Category Archives: BIBLE TEACHING & STUDY

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God is good to those who wait – Part One

ANXIETY, BIBLE TEACHING & STUDY, CURRENT EVENTTS, ENCOURAGEMENT, HARD TIMES, HOPE

“The Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him [inquire of and for Him and require Him by right of necessity and on the authority of God’s word.]   (Lamentations 3:25, AMPC)

Learning to meditate. “God is good to those who wait on Him, so it is good to wait quietly for the Lord. God is good to those who wait on Him, so it is good to wait quietly for the Lord. God is good to those. . . “

I stood at the counter, unplugging my phone from the charger, glancing at the folded sheet of notebook paper. “God is good to those. . .” I slung my purse over my shoulder, tucked my lunch bag under my arm, walked to the rocker to kiss Barny on his furry head, then stepped out the door and down the stairs. “The Lord is good to. . .? The Lord is good to . . . ? ”

What was that next phrase?” By then I was on the sidewalk and could safely glance at the paper in my hand. “Oh, yes, “to those who wait quietly for Him.” Once in the car, I set the paper on the passenger seat, ready for quick glances at stoplights. By the time I arrived at work, I had it memorized so that in free moments at the copier, walking to the bathroom, and waiting on hold I repeated, “God is good to those who wait on Him, so it is good to wait quietly for the Lord, God is good. . .”  Then back home alone with Barny that evening, the truth of God’s Word continued to silence the now-faint echoes of howling sadness and despair that had tormented heart and mind for so long.

“Washing with water through the Word” (Ephesians 5:26, NIV) Three years ago, I was just learning how to “delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on His law day and night” (Psalm 1:2, NIV) as I climbed out of a three-year pit of depression. Through these last three years, the Living Water of the Word has, through constant meditation and delighting in His law, washed away most of the enemy’s grime and mud (though my dusty, dusty feet require daily, thorough washing, as Jesus said in John 13:10!)  To learn more about the life-changing habit of meditation that healed my heart of life-long recurring depression, see “Diligent Meditation” on the Books and More page of this website.

In this series of blog posts, we will consider the book of Lamentations, specifically Chapter 3, which is the location of the blessed and well-known truth that:

“It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23, AMPC)

Outline of Part One:

  • Lamentations – light for the dark affliction of our present world
  • Background and context
  • Topical outline of Lamentations
  • Chapters One and Two
  • Chapter Three – Hoping in a special way
  • Verses 1- 18 – The afflictions Jeremiah saw “under the rod of God’s wrath” were so terrible that he was weak and had lost all hope

Lamentations – light for the dark affliction of our present world. I have seldom heard sermons on any portion of Lamentations except the well-known Chapter 3:22-23. Nor do I often hear fellow believers speak of Lamentations. Possibly this is because sorrow gushes forth, as the writer wails, moans and weeps over Zion. Who wants to feel sad? However, the light that comes from the truth in Lamentations pierces the darkness of our present world, showing us what steps to take this moment and illuminating the next few steps along the path, God wants us to take. (“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”, Psalm 119:105, AMPC)

Lamentations models a godly attitude toward affliction, whether that affliction comes because of God’s loving discipline, our own sin, the sin of people to whom we are connected, or the sin of our nation and the world. The writer of Lamentations (believed to be Jeremiah) suffered staggering personal afflictions, as did most Old Testament prophets. He lived in the besieged city of Jerusalem, which was eventually destroyed and its inhabitants     taken into exile.

Let’s reflect on Jeremiah’s situation then consider the steps that led him to patient waiting and expectant hope, so that we too may abide in that sheltering place of constant peace under the Shadow of the Almighty whose power no foe can withstand – not covid, not stolen elections, not wicked leaders, not inflation, neither “wars and rumors of wars” (Matthew 24:6-8)!

Background and context. The last chapter of the book of Jeremiah gives the background for Lamentations. In Jeremiah 52, Jerusalem fell to King Nebuchadnezzar, and the Temple, every important building and all the walls of Jerusalem on every side were destroyed. Only some of the poorest people were left behind “to work the vineyards and fields” (Jeremiah 52:16, NIV). The rest of the people, 4,600 in all, were carried into exile in Babylon. Below is a one-paragraph summary of the book of Lamentations (Halley’s Bible handbook, page 409):

“This short book is Jeremiah’s lament over the city he had done his best to save. Yet, in his sorrow he also expresses his faith that Jerusalem will rise again from its ruins (3:21, 31-32).  Jerusalem did indeed rise and gave its name to the capital of a redeemed world of eternal glory, the New Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 21:2).”

Halley comments that the Hebrew Old Testament placed the book of Lamentations “in a group of books called . . . Writings, to which belong the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther.” These books were read at different feasts and “to this day, the book of Lamentations is read in synagogues throughout the world, wherever there are Jews, on the ninth day of the fourth month, the day of fasting that commemorates the fall of the temple (Jeremiah 52:6).”

I believe one reason God arranged this was so that His people would hear the message of these books at least once a year. These five books speak of the blazing love of God for His people and the sovereignty of His loving providence for those who love and follow Him. Surely, surely we need these reminders now!

Topical Outline of Lamentations.  The outline below combines headings for the book of Lamentations from the NASB, NLT and AMP translations.

  • Chapter 1 The suffering, ruin, and sorrow of Zion (Jerusalem)
  • Chapter 2 God’s anger at Israel’s sin
  • Chapter 3 Jeremiah, the suffering representative of afflicted Zion, shares Israel’s affliction but hopes for relief in God’s mercy and faithfulness.
  • Chapter 4 God’s anger is satisfied in the horrors of the seige of Zion
  • Chapter 5 Jeremiah pleas for restoration and mercy.

Chapters One and Two. Take time now to prayerfully read Chapters One and Two. A shallow reading will cut a shallow furrow and seeds may or may not sprout in the field of your heart. However, attentive, scrutiny of Israel’s and Jeremiah’s afflictions will stir compassion and likely stir thoughts of your own afflictions. I pray that will compel you, like Jeremiah, to cry aloud for understanding, so that you may, like Jeremiah, find strength to wait and hope with confident expectation for your own needs.

