Study to show yourself approved unto God. Workmen and workwomen who know what they’re talking about, know what and in whom they have believed, and consequently are not ashamed because they really know how to understand, digest, and explain the precious INSPIRED WORD OF GOD:
OUR BIBLE!
What a pleasure, what a privilege, to be a Christian, especially in this dark day and age. Christian faith does not only make us a life better, but in itself is that which is:
DIFFERENT AND BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE,
anything else in this life. So, to learn more about it, to become a better, more knowledgeable Christian, intellectually and spiritually, should be priority number one in our life.
Every Christian wants the approval of God Almighty and our Lord Jesus Christ. That approval is contingent upon the fact that we STUDY the Word of God, in prayer, and with the intervention of the Holy Spirit, so that we can know more about HIM, our Lord, life here and life eternally. We can only do that through Study, real, aggressive, committed, regular study of the Word of God, watered by prayer and by the enlightenment and influence of the Holy Spirit.
That won’t happen, that real study that God requires, unless we his children have a real:
HUNGER AND THIRST
for righteousness, for understanding, for intellectual growth, for fellowship and relationship with HIM. A REAL HUNGER AND A REAL THIRST!
That is, a passion, a burning passion to know, study, and be immersed in THE WORD OF GOD, The Bible, all 66 inspired, incredible books of that Bible. ALL OF THEM!
Some Christians avoid the so-called OLD TESTAMENT. They regard it as boring, ancient, far too historical, a time without our Lord Jesus Christ, and restrict their study of scripture to the NEW TESTAMENT, the 27 books thereof. How wrong is that? Everything, EVERYTHING in that so-called Old Testament, all 39 books, is worthy, interesting, inspirational, given to us by the soldiers, the prophets, priests, and kings, anointed and appointed by God, and it is absolutely worthy and necessary for our instruction in the total understanding of the Chrisitan faith and especially GOD THE FATHER. Jesus was a Jew. He knew the Old Testament, the prophets. He knew the Torah, the Ten Commandments. He knew, loved, and respected Old Testament heroes, servants of the living God, like Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and Joshua, and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and Daniel, and Micah (have you read Micah recently?). They and their books are all worthy of your hunger and thirst and as you read, no matter your understanding, if you solicit the intervention and guidance of the Holy Spirit, those precious books of God, all 39 will:
COME ALIVE!
Our God, the Father, wants a thinking Christian. He wants you and me to:
THINK – REASON,
to be intellectually alive, to understand, to appreciate mentally the joy of the Spirit, the magnificent experience of salvation. He wants us to reason together regarding the concept of forgiveness, salvation, and born again, and to really understand how the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus, of the lineage of David, radically changes lives, mentally, intellectually, and spiritually.
NO CHRISTIAN LIFE IS COMPLETE WITHOUT A VIBRANT, ENLIGHTENED, GROWING MIND AND MENTALITY, WITH THE ABILITY TO THINK, AND AN EVER-GROWING, INSATIABLE HUNGER AND THIRST FOR THE LIVING TRUTH OF:
THE WORD OF GOD – ALL 66 BOOKS.
Therefore, we can never be afraid. What God has given us, power, and love, and for this exercise:
A SOUND MIND,
steeped in the Word of God, the truth of Christianity and the Bible, so that we who believe can know His perfect peace when our mind is set, really set on Him.
You cannot read the Word of God, any of the 66 books, without remembering, when energized by the Holy Spirit. You can be amazed how things, once thought unimportant, become so important they become permanent members of your:
MEMORY BANK.
Those memories have eternal life. They come back, they emerge, even erupt not merely as reminders but as life-changers. You will be able to discern the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so that when the winds of current doctrine and culture come at you, when you are ridiculed for your beliefs, when you or your testimony are refused, and when you are rejected by them, the non-believers, you will laugh all the way to your memory bank and embrace anew your understanding and love of Jesus Christ.
Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened unto you. ASK for wisdom and it will be given to you. If you are intellectually sincere in studying the Word of God, thinking and believing that they indeed are the inspired words of eternal life, the Holy Spirit of God will give you the understanding, the wisdom, the motivation, the courage to understand, live, and communicate to the best of your ability, the faith which has made you whole.
My dear friend, and fellow Chrisitan, study to show yourself approved unto God. STUDY every inspired word of the 66 books of the Bible, for in them, all of them, are:
THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE!