We believers in Christ have received equally precious faith, and we should be partakers of the divine nature, enjoying and participating in the divine nature, and going along with the inclinations of the divine nature in our spirit. Amen!
This week we come to the topic of, Partakers of the Divine Nature and the Development of the Divine Life and the Divine Nature for a Rich Entrance into the Eternal Kingdom.
The apostle Peter tells us that God has given us equally precious faith so that we may partake of the divine nature; we believers in Christ are partakers of the divine nature.
As we live according to the divine nature and cooperate with the Lord to develop the virtues in this divine nature, we have an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We want to not only have a foretaste of the kingdom of God today in the church life but even more, have an entrance into this eternal kingdom be granted to us richly and bountifully.
We are fellow partakers with the saints, and we partake both of the divine nature and of the sufferings on behalf of the Lord and His name.
What does it mean to partake? To partake is to join in an activity or an action; there is a certain activity, enjoyment, or action, and we simply join in.
Many have gone before us and have partaken of the divine nature, and now we as believers in Christ today need to partake of the divine nature.
We cannot be passive nor should we be active merely according to our natural being; we need to exercise our spirit day by day to partake of the riches of what God is so that we may be partakers of the divine nature.
If we are partaking of the divine nature today and if we live according to this divine nature, developing the virtues in the divine nature, we will have a rich entrance into the kingdom of God.
May we take the way of partaking of the divine nature, following many who have gone before us and who have trod on this path, so that we may enter into the kingdom of God in a rich and bountiful way.
May we allow the cross to operate in us and deal with every part of our inner being.
As we live our Christian life today, as we are on the last part of the journey, may we cooperate with the Lord in our going on with Him, stage by stage, until we finish our course.
We may run well today, but how will we finish?
May we let the Lord come in and deal with anything in our being that He needs to deal with, and may we choose to partake of the divine nature today so that we may live out Christ according to His divine nature in us.
As Those who Received Equally Precious Faith, we should be Partakers of the Divine Nature
2 Pet. 1:4 is a wonderful verse telling us that God has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these we might become partakers of the divine nature.
Wow, we human beings can partake of the divine nature of God!
The divine nature refers to what God is; it refers to the riches, the elements, and the constituents of God’s being (John 4:24; 1 John 1:5; 4:8, 16).
According to the Bible, the divine nature continues in the divine life, God Himself, who is Spirit, love, and light.
We can and should partake of God as the Spirit, love, and light.
We are partaking not just of what God does for us or of His help or blessing; we are partaking of God’s being.
The divine life and the divine nature are inseparable; the divine nature is the substance of the divine life and is within the divine life (1 John 1:1-2; 5:11-13).
How can we, human beings, become partakers of the divine nature? We need to realize that, at the time of our regeneration, we received the life of God.
When we repented and believed into the Lord Jesus, we received God’s life, and in this life there’s the nature of God.
We are now children of God – we are God-men, born of God, possessing the life and nature of God, and we belong to the species of God (1 John 3:1; John 1:12-13).
As many as receive the Lord Jesus, that is, believe into Him, God gives them the authority to become children of God, those who are born of God. Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are born of God!
There are many billions of people on the earth and they are a certain kind of species, but we are a different species – we’re not just part of the human species but even more, we are children of God!
This opens the way for us to become partakers of the divine nature. At our regeneration, another life and nature was imparted in us; we received the divine life and in this life there’s the nature of God.
Because the divine nature is in the divine life, the divine life with which we have been born again has the divine nature within it (John 3:3, 5-6, 15).
Right now, as believers in Christ, we have Christ living in us. He is our life and our person.
We don’t just have some grace from God apart from God Himself; we have God in Christ as the Spirit in our spirit to be our life, and we have the divine nature.
We simply need to be open vessels to the Lord as we come to Him day by day so that we may enjoy His divine nature and partake of all His riches.
Whoever believes into the Son of God is born of God and has the right to become a child of God; thus, we believers in Christ have the right to partake of the nature of God.
This is our right. We have the right to partake of the divine nature.
This is the greatest blessing in the universe. What a blessing it is for us to partake of God’s nature!
We are partaking of the divine elements of God’s being.
We believers in Christ are not here on earth trying to please God according to the rules in the book He gave us; we are here as partakers of the divine nature.
If we want to be partakers of the divine nature, we need to live by the divine life within which is the divine nature (John 1:4; 10:10; 11:25; 6:57).
We need to enjoy the Lord day by day. We don’t automatically live according to the divine nature nor do we spontaneously partake of the divine nature.
Rather, we need to partake of the Lord in His word, enjoying His promises and reading with much prayer what He breathed out in His word, so that we may enjoy and partake of the divine nature.
He promised to do many things for us; we need to claim these promises, pray these promises back to Him, and enjoy the Lord more and more according to His promises.