In sum, Chapters One and Two, tell of the time of deep sorrow when “. . . the Lord did just as He planned . . . and fulfilled the promises of disaster He made long ago. . . and destroyed Jerusalem without mercy” (2:17) because of her stubborn refusal to turn from her many sins.

As you read, pause and reflect, briefly, on your own needs and the troubles of our present world, which are afflicting us all. Then, step into the blessed hope shining in Chapter 3.

Chapter Three — Hoping – in a special way. In Chapter Three, Jeremiah, the suffering representative of afflicted Zion, shares Israel’s affliction but hopes for relief in God’s mercy and faithfulness. So must we actively hope for relief in God’s mercy and faithfulness—while in the midst of affliction. And this applies whether affliction comes because of God’s loving discipline, our own sin, the sin of people to whom we are connected, or the sin of our nation and the world. The first 24 verses of Lamentations 3 show us that the afflictions Jeremiah saw under the “rod of God’s wrath” (the destruction of Jerusalem) were so terrible that he had become weak and lost all hope. Yet, there was hope of relief in God’s mercy.

As we look at Chapter Three in detail, it will benefit you greatly to read the verses carefully and take time to think about them prayerfully. God’s Word is alive (Hebrews 4:12) and God uses His Word to minister to us individually.

Read Verses 1-18: The afflictions Jeremiah saw “under the rod of God’s wrath” were so terrible that he was weak and had lost all hope. In verses 1-18, Jeremiah says God has put him into darkness, rejected and shattered him, hemmed him in, and made him desolate. These “arrows of His quiver” have become part of his very heart. People mock him, and God has made his soul suffer as if bereaved (which indeed it was as he witnessed utter destruction of the city and people he loved and to whom he had faithfully, earnestly delivered God’s messages to repent). Peace is far from him, he has “forgotten what goodness and happiness are” and he has no strength. He says, “Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost” (v. 18b, NLT).

I think most of us, we common, fragile “jars of clay” fashioned by God’s own loving hand (2 Corinthians 4:7) reach this point. I have. So, what does the Word tell us to do? Turn to Him!

In Part Two, we will see that remembering all the past troubles makes Jeremiah sad but recalling God’s mercy and lovingkindness gives him hope so that his heart is strengthened to choose God and that, because of that, Jeremiah can wait.

Freedom from frustration and fretting

ANXIETY, BIBLE TEACHING & STUDY, DAILY LIFE, ENCOURAGEMENT, TRUSTING GOD

A flat tire and frustration. Bang, clang, bang clang! The noise began then intensified as my car drew alongside the big cement mixer.

“Wow”, I thought. “I never saw one make that much noise!”

Then I realized it was my little sedan that was making the noise and was also now shaking, all this at about 65 miles an hour. I said, “Jesus! Help!” slowed, pulled off at the exit ramp only, providentially, a hundred yards ahead, called AAA, witnessed to the tow truck driver (who witnessed right back to me, praise the Lord!), spoke of God’s mercy to the man at the tire store who gave me a good price on four new tires, and was at home in less than two hours. Yet, in spite of God’s great mercy, I felt frustration and, I admit it to my shame, angry. In those two hours between the gym and school pickup, I had planned to finish a blog post and get it on the website. I can only say that it is indeed, because of God’s great and unfailing mercy, loving-kindness and tender compassions that we frail humans are not consumed! (Lamentations 3:22)

Frustration can cause fretting. This morning when icy roads thwarted my plan (notice the “my”) to go to swim class, frustration flared again. Hot on its heels came fretting as I tried repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, to settle down and take advantage of the forced day inside.

God is the only remedy!  Finally, I decided to rest on the couch, pray in tongues, and review some of my basic meditation Scriptures. Then, I decided, I would wait and listen to God, a spiritual discipline I have worked on recently.

I had only prayed in the Spirit a few minutes when thoughts started bubbling up. I stayed still and “listened” (avoiding my tendency to jump up and grab pen and paper), as Holy Spirit showed me a gap in His protective wall around my heart. Specifically, when I am frustrated, I tend to start fretting, which if allowed to continue, leads to sin.

As I remained on the couch, John 16:33 came to mind.

“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] John 16:33, AMPC)

Surely, I thought, all of us living in February 2022 face constant frustration. We all need to be admonished to handle frustration correctly, rather than letting the enemy use frustration to ensnare us into fretting and further evil.

Fretting leads only to evil. Three passages of Scripture came immediately to mind.

[1] Psalm 37:8, b — “Do not fret—it leads only to evil.” (NIV) Please read all of Psalm 37, which is a protective daily tonic for the world’s present situation. In Psalm 37 God says “Do not fret because of evil men. . . for like green plants they will soon die away.” (v.1) Rather than fretting, we are to actively trust Him and do good BECAUSE

“The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; He is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, BECAUSE they take refuge in Him.” (v. 39)

[2] Isaiah 8:12-14 — This verse speaks clearly to today, when America is being threatened by evil as surely as Israel was threatened by Assyria in the time of Isaiah. The message of God through Isaiah was:

(12) Do not call conspiracy [or hard, or holy] all that this people will call conspiracy [or hard, or holy]; neither be in fear of what they fear, nor [make others afraid and] in dread.

(13) The Lord of hosts—regard Him as holy and honor His holy name [by regarding Him as your only hope of safety] and let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread [lest you offend Him by your fear of man and distrust of Him].

(14) And He shall be a sanctuary [a sacred and indestructible asylum to those who reverently fear and trust in Him]; but He shall be a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 8:12-14, AMPC)

Notice that verse 13 teaches that we honor God when we consider Him as our only hope of safety and that we offend Him when we fear man and distrust Him. Selah, selah and selah! Consider also Jeremiah 15:19-21.

[3] Jeremiah 15:19-21 – It is vile to distrust God’s faithfulness.

(19) Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God’s faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece. [But do not yield to them.] Let them return to you—not you to [the people].

(20) And I will make you to this people a fortified, bronze wall; they will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, for I am with you to save and deliver you, says the Lord.

(21) And I will deliver you out of the hands of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the palms of the terrible and ruthless tyrants.

 Verse 19 warns us that it is a mistake to yield to distrust and despair. Further, it is a vile thing to suspect or doubt the faithfulness of God. Vile means disgusting, dreadful, horrible, offensive, abominable, repulsive. Oh, merciful God! May Your Holy Spirit engrave the truth in Isaiah 8 and Jeremiah 15 on our hearts!

