Tag Archives: Bible study

Today

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This is the day the Lord has made. (I) will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)

Even when the circumstances of life weigh heavy. Even when Satan is at the door and my resolve is weak. Even when, because of unconfessed sin, God seems far away. I am reminded that He has given me another day.

It’s a day in which He wants to walk with me, to bless me, to use me. It’s a day He wants to reveal Himself through the singing of birds, the colorful leaves, the vast ocean or an ant hill, the warmth of the sun or a clap of thunder. He wants me to see Him in the innocence of a child or the shaky smile of an elderly saint.

He wants me to lay the circumstances of life aside and experience the joy of sins forgiven, the privilege of fellowshipping with the God of Creation, the intimacy of loving His Son.

The Lord has made this day for He and I to experience together. I’m glad about that.

Choose Me, He says.

And I do.

How Do You Know What is True?

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Satan has been twisting God’s Truth since the garden when he told Eve God didn’t really mean what he said. “You won’t really die,” was the lie that changed everything.

Jeremiah, in chapter 14, asked God not to be mad at the people, saying the prophets were telling them they were ok. God said – “my prophets aren’t telling them that. The people are believing a lie.”

No different than today.

The Truth of Scripture is being twisted, and edited, and denied. So how do you even know what’s true any more?

Well, are you reading and studying God’s written Word? Do you pray over it, think about it, talk about it? Are you familiar with the things God inspired men to write for your benefit? God isn’t going to let you believe a lie if you include him in your search for Truth.

You might not like what you read in the Bible. It’s not politically correct. You might recognize yourself as a sinner damned to hell. But you don’t have to be.

The Truth is Jesus died to forgive your sins. He went to the cross so you don’t have to pay the debt you’ve accumulated. He is eager to mark that debt “paid”, if you’d only ask Him to.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life, and no one, not even you, will go to God without Him. There is no other name – not Mohammed, or Buddha, or some positive energy – that can save.

No other name!

Please read the Bible. It’s God’s word to you. But don’t just read the parts that don’t offend you, or those that make you feel good. Read it all. It’s the only way to be able to recognize when Satan is twisting the Truth.

Don’t miss out on what God wants to say to you today.

It’s Understandable

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Paul said something in I Corinthians 4 that struck me today. He had been talking about being a servant of Christ, faithful. He said it didn’t matter to him if people judged him. He didn’t judge himself. “He who judges me is the Lord.” So like him – or not, agree with him or not. It’s God’s praise he wanted.

Then he said he wants us to learn something from his example: “… not to think beyond what is written…”

I want to be careful not to take these words out of context. But Paul goes on to say opinions are divisive. What you and I think is irrelevant in light of God’s truth. What does Scripture say?

What does it say?

In the context of this letter to the Corinthians, Paul is saying he really didn’t care what they thought about his teaching. He only cared about being a servant of the One who inspired Scripture, and being faithful to the written Word.

Is Paul really saying to take Scripture at face value? I think so. And it’s a theme that God has laid on my heart for a while now. Somewhere along the way we’ve come to believe the Bible is hard to understand, that it takes a theology degree to understand it. So too many Christians limit themselves to reading the New Testament or Psalms. Or they allow their pastors to read the Bible and just tell them what it says.

Paul says you are no different than anyone else, not the farmer, or the nurse, or the college professor with a ton of letters after his name. The understanding of Scripture is given to us by God Himself! But we have to read it. And God will be faithful to give us the understanding he wants us to have when we do.

We are already rich!

I believe that when we ask God to reveal himself through this written Word, he does! Read it expecting to get it. What does it say? That’s what it means.

God inspired every word written there. So it must all be important, relevant, understandable. So read it all!

Then read it again.

If Only The Almighty Had Written a Book

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Job lived before God had inspired men to write Scripture. There was really no way to get to know God, so Job’s questions would go unanswered unless God spoke to him personally (which God does at the end of the book of Job).

But in the middle of his anguish and confusion Job cries: “Oh, that the Almighty would answer me, that my Prosecutor had written a book.” (Job 31:35 NKJV)

Do we realize what a blessing is ours in the pages of our Bibles? We, unlike Job, can know God’s heart any time of the day or night. We can read and re-read God’s promises, the expressions of his love, his rules, his plan. There need be no questions like the questions Job had.

Do you know what Job said he’d do if he had God’s Book?

“Surely, I would carry it on my shoulder, and bind it on me like a crown.” (vs 36)

How do we respond to having God’s very words at our fingertips? Do we carry it on our shoulders, or put it on a shelf? Do we wear it like a crown, or apologize for its content?

Do we love to read God’s Word, memorize it, meditate on it, pray over it, use it, share it?

I just had a random thought. When I was about five years old, our Sunday School teachers were spinster sisters we called, Aunt Minnie and Aunt Rose, two godly women who loved the Lord and loved us. I remember one activity we did in class. The ladies put a group of books on a table and one by one, each of us would be challenged to stack the books the right way. We would put the books on top of each other, careful to put the Bible on the very top. And when we stacked the books correctly, the women would clap their hands excitedly. Nothing, they taught us, should ever be placed on top of God’s Word. Not on the table, and not in our hearts.

Thank you for visiting my blog. I am glad you have taken the time to read what it is I have to say. I hope you are encouraged and challenged as God speaks to you through what he lays on my heart. But I hope you spend more time in the pages of your Bible, reading what God has said first hand, finding out what He will lay on your own heart as you devour his very words.

This book we have in our possession is alive and active, it is precious and pertinent. Let’s not squander the blessing Job longed for: the Almighty’s book right in front of us!

Dearest God, thank you for your written Word. We in the United States have the privilege of reading it without fear of being arrested, unlike some of your people in other nations of our world. Many of us have multiple copies and translations in our homes, on our phones. I pray that you would speak to each of us about our response to having your Book in our hands. Thank you today for the memory of Aunt Minnie and Aunt Rose and their influence in my life that reaches decades later. I want to remember the lesson they taught, that nothing is more important than your Word to us. May you find all of us faithfully reading it, learning from it, and living by it. May we allow you to strengthen us through its pages to go out and share Your Word with people around us.

Changed?

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The New King James version of the Bible says that after he had talked to Samuel, Saul left there another man. God gave him a changed heart. (I Samuel 10)

That’s as it should be. Reading God’s Word should change us, too. Hearing God’s Word proclaimed from a pulpit should change us. Did you leave church yesterday a different person? Did I?

It’s Monday morning. Can you even remember what the pastor spoke about yesterday morning? If not, why not? Was it because our hearts weren’t prepared to hear from God? Were we too busy to pray before we walked through those doors? Was it because our minds were on other things? Did our thoughts wander? Did we allow our children to distract us? Are we harboring sin?

Sometimes I read the Bible and write in my journal, then half way through the day can’t remember what I thought I’d learned. What a waste of God’s resources. Here I have God’s Word in my hands. I’m free to worship him and hear teaching from his Word every Sunday. I have this treasure at my fingertips, but too often squander it away.

Father, forgive me. I want to allow you to change me every time I read or hear your Word. I don’t want to miss anything that would encourage me, strengthen me, convict me, change me into a woman who radiates You. Help me to change into a person more like you every time I open your Word or have the privilege of hearing a sermon from your Word. I don’t want to miss any opportunity to draw closer to you.

Border Wars

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I have to admit I don’t know Middle-Eastern geography. I am not familiar with nations and cities on today’s maps, much less those in Old Testament times. So when Joshua is naming territories that were given to the Jews to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham, my eyes glaze over. Not only do I not know where these places are (or were), the names of these places are hard to pronounce.

What can God possibly say to me through this geography lesson?

One word kept repeating itself as I read Joshua 15 and 16 this morning: borders. The Jews were given the Promised Land, but it didn’t come without clear borders. Those borders were necessary to separate the people of God from everyone else. The Jews were to live inside the borders. The enemy’s influence was to stay on the other side of those borders.

Do we have borders as 21st Century children of God, living in the blessed Promised Land of fellowship with God? Let me share just a few borders God has laid on my heart:

Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Be holy as I am holy.

Resist the devil.

Flee youthful lusts.

Pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks.

Preach the Gospel.

Confess sin.

Present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God.

Study to show ourselves approved of God.

Now, none of these will earn us favor in God’s eye. None of these will buy our salvation. The privilege of living in the Promised Land is a gift of God, it’s ours by the grace of God, it was bought by the blood of Jesus, the only way to the Father. No, these borders can’t allow us to get around the cross. But living within these borders is amazing, like living in a land flowing with milk and honey.

These borders, like the borders Joshua spelled out for Israel, separate us from the rest of the world. It’s within these borders we find fellowship with God himself, life and peace, and help in our time of need.

But there is a war on our soul. Satan wants to tear down the walls, blur the line, enlarge our borders by telling us lies like: God wouldn’t send a good person to hell, there are multiple paths to God, there are big sins and little sins and little sins are overlooked by God, you are ok just the way you are, laughing at sin on TV or neglecting study of God’s Word or keeping your faith to yourself is no biggie, intelligent men and women reject the Bible as inerrant.

I am challenged to guard my borders. The walls around my heart can’t be too high, my resolve can’t be too strong, my dependance on God can’t be too complete. I want to live within the borders God has given us in his Word. There is nothing outside those lines that can compare.

Father in Heaven, thank you for lovingly identifying the borders. Thank you for providing peace and joy and comfort and blessing to those of us who walk inside those borders. Forgive us when we fall for Satan’s tactics to blur the lines, to step outside your perfect will. I pray for your people today. May we let you identify the borders as we read and study your Word, and may we be willing to fight to keep those borders secure. This is war. You give us the victory. Thank you. 

A Common Thread

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For some time I have read through the Bible each year with a chronological plan. I love reading the Bible that way. But this year I decided to mix it up a bit, rebel that I am. I’m reading the New King James Version with a plan that includes some Old Testament, a Psalm or two, some Proverbs, and a passage from the New Testament each day for a year.

Not sure how I feel about that yet. But I’m excited to see what God has in store for me as I read His Word. What has occurred to me this first week of 2015, is how the Bible isn’t just a book of one thought after another, once account after another. It is an incredible piece of literature, inspired by God Himself, and it has a message that is consistent from Genesis to Revelation. Like what I read today.

The book of Genesis tells us that several years after the flood, people were beginning to feel pretty powerful. They began to build the Tower of Babel (11:1-9) and with each brick they laid. they felt more prideful. They were going to build their way to God.

Solomon tells us there are seven things God hates: pride, lies, murder, wickedness, choosing evil, slander, and troublemakers. (Proverbs 6:16-19) Pride heads Solomon’s list. Jesus tells us not to give, fast or pray in order to receive praise. (Matthew 6:2,5,16)

One of the biggest stumbling blocks in our walk with the Lord just might be pride. Receiving Christ as our Savior involves humbling ourselves, pouring our “selves” out, relinquishing control, and admitting our worthlessness.

For some, that’s too much to ask. Some would rather climb a mountain or fight a giant instead of falling on their knees in repentance. Even some who know Christ still battle pride, and want their walk or their sacrifice to be noticed by others. God hates that. God cannot bless that. And I believe unsaved people label that attitude in a believer hypocrisy.

God is asking me about my motives. Am I doing something in Jesus name in order to get to him on my own terms, like the Jews at Babel? Am I volunteering at church so that people will tell me how great it is that I do? Do my public prayers consist of flowery words meant to impress those in attendance, my weekly offering in the collection plate given so someone will comment about my sacrifice?

I love how the different passages I read today all share the same message. This Bible I have in front of me is truly amazing. May I read it, learn from it, and be the woman God would have me be for Jesus’ sake, not mine.

So what is the common thread I’ve seen as I read from the entire Bible? Put simply: this life isn’t about me. It’s all about Jesus. All of it.

Dear God, thank you for your Word. Thank you that it is relevant, powerful, and true. I pray that your children will spend time in these precious pages, that we will think on it, learn from it, and use it to lead others to the Savior. I also pray that in all we do, the sin of pride will not have a foothold. May we look to you and not ourselves. And may you find us faithful, in Jesus’ name.

