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What Will it Take? Part 3
I have asked you what it will take to get you to read the Bible – what was your answer? I have also asked you what it will take to get you to study the Bible – what was you answer to that question? Now a new question if you can handle it. What will it take for you to memorize the Bible? I am not asking you to memorize the whole thing just parts of it. What is your biggest excuse for refusing to memorize Scripture? Actually, no matter what the excuse, there is no excuse for not knowing the Word of God. In Proverbs 1:7 Solomon says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and that fools reject wisdom and instruction. I am going to tell you on this day that memorizing Scripture is part of this knowledge because memorizing Scripture makes us ponder what it means to us right here, right now and it give us something to hang onto for future use. Shall you present yourself to Jesus mature in the things of God or not?
I hear all the time that people have “life verses” that they have memorized but I am confused about what exactly that means, or more so, what does it mean to them. They memorize a verse like Romans 8:28 but miss the verses before and after where it says that we are predestined to do good works. They memorize Jeremiah 29:11 but skip the fact that God said seek me first and you shall have this. Seeking Him means knowing everything that He says not just what we want to know at that moment or even for life. Has our soul been so spoiled by what we have been feeding it that we want to have life verses that tell us that we are only going to have good things for the future. What about memorizing Hebrews 4:12 or Psalm 149:5 or Isaiah 49:2 or even Jeremiah 23:29 and John 12:48? We are going to be judged by the Words of Jesus when we stand before Him and if we have never buried them in our soul we will not even know what we will be judged by. This is what the Word means to us right here and right now. It is not about our soul here on Earth it is about our soul in Heaven. Paul said to bring your soul into submission (1 Corinthians 9:26-27). Do not run aimlessly through life only putting fluffy verses into your soul, run to win this race to Jesus. Put verses into your soul that change you, encourage you to keep going and keep you on the pavement. Since our life is constantly changing so should our “life verse or verses” change. Challenge yourself and your soul to memorize a whole Psalm this week. Some good ones would be Psalm 8, Psalm 91, Psalm 100 and the all-favourite Psalm 23. Bring your soul into submission so that in the future you will be able to continue running through that desert.
A time is coming when you will not feel the Father around or Jesus or the Holy Spirit because your soul is inundated with worldly woes. Are you prepared for that? Will your whole Spirit come to a stand still? Will you wish you had prepared yourself? Yes, you will unless you let your soul whining take over. Will God be to blame if life happens and you have not prepared your soul to handle it with dignity? You won’t be alone. There are many Christians out there who have not prepared their souls for what is about to happen but that is still no excuse for them to be unprepared. What is it that you are preparing for? Are you preparing for financial disaster, a death in the family, kids coming or kids moving out, job or job loss? Jesus tells us that where our heart is, that is where our treasure is (Matthew 6:21) but our heart is supposed to be in Heaven and we are supposed to be preparing ourselves for when Jesus comes again. We are being sought after by a roaring lion to be devoured and the only way to beat him at his game is the Word. He will continue to come after us but if we know the Truth it shall set us free from the oppression that he has laid upon us. We are not without power but it is not our power that can beat the devil it is the power of God that beats him. The power of God is His Word and it is sharper than a two-edged sword piercing even to the separating of soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12).
If you know the things of God you shall present yourself to Jesus mature in the things of God! Is that not what we want? Therefore there is nothing in this world that should stop us from becoming mature and running the race well. Memorizing Scripture will give us this knowledge we need to present ourselves mature because memorizing Scripture makes us ponder what it means to us right here, right now and it give us something to fight the devil with in the future. I cannot say this enough – reading the Bible, studying the Bible and knowing the Bible is the only way to mature in the things of God. It is disappointing to find Christians who are not hell bent on knowing God. Yes, it is work but how well do you know how to search the Internet or run your computer? Do you think that will give you a free pass into the New Jerusalem? How many songs can you sing from memory? What is stopping you from singing a Psalm instead of a song? Can you see how weak your current excuse is, if you just ponder that excuse for just one moment? When Jesus comes He will take no excuses, only the Truth and His Word will judge us! Ignorance of His Word will not save us, it will kill us. We are to bring our soul into submission and make it do what Jesus wants us to do! Unless you read, study and know Scripture you will never know what that is! What will it take for you to understand that God’s will for us will not be thwarted by stubbornness? He knows what you will and won’t do and He will pull you along kicking and screaming if He has too so why don’t you just do what He wants! He wants you to know Him and to know Him you need to read the Word, study the Word and know the Words.