Worry and fretting – disguised forms of fear, which IS sin.  Many of us have said, “I am just a worrier. I cannot help it.” Well, God says fear, which includes worry and fretting, is sin. God commands us not to fear over and over and when we do not follow His commands we sin.

As I ponder this truth, it pierces my heart and motivates me to further study. It also shows me how great the Father’s love is that He takes care to teach how to guard against fretting and worry, the more subtle forms of fear which are tempting to excuse in ourselves.

Freedom from fretting and frustration. I pray we all are warned to cling closely to God when we encounter frustration and are tempted to fret. Here is what I plan to do. I will:

  • Stop what I am doing and set aside time to reconnect with God.
  • Remind myself that:
    • God is SOVEREIGN, (Isaiah 46:9-11)
    • He has every day of my life already planned (Psalm 139:16)
    • He does not make mistakes (Deuteronomy 32:4)
    • When I make mistakes, He makes even them turn out for good because I love Him and am living whole-heartedly for Him (Romans 8:28)

In yielding myself to the truth that God is sovereign and choosing to believe He is directing the details of my life (Psalm 37:23) for my good, I am submitting myself to God and resisting the temptation of the devil to doubt God. And the Word tells me that the devil will then flee from me.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7, NIV)”

The loving correction of His Rod. I write these words gratefully! His Rod of loving correction imparted to me a much-needed lesson, as He used the apparent disruption in my plans. He has sharply reminded me to catch the little foxes that spoil the vines (Solomon 2:15) and to:

“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” (I Peter 5:8, NLT)

How blessed we are that the Lion of the tribe of Judah is on our side! Let Him roar!  Let His Spirit within us rise up!  Let us stand firm in our positions and hold our ground. God Himself fights for us and He always, always, always wins!!

Listen! I hear Him say:

“Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord Who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!” (Nehemiah 4:14, NIV) 

Under His feathers – ALWAYS!

ANXIETY, BIBLE TEACHING & STUDY, DAILY LIFE, DEPRESSION, ENCOURAGEMENT, HARD TIMES, HOPE

Soaring, ah! I stretched from spine out to fingers and toes, like a cat, then curled back up.

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty (Whose power no foe can withstand) . . . “

I opened one eye. 5 a.m. I pulled the white thermal blanket over my head.

“I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust! For then He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. [Then] He will cover you with His pinions and under His wings you will trust and find refuge.” (Psalm 91:1-2, AMPC)

My eyes popped open. My habit for many months has been to start repeating the Bible passages in my basic arsenal of Scriptures as soon as I wake. (See the October 2, 2020, blog “God’s Arsenal for Peace and Security). This morning, though, I heard something new.

“Lord, I picture You as an eagle, hovering, circling over its nest. So long as we dwell in the secret place of Your Presence, the shadow of Your hovering wings covers and protects us. And, Lord, when our words and actions say, “You are my Refuge and my Fortress, my God and on You I lean and rely and in You I confidently trust” then You deliver us out of the devil’s snares.  But, Lord, for an eagle to cover its eaglets with its wings, the eagle must descend from above and fly down to the nest.

What a beautiful picture, Father! You carefully watch over us as we live in close communion with You, but when danger comes, You swoop right to where we are and spread Your wings wide—so You can draw us close to Your very heart. When You cover us with Your feathers then we feel the trust and find the refuge we have declared!  Oh, the thought! Nothing, no nothing, no nothing is going to harm an eaglet under an eagle’s pinions!

A prolonged attack. That tender wakeup with the Lord was three weeks ago, when all was well. Then came a prolonged attack and my soaring as an eagle stopped. (Actually, it just felt like it. Keep reading.) What happened?  Each of my family had covid for a week, then, the day I could see them again, I got it. I stayed in victory the week my family was sick and for most of the week I was sick but  gradually slid toward the pit of depression.

Not the pit – again!!! Feelings and thoughts of discouragement, dread, fear, hopelessness and self-criticism descended. I asked friends for prayer as I struggled mightily to do things that had kept me free for nearly three years– talking with God, meditating on the Word, being grateful, praising and worshipping, keeping my mind on God and not the worsening feelings of depression.

Well, dear friend and fellow pilgrim, I failed. I could not focus. Prayer and Bible reading turned into staring out the window. Meditating on Bible passages as I did chores spiraled into negative, self-critical thoughts. Oh, woe was me for quite a few miserable days!

Ever faithful, ever true, ever loving! Our Father in heaven is ever faithful, ever true, ever loving and so very mighty to save!  Yet our loving Father again delivered me from the snare of the fowler. How did that happen and what did I learn? On reflection, here is what I learned and re-learned.

We all often stumble. “For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things.” (James 3:2a, AMPC).  While depressed these last few days, my undercurrent of thought was that it was my fault because I had not meditated or prayed or trusted enough or not done something enough. That lie, of course, bred guilt and shame which remained, subconsciously, until a wise friend reminded me that there is no formula guaranteeing we will not sometimes fall into our own individual weaknesses. I had not been thinking I was perfect but I had, at some level, felt that I could avoid future occurrences of depression. Once again, I learned why Paul warned “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (I Corinthians 10:12, NIV)

<< When under severe enough and long enough attack we are all susceptible to stumbling into personal weaknesses. >>

My tendency when under severe attack is to become depressed and fearful whereas others might yield to an addiction, anger, or compulsive spending. My recent, and blessedly brief, plunge into depression reminded me that God does not condemn or blame us for our human frailties. Far from it!

God shares the feeling of our weaknesses. God does NOT condemn our weaknesses or punish us for them. Rather than condemning our weaknesses (which we tend to do to ourselves), God “understands and sympathizes and has a shared feeling with our weaknesses.”  When we lose awareness of God’s presence, it is good to examine ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5) and ask God if we erred. Sometimes we do feel separated from God because of our sin (Isaiah 64:6-7). However, even then He is always with us! (Matthew 28:20, Hebrews 13:5) and there is NO condemnation from Him! After we confess and turn away from our sin, any guilt and shame come from the enemy – NOT God! Resist those lies and arm yourself with the knowledge that:

“As a father loves and pities his children, so the Lord loves and pities those who fear Him [with reverence, worship, and awe]. For He knows our frame, He [earnestly] remembers and imprints [on His heart] that we are dust. (Psalm 103:13-14, AMPC)

Picture an adoring young father, leaning over, walking carefully, holding the hand of a wobbly toddler. If loving earthly fathers hone in on the needs of their children, how much more does God! Selah!

