16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith..”
6 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
An update on my roof situation: I’m thankful to finally have our roof and ceiling fixed. Everything was repaired last week. I can now stop praying it doesn’t rain (LOL) because we need it being so hot and humid where we are. It is even hotter now that we have no trees around us since the two we had were cut down to keep from having to worry about another incident like the last time.
What a trying week. I had some sort of stomach bug all week that I had to take advantage of the times I felt enough energy to tend to homemaking. We also had a storm in our area this week. A big chunk of a tree broke off during the storm and hit our roof. Now we have a crack in our ceiling and a leak coming from the roof. Now we have to wait for the tree people to cut down this dying tree and wait on the insurance people to get this repaired. *sigh*
When life seems so uncertain, I’m glad I can be comforted in knowing that God says:
Psalms 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
Last week I shared the importance of Bible Study and useful tools with you. This week I want to mention more about why it is crucial to a believer’s spiritual growth to read and study scripture. Just like food is vital for our bodies; our spirit needs our continual study of God’s Word to thrive. Did you know there is a right and a wrong way to approach Scripture? There are two terms we need to understand. Watch this video to learn the difference between Exegesis and Eisegesis.
I knew nothing of these terms until a few years ago. You can read about the difference at Got Questions. Learn more about the correct way to approach Scripture by checking out What is good biblical exegesis? and Why it’s important to study the Bible in Context? I continue to need growth in studying and understanding scripture in its proper biblical context. I’m thankful for not only God’s Word and study tools, but His Holy Spirit living inside me to help me grow in my understanding. I value learning from good biblically sound ministers of God’s Word as well.
I love reading God’s Word. I can’t say this was always the case in my early years as a born again believer. When I would sit and open up my bible, I didn’t understand a lot of what I tried to read so it was hard to stay interested at first. I went through periods of being distracted or wanting to fall asleep. Thankfully as I’ve grown and matured in my walk with Christ it’s the only book I never grow tired of. I do more than just reading the scriptures here and there in my Bible. I study the Word of God because I have a growing desire to learn and understand what God is saying to me through the scriptures . It is crucial for all believers to get into a regular habit of not only reading but also studying God’s Word. It took time for me to build this habit so know that it wasn’t an overnight process.
Scripture says in these verses:
2 Timothy 2:15(KJV)
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Titus 1:9 (KJV)
Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
In order for you to start being a student of the Word you’ll need some tools handy. Along with your regular Bible, you will want to try an invest in a good Study Bible when you’re able. That’s what you see in my picture above. It’s also useful to have a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to help you to understand words in the original Greek and Hebrew language. This can also be used along with a Strong’s Complete Bible Dictionary of Bible Words. Other great tools are a Bible Encyclopedia, Bible Maps/Atlas, and even some Commentaries (depending on the source). I like commentaries of old from Matthew Henry, etc.
I cannot tell anyone which Bible version to choose. I only wrote this to encourage other believers to dig in and study God’s Words for themselves. How else will you know if what you hear from others is really in the Bible or if it’s being taken out of context? I’ve been told things all my life that I found out (after reading the Bible for myself) were not Biblically sound at all. We also don’t just want to rely on Sunday morning sermons for all our spiritual food to live off of until the next Sunday, or whatever other days you fellowship with the brethren rolls around. You feed your physical body 3 or more meals a day to keep from being hungry. Your spirit is hungry so don’t have a habit of starving it with long term fasting. That’s not healthy so please don’t do it! You can learn more about different Bible versions. Get into God’s Word on a regular basis so you can grow closer to Him. He loves you and wants you to continue on building that personal relationship with Him.
You can learn how to use Strong’s Concordance by watching a video like this one: