His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3, NIV
When I read that verse, and I’m just relieved. It is so reassuring to think that everything we need has already given to us by God. Any piece of wisdom or discernment and the faith and knowledge that we need to live a godly life is available to us because of His power!
He equips us for godly living, and that should give us confidence!
He equips us for godly living, and that should give us confidence!Click To TweetThere are many aspects to godly living, but at the very top of the list is prayer. Prayer is how we experience a relationship with God. It’s how we talk and listen to Him. It’s such a special relationship that we should do everything we can to keep it alive and well.
There is a step we can take that will empower our prayer lives, but it is one that is often overlooked. It’s something we can do before we ever even start our prayer or Bible study time for the day.
It’s a simple thing. We can pray before we begin our prayer time. (Until I participated in the Battle Plan for Prayer Bible Study by Stephen and Alex Kendrick, it had never occurred to me to pray over my prayer time. I encourage you to check out this powerful prayer study!)
When we pray before our prayer times, God can multiply the power that is behind the words we speak, and He can do this before they have ever even been uttered. Isaiah 65:24, is evidence of this. It says, “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” (NKJV)
When we pray before our prayer times, God can multiply the power that is behind the words we speak.Click To TweetTo learn more, let’s look a deeper into 2 Peter 1:3. It is so packed with valuable insights about praying before we pray. It’s almost like a little outline for us to use!
Once again, 2 Peter 1:3 (NIV) says:
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Here’s a list of the truths we find in this verse.
- He has given us everything we need for a godly life.
- It comes to us by His divine power.
- Our knowledge of Him is essential for the godly life.
- He calls us.
- It is by His glory and goodness that we are called.
This is really good! But if we dig a little deeper into the Greek root words we get even more amazing insights.
If we look up a key word from each of these five truths and here is what we find. (All of the definitions below come from HELPS Word-Studies which you can find when you look up this verse using the interlinear option at Bible Hub.)
1. The Greek root word that is translated in English as “godly” is referring to our inner response to the things of God.
2. The Greek root word for “divine” is referring to the characteristics of God’s nature and that we know Him by observing His attributes.
3. The Greek root word for “knowledge” has a fascinating insight. This word is talking about knowledge gained through a first-hand relationship.
4. The Greek root word for “called” means to summon or invite.
5. The root word for “goodness” has another interesting insight. A key to this word in the original Greek is the added idea that the “goodness” or “excellence” of God is displayed to enrich life.
Let’s take these deeper meanings and think through 2 Peter 1:3 adding these new insights. If we do that, we might think of the verse in this way:
By His divine power, we are given everything we need to have the proper inner response to the things of God. This comes through the knowledge that is gained in a first-hand relationship with Him. He invites us by His glory and goodness which is then displayed to enrich our lives.
Wow! What if we take the insights we have found in these five truths and ASK for them before we begin our prayer or quiet time? How would this empower our prayer life?
What if we asked God:
*for the proper inner response to the things of God
*for His divine power to help us
*that we would know His character, nature, and attributes
*that we would answer His invitation to a personal relationship
*that we would receive His glory and goodness
*that His excellence, His character, His goodness would enrich our lives
If we ASK God for these things before we start our prayer time, think about how much that will help accomplish in our hearts and minds! Consider the power that would be added to our time spent with Him just by taking a few moments to do some intentional praying before we go into the time we have set aside to be with Him!
God’s word tells us that prayer is powerful. We have so many things right at our fingertips, yet sometimes we fail to grasp the full extent of what God makes available to us. There is real power that comes from relying on His provisions and the promises He has already made!
There is real power that comes from relying on His provisions and the promises He has already made!Click To Tweet 
This week I challenge you to take just a moment to say a prayer before you begin your prayer and Bible study time. Just stop and rest for a moment and then pray before you pray. You can claim 2 Peter 1:3 for your prayer time and ask God specifically for the truths found within that verse.
Blessings!
Leslie
Focus Verses
You can click on the references for any of the Scriptures listed above, and you will be taken to Bible Hub where there are many free resources for further study. I especially like their free interlinear pages where you can find Greek and Hebrew root word meanings.
Let’s Talk
This week I will just repeat here the challenge I laid out in this blog post. Let’s all make a commitment to pray before we pray!
Let’s Pray
Dear Heavenly Father, We ask you to be with us this week each time that we come before you in prayer. Help us to take a moment before we begin to clear our minds and call on You to help us during our prayer and Bible study time. Give us the proper response in all ways to the things you have for us there. We call on Your power to guide and direct us and to give us wisdom and discernment. Help us to know You and to rely on Your character. Help us to receive what You have for us during our prayer times with you this week. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
The article Empower Your Prayer Life with this Important First Step first appeared at www.journeytoimperfect.com.
This article may be linked in other encouraging places. Click HERE to find out where!