Ponder these two verses as well:

For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning. (16) Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it]. (Hebrews 4:15-16, AMPC)

Read that again. God shares in our feelings and wants us to approach Him boldly and confidently because He has just what we need when we need it!

In those miserable days of depression, I subconsciously felt I had done something wrong, and that God was disappointed in me. Now, I see the lie for what it is but it felt true when darkness atttacked. Our enemy is crafty (Genesis 3;1), which means skillful in the use of subtlety and cunning (www.merriam-webster.com) He is a master of schemes and lies  ((2 Corinthians 2:11; John 8:44).  But, we can rejoice because “The Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” (2 Thessalonians 3:3, NIV). God did indeed strengthen and protect me. As I simply kept battling in my mind, God lifted me up and out of the pit.

The Battlefield IS INDEED the Mind.  You may have read the excellent book by Joyce Meyer “The Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the War in Your Mind.”  My copy is marked up and tattered from being toted everywhere. I understand and have applied that teaching for years – however – this recent experience sharpened my understanding of the importance of immediately taking every wrong thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5) immediately. I plan to review that teaching regularly. Until you get your copy of the book (hint. . .  just google “Battlefield of the Mind verses” and be amazed as you study. With the lies and deception of the last two years, keeping our minds filled with truth is essential.

Is God purposefully strengthening us all? Perhaps God is now deliberately strengthening the entire Body of Christ, as He strengthened me through this latest trial. Why? The greatest awakening and soul harvest of all time has already begun. We must be about our Father’s business, equipped to stand against evil. God knows the coming turnaround will include even harder times. I believe He is providing extra training so we can not only survive but thrive in this next season for America and our world.

Besides God’s concern that we be equipped, God needs strong warriors!  The modern-day prophets whom I have followed for a long time all say that God will soon bring an end to the wickedness attacking our world. I urge you to examine the “What is God doing?” page on this website if “modern-day prophets” sounds strange to you. You will find links to reliable sources providing the truth of what God is doing in our world today. I also urge you to see the February 9 podcast of Flashpoint at www.flashpoint.com.

In these dark times, we must be bold about our faith and be engaged in the world around us. Although God has been patient with sinful America and weak believers for decades, the prophets are saying judgement is coming, to the Body of Christ as well as the world. No more standing on the sidelines. Thomas Jefferson said, “Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.”

I must ask myself, “Am I strong enough to do my part in this battle? Am I embracing the struggles of daily life as God’s loving chance to grow stronger in Him?”

Strengthen your feeble arms, Freda! Take time to read Hebrews 12:1-13. God tells us to consider all Jesus endured so that we “may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in” our minds. (Hebrews 12:3b, AMPC). He explains that discipline is for our good and in verses 12-13 tells us to man up. God says, “Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.” (verses 12-13).

To me, this says that if set my heart to live for the Kingdom as Jesus did—if I get my life in order or “make level paths for my feet”—then as I run my appointed race, my “lame and halting [limbs] may not be put out of joint, but rather may be cured.” (verse 13b, AMPC).

In other words, living for the kingdom, which includes enduring trials with our eyes fixed on the joy set before us as Jesus did, strengthens our weaknesses! As—in proportion to our effort—we trust God and bear up under His training, the very things we thought were too hard will help and heal us! Woo hoo and go God!

This encourages me to purposefully repair any broken walls as I take the words of Nehemiah to heart. I will not be afraid of the enemy. I will, as Nehemiah urges:

“[earnestly remember the Lord and imprint Him [on your minds], great and terrible, and [take from Him courage to] fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your homes.” (Nehemiah 4:14, AMPC)

Notice that we can take our courage from God,  Who is indeed great and terrible. Our God is awesome in battle and mighty to save!  “But the salvation of the [consistently] righteous is of the Lord; He is their Refuge and secure Stronghold in the time of trouble. And the Lord helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they trust and take refuge in Him.” (Psalm 37:39-40, AMPC)

Always under His feathers. As we go forward with our individual race, let us remember that as—in proportion to—we habitually live in the secret place of close fellowship with God, we will remain stable and fixed. He—Whose power no foe can withstand–will hover over us. And as we say, and our actions say, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, on Him I lean and rely and in Him I (confidently) trust!’ THEN—because we have done all that—He WILL deliver us and THEN He will come very near to us, He WILL cover us with His wings and we will be able to trust with all our being and find true refuge. (from Psalm 91, AMPC)

We will all fail at times and we may feel alone—as did many great Bible heroes—but the truth is that God is always, always, always with us. We may not feel like it but if we earnestly seek Him, we ARE snuggled close to His feathers. How loving God is to reassure us of this as we step out and take our part in His great awakening and harvest!

P.S.  Just to make it more challenging, the very day I began writing on this blog post, Thursday, February 3, came another round of testing and trials. Just as I was feeling better after covid, a four-day stretch of below freezing temps with possibly “wintry mix” was forecasted. Having stocked up and prepared for a four-day isolation, since I do not drive when roadways are icy. I had a great first day alone at home, writing and talking with the Lord all day. But the next day came an episode of tachycardia (which means lying down, with a scary heart beat, and waiting for hours until the medicine takes effect.) Well, that took all of Friday. But I kept my good attitude. Saturday morning I was at  the computer, back in the saddle, enjoying writing and being alone with God when a migraine headache began, which I have not had in many years. Well, that lasted the rest of Saturday and into the late evening.  Sunday I was tired!

But Monday, by God’s grace I resumed work on this blog post, wanting even more desperately to hear what God is saying to me about these trials so that I can find words to encourage you, too

Beloved, I say, with new hope:

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:13, NIV)

Stand, dear friend, stand! Stand with hope, confidence, peace and the very power of God indwelling you! There are countless more with you than are with the enemy! We win! God never, no never, no never fails us in any regard! (Hebrews 13:5).

