“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through (in) the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. 

According as his DIVINE POWER hath GIVEN unto us ALL things that pertain unto life and godliness, THROUGH the knowledge of him that HATH CALLED US TO GLORY AND VIRTUE.

Whereby ARE GIVEN unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the corruption THAT IS IN THE WORLD through lust.” 2 Peter 1:2-4 

Lovin’ the old saying…”When in Rome… you know… “do as the Romans.” But I want to give you a slightly different take on it as we go into a new year.

We all know that when the clock strikes midnight, December 31st, no magic star-dust will be falling from the sky, we also know that Cinderella’s dress really doesn’t mystically transform back into soot covered, tattered rags.

But most do hold it as time is called on the stop watch of old and a new countdown is set for the future.

Which is why I always just go with it. I believe in HOPE and my HOPE is in the Lord but I will take a little extra encouragement wherever I can find it!

So here we go.. “When in Rome REMEMBER that while everyone was doing as everyone else.. Rome FELL!

Let’s check out our scriptures. Our starter verse greets us with the blessing of praying that grace and peace be multiplied to us! But we are quickly REMINDED that the multiplication of THAT grace and THAT peace comes IN the knowledge of God.

What is the knowledge of God? I personally believe that it would be keeping Him first and foremost in our hearts and our minds and most of all our EVERYDAY lives. Now that is NOT always easy!

But we know that he also PROMISED that he would “keep in PERFECT peace” those who keep their minds on Him. Making time every day to read at least one scripture or devotional. If you do not have morning time to read for yourself, sign up for daily verse emails (my husband reads his aloud for our family) and even social medias have many pages that offer this.

Another great way to stay spiritually fed while multi-tasking is to consider CD’s or electronic devices that you can listen to while driving, cleaning, or while doing almost anything.

It is also great to listen to good, Bible based preaching BUT it is so important to get the actual WRITTEN WORD of God in your Spirit. When we get the Word of God on the “tables of our heart” God uses that to reveal to us what He is saying to us PERSONALLY, not just as it had been revealed to one of His ministers.

I am in no way kicking that, that is His intention by having those who are called to preach the Gospel. But sometimes He will reveal a certain take on a scripture just for you for a certain season or particular battle.

Think about His statement from John 14:26: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

We  have to have His word in us so that it can be brought back to our remembrance because we have can no memory of that which we have not learned. this is one of those when in Rome areas, we can not rest our knowledge of Christ solely upon what is being taught to us.

We know that currently the world is full of false teaching concerning God and especially concerning holiness and acceptable behaviors.  This gets us into our verse dealing with the fact that we have BEEN CALLED OUT of this world.

We are no longer partakers of the world and the sins and snares thereof. A life that we could not free ourselves from BUT a life in which we are called into.

A life that has been GIVEN by absolute DIVINE power that allows to overcome those snares and traps to live inside that realm of virtue and the blessed state of His glory shining on our lives, in the midst of even the darkness of this world.

And these are those promises, that we are called out and called into Him and that through him and His promises that we will escape the lusts of this world that corrupts us.

Think about the word lust.. not the just the sexual sense. The sexual sense is actually the LEAST of the lusts we have to battle. it simply means DESIRE and think of all the desires our flesh has to battle… daily.

The desire of life, the desire of work, the desire to excel in whatever we have chosen. The desire for monetary gains, the desire for popularity, the desire to be liked, loved, needed, or even the desire to be pretty, articulate, even the desire to be “desirable” NOT in the lustful sense but in the attractive sense.

Even the desire to be competitive, the desire to get even, the desire to be “one up” on a foe.  ANYTHING, any emotion, any thought, ANYTHING has the potential to BECOME lustful if not carefully checked against the word of God. 

That was the trouble with the  ancient Romans. They actually took their ideas for their society from the Greeks. They just made everything BIGGER and BETTER than what the Greeks had. The Greeks worshipped twelve “gods’ so the Romans added two and worshipped fourteen.

They built their society based on the thoughts and ideas stolen from the Greeks and as we all know became the world power of the day.

But we also know when it fell.. “great was the fall” and will never again rise to its former stature. We, as a society, take our cues from the media and entertainment, and most horrifically the voice that cries the loudest.

Often thoughts and ideas of a very small group of people become force-fed into mainstream population by the media and soon EVERYONE is EXPECTED to conform to that thought or image, when it is not actually even the popular thought.

It is time to relinquish the societal control that we allow to dictate our lives, thoughts, and desires BACK to God so that we can TRULY be conformed to His will, HIS purpose and most of all HIS divine nature.

So “destroy” that influence over your life in the coming new year. basically, if it does not honor God, do not give it honor by allowing whatever that force is to influence your life. If you are doing or seeing anything that you could not see or do with Jesus beside you.. then simply do not allow that to have any place in your thoughts, life, or family.

Check out what He told the Hebrews, Deuteronomy 7:2-6: “And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them, thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they WILL turn away thy son FROM FOLLOWING ME, that they may serve other gods, so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

But thus (here’s how) ye shall deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.

For thou ART (you are) AN HOLY (set apart) PEOPLE UNTO GOD; THE LORD THY GOD HATH CHOSEN THEE TO BE A SPECIAL PEOPLE (treasure) UNTO HIMSELF, above all the people that are upon the face of the earth.”

As you see THIS is the word of God. HE IS telling us through it that just as the Hebrews were to NOT to have any dealings whatsoever ever with those who were their enemies that we are to NOT have any dealings whatsoever with those things today that ARE our SPIRITUAL enemies.

And notice that He did INCLUDE our children and what we allow to influence them and HE told us in no uncertain terms that exposure to these enemies would lead to REBELLION against Him. That we are to DESTROY those things out of our lives BECAUSE He has called us as His. And fortunately for us, it is much easier NOW to remove those spiritual enemies by making our choices based on His teachings.

So don’t let this world influence your life, you influence the world by living your life for Him!

Finally a couple of quick notes… WHY did Cinderella’s shoes NOT change when everything else did in that fairy-tale? Anyone else ever wonder about that 🙂 ?

Also if you are reading internationally, please know that this title and reference to the old saying and ancient Rome in NO WAY reflects my feelings toward Rome… or Romans, this has been completely symbolic.

Rome is a beautiful place that I would love to visit one day!

And I also wanted to thank you all again from the bottom of my heart for reading this past year and it is my sincerest prayer that you be blessed with new revelations, new joy, and the happiness and peace that can only be found in a true personal relationship with our Lord and Creator Jesus Christ of Nazareth! Amen!

Original post date: 12/28/2017 But sometimes it is good to be reminded.

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017