2Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,3as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,4by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
In our spiritual journey, as we walk along the path that God has ordained for us, we recognize that He has given us the capacity to experience the abundant, fulfilling life, but He has also extended to us the responsibility to appropriate what He has provided. We have the potential and the promises, but we have to make the choice to integrate those into our lives. We have to choose to submit to Him, to humble ourselves under His mighty hand, so that we can experience His might and the presence of His Spirit with us.
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In John 16, we find that Jesus is teaching His disciples that He would be leaving the earth and sending the Holy Spirit to them - and to us:
7Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.8And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment...
In verses 12 and 13, he says:12I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
Coming soon to a location near you, perhaps the chance to see a group of young, endangered whooping cranes making their way from Wisconsin to Florida. Currently, they are grounded in Tennessee, due to weather concerns, but soon they will be back in the air and continuing their route straight through the heart of Alabama, with stops in locales including Chilton and Pike counties.
In a press release, Alabama Power, one of the partners for the effort, in association with Operation Migration, said that for the 14th year, a new group of the birds are being led by ultralight aircraft on a 1,200-mile journey.
The cranes are guided by a trained team from Operation Migration, which is a nonprofit group whose pilots act as “surrogate parents” and teach the cranes the route so they can return north on their own next spring.
The release says that since 2001, Operation Migration has played a key role in the reintroduction of endangered whooping cranes into eastern North America. Because of conservation efforts, approximately 500 whooping cranes exist today, up from only 15 birds in the 1940s.
In verses 12 and 13, he says:12I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
Coming soon to a location near you, perhaps the chance to see a group of young, endangered whooping cranes making their way from Wisconsin to Florida. Currently, they are grounded in Tennessee, due to weather concerns, but soon they will be back in the air and continuing their route straight through the heart of Alabama, with stops in locales including Chilton and Pike counties.
In a press release, Alabama Power, one of the partners for the effort, in association with Operation Migration, said that for the 14th year, a new group of the birds are being led by ultralight aircraft on a 1,200-mile journey.
The cranes are guided by a trained team from Operation Migration, which is a nonprofit group whose pilots act as “surrogate parents” and teach the cranes the route so they can return north on their own next spring.
The release says that since 2001, Operation Migration has played a key role in the reintroduction of endangered whooping cranes into eastern North America. Because of conservation efforts, approximately 500 whooping cranes exist today, up from only 15 birds in the 1940s.
Here you have an annual occasion that has been undertaken by dedicated people for the purpose of saving a species - and the numbers show their work has been successful in restoring this bird population. Think with me about the similarities of the whooping crane journey with our own spiritual journey with the Lord.
Consider that there is a predetermined route and there is an appointed guide - an ultralight plane. I do believe that the Lord has a path for each of us and He has given us the resources in order to walk in His will for our lives. Now, periodically we will stray from that will and we need to make a course correction, but we recognize that He desires to order our steps so that we follow the plan that He has ordained for us.
And, we know that He has provided an appointed guide - the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Spirit - described as our Helper, will guide us into all truth. Attention to His direction and reliance on His power to stay on course are components of living a fulfilling and productive Christian life.
Now, what's really interesting is that the birds are accompanied on the way to Florida, but not on the way back. They are shown the path, then they are expected to make their way back to Wisconsin. To soar in the spiritual realm, God expects us to apply what He has taught us in life. While God never leaves us without the necessary provisions in order to complete the route, there is an element of responsibility in our spiritual walk. Sure, we are given free will, and we can choose to not follow the way that He has set out for us. He has provided all we need for life and godliness, but those resources are only activated as we take the initiative and choose to appropriate what He has provided. Dependence is a choice, and while the Lord does not expect us to "go it alone," through our surrender, we place self-reliance aside and develop a greater reliance on the Word that we have been taught.
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