And “this slight distress of the passing hour” we all face? Why, we do not become discouraged because this distress is creating something far, far greater for us as we look to the things that are unseen and eternal. Let us look to Jesus, the One Who gives us His strength for all things!

(16). “Therefore we do not  become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day.

(17) For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!],

(18) Since we consider and look not to things that are seen but to things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.”  2 Corinthians 4:16-18, AMPC)

Are you sharing God’s burden?

BIBLE TEACHING & STUDY, CHRISTIAN VALUES, DAILY LIFE, THIRD GREAT AWAKENING

 

Below is a sketch of what I believe God wants me to say to you today, dear friend.

  • God uses dreams.
  • A dream about the burden of God.
  • God’s burden – to have equipped laborers.
  • God’s burden – to have laborers aware they are NOW in a ripe harvest field.
  • Are you ready to share your faith?
  • Are you even fishing?
  • How to fish – at every opportunity.
  • Do you know how to catch a fish?
  • Helping someone grow up in Jesus.
  • What the dream did for me
  • God says “The workers are few”.
  • God says the place where you are standing in is a field ripe for harvest.
  • I must ask myself. . .

God uses dreams. God gave us many examples of how He communicates with us through dreams. Consider the four well-known dreams of Joseph as recorded in Genesis. Consider Matthew 1:20, when an angel told Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, in a dream, to marry Mary.  Consider Peter’s dream in Acts 10-11 that salvation includes Gentiles. For good examples of how God uses modern-day dreams, listen to some of Dutch Sheets’ “Give Him 15” podcasts. These are excellent 15-minute devotionals available at www.givehim15.com.

Because I rarely remember dreams, any dream I do remember is special, and when I believe God is speaking through that dream – I pay attention. When God gave the dream described below, I got out of bed and wrote it down – right away! Here is the dream.

A dream about the burden of God.   I was in a meeting of the altar workers at my church. The dream was not of a church building I had ever been in, but it was a small and old church. The man who had led the altar workers team had just left the room after announcing he was quitting and moving away. All of us in the small room were sad and shocked. Another member asked me to speak. I do not think I would have spoken had someone not asked me to. I walked to the front and stood at the small, rough-hewn lectern, gripping it as I leaned forward and began to try to speak.

I could only whisper, though I was trying to yell with all my might because of the intensity of the message. Deeply weeping, in a forced whisper through tears, I said, “After all this time, we still have not been trained in how to lead a soul to Jesus or to the baptism in the Holy Ghost. We still are not equipped to help new believers learn to walk with Jesus.”

Next, the hallway was filled with the buzz of conversation. Someone said, “If you want to hear more, go ask what Freda just said.” But I was still weeping and could not speak when others, besides those on the altar workers team, came into the room and asked me what had happened. Then the dream ended.”

Important background: The day before the dream, I had read in “Born for Battle” by R. Arthur Mathews (an excellent book) that our prayers are so often requests rather than a quest for God and His will, and that we should ask God what is on His heart when we pray. Right then, in my car waiting to pick up my grandsons after school, I was deeply convicted and asked God to start showing me what was on His heart when I prayed. He answered the same night, through this dream.

God’s burden – to have equipped laborers. I believe God is telling me, and you, His burden is to have workers prepared for and working in the harvest field – but they are not. I know this is a call to me, and maybe to you, too. God is asking: Are you ready to lead someone to Christ, and the baptism in the Holy Ghost and on to maturity?

God’s burden – to have laborers aware they are NOW in a ripe harvest field. I believe His burden is also that we be aware the harvest is NOW, that the Third Great Awakening has already begun. The shaking our nation has undergone these last two years has made people desperate. Hearts are ready for Him. Are we aware of that and are we ready to show them the way to Him?

In the last great awakening in the 1960s, Holy Spirit came upon people so powerfully that they spontaneously began worshipping and praising God in parks, stores, and classrooms. Unfortunately, when these sincere people, many of them hippies, went to churches to find out more about God and what had happened to them, they were turned away because of their appearance.

America cannot make that mistake again! We must be ready to welcome hearts eager for God—no matter the external appearance. And we must be ready to teach them and show them about Jesus. The prophets are saying the biggest harvest of souls in all time is coming soon. The Third Great Awakening has already begun.

Are you ready to share your faith? I think God is weeping that so many of us have never won a soul to Him, that we never intentionally prepared to do so and that so many are scornful of the gift of speaking in tongues, which includes His power to witness and to live a holy life.

So, I have three questions. (1) Are you fishing – for souls? (2) Do you know how to catch a fish – how to lead a soul to Jesus? (3) Do you know how to help that born-again soul start growing up in Jesus? Can you tell them the basics of what they need to know so that they can press on and do not, like so many, pray for salvation and then fall back into their old life and be lost?

Are you even fishing? You may say “But I am not called to be an evangelist.” Or “I have no training.”  I say an emphatic PHOOEY to both those statements. We are ALL called to witness and to share our faith – and to share our faith at every opportunity, “making the most of the time because the days are evil.”  We are all called to heed Paul’s admonishment:

Be very careful, then how you love—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16, NIV)

As for the second excuse that you have no training, online resources and books abound on how to lead someone to Jesus.

Opportunities to witness abound all around us – with friends, family, casual acquaintances and with strangers. Strangers? YES, strangers! I believe each of us should plant and water seeds throughout every day. Some of those encounters will be planting and watering spiritual seeds planted by someone else but sometimes we get to reap, too! (I Corinthians 3:7-9)

So, how do we “make the most of every opportunity?” We can work God into nearly all conversations if we pray and practice. How? By drawing fish in the sand.

How to fish – at every opportunity. I whole-heartily attest that if you ask God, He will give you ways to work Him into every conversation you have with friends, family, casual acquaintances and even strangers. And He will guide the conversation as to whether the person is open to hear more about Him or whether you are just to lovingly pour a little water on their thirsty heart. He will help you talk about Him and He will show you when someone is not ready to hear about Him.

So, what is this drawing a fish? In New Testament times, believers were persecuted for their faith in Jesus and many were killed. Believers would sometimes trace a fish in the sand when talking with people they did not know. If the other person also drew a fish, it indicated that person might also believe in Jesus.