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What will it take? Part 2
I asked you last time to just ‘believe’ but and now I am asking you to go further and to know. We discussed what it will take to get you to read the Bible. Did you start? If you did I am super proud of you! Considering that God has made us all different we will have different ways of getting started and I told you my story so you would know how weird it was and how different God works in our life to mature us.
This week the question is – What will it take for you to start studying the Bible? Reading the Bible is one thing but studying it is something totally different. It takes time and effort to figure out what the Bible is talking about. It takes more than just going to the building where we congregate to study the Word. It takes more than a weekly Bible study to study the Scriptures. We are under the misguided perception that the Bible is incomplete due to missing information. There is nothing incomplete about Scripture. Let us go to Scripture to find out.
Paul tells us 2 Timothy 3:16 the Bible is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness and He said this before the New Testament ever existed. What other book is good for this? Romans 15:4 tells us that Scripture is good for encouraging us so we might have hope. What other book tells us it is there to encourage us and give us hope that also says it is profitable? Hebrews 4:12 tell us this Book is alive as well. What book, any book, can tell us the same and actually prove it? Jesus tells us Luke 8:11 that Scripture is a seed and 1 Peter 1:25 tells us the Seed will remain forever. What more do we need to tell us what a wonderful privileged it is to know the Word of God? What more do we need to decide that it is profitable to study the Scriptures because of it’s powerful characteristics.
Job 11:7 asked us if we can discover the depths of God? Why, yes we can! Daniel 2:28 reminds us there is a God in Heaven who reveals mysteries. Jesus told us in Matthew 13:11 that it is granted to us to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. The great mystery that has been hidden since the past ages has been manifested to His Saints (Col 1:26) is there for us to discover. The question still remains – what will it take for you to study the Word of God?
This week talk truth to yourself and figure out what it will take for you to want to uncover the mysteries hidden in Scripture. There are many rewards for gaining this information and one of them is listed in Proverbs 25:2. Do you want to be a king on the New Earth and go in and out of the New Jerusalem or would you rather just sit outside the gate waiting for the King of your Nation to bring you the latest news about Jesus. When Jesus returns there will be no more mystery to solve but our opportunity to search the Scriptures for this mystery will also be gone along with the reward we will get for searching out those mysteries.One last time I ask you – what will it take for you to begin studying Scripture? Start now and you won’t have to answer this question again.
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Did He Really Say That?
There is a couple of places in Scripture that tell us about salvation but we glance over them each time. Let me bring them to your attention and tell you why you should stop glancing and start pondering them but first let us get out of the way THE question, “Are you saved?” The one way to discover if anyone is saved is by asking this simple question, “Are you going to Heaven?” The answer is a great indicator whether they know if they are truly saved or not. I am not gifted for evangelism nor am I called to lead a tent revival even still it is my duty (and yours) to make sure that those who call themselves Christians know and understand what that means! We need to know whether they actual believe without any doubt they are saved from hell hence the question. If their answer has any ambiguity outside of a resounding ‘yes’ then they do not know they are saved. Let the teaching begin in your style and at your pace! Romans 10:9-10
Satan is crafty as all get out! The first way he will attack is to make you question your salvation. Did God really say that? Sound familiar? (Genesis verse) When Jesus tells us that all we need to do is accept Him as Lord and Saviour to be saved from hell that is exactly what He means but the devil goes about like a lion (1 Peter 5:8) devouring those who fall for this ploy. It is for this reason that it is extremely important that we strap on the helmet of Salvation and step into the new life available through the working out of our salvation.
You must Strap on the Helmet of Salvation
Once your salvation is established you must strap it on like a helmet or the devil will help you take it off. Your helmet is the Holy Bible! It is leather with your name written on it. It can be NKJV or ESV or HCSB shaped and look totally different from your friend’s helmet. Just as we all look different so must our helmets look different? We are gifted differently and are called to different tasks so our salvation may have come at different times in our lives BUT that does not make us any less saved or any less a Christian. The Devil will have you believe that because you are old you are not saved, because you are young you are not saved, because you are smart, silly, blonde, a red head, Asian, African, Canadian, a plumber, an electrician, a house wife, a woman or any other immature reason that will cause you to question God. Paul tells us to protect our head with this information so that we will not be held back from the good works that we are supposed to do in His Name. Put on your helmet of salvation so you can work it out easier.
You must Work out your Salvation!
