That's How . . .

Good Afternoon!  Hope the sun is shining where you are.  I'm ready for a few days of sunshine in a row, but at least it's not snowing. lol

I hope, that if something I write about helps you, that you'll leave a comment and let me know.  And if you have questions, I'll try to answer.

Someone asked me a while back, how I knew when the scripture I read was something I should study, how I knew I was truly understanding it, and how did I pick the scriptures to study.

I explained it like this:

When I go to spend time with God, which I do almost every morning, I fix my cup of coffee, grab my tools and my devotionals (I have currently have seven different ones), close my bedroom door, climb into bed and dive in.

I like to spend my time with God in my room because it is just where it feels natural.  For you, it could be at your table, your desk, on your couch, on the floor in your den, or even in the bathtub.

I had a female friend who would grab her Bible and go into her bathroom and climb into the empty tub and spend her time with God.  She said it was the only way she could get the quiet time to truly connect with God.

Hey, what ever makes you comfortable, relaxed, focused and helps you connect, I'm all for it!!!

In John 4:21-24,  Jesus, talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, said, “The time is coming, ma’am, when we will no longer be concerned about whether to worship the Father here or in Jerusalem. For it’s not where we worship that counts, but how we worship—is our worship spiritual and real? Do we have the Holy Spirit’s help? For God is Spirit, and we must have his help to worship as we should. The Father wants this kind of worship from us."(TLV - The Living Bible Version)

So, it's not where we spend time connecting with Him, it's HOW we do it.  It's how honest and sincere we are in our hearts and desire to know Him.

Back to how I know what to study and when I understand.

When I read my devotionals, I don't just read the one for the date, I read until something speaks to, grabs, or captures my heart. Sometimes that happens on the second page of the first devotional book, sometimes not until I've read the eighth page of the seventh book.  Very seldom does it happen on the first page I read, but when it does, it's usually something pretty significant to me.

Once something I read speaks to my heart, I will read the scripture in my Bibles, comparing the different versions.  And always remember to read the surrounding verses to make sure you get the full context.

Then I'll surrender it to God, meaning I'll pray and tell God what I get from the scripture and what I think God is trying to say to me.  Then I ask Him to show me if I'm wrong and reveal to me His truth.
Then I wait.

Sometimes I will be filled with a peace, an unshakable, no doubts, peace that I truly understand it right away.  But most of the time though, I will get questions, like; do I truly know what a certain word means.  Then I'll look the word up.  And then I'll read the scripture with the definition in place of the actual word.  And that will usually cause the scripture to take on a whole new meaning.

Sometimes I will get the urge to look up the author of the scripture, where he was from, what language he spoke, and what cultural customs might be influencing the way he wrote.  And finding the answers to those questions will cause the scripture to also take on a whole different meaning.

And every time the scripture takes on a different meaning, I will again surrender it all to God and ask for His truth, just like before.  And I will keep doing each of these things as I need to until I have that peace.

When I have no more questions, no more doubts, and I'm filled with a deep, unshakable peace, that's when I know that I understand correctly what God wanted me to know.

Are you like some people and think that only preachers and priests can understand the Bible and know what God is saying?

I used to think the same thing.

So, stay tuned, because next time, I'll share with you how I know that's not true.
In the meantime,

Love you!  Stay Safe!