Ask God and He will show you how to, like early believers, make casual mention of Him in your interactions with people. He will enable you to give a clear sign to each stranger you meet that you are a believer. If they are one also, they will respond with positive comments about God. If they are not yet a believer but are open to hearing about God, they will listen and you will have planted or watered spiritual seed and, sometimes, even more.

I estimate that more than three-fourths of people for whom I “draw a fish”—at        work, the gym, repair shop or wherever—respond positively.  Less than a fourth say nothing or abruptly change the subject (at which point I follow their conversational lead). In more than 40 years of consistently drawing fish every chance I get, only one person has voiced anger (although I pray many were deeply convicted inside).

Here are two examples. As I walked to the dumpster yesterday, I saw a man standing beside a plumber’s van. I said “This is a beautiful day! Do you like this cooler weather?” He smiled and said “I sure do!”. I replied, “Me, too! I am glad God gave us such a nice day.” And today at the grocery checkout, I asked “How has your day been?” The young man said, “Real good. How about you?” I replied, “Mine has been good, too. God gave me a wonderful time of Bible study and now I am doing errands before I get my grandsons.”

It has been far, far too long since such an interaction led to salvation but I am praying about that. And quite often these casual mentions of God lead to quick conversations that encourage fellow believers.

Do you know how to catch a fish? Have you prepared yourself to share your faith and lead another soul to God? If not, do so – now! As I said earlier, books and internet resources on evangelism abound. Study and then practice in front of a mirror. For an excellent brief teaching on how to share your faith, search for the “Go and Tell” podcast from November 1, 2021, on the www.givehim15.com website. Or use this link November 1, 2021 (givehim15.com)

You need to memorize the basic Bible truths necessary for salvation so that you can lead someone to Jesus even if you do not have notes with you. You can, of course, easily find “The Roman Road” plan of salvation using your phone to browse the web. However, if the Roman Road or another plan of salvation is in your memory, you can answer questions as those questions come up naturally in conversation. Rest assured, however, that “just” reading the plan of salvation also works! God will use your efforts, no matter how inexpert you feel.

Until you have the five short verses of the Roman Road or another plan memorized, they fit easily on an index card in your wallet.

Helping someone grow up in Jesus. When God gives you the gift of leading someone to Him, can you tell them the next steps? You may not feel like it, but your knowledge of God is far greater than someone who just received Jesus. They are newly born spiritually. They need you to take their hand or at a minimum, point out the way to them.  Can you briefly explain Bible study, prayer, worship, fellowship, witnessing, and praying in the Spirit? The baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues gives power to witness and power to live a holy life. More writings on this vital topic will follow soon.

What the dream did for me: I believe God used this dream to urge me to:

[1] Refresh my knowledge of how to share salvation and speak about the baptism in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

[2] Pray, earnestly, for Him to send souls to me who are ready for harvest. To my shame and regret, I had stopped doing this somewhere along my selfish, self-focused life.

[3] Put other writings on hold while I finish what He urged me to write for this website several weeks ago – the plan of salvation and the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

(By the way, this is a good example of why more of us are not winning more souls. It takes effort to get and keep ourselves prepared and to be focused on witnessing. It is easier to do other work for God instead of the detailed Bible study and practice necessary to get and stay equipped to win souls. I am deeply grieved that I neglected this focus so long but eternally grateful for God’s loving conviction and correction.)

God also used the dream to tell me to be more bold about sharing His burden to have His laborers equipped and alert. That is why I am sharing this writing with you. I earnestly pray that you hear-and heed—what I believe the Lord of the harvest is now saying.

God says “The workers are few”. Mathew 9 describes miracles of healing that Jesus did as He went from one place to another, “through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness” (Matthew 9:35, NIV) But listen to what Matthew says next:

“36 When He saw the throngs, He was moved with pity and sympathy for them, because they were bewildered (harassed and distressed and dejected and helpless), like sheep without a shepherd.

37 Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few.

38 So pray to the Lord of the harvest to force out and thrust laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:36-38, AMPC)

Just as much now as then, God is moved with pity and sympathy for the masses of people TODAY who are “bewildered (harassed and distressed and dejected and helpless), like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36, AMPC) I pray God forces us all out of our comfort zones and thrusts us, as His anointed, zealous laborers, into His harvest.

God says the place where you are standing in is a field ripe for harvest. In John 4, even though He was weary, Jesus took time to give the Samaritan woman the gift of “Living Water.” When His disciples returned and offered Him some of the food they had gone away to purchase, Jesus said:

“My food (nourishment) is to do the will (pleasure) of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish and completely finish His work. Do you not say, It is still four months until harvest comes?  Jesus told His disciples “Look! I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields and see how they are already white for harvesting.” John 4:34-35, AMPC

Jesus was telling His disciples two things that I believe He says to us today: (1) doing God’s will, sharing the good news of salvation, nourishes us. (2) The very place each of us are standing in—the world we interact with every day—is filled with souls ripe for harvest.

I must ask myself. . . I must ask myself—am I equipped to share God’s burden? Am I working in my harvest field?

Update and praise report!!!  I began writing this November 24th, the day after the dream and prayed about when to post it. With two days until 2022, I think God said today.  Will you add “fishing more” to your 2022 plans?

I have studied and written the plan of salvation in my own words so I could put it on this website. I wanted to have something ready for people to review, when God put me in the path of someone ready to give their heart to Jesus. (That little booklet “The Remedy for Desperation”, will be posted soon.)

And, I am so blessed to tell you that in His very great love and kindness and mercy, God sent me a soul to pray with for salvation! Words cannot express the joy I felt and still feel.

God needs His laborers! Pray, prepare diligently and reverently, and watch, with faith! Woohoo and go God!

The wisdom and safety of giving thanks

BIBLE TEACHING & STUDY, CHRISTIAN VALUES, DAILY LIFE, ENCOURAGEMENT, GRATITUDE

Hammering another verse in. “. . . and they will diligently consider the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord.” I kept my dripping hands over the sink and leaned to the left, where my printed verses lay open, far enough away, hopefully, to prevent their being splashed as I washed the oatmeal bowl, mug and spoon.

“Hmm,” I murmured as I cleaned out the sink, “Lord, You know I want to be diligent in what I do for You and I do want to diligently think about all the merciful and loving and kind things You have done for me and for all Your children.”

