Nature

Father, my body is sown in dishonor, yet raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, yet raised in power; it is sown a natural body, yet raised a spiritual body. Remind me that the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. Though I was dead in my transgressions and sins, in which I formerly lived according to this world's present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, among whom I also formerly lived out my life in the cravings of my flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and I was by nature a child of wrath even as the rest. But you, being rich in mercy, because of your great love with which you loved me, even though I was dead in transgressions, made me alive with Christ! By grace I am saved, no longer enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all. Through these things you have bestowed on me your precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised I may become a partaker of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire. For if I live in the flesh, I cannot please you. For since the creation of the world your invisible attributes - your eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So I am without excuse. For in the love of my eternal Savior's name I lift these words to the most high God. Amen

Nature