Inquiring Minds

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Habakuk wasn’t afraid to question God. “Why, God?” he asked. He listened to God’s reply, then went on to ask “What about this?” Habakuk is an example of an inquiring mind, and God made inquiring minds.

I’m not interested in pouring over ancient history to put a time-line on these prophecies. But some people are, and that’s ok. I think Scripture teaches that God wants us to dig, to learn, to be awed by creation, and to love him enough to get to know him. The problem is when we assign human attributes to God, when we try to define him by ways we understand.

We can’t know anything about God that’s not revealed in his Word. Studying history, or reading commentaries (as helpful as they are) to come to an understanding of God isn’t necessary. Reading the Bible is.

God isn’t afraid of our questions. He created us with the ability to think and wonder. But he will reveal only a portion of Who he is, give only the answers we NEED to know this side of heaven.

So go ahead and ask. Then accept the fact that there are some things we cannot know. If we were able to know everything God knows, he’d be us.

There’s Always Something To Learn

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It’s foolishness to stop learning, to think you know everything you need to know. I chuckle every time I read the proverb that says, in effect, keep your mouth shut and people will think you’re intelligent. It’s only when you speak that they can see how much you don’t know. (17:28)

I wish I’d learned that lesson long ago. I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve spouted off about something only to find out later how wrong I was, how foolish I must have sounded.  If only I had taken time to learn about that subject, I wouldn’t have made a fool of myself.

My nephew is a natural athlete. This year, as a high school Sophomore, he was ranked among the best baseball players in our county. He has a state of the art batting cage at home in their barn. But it sits unused most of the time. He’s like most teenagers in that they want success, they just don’t want to work for it. I wish I could get him to see that the men who are making millions playing the sport he loves still go to the batting cages every day. They work out in gyms, shag flies because they want a better batting average this week than last week, they want to make that defensive play that will wind up on ESPN. They recognize they have some things to learn. some areas in which they can improve, and if they don’t another young and hungry athlete will take their place.

Years ago I had a friend whose husband was on her to read her Bible. Her answer to him was, I’ve read it already. She didn’t see the necessity of reading it again.

I’ve read the Bible multiple times. But every time I do I learn something, grow stronger in my faith, love God more. I don’t know everything there is to know about my Lord. It’s foolish to think I do. It’s foolish to not want to learn everything I can.

The King James version of 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us to “study to show thyself approved unto God.” The NIV says it like this, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved.” All the versions that I read go on to talk about being a good worker, someone who correctly handles the Word of Truth. That ability doesn’t come without some intentional study, prayerful learning.

Dear one, be in God’s Word every day. Study it. Commit it to memory. Use it. And don’t be ashamed of it. We’ll never know all there is to know about God this side of heaven. But we have in the Bible everything we need to know for this life on planet earth. Don’t be foolish and let it sit unused in your home. You have a treasure there that’s so worth a little bit of time and effort. And you, my friend, have a lot to learn. And so do I.

May 9

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Psalms 3, 4, 11, 23, 26, 12, 36; 2 Samuel 16:1-14

I’m sure when David wrote these psalms he couldn’t have imagined what life would be like in 2013. But God knew. And what he inspired David to write he knew would speak to hearts then and now.

“Help, Lord, for the godly are no more.” And that was written long before reality TV was the rage.

David wrote, “we own our lips… who is our master” before freedom of speech was an amendment to any constitution.

Psalm 36 talks about the wicked who don’t fear God and who think so highly of themselves they don’t recognize sin in their own lives. I’ve heard even some preachers who call themselves Christian say how important it is that we love ourselves, that we find strength within us, that we are worthy and capable. I’m not seeing that in Scripture.

I pray that God would continue to speak to us through his written word and that he would find his people pouring over the pages looking for direction, encouragement, correction and truth.

As we read each day I pray God will be able to teach us because we are willing to be taught. Then may we go about our day, set apart, and ready to use what we learn to lead someone to Christ.

God, I thank you for inspiring men like David to write down the words you would have us read in 2013. I thank you that it spoke to people in David’s day and that it still has power to change lives today. May it change mine.