I picked up the paper and carried it with me to the bedroom, putting it on the edge of the bathroom sink while squeezing toothpaste.   “So, I see that if I “observe and heed” these things You will count that as diligently considering Your mercy and loving-kindnesses. And I see that it also must be a truly wise thing to do, so I think that would mean especially wise. Oh, Lord! Help me get this verse into my head!”

Why is it wise to be thankful? Sometimes it does indeed feel like I have to hammer verses into my head before they stick – but oh! It is so worth it!  Such truths bubble up inside as I meditate/memorize.  For example, in Psalm 107:43 I hear God saying that it is truly wise to be thankful and to remember all He has done. Psalm 107:43 tells us:

Whoso is wise [if there be any truly wise] will observe and heed these things; and they will diligently consider the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord. (AMPC)

What are “These things” the truly wise person will observe and heed? “The marvelous deeds He has done, His miracles and wonders, the judgements and sentences which He pronounced upon His enemies, as in Egypt” (Psalm 105:5, AMPC).

Wisdom—and loving warnings: Psalm 105 to 107. I believe Psalm 105, 106 and 107 can be profitably be considered as one message (although Psalm 106 concludes Book IV of the Psalms, and Psalm 107 begins Book V). I see a thread of God’s teaching woven through these three psalms–the wisdom of earnestly, carefully, whole-heartedly, diligently remembering all He has done for us.

Psalm 105 opens with the command “O, give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, make known His doings among the peoples! (verse 1). We are told to “Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; meditate and talk of all His marvelous deeds and devoutly praise them.”  Then we are told to seek Him, to crave Him and His strength and His presence “CONTINUALLY – EVERMORE.” (emphasis added)

Next, Psalm 105:5 through Psalm 106:42 recounts the many times God delivered Israel. Then we read, “but they were rebellious in their counsel, and sank low through their iniquity.” The psalmist is speaking, of course, about Israel’s history of rebelling against God. Yet am I not, in the seemingly small ways I yield to the sinful bent of my human nature, grievously guilty of the same? Time after time, God forgives and graciously delivers me when I repent and cry out to Him, as Israel did. Their doubt, disbelief and idolatry seem so appalling that I might think “I am not as bad as that”.  The piercing truth?  I am that bad. We all are.  Jeremiah 17:9a reminds me: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! “

Nevertheless, God . . . Psalm 106:44 says that, in spite of Israel’s repeated rebellion and wickedness,

“Nevertheless, He regarded their distress when He heard their cry, and He [earnestly] remembered His covenant, and relented their sentence of evil—comforting and easing Himself—according to the abundance of His mercy and loving-kindnesses [when they cried out to Him.] (Psalm 106:44-45, AMPC) (emphasis added)

Notice the detail the Amplified provides here. Earnest means zealous, ardent, eager, or passionate. That is how God thinks about His covenant with us and how He responds to our sincere, repentant cry. Read Psalm 105 to 107 in the AMPC and notice how often “earnestly” appears. God earnestly remembers His covenant with us so we are to earnestly remember what He has done and our covenant with Him.

Notice also, an essential truth about God that is unveiled in the clarifying phrases of the Amplified translation.  Consider the words set off by dashes—comforting and easing Himself”–in the middle of Psalm 106:45 above. That tells us that  it “comforts and eases” God when He keeps His covenant with us and does not give us the consequences our evil actions deserve. Why?  It discomforts Him and troubles Him to cause us pain or suffering.  “For He does not willingly and from His heart afflict or grieve the children of men. (Lamentations 3:33, AMPC) God is reminding us here that “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” (Psalm 103:8, NIV)

Remembering these truths helps get me through trials, whether they arise from Satan, the nature of our fallen world or the nature of my human nature. For the former, I remember the things Jesus told His disciples at the Last Supper and that He said I can have peace because He has “overcome the world and deprived it of power to harm” me.  (John 16:33).  As for the problems that result from my human nature, I bear in mind that God must at times administer corrective discipline–because He loves us and He is a good, good, good Father. I  often ponder Hebrews 12, especially verse 6:

“For the Lord corrects and disciplines every one whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes.”

Did you catch the last phrase? God does not just accept us. He welcomes us to His heart and CHERISHES us. He adores us.

Oh, that we would thank and praise God! Next,­­ read Psalm 107 slowly. Psalm 107 opens with a call, a shout, an outburst of joy: “O give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy and lovingkindnesses endure forever! (AMPC) The whole psalm gives examples of His goodness, mercy and lovingkindnesses to Israel. Read Psalm 107 again. Do you see that some verses are nearly identical, specifically verses 8, 15, 21, and 31? After each passage of recalling God’s goodness and mercy, comes another exclamation and outburst of joy:

“Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord His goodness and loving-kindnesses, and His wonderful works to the children of men”

These outbursts are followed by more reasons why we should give God thanks. Clearly, we who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, we “whom He has delivered from the hand of the adversary” are to SAY SO! The NLT says it this way: “Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others He has redeemed you from your enemies. (Psalm 107:2) Re-read Psalm 107 one more time. Do you see in these rescue stories parallels of times God rescued you, though you had rebelled against His Words and “spurned the counsel of the Most High”?

A shout, a shriek and a yell. The psalmist obviously feels intensely about what he is saying because the sentence is an exclamation, which can be a shout, a shriek or a yell. This idea is important! O, that we would all be that excited, daily, about what God has done!

“Confess to the Lord” – ?? We are to praise and confess to the Lord “His goodness and loving-kindnesses, and His wonderful works to the children of men!”  Webster’s 1828 online dictionary defines confess as “To own, avow or acknowledge; publicly to declare a belief in and adherence to”. It holds the same meaning as in Matthew 10:32-34: “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before me, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”

That phrase “Confess to the Lord” means we are to talk to God about His goodness and loving-kindnesses and what He has done. In my praise and worship, public and private, am I really talking to and with God? Is my full attention on Him? Am I mindful the Creator and Sustainer of all that was and is and is to come is eagerly waiting to hear my voice? Have I taken time to quiet my mind and shut out distractions so I can give Him my best? Have I prepared my heart to be with Him as carefully as I would prepare my home for a visit with a dearly loved human friend? Jesus, the impassioned Lover of my soul, deserves nothing less.