After receiving the divine life, we need to continually enjoy divine nature. May we open to the Lord and tell Him,
Lord Jesus, thank You for making us partakers of the divine nature! Hallelujah, as many as receive the Lord Jesus as life have the authority to become children of God! Amen, Lord, we believe into You! We believe into Your name! We believe that we are begotten of God in our spirit! Praise the Lord, we believers in Christ are children of God – we are God-men, born of God, possessing the life and nature of God! Hallelujah, at our regeneration another nature was imparted into us – the divine nature! Wow, Lord, may we realize who we are and what we are. May we see that we are not just men belonging to the human species but even more, we are God-men, belonging to the divine species! May we see that we are children of God and may we become partakers of the divine nature! We want to enjoy You, Lord, in all that You are. May we partake of the riches of God’s being and enjoy God as Spirit, love, and light. May all that God is in His being become our enjoyment, experience, and constitution!
Partake of the Divine Nature by Enjoying and Participating in the Divine Nature to go Along with the Inclinations in the Divine Nature
A believer in Christ needs to be a partaker of the divine nature, that is, he needs to be one who enjoys the divine nature and participates in the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).
To partake of the divine nature is to enjoy what God is. To be a partaker of the divine nature is to be a partaker of the riches, the elements, and the constituents of God’s very being (1 Pet. 1:8).
The riches, elements, and constituents of God’s being as revealed in His word need to become our enjoyment, experience, and constitution.
If these things exist in us and abound, they will constitute us neither idle nor unfruitful unto the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We do not partake of God’s Godhead; we will never be part of the Godhead to become an object of worship, but we partake of what God is in His being, in His communicable attributes.
We believers in Christ do not need any outward regulations to adjust how we style our hair, how should we dress, or how we should behave; we have the divine nature in our spirit.
We need to daily partake of the divine nature by exercising our spirit to come to God’s word so that we may enjoy His promises.
Then, throughout the day, the divine nature within us will become something living in us.
Just as a baby doesn’t need to be taught what is bitter and what is sweet, and he will stay away from things that look dangerous or bad, so we need to live by the divine nature by partaking of the riches of what God is in our daily life.
We Christians have the divine nature in us, and this nature has a divine taste.
If we would be partakers of the divine nature, we need to live by the divine life within which is the divine nature (John 1:4; 10:10; 11:25; 6:57b).
We must live a life that matches the divine nature within us. When we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord, we will sense that the divine nature in us has certain inclinations.
All we need to do is turn our hearts to the Lord and exercise our spirit to contact Him, and the divine nature in us will be developed and will grow.
We will desire to be heavenly because God’s nature, His inclination, is heavenly.
We will not desire to say something to offend others but rather to give grace to them, for the inclination of the divine nature in us is this way.
We feel uneasy when we’re proud and we feel comfortable when we’re humble because this is the nature and inclination of God.
We will not want to take advantage of others or cause them harm but rather, we will want to share what we have with them and do good to them because this is God’s nature and inclination in the divine nature in our spirit.
We behold the Lord in our time with Him and we spontaneously reflect Him toward others (2 Cor. 3:15-18).
Day by day this should be our experience.
We need to turn our heart to the Lord and muse on God’s word prayerfully so that we may enjoy the riches of God’s nature; in this way, we’re partakers of the divine nature.
As we partake of the divine nature by enjoying the Lord in all that He is to us, it will be easy for us to be delivered from the world and not to love sin and evil.
God will be in us not just as our life but also as our nature, and within us He will be the capacity for us to live and He will give us His taste in our daily living.
May we become partakers of the divine nature in our daily life and may we cooperate with the Lord to enlarge the sphere of the divine nature within us by taking the word of Christ by means of praying, singing, psalming, and thanking the Lord (Col. 3:16).
So many Christians do not grow in life because they do not partake of the divine nature by exercising their spirit to come to the Lord’s word and enjoy His riches.
When we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly by opening our entire being and exercising our spirit, we will become partakers of the divine nature.
When we read the Word, sing the Word, pray the Word, psalm the Word, and thank the Lord with the Word, exercising our spirit over God’s Word, the Lord will stir us up, He will be mingled with us, and we will be one with the Lord in an actual and practical way.
In this way, the sphere of the divine nature in us will be enlarged, and we will grow in life and live one spirit with the Lord.
Lord Jesus, we want to be those who enjoy what God is in His nature. We want to be partakers of the divine nature to partake of the riches, the elements, and the constituents of God’s very being! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to come to You in Your word and partake of Your riches in spirit. We want to read Your Word, pray over Your Word, sing the Word, psalm the Word, and thank You with the Word. Amen, Lord, may the word of Christ enter into us, stir us up, and become mingled with us, causing us to be one with the Lord in an actual and practical way! We open to You, Lord, and we turn our heart to You as we come to You in Your word. Shine on us. Shine through us. We want to behold You and reflect You. We want to go along with the inclinations of the divine nature in us. May we partake of the divine nature and live according to the divine nature in our daily living. Amen, Lord, live in us today! May You be expressed through us as we exercise to be one spirit with You and live according to the divine nature!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, Conclusion of the New Testament, by Witness Lee, pp. 3934-3937, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living a Christian Life and Church Life under the Government of God for the Economy of God (2024 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 6, Partakers of the Divine Nature and the Development of the Divine Life and the Divine Nature for a Rich Entrance into the Eternal Kingdom.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– Resurrected with Christ and Having the eternal and uncreated life, a portion from, Basic Lessons on Life, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee.
– Three Foundational Truths and Why They Matter, via, Shepherding Words.
– Partaking of God’s nature through God’s promise, a portion from, Messages Given to the Working Saints, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
– 2 Peter (Program #6) – The Divine Provision (6), via, Bible Study Radio.
– “In Life and Nature but Not in the Godhead”: Witness Lee’s Contribution to a Biblical Understanding of Theosis, via, An Open Letter.
– 4 Precious and Exceedingly Great Promises from God, via, Bibles for America blog.
– What is Sanctification? More via, The Hearing of Faith.
– 10 Divine Rights for Every Believer to Participate in, via, Holding to Truth in love.
– The Believers have the Divine Nature via, Contending for the Faith.
– Partakers of the Divine Nature, via, Living to Him.
– Revelation Program 6: Joint Partaker in the Tribulation, Kingdom, and Endurance in Jesus, via, LSM Youtube.
– Partake of the Divine Nature for New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog. - Hymns on this topic:
– Given us, given us, God has given us / Precious faith, power divine, greatest promises. / We believed, we received, now we have all three; / By these we may grow unto maturity. / Precious faith in each saint, precious equally, / Precious faith holding us, holding ceaselessly. / Disagree or agree, still it holds us fast, / Day by day, eternally this faith shall last. (Hymns #1211 stanzas 1-2)
– The essence of the Kingdom is / A life that’s under heaven’s rule, / A life whose nature is divine / With Christ experienced in full. / Such is this life: in spirit poor, / With heart repentant, mourning, meek, / Which is to others merciful / And purely God Himself doth seek. (Hymns #944 stanzas 1-2)
– Oh, what a joy! Oh, what a rest! / Christ now is being formed in me. / His very nature and life divine / In my whole being inwrought shall be. / All that I am came to an end, / And all of Christ is all to me. (Hymns #499 stanza 2)
The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3932-3933, by Witness Lee
Dear brother, as those who have received equally precious faith, we believers in Christ should be partakers of the divine nature.
We are born of God to be children of God having His life and nature. Hallelujah!
Now there’s an inclination in the divine nature in us, and we feel peaceful to go along with the divine nature and its inclination.
May we pray-read the Word of God and partake of the divine nature more today so that we may also live according to the divine nature!
The divine nature are the riches, elements and constituents of God’s being!
We, as children of God have the authority, the right to receive, partake of and enjoy the nature of God!
Hallelujah!
Amen. Thank you Lord for the divine nature in us.
As believers we can partake of God’s nature, which is the constitution of the divine life.
Since we have this divine nature, in our daily living we shouldn’t be concerned with outward regulations, but we should live according to the divine nature within us.
Amen, may we not only enjoy His life but start to live our life according to His nature..
Isn’t it wonderful brother that we have the right to partake of the mighty God’s very life & nature?
This is truly the greatest blessing in the universe.
Most believers don’t realise that God’s life & nature must be continually enjoyed by us in an actual & practical way.
Our inclination should become more & more according to the divine nature within us.
God’s life is the capacity to live, and God’s nature is the taste in our living.
When God’s life & nature flows through us and overflows into our soul, it’s easy for us to overcome sins and evil.
We must enlarge the sphere of the divine nature within us by reading, praying, singing, psalming & thanking the Lord.
Then, the word of God will stir us up and become mingled with us, causing us to be one with Jesus in a real & practical way.
Hallelujah why we are the participants of this rich entry into the Kingdom of Heaven…!
Although the divine life with the divine nature, with its divine taste was imparted into us when we were regenerated, we must continually partake of the divine nature – not being governed by outward regulations or behaviour – but living by the divine nature, enjoying the nature of God as we take the word of Christ through reading, praying, singing, psalming and thanking the Lord.
In such a way this divine nature is enlarged within us.
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Ameen!!!
Praise the Lord for the greatest blessing in the universe that we can partake of God’s divine nature.
As believers and children of God, we are partakers, those who enjoy and those who participate in what God is.
But this requires us to live by the divine life because the divine nature with its inward inclinations, desires, and taste is within the divine life.
Also, we may partake of His divine nature through God’s precious and exceedingly great promise contained in His word. This will enlarge the realm, the sphere of the divine nature within us.