Thank you for this post, Leslie. I love the word digging! I’ve been using the Blue Letter Bible-app to do this , but Bible Hub looks good as well. Will try it! I also often pray for my prayer time, asking the Holy Spirit to lead me through my time of prayer. Waiting on the Spirit to direct your prayer and THEN pray really changes the way you pray.
Hi Arda! That’s very true! It does really change things when we ask the Holy Spirit to be there and when we pray for our prayer times. Thank you so much for stopping by today and for commenting! Blessings!
I really loved reading the Greek interpretation all put together. The wording of God’s message is always so deep and exquisite! Thank you. Visiting from the #livefree linkup.
Liz, Thanks for visiting! I love looking up the Greek root words. It’s like finding buried treasure! Blessings!
Leslie – way to dig in and research and then bring out the gold in the Scripture for us to feast on… I often begin my prayers by asking God to show me what to pray before I pray …. I like Susan and Michele’s thoughts above too…. Thanks for linking up with #TuneInThursday last week. Hope to see you tomorrow too.
What a powerful verse! Thanks for your careful study and explanations. I’ll be thinking and praying through that verse!
Thank you, Donna. I always appreciate your studies and insights as well! I love how the Lord gives us these powerful verses to carry us through! Blessings!
Thank you so much as I injoy parying so mu much I would love you to teach me how god will andsew my paryer that I need so much. I have so much faith in our father. He is the only one I have in my life beside my twe son’s that I love very much. I injoy reading the Bible every morning with s with a cup of coffee. Ease don’t forget about me and let me know everything about how to pray and he andsew my prayer.
Please don’t forget about me and how our father in haven hears my prayers and andsew my prayer. Please god I believe in you and I need your help no matter if I don’t need your help I will always pray for you because I love you. I have nobody butt you and my two son’s I love very much as I love you. Amen
Your prayer is heartfelt and shows your faith in Him. Thank you for sharing. I will not forget you and I will be praying for you. He does hear and will answer. We are assured of that through His Word, and I love that about Him. He shows us so much and has recorded it in the Bible so we’ll never forget. : ) Blessings to you!
Thank you so much for reading today. You can be sure that I am praying for you and I will be thinking of you! I hope that you will find all the information here helpful to you in your prayer life. And yes, when we have God, we have everything. I know He will meet you in the mornings as you seek Him. I will pray you will hear Him speaking to you through His Word! His Word tells us that He hears our prayers. Blessings to you!
Psalm 66:19-20 – But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me!
Wonderful goodies, Leslie! I do love this verse from 2 Peter. Indeed! When our hearts are properly aligned with God, how much more powerful and effective will our prayers be! Blessings on you this day! (Visiting from #MomentsOfHope)
Blessings back, Dianne! And Amen on your comment about prayer! Thank you for visiting today!
What great insights on 2 Peter 1:3, Leslie! I always like to start my quiet time by lighting a candle in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then, I ask that the Lord would “quiet my heart and mind to hear His voice.” These little rituals remind me that I am doing something sacred, and they never fail to focus and enrich my prayer.
I love that, Melissa. : ) Thank you for sharing that! And thanks for visiting today!
Wow, Leslie. I love this. Love how you research things and then dissect them for us. Thank you. 🙂 ((xoxo))
Brenda, Thank you for the kind words! So good to see you today!
I love keyword digging! I also follow my friend Andy Lee who does a lot of it 🙂 This is a powerful, insightful post. Thank you Leslie. I’m forever working to stay focused during prayer and reading times. I’m glad to be visiting for the first time from Suzie’s place.
Meg, I’m so glad you stopped by! Thank you for the kind words. Blessings!
I love your insights here, Leslie, and how you’re walking slowly through this so very important verse. So many rush though the Scriptures or superficially refer to them by wrapping them up in their own insights. It’s a great thing to take God’s Word and mine for the gems found embedded deeper than a simple reading or reference can hope to produce.
Beth, Thank you for the kind words. It means a lot to me. I love researching the Greek root words. Doing that has changed everything about my Bible studies. You are so right. It is like mining for gems. I’ve thought of is as finding the buried treasure. : ) God’s word is living and active! PTL! Thanks so much for visiting!
My prayer before I pray is usually a big breath that simply says O GOD.
That’s a good one, too, Susan! I love how He understands us no matter if we use lots of word, a few, or none at all.
I love that verse! It’s so comforting to know that God equips us. Thank you for the encouragement to pray before we pray.
Thanks, Valerie and thank you for visiting today!
I like “pray before you pray,” and it reminds me of a quote (from somewhere!) advising us to “Pray UNTIL you pray.”
At any rate, the point is to pray, and I just plain don’t do enough of it.
Michele, I think that is a neat quote! Thanks for sharing that!
I also like “Never Say Amen.”
Love that!
Pray before you pray! I like that, Leslie. Asking God for these specific things can only make us more aware as we are reading and praying, which is the whole point, right? Glad to be your neighbor at Purposeful Faith today!
Hi Lois! Thank you for visiting today and for commenting. : ) Blessings!