Working out our salvation is a new lifestyle like working out our muscles. For our muscles to get taut we need to train them with weight but for our salvation to train our brain with the Word. Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5-13, the way we work out our salvation is to make our brain take on the attitude of Jesus Christ by allowing the Father work in us to fulfill His purpose. This definitely sounds a lot harder than putting on the helmet doesn’t it? Well, it is! We are to determine the purpose of our salvation and work it into our new life. The only way we can do that is put on the helmet and work. Paul used the word work because it is work. We work to know Jesus, work to find our gifts, work to use them, work to perfect them, work to live, work, work, work! There is no place in the Bible to relieve us of work. God has been working for 6000 plus years so we can certainly work for 60 plus years. Not all of our work will be physical but it will all need our brain and as long as we can use it we should be working out our salvation.
How shall we escape punishment when we ignore this great salvation (Hebrews 2:1-4)? When we strap on the helmet of salvation we are not finished we are just beginning the new life waiting for us through working out our salvation. Salvation is God’s work alone but you have been saved to do good works (Ephesians 2:8-10) and those works are to be done by us. The works start with us knowing that we are saved from hell and then walking in the new life of following Jesus from place to place. We may get lazy sometimes, disappointed sometimes or of track sometimes but that never takes away from our salvation. Our salvation determines whose we are on this Earth and our good works determine who we will be on the New Earth. I am going to sound like a broken record when it comes to this but I think that the more we hear it the more we will understand how important it is to work out our salvation.It is for eternity that we have been saved and it is on the New Earth that we will live! Picture what that will look like then ask yourself two questions: Am I saved? If your answer is yes then, are you working it out?
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Guard those Pieces with Your Life!
Joining the pieces of information together that God gives us takes time and knowledge to accomplish. We all use different methods to join those pieces together. To follow the will of God we need to be able to put those pieces together. Putting these pieces together takes a steadfast mind on the task. If we are keeping these pieces in our mind we cannot allow ourselves to be caught off guard. We need to guard these pieces with out life. Each of those pieces keeps us alive in Jesus so when we do not guard them we will lose them. Keeping guard of these pieces with your life will lead to two rewards, more pieces and growing up.As we learned from the last blog, pieces are bits of information that the Holy Spirit places in our heart/mind to help us stay in the Fathers will. As we guard the pieces we already have he will supply us with more. Jesus said in Matthew 13:12 that those who have will be given more but those who do not guard their pieces will lose their pieces. This applies to all knowledge and wisdom given us by the Father. We are gathering information because it helps us to get into position to fulfill the will of God in our life. Some of these pieces of information include how we are gifted, who Jesus is inside those gifts, how we can use those gifts each day and what other information we need. No information is complete by itself so we need to gather more to fully understand all the pieces. Guarding all the pieces information results in more and our growth as well.
With each piece of information we gather and guard we will grow in our faith of Jesus Christ but what is more important is that we will grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. When we grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ we begin to grow up in Him too. It does not take a rocket scientist to learn Jesus Christ it takes someone dedicated to learning Him and dedicated to growing up in Him. We can spend our whole lives warming the bench at church but once we leave our hope, our faith, and our stamina fail to continue as we go to work, parent our children, submit to our husband and follow our leaders. Gathering pieces together to grow is imperative to being who Jesus wants us to be.
It is all about who Jesus wants us to be. He gives us pieces of information so that we can keep doing what He has created us to do. He has created all things and all things hold together because of Him (Colossians 1:16-17). It is His great pleasure to give us more pieces and it behoves us to grow with those pieces. To live in ignorance about who Jesus is, is to live in ignorance about who you are. We are defined by who Jesus is which is why we need to guard those pieces with our lives and He will surely reveal the rewards to us.
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Picking up the Pieces!
I was reading in Genesis recently and was struck by the pieces of unassuming information that reside in that text until I found another one. As I was reading I was reminded of my last 13 years as a Jesus follower and how many pieces of information Jesus has given me along the way that I have had to put together to solve a puzzle. What have I done with all the pieces that God has revealed to me along the way? The habit I have gotten into while reading the Word now is to search my mind whenever I am given a new piece to a puzzling question. I am always pondering information so that I can join it with something else but sometimes it may very well be just the beginning of a new cluster of information. If you read the same story about Joseph in Genesis chapter 37 with chapters 40 and 41 you will find out that all the dreams were in groups of two, why? To get the answer we must first ask the question then wait for more pieces to pick up the answer to the puzzling question!
