God that we do not merit (deserve) is called Mercy. It is his Mercy that gives us access to his grace. The two terms are not interchangeable. They work in tandem, for sure. But, definitely not the same thing.

Grace in the Greek means “graciousness, especially the divine influence on the heart and its reflection in the life, including gratitude.”

In other words, it is God moving on and in us and our obedient response to his move. 

Or to quote the best definition as stated in scripture ““For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

In other words. Grace is the relationship between us and our Lord. 

If Grace were “unmerited favor,” the 2 Peter 3:18 doesn’t make any sense. While you can grow in knowledge for sure. But how do you grow in “unmerited favor?”

But if Grace is our surrendering to his will through the relationship he allows us to have? That we can grow in. 

God gives us the want to, and the ability to do what he wants us to do- through the relationship he and we enter into when we are born again. 

That we can grow in as we grow closer to him and learn to submit more and more of ourselves to him. 

Now that we’ve handled that little detail, let’s get back to what is true growth in Grace and knowledge of our Lord?

First, everything starts and ends with prayer. Why? Because God is all about relationships and a relationship is all about communication. 

No communication. No relationship. 

My wife and I are legally married. But if we never communicate, we never learn each other’s likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams, wants and desires, will our relationship grow? Will we our relationship even last? 

Not likely. 

But if we talk, discuss, adjust to each other’s likes and dislikes, learn what pleases and displeases, then we grow in our relationship and our marriage is very likely to be a success. 

It’s very similar with the Lord. 

He’s both the head of the body and the husband. Collectively, if we’re biblically born again, we are both the body of Christ and the bride of Christ. 

The head communicates with the body and tells it what to do. The body acts on the orders it’s received. 

The husband, biblically, is the head of the wife (and their children). If he’s following Christ, then she and the kids are to follow him. 

Both of these situations are about communication and proper response. 

Prayer is the majority and the leading edge of that communication in our relationship with Jesus. 

We also have his word (the kjv bible- yes I’m very biased in that). 

Our prayer relationship with God should be the guiding factor in our Bible study. 

Why? 

Because our minds have to be opened to the meaning of the scripture by God himself- the author of the scripture. (Luke 24:44-49) 

Why?

Because scripture is never successfully understood by human reasoning. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

So our prayer life is led by God and that bleeds over into our Bible study. He guides our study into where he wants us to be- at that point in our lives. 

So we grow in Grace through prayer (two way conversation with God) and we grow in knowledge of our Lord by prayerfully being led in our study of his word. He reveals himself, his thoughts, his ways, his likes and dislikes through both prayer and prayer enhanced Bible study. 

Don’t get me wrong.

There are some great Bible study tools out there. I love using Strong’s concordance. I use a dictionary, also. I have a vines Bible dictionary, too. 

But, when the rubber hits the road, the best way to learn scripture is to pray first, pray during, pray after, pray always and let him guide our study. Let him direct our thoughts and interests. 

He’s promised both to always be with us and to lead and guide us into all truth. 

Pray and seek him, his kingdom, his will, and his truth. Let him guide you in, and through every step. 

Open his holy book and let him speak through it. 

God bless y’all till next time.