Good Afternoon! How have you been? Warm and safe in this crazy winter weather, I hope. And I hope, if you had to dig out like a lot of people, that you're not too sore and stiff.
A couple of posts ago, I was starting to explain how I study the Bible, and the "tools" I use. And I promised that I would explain just how I make the "tools" work for me.
To recap, I have four actual Bibles, The Living Bible, The King James, The Amplified, and a New King James Study Bible (it has a lot more "background" info). Then I have a free app on my tablet that gives me 36 other versions. And the reason for using so many different ones is because each one is one person's interpretation of God Word, and that means that at least one will make sense.
If you don't have access to several printed Bibles or a tablet, there's www.biblegateway.com. They have more versions than I want to take the time to count, including in multiple language translations. And you can search by scripture, keyword, or topic.
There's another good website that I use as study aids, BibleStudyTools.com There you have access to actual Bible Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Devotionals, Concordances, Lexicon and more under the "Study" tab.
And I also mentioned the dictionaries, paper, pens and usual study tools.
The first thing I do though, and probably the most important, I pray. I surrender my understanding, my beliefs, my thoughts, my opinions and emotions to God. I surrender to Him, what I want to know, what my feelings are about it, my pride and ask Him to show me, teach me if I'm wrong. Then I surrender my will and ask Him to fill me with His Will, His understanding and His Truth.
Because if I'm wanting to truly know what His truth is, I have to make that connection with Him. Kind of like how you can talk to your sister or friend all day long, but unless you actually dial the phone to call them, get together with them, text or email them, they're not going to be able to answer back. You can't communicate with them if you don't connect with them by some means.
With God, those means are through prayer and the Bible. And if you are sincere and truly open your heart to Him, He'll cause a scripture to speak to you. And you'll know those moments, because it will move you, you'll have a very deep response that will go to your core.
And you don't have to be a religious person, a perfect person, college educated or anything else that some deem worthy. You just have to be sincere in wanting to know and understand God. That's all!
God's been with you since the day you were conceived. And He knows everything the devil has thrown at you to steal your faith, (I'll explain that more later) and He knows why you've done everything that you've done, why you've made the choices that you've made, your whole life to this point.
And guess what!?! He's just waiting for you to give it all over to Him, and sincerely say you're sorry and that you truly want to know Him, and He'll take them from you and throw them away.
It says so in Psalm 103:8-13, "8 He is merciful and tender toward those who don’t deserve it; he is slow to get angry and full of kindness and love. 9 He never bears a grudge, nor remains angry forever. 10 He has not punished us as we deserve for all our sins, 11 for his mercy toward those who fear and honor him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. 12 He has removed our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west. 13 He is like a father to us, tender and sympathetic to those who reverence him." (The Living Bible Version)
That's all He wants from us, a Father - child relationship. Just like the way we as parents love our children no matter what mistakes they've made, God loves us that way. He knows we're not perfect, so He never expects us to be. All He wants is honesty and sincerity.
Stay tuned.
Love you! Stay safe!
No comments:
Post a Comment