We can find pieces of information in the Word of God plus the Holy Spirit gives us pieces of information. Even with these different pieces of information we may still not understand although one day when a piece of information is revealed to us all of them will come together. You might have ten pieces of information that make some sense by themselves but remain incomplete together then one day you get another bit of information and all the other pieces come together into that perfect understanding. It is a wonderful thing when that full understanding comes but it is also a wonderful thing to have the pieces as well. These pieces keep us in communion with Jesus to get the answers. Pieces to a puzzle add intrigue to our lives.What do we do with these pieces of information? Jacob and Mary did what was best and we can do it too. When Joseph told his family about the dreams, they hated him but his father kept it in his mind. Mary, mother of Jesus, did that same thing. Every time Mary got a piece of information about Jesus she kept it in her heart and when He was dying on the cross I am sure that she remembered that she was told by Simeon that her own soul would be pierced (Luke 2:35). I am sure that she began picking up all of the pieces that God revealed to her during the 33 years of Jesus’ life. Keeping the pieces in our heart/mind is exactly what we need to do to make sure that we understand everything that God is revealing to us!
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Strategies that Count!
Are you thriving? Are the strategies you use for life bringing you closer to your life’s goals or are they bringing you further away? Are your life skills presenting you as having control over your life or are they showing your inability to use wise strategies to accomplish your dreams?
The world will have us believe that if it is good, it is good for us! I will submit to you that Paul had it right when he spoke to us in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 23. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. The things that we do daily speak to who we want to be and how we want to live. The Word of God can transform our decision making so drastically that we will understand exactly what Paul means when he says not all things are helpful to us nor are all things going to edify us. With that in mind how do we get closer to our goal? How can we live a life abounding in self-control?
The Truth Leads us Closer
To get closer to our life’s goals we need to understand what Biblical strategies are available to us from the Word of God. The fear of God is the beginning of the knowledge (Proverbs 1:7) we need to implement the Biblical skills used to direct our lives closer to our goals. Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him,in John 8 verse 32 “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” As hard as the truth is sometimes it brings us closer to our goals rather than the lie that says we can have anything we want, any time we want!
Self-control is a Fruit
Once we begin to pull Biblical strategies from the Word of God we begin bearing fruit. Before we realize an internal fruit appears called self-control, among others. Galatians 5:22-23 lists all the fruits of the Spirit. He reveals to us all the strategies we need to use to make our decisions then He fills us with love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These gifts from God then become part of our strategies for life. We can turn our whole life around with these internal fruits of the Spirit spearheading our life closer to our goals.
Choose Life in the Word
Choosing life in the Word of God will transform the skills from God’s teachings into solid Biblical strategies that will improve our life. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us how important Scripture is in our life. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That says it all! Of all the choices we will make in our life this will be the most important one.`
Do you want to get closer to your life goals? Do you want to present yourself as having self-control? The choice is pretty clear to me! Let us get in the will of God together to thrive!
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Let Him Choose!
Elijah, the prophet of God Almighty, killed 450 prophets of Baal and believed at this time that he alone stood for God (1 Kings 18-19). He was exhausted and ready to give up. He went up to the top of carmel and put his head between his knees waiting for the rain to come. It came but it poured down more than just water. Elijah had to run for his life to Bersheba. God ministered to him there but he was still running under the impression that he was the only one. It is a great encouragement to know that God has a plan and you are not the only one working it but until you know you are still alone. God asked Elijah what he was doing in Horeb. He told God he alone is zealous for Him. God, before He told Elijah about His plan first showed him His glory then He informed him he is not alone.
Elijah built his ministry by himself. He walked by himself in the zeal of the Lord! He alone went against Jezebel. He looked around and listened but there was not anyone with this same zeal. I feel like this sometimes. I feel like I alone am filled with the zeal of God and it is draining sometimes. Over this couple of weeks I have seen that Jesus has spoken the same words to others as He has spoken to me. He is training me with the same instruction He is using with others. He is showing us His glory before He chooses our fellow workers for His cause. When we are ready He will unite us!
Sometimes we feel we are alone but when God tells us that He is going to do something He does it. We CANNOT do God’s works on our own and if He has shown us that we will join with others He has those others already chosen. He is moving them into place just as He is moving us into place. God knows exactly what we need in a partner worker to accomplish His Word. I am finished trying to pick my fellow workers I am going to let Jesus do that for me and see the wonderful people He adds to my life for the glory of God. He definitely has revealed to me that He can do a better job choosing His workers than I can!
Action Plan: If you feel alone you are in a good place because your aloneness will make you available to view the glory of God from the place where you can see it best. This week open you eyes and ears to what others are saying so you can hear how God is working just for you. Sometimes you have to reveal God’s plan for you even though you have discounted it out of barrenness. That is when God will reveal to you the work He is doing!
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Watch Your Language!