Safety in giving thanks — what? If I am deliberately mindful of all God has done—throughout history and throughout my personal history, I will be at peace. And if I voice (or “confess”) my love and appreciation and gratitude to Him, if I respect and reverence Him, if I “notice Him, regard Him, honor Him, prefer Him, venerate and esteem Him, defer to Him, praise Him, and love and admire him exceedingly” (from Ephesians 5:33, AMPC) I will surely be in His presence – safe.

Do you hear Him? Listen. God responds when you express your love for Him to Him. Can you not hear the voice of the turtledove? Does a human beloved not respond when you pour out your love and respect and admiration? How much more does God respond when we pour out our love and respect and honor and reverence upon Him?

Still your soul and listen. Hear the Lover of your soul.  He says:

“Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me. My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.” (Song of Solomon 2:13b-14, NIV)

O, that we would all be truly wise and daily praise and give thanks to our ever merciful and kind and loving Father!

Diligent Meditation – Part Two

BIBLE TEACHING & STUDY, DAILY LIFE, HOLY SPIRIT, HOPE

Last week we considered points 1 through 3 below. Today, we cover point 4 – why do we meditate?

  1. Meditating on the move.
  2. So, what is meditation?
  3. Meditation can heal your heart and your life
  4. Why do we meditate?
  5. HOW? Start with what you need
  6. HOW? Practice and persist in your practice.
  7. HOW? Diligent study first.
  8. HOW? Then diligent meditation – ???
  9. How does God’s Word renew your mind?
  10. Why memorize
  11. The power of God’s laws

[4]       Why do we meditate?  First, God tells us to. That is enough for me!

The second reason is that God promises blessings if we meditate on His Word. Joshua 1:8 gives a succinct summary:

This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.  (AMPC) (emphasis added)

So God is saying that talking and thinking about His Word all the time will lead us to obey His laws and then—because we obey His laws–that will make us prosperous, be wise and successful. This same promise is repeated in Psalm 1. Part of the godly life described in Psalm 1:1 is to “desire His law and find delight in it and to “habitually meditate (ponder and study) by day and by night on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God.) (paraphrased)”

If we live that godly life in verse Psalm 1:1 and meditate by day and by night—constantly:

  • We will have a constant supply (“like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water”),
  • we will do the right thing at the right time (“ready to bring forth its fruit in its season”);
  • Our “leaf also shall not fade or wither” and
  • we will be successful in all we do (“everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].” (Psalm 1:2, AMPC)

One more benefit of meditation is wisdom. Slowly read Proverbs 1 through 8. See how important wisdom is for the believer! Pondering verses 8:34-36 tells me that seeking and finding wisdom daily leads to life and God’s favor. To miss wisdom, is to hurt ourselves and “court death.”

<<How God feels about meditation.>> For more proof of how strongly God feels about meditation, consider the entire sixth chapter of Deuteronomy. In the opening chapters of Deuteronomy, after they had wandered in the desert forty years because of doubt, unbelief and rebellion against God, the children of Israel were finally about to enter the Promised Land.  At that point, in Chapters 1:6 through 5:34, Moses reviewed the history of God’s goodness to them in spite of their doubt and rebellion and he “expounded the law”.

In his second address, Moses urged the people to follow the decrees and laws of God, repeated the Ten Commandments, again urged the people to obey God so that they and their children could prosper, and then he tells them that for God’s blessings to continue, each must “. . . love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5, NIV). Then the very next thing in verse 6 through 9, Moses explains how to do that—by meditating – all day long.

“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. “(Deuteronomy 6:6-9, NIV).

 <<Meditating is part of loving God.>> The fact that God’s command to meditate comes immediately after His command to love Him with all our heart means to me that keeping His Word constantly in my mind is part of how to love Him with all my heart and soul and strength. Let’s look at God’s commands in these verses in more detail.

“These commands . . . are to be on your hearts.” If something is on my heart, it colors everything I do. When my loved one is sick, he is on my heart, in the forefront of my thoughts, all day long. I am preoccupied with his well-being. I cannot get him off my mind. That is how we are to be about God’s laws. If I have been trained in the laws of good manners, those laws are on my heart, and I will say please and thank you in every situation, all day, every day. It will be natural for me to do so.

“Impress them on your children.” Israel was instructed to impress God’s laws on their children. That means to imprint or fix God’s laws in their minds. How to do that? By talking about God’s laws ALL DAY LONG, which means at home and away from home, from getting up to going to bed. Then God says put reminders of His laws on your hands (so that as you reach out to do anything, you will think how God’s law applies to what you are about to do) and on your forehead, symbolizing that your every thought is to be controlled by God’s law.  Furthermore, God said write them on your doors and gates so that you see them when you enter your house and when you come and go from home. That will also be a reminder and witness to your children and others.

Chapter Six concludes by telling parents that when their children ask what the laws of God mean, they are to explain how God delivered them from slavery “with a mighty hand” to bring them to the promised land, how He commanded them to obey all His laws and to fear Him so they would “. . . always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.” (V 24)  Parents were to tell their children that “If we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.” That way, when the children hear their parents talk about God’s law and when they see the visible reminders, they will also remember that God promises blessings for obeying. God was working to ensure that each succeeding generation would give Him and His Word first place in their hearts.  He put that there for you and me, too.

For the rest of this blog post. . . The rest of this vital topic is posted on the Books and  More page of this website. Please do not feel obligated to pay. This is a long and detailed piece of writing and the rest of it seems to fit best in that format.  Blessings and heart peace to you!

Freda

Diligent Meditation – Part 1

BIBLE TEACHING & STUDY, DAILY LIFE, HOLY SPIRIT, HOPE

Hello – This long piece of writing began as a blog post but grew and grew. Trying something new, I will post the first two sections as blog posts then put the remainder on the Books and More page as a booklet.  Why so many words about this topic? God says it is important! And it totally changed my life. Here is an outline.

  1. Meditating on the move.
  2. So, what is meditation?
  3. Meditation can heal your heart and your life
  4. Why do we meditate?
  5. HOW? Start with what you need
  6. HOW? Practice and persist in your practice.
  7. HOW? Diligent study first.
  8. HOW? Then diligent meