God has given us very great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:4) so that by means of these gifts we may escape from the destructive lust that is in the world, and may come to live in the divine nature (escape from moral decline that is rooted in lust/ambition and greed — Amplified Bible translation).
This world system is controlled/driven by ambition and greed, and everything that is controlled/driven by ambition and greed will experience moral decline. Why do many Christians’ moral decline just as the world?
Because they are still lived and controlled by the system of this world. Their lives are controlled and driven by ambition and greed. If we want to escape from moral decline that is rooted in ambition and greed, inevitably we have to live in a different system, the system of Heaven. Indeed, we still live in the world, but we can live with the system of heaven, because our true citizenship is in heaven (Ephesians 2:19).
If we live in a world with the system of Heaven, then when the system of the world is shaking, we will not be shaken (Heb. 12:25-29).
How can we escape from the shake that would happen? Live in the system of heaven! How do we live in the system of heaven? Live in His divine nature! How can we live in His divine nature? Walk in His promises! Is it possible? How does it work? Understand the meaning of live in the divine nature:
1. Live in the divine nature means that we have the divine innate nature.
We are born with a nature/human traits which are full of weaknesses and limitations. As long as we continue to live in an innate human nature, we will continue to live in all its weaknesses and limitations. We will continue to be swayed by all the situations and circumstances. When God gives His promises to us, He also gives us His nature along with the promise.
If we continue to soak in His promisse until the promises are united with us, then His promises will be our new nature/innate nature that replace the old human traits.
Example: Gideon (Judges 6). Gideon was born with a coward, timid, fell insecure innate nature, felt himselves small, etc. (verses 11 and 15), but the Lord came to him and said: “You are a brave and mighty man!” (verse 12).
At first, Gideon was having a difficult time to believe this promise, but he took it and continued to soak in it, and unknowingly, the new traits as a brave and mighty man appeared in him which replaced his old nature as a coward. With the new divine nature that he was wearing, Gideon actually risen as a brave and mighty man and redeemed Israel from the Midianites colony.
When Gideon live in the divine nature, he was freed from the system that worked at the time, namely: fear! He lived in a different system, that’s why he was not affected anymore by the existing system and was able to conquer it.
2. Live in the divine nature means that we have divine abilities.
Our human’s capabilities are very limited, that’s why we need to live in divine capabilities. When God gives His promises, at the same time He also gives us His divine potential. So when the promise has come together and become our identity, the various capabilities that had not existed before become existed in us.
That’s divine abilities. With the new divine capabilities that we have, we will be able to do everything that we can not do humanly. In the example above, Gideon did not have the ability to redeem Israel from the Midianites before, but through the promise of God, He could live in the divine nature and had the new ability to become a liberator.
3. We have divine fate.
Nature is often connected with fate. Fate is determined by nature. If our nature is poor, then our fate is poor. If we experience the change of nature, our fate will automatically change. If the nature is divine, the fate must be divine. We must accept and trust the promises of God as our nature, then the promises of God will become our fate.
If you understand the meaning to live in the divine nature, then you can start living in the system of Heaven rather than in the system of the world.
You can also read: Word of The Kingdom.