I am more aware today of language than I have ever been in all my life. I am learning American Sign Language and I am learning the Bible in its original language. The translations of the Bible play a key role in how we understand what God is actually saying to us. I am sure that at least one questionable religion has used the word translation to explain their existence. Are they right? No because the translation of the Bible is our responsibility to make. I am English speaking so I must research the Hebrew or Greek word and what it means in English if I am to discover exactly what the Bible is saying to me. Scholars translated the Bible into English but unfortunately the English language is not as easy as the Hebrew or Greek language because we have so many words. An example of a misunderstanding based on translation is Psalm 8. It has a couple of complicated things to look at such as verse 1. NKJV says O Lord our Lord with the first Lord being YHVH (H3068). If you spend 10 minutes researching this word you will know why it is so perplexing to all of us. Then if you go to verse 5 it says that we lack a little from Elohim (H430) but most translation say we were made a little lower than the angels. If you look up the word for lack it is specific to our person.
This being said from just one Psalm you can imagine what the whole Bible has to offer in the way of language. We know that every Word in the Bible is planned and has meaning in its language. The original language is Hebrew in the Old Testament and Hebrew in the New Testament. If context is a great issue for you, as it is for me, than you aught to own an Interlinear Bible of English/Hebrew/Greek. Then you can see how God originally intended His Words to look and to taste. His will is in His Word and He will reveal all of it to you if you ask.Action Plan: this week buy yourself an Interlinear Bible of English/Hebrew/Greek and start looking at those words that perplex you. There are some on the net but I am partial to the touchy feely kind of books. If the web is where you want to read it you can search it out but do take some time to stop and listen to Jesus explain Himself to you in a language only you understand.
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A Change Maker not Making Change!
I am a change maker except I am making no changes in my community at least that is how I feel at this moment or rather a moment ago. Has God directed you as He has me that you will be a change maker but He hasn’t released you to make much change except in yourself. My innards are bursting to make change in my community! They are curdling with age though! I wrestle with what to do! I wrestle with how to do it! I am a wrestler at this moment not a changer.
God has taught me over the past year that I am a learner right now. I read the Word, I learn the Word and I read other books that help my mind get ready. BUT I wrestle with learning. I think I know enough! I think I can but apparently God has a different plan for me. What I learned recently to help me deal with this is – I cannot understand God’s plan for me because my feelings get in the way all the time.I know that He has a plan for me (Jeremiah 29:11) and I know that I am predestined to walk in that plan (Ephesians 2:10) and I know that He will finish what He started (Philippians 1:6) but my human feelings get tangled with the world. [She has my job, he is doing what I want to do, she is being used by God in the way that He will use me.] All of this gets the better of me sometimes making me feel unused and unwanted by God!
This is why He revealed to me that I am not focusing on Him. I have memorized verses just for this reason – to focus on Jesus and not on the world but I had forgotten why I was memorizing them. I recently came into a situation where I decided my feelings were getting the better of me so I started focusing on the verses I memorized. Amazing enough I was relieved of the turmoil and found peace again.
Action Plan: Last week we attempted to discover what it is that God has gifted us to do but what do you need to learn to be more efficient at that gift? Begin that process of learning this week but don’t get discouraged. It may take 12 years, like me, or it may take 2 before God starts using you in His Kingdom. Whatever the number the goal is to be ready to be the change maker that God has revealed you’d be!
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RIM 2: A Patchwork Called the Body!
Much like this Christmas tree I purchased in 2014 for my basement decorations, we are a patchwork of patterns and colours. Some of us have buttons and some bells. Some are cross-stitched and some are straight stitches. Some of us shine from the top and some of us hold the patchwork up for all to see. There are bells at every level and buttons as well. Each part of the Body needs to be sewn together to make the whole. For this tree to look like a tree it all had to come together at a specific place.So is the will of God for each one of us at each stage in our walk with Him. He puts us into place at a specific time so that we can edify the body at that given time with the knowledge and wisdom we have. He makes us the stand sometimes so we can support the whole. He makes us a bell sometimes so that we can sound an alarm to someone who is in sin. He makes us cross-stitches sometimes so we can be two places at once and straight so we can fly solo. He makes us a colour pattern so we can cause people to look twice and solid to be hidden yet blend. Sometimes He makes us a button so we can be in the gap to hold someone together. He has a clear plan for each one of us even if it is the weld on the stand. It is our responsibility to know what part of the body we belong. This is part of knowing the will of God. When you are in the will of God the body comes together but all it takes is one person in the body to stray from the will and the body becomes out of sink and can become fruitless but when everyone does what God wills them to do the fruitfulness of the body can be seen for miles. 1 Corinthians 12:18:27 describes this wonderful phenomenon that Jesus has put together.
Action Plan: Ask yourself this question this week – what is it that God has gifted me to do and am I doing it? If you understand this part of the will of God you will yield much fruit and help the body yield much fruit too!
