Biblical Meditation (Part I)
The world is stealing Godly concepts such as meditation, but we can’t avoid using them because the world tries to redefine them! Let’s find out what the Bible says about meditation. …
Word of God
Use Your Words Carefully!
The Bible tells us that our words have power and that we need to tame our tongue!
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Readiness for Back to School (Part III)
Memorizing the passage about the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) along with your children or grandchildren will help them utilize His armor in times of confusion and temptations in the schools. …
True Discernment (Part III)
Nowadays, people have their own versions of good and evil. As a result, their discernment is skewed, and it is not a Godly discernment. The Bible gives us insight into true discernment and God’s work in us first. …
The Perils of Personal Truth (Part III)
One of the most dangerous pitfalls of personal truth is its spiritual ramifications. When one decides their personal truth has supremacy over God’s word, then they allow themselves to question the value and the validity of the Bible. Consequently, people are not inclined to read the Bible or to obey it!
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The Perils of Personal Truth (Part I)
Whether people admit to it or not, everyone is hungry and thirsty for Truth. In the absence of Truth, life is shaky and uncertain. Without Truth, people are like a ship without an anchor for their soul. Sadly, Postmodernism has stripped people of Truth, concluded objective truth to be invalid, and disseminated the lie that subjective truth is the way to a noble life. Hence its fruit has been instability in life punctuated with disappointment, loneliness, division, and strife. …
God’s Plans for His People… (Part II)
God spoke to Israelites in captivity through His prophet Jeremiah by giving them exhortation, instruction, and correction. The Lord told the people that His plans for them were not to harm them but to give them a hope and a future. The fruition of God’s plans were going to come through a process, and it required their obedience and cooperation. …
Hearing God’s Voice (Part I)
In the last series of devotionals, I shared about the benefits and the necessity of studying the word of God and learning God’s ways through His word. The word of God gives us tangible guard rails that help us to stay within God’s prescribed boundaries and protects us from the world, our old nature, and the attacks of the enemy. However, we need more in life to live a successful Christian life. We need to be able to hear God’s voice and sense His guidance every step of the way to ensure we are in step with His purpose!
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. John 10:27
In the book of John, Jesus declared Himself as the good shepherd! He then continued by telling the disciples that His sheep hear His voice! In the natural, the sheep follow their shepherd by listening to his voice. Can you imagine if sheep decided to go their own way and not follow the voice of the shepherd!? First of all, it would be chaotic and the shepherd would not be able to lead them or protect them. Secondly, the sheep can get lost or fall prey to various predators. It is critical for the sheep to hear and recognize the voice of their shepherd to stay protected from harm and get their needs met.
Similarly, we are in need of hearing Jesus’ voice clearly. Obviously, we need to read our Bibles, but we are still in need of hearing His voice to determine how to navigate the forks in the road. For example, if we are seeking an employment, we should have a sense if a position is the right job for us. If we just concentrate on the salary or the title, we may miss God’s direction. If we plan to move out of the area, we should give it time until we have a sense of direction from the Lord. We shouldn’t just move because we don’t like our surroundings or are looking for an excitement. The Lord has the answers, and He knows what is best for us.
Hearing God is not always easy. Sometimes, the Lord is silent because He wants to do something in us before He answers our questions. Consequently, He calls us to just follow Him for a while without giving us an answer. The best thing to do in those times is to follow the Lord joyfully and thanking the Lord for being the good shepherd. The Lord will not let us get derailed if we are following Him wholeheartedly.
How well do you hear God’s voice? What do you do when you don’t hear God’s voice right away?
told His disciples that His sheep know His voice. The sheep have learned to hear the voice
The Benefits of the word of God (Part IV)
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
We live in a world that is completely antithetical to the Kingdom of God. The spiritual battle is all around us, and it requires our focus, attention, and skill to overcome the obstacles on our path. The above scripture tells us that not only the word of God establishes, corrects, and instructs us, but it also prepares us to live an overcoming life that is fruitful and pleasing to the Lord.
