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Purpose
As you may know, when we read scripture God will reveal something new to us as we are prepared to hear it. I have since my own salvation written some of these Words down on various scraps of paper scattered throughout my home.
I though it would be nice to include different things God reveals to me during my readings here.
Should any of you wish to send me Words that God is teaching you through scripture, I will be happy to include a reader submission section on this page.
Please keep in mind that anything included on this page are things God through His Word is teaching me. They do not necessary apply to you or have meaning to the world in general.
God's Words to me through His Book
7/27/00
Romans 7:4-5
Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. 7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."
This verses remind me of how much God gave us when He gave us His Son. Prior to Christ we were all judged by the law. A law we could never live up to. It seems to imply that once we know what the law was we fell into even more sin.
Not to trivialize this, but here is an example to show the connection. On occasion I decide to eat healthier food, I know it is good for me. Yet after several days or even weeks, I suddenly break and "pig out" on ice cream or chips. Trying to do what is good and healthy causes me to dwell on what I tell myself I can't do which leads me to failure.
The written law shows us our failures. The law is perfection which we, on our own, cannot attain. We wind up bearing "fruit to death." We thought rules and regulations would save us rather than our faith in God.
Then we were given the gift of Jesus. His sacrifice allows us to live by the Spirit rather than the law. The Holy Spirit dwells within us instructing us and teaching us. The Spirit causes us to recognize when we sin and causes us to feel repentance. Rather than trying to justify ourselves by our good deed we are justified by our faith in Jesus Christ.
6/18/00
John 14:15-17
15"If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, 17 "even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
First, Jesus tells us that if we love Him we are to keep His commandments. I think to the "new" commandment Jesus gave us, to love our neighbors. In return, He will ask the Father to send the Spirit of Truth to us. I was struck that the Spirit of Truth will be with us forever.
I generally thought of the Holy Spirit as being someone who lives within us while we are here on earth. But it would seem that I was very limited in that view.
These versus also tell me that once we receive the Holy Spirit, the Spirit will never be taken from us. Jesus does not say the Spirit will abide with us forever unless we mess up.
6/18/00
Luke 21:8
And He said: "Take heed that you not be deceived. For many, will come in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and, 'The time has drawn near,' Therefore do not go after them.
Jesus warns us that there would be many people who will claim to be Christ. They would tell their followers that the time of the end was near. I was struck by the many cults today and in the past where a person claimed to be Jesus and even lead their followers to commit suicide by telling them the end of the world was at hand.
We need to study the scripture and stay away from such false teachers. Jesus Himself tells us not to follow them.
5/26/00
Luke 11:34
"The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.
Forgive me for taking liberties with this verse, however, I believe God was specifically trying to tell me something through this verse.
One of my struggles, is with TV. While I generally watch the news and a few Christian programs, I also will tune in to some movie or other. I'm sure you are well aware that most movies aren't exactly Biblical. I may watch a love story or some other nonsense program. The problem is that in most of these movies, the couple isn't married, or there is generally vulgar language.
My eyes watch and the sin in the movie and I basically ignore it or even chucked during a comedic moment.
How can I enjoy watching a "mild" love story about an unmarried couple who (it is suggested) is having sexual relations. I am letting the sin enter my body through my eyes just as if I were living the sin portrayed.
How do we guard against lustful thoughts and our sinful nature? One way is to guard what we see, stop exposing ourselves to that sin, making the sin seem normal or even funny. We as humans tend to imitate what we see, either literally or through fantasy.
5/26/00
Luke 8:18
"Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him."
This verse struck me. It starts of warning us to be careful of "how" we hear. This warning ends with a period not a comma. Which really strikes me as a powerful warning. There are many people teaching various ways to get to heaven. I believe one of the most important things we can do as Christians is read the Bible for ourselves. There are many out there who sound good, but when you study the Word for yourself, you find that what they are saying isn't scriptural.
