God Has given all to His body not all to you individually

The Bible teaches that God HAS GIVEN many things. So sometimes Bible teachers say, “Don’t pray for what God has already given you” because that is not faith. Instead just praise Him and thank Him. Like many truths, that idea can be pushed too far. If you think about it, the Bible says that God has by His divine power already given to us ALL THINGS we need. Does that mean we should never pray for anything, because God has already given it? Let us explore this further.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as 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, by 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 ^[c]corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:3,4)

Here is the Bible passage which states clearly that God has already given ALL THINGS that have to do with life, and with godliness. I don’t believe that leaves anything out which we need.

But we don’t see the fulfilment of this. As long as there are Christians not filled with the Holy Spirit, or poverty, or sickness, or strife, we could say that it isn’t fully happening.

We can say, “Alright, God has given it, but we still need to receive”. That is true. God giving is not the same as our receiving. So then we get this thing going on: “Just believe and receive.” That can work. Sometimes it seems that all that is needed is a decision to believe and trust, and then our needs are met. “Just open your heart”. Sometimes easier said than done.Sometimes the heart is damaged and is like a boarded up door, that doesn’t swing open so easily.

The Promise Was Given to US. We Still Need the Body of Christ to Work

If we read the 2 Peter verses again carefully, we may observe that it says that His divine power has given US all things. It doesn’t say “you individually”.

In the Western world. we tend to think very individualistically. We can read the Bible promises through a very “me-focused” lens. “What’s in it for me?” we ask. “Oh,” says the faith preacher, “Everything you could desire! God has already given you everything. You are healed, delivered, blessed, full, reigning in life!”  And so after a while the individual thinks, “What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I ‘Just believe'”. And so many are put to shame, silenced, and just wait it out in suffering.

But what if the provision is given to the BODY OF CHRIST, and requires some ministry amongst the members of the Body before every member gets what it needs? I think this is actually what we need to realise more. As the Body of Christ, God has given US everything. Now the Body of Christ needs to RECEIVE the different aspects through whomever, and then those individuals need to give it out to others, as the Holy Spirit (not the selfish heart) directs. So it isn’t just a matter of every individual being given everything by God and every individual having to struggle it out independently using faith to somehow receive things.

The big commandment for us as individual believers is to LOVE ONE ANOTHER (John 13:34,35). This is what makes the whole thing work. Without the operation of divine love, the provision doesn’t come through.

The 2 Peter passage says that this provision comes through the knowledge of Him who called us. Knowledge here isn’t just intellectual knowledge of facts. It is experiential knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ we need. But many times this is not revealed to us directly through some amazing visitation of the Lord. It comes normally once again through the Body of Christ. We see Jesus and we know Him and His offices and provisions for us through othere people in the Body of Christ.

We can see the dependence we have on the Body of Christ from looking at passages like 1 Corinthians 12 and parts of Ephesians 4. 

I think more of a consciousness of how important everyone else is to us as well as how important our role to others is would do us all good. We need to get away from this individualistic striving to a more humble posture of realising we are just members of the Body of Christ, rather than being the whole Body.