I have seen many Christians who thought they knew the word of God, but they didn’t! They assumed because they were around the Bible and the church that they knew the Bible, but in reality they didn’t have a practical knowledge of the word of God that helped them to live an overcoming and fruitful life. The scriptures are not meant to be just preached by a pastor or be heard in a Sunday school class. Christianity is a not a spectator sport. The devil does not engage only with those who want to engage with him. The scriptures tell us that he is like a roaring lion looking for whom he may devour (1 peter 5:8). That means whether an individual is engaged in the game or not, the enemy wants to win the battle over every person’s life! Nothing can replace our time in the word of God where the Lord uses the scriptures to equip us to live a fruitful and victorious life and learn how to fight in a spiritual battle waged against every soul! This requires every Christian to take their walk with God seriously and learn how to be equipped for living a God-honoring and fruitful life!
The scriptures equip us in variety of ways. Some scriptures warn us on issues such as foolishness, jealousy, lust, deception, and corrupt speech. These scriptures take the weeds out of our lives, so we can be prepared for the good seed of the word. Other scriptures are seeds to help us grow and bear good fruit. For example, the word of God shows us that as we abide in Christ, we can develop the fruit of the spirit and grow in love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, and many other Godly attributes. There are other scriptures that protect us from harming ourselves and others. For example, forgiveness protects our hearts, preserves our relationships, and equips us not to get baited by the enemy. In Ephesians 6, Paul gives a description of the armor of God that teaches us how withstand the attacks of the enemy and our old nature. It tells us about the helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, belt of truth, shield of faith, sword of the spirit, and our feet shod with the gospel of peace. All the elements of the armor are the equipment that the believer needs to be able to live a victorious life.
Without the knowledge of the word of God, we would not be equipped for battle and we would become a pawn in the devils’s hand. The word of God helps us to be alert, wise, and discerning. The better equipped we are, the better prepared we are to handle people and situations in a Godly manner and escape the corruption that is all around us.
Are you being equipped by the word of God? Do you put the scriptures to work in your practical day-to-day life? How well do you discern between your own ideas, the schemes of the enemy, and the will of God!?
The Benefits of the Word of God (Part III)
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
I am so glad that the Lord does not leave us to figure out the Christian life on our own, but He has provided us His instruction book to grow and learn from! While we are saved through the work of Jesus, the walk of righteousness requires us to know His ways. One of the benefits of the word of God is that it instructs us in living a life that is pleasing to the Lord and is peaceful and pure!
The Holy Spirit uses the word of God to become our teacher and counselor. Some of us have not had good Christian role models., so we do not know how to live the Christian life. The Bible gives us the blueprint for right living by teaching us about many topics such as integrity, love, work, finances, forgiveness, purity, patience, and many other useful principles.
There are some who have never seen a good Godly marriage. The Bible teaches us about love and respect in a marriage and gives us prescription for a good marriage. This doesn’t mean that every problem is solved right away, but it helps us to understand that if we want the victory God has for us, we need to remain on His narrow path and look for His provision, deliverance, and blessing as we walk with Him.
“Now therefore, listen to me, my children, For blessed are those who keep my ways.
Hear instruction and be wise, And do not disdain it. Proverbs 8: 32-33
It’s interesting that we have no problem taking courses that benefit our education or furthering our career! Most of us are very intrigued and interested in learning, growing, and keeping ourselves up to date and marketable. However, if we are told that we need to learn how to study the word of God, we can find many excuses not to take a class or attend a Bible study. Jesus called us to make disciples, but a person needs to be willing to put themselves in a position to be discipled followers of Christ, and that includes being instructed with His word! His word is a blessing to us, for by it we learn God’s ways and learn to walk in them. We cannot have Godly wisdom apart from knowing the word of God and obeying it!
Unfortunately, we have many people in the body of Christ that are illiterate when it comes to the word of God, but they assume they’re spiritually mature because they’re older. The problem is when someone corrects them on a view or lifestyle that does not line up with the word of God, they can get easily offended or feel judged. This leads them to even going further away from the teaching/instruction of the Bible and opens the door for the enemy to have a field day with them.
As believers, we are called to be life-long learners. It doesn’t matter if we accepted Jesus yesterday, or we have known Him for the last forty years. Also, it is not significant if we were a pastor’s kid or we’re in a position of authority in the church right now. We all have more to learn, and we need to remain teachable. When we remain humble before God and hungry for the word of God, the Lord will teach us and guide us with His truth!
Do you know how to study the word of God? How often do you study the Bible? Do you attend a Bible study? What are new truths from the Bible that you have learned recently?