Then the verse goes on to say that the person who has will be given more. I believe Jesus is talking about life. Those who have life (true life) will be given more life, life eternal. Those who do not have Jesus in their hearts do not have life. They may think they do because they are walking and talking here on earth. But the life they think they have will be taken away from them.
5/2/00
Luke 8:11-15
11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 "Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 "But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. 14 "And the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15"But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.
God scatters the seed (the Word/gospel) through us his servants. There are those who hear the Good News regarding the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for our sins, but the devil takes it away from them and they do not believe. These are the people Jesus was referring to when he talks about the seed along the path. There have been many times when I have talked about Jesus and been told how great it was that I believed in something but it wasn't for them, or they didn't want to change the way they live. (Not understanding that God does the changing of us not us doing the changing of ourselves!)
Then there are those who are like the seed that fell upon the rock. They hear the Good News and they think it's great. Wow! this "guy" died for me, isn't that something... But they never take this knowledge and apply it. They never take that crucial step of asking Jesus into their life and make Him ruler of them. They don't have any roots, and in these verses and many others the root is Jesus.
Now for the thorns, this is a tricky verse for me. Are these people saved? Jesus says these people never grow to maturity, but He doesn't say they don't grow at all. Their growth get stunted or choked out by the cares of the world. It could be someone who worries about meeting their financial burdens, and instead of focusing on Jesus they focus on how they can make more money. One of the reason's I find this verse particularly difficult is that I know of many times in my Christian life when I allowed things I felt I needed to do got in the way of my own joy and growth. I have allowed on occasion things of this world get in the way of my relationship with Jesus. I'm not talking necessarily about sin, just life's cares. So, I go before God and ask Him to do any and all weeding necessary.
Finally we see the seed that fell on the good ground. You see these people heard the Word, they accepted Jesus into their life, and the lived the Word. One thing that really struck me is that they bear fruit with patience. I look at myself and recall how many times I have become impatient because I may not have seen fruit as quickly as I would have liked (which is instantly). I cry out to God, I don't feel as though I'm growing, though when I look back over time I see growth. I cry out to God, but I've talked about You, why haven't I seen anyone accept You? One of my many request to God has been for patience. Yet I complain as He teaches me this skill.
I guess, I have learned enough through these verses to be afraid of growing among thorns, and hopefully enough to know that I can trust God though I must wait on Him.
4/8/00
Habakkuk 1:6-11
6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. 7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. 8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hastenth to eat. 9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. 10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. 11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.
First it is important to know that the Chaldeans are related to the Babylonians and astrology and sorceries flourished in Chaldea.
God tells Habakkuk that the Chaldeans will march through the entire earth/land, taking land that does not belong to them. The fact that the breadth of the land (NKJV interprets it earth). is mentions leads me to believe that this is not just something that occurs in Habakkuk's time, rather something that continued throughout our history.
These people who spread throughout the earth are dreadful, and full of pride. They judge others and their judgments seem to go out and effect other peoples.
They are a great people of war, it mentions their horses, which refers to their weaponry??? how fast and powerful they are.
It says their chargers charge overhead. I believe this is referring to the fighter jets. It also states that their calvary comes from far away, and that they fly like eagles. Again I believe God is referring to the fighter plains or even missals of today.
They scoff at kings, which tells me these people have great power. But his mind changes. Who is he??? Not sure, could be the anti-christ. When his mind changes he transgresses and does evil and gives his power to his god. Again this leads me to believe the he is the anti-christ and hands over his power to his god Satan.
4/8/00
Micah 3:5-7
5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. 6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. 7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.
I am still pondering these versus. There is a great deal of questioning going on today. Does God send prophets today? Some say yes and some say no.
I don't know myself. I look and keep my ears open and check against scripture anything a profession prophet says. I also look to see of what this person says occurs 100% of the time.
In verse 6 it says that night will come to the prophets. In verse 7 I see that they will no longer receive answers from God. Of course when I go back to verse 5 it talks about a specific type of prophet. The prophets who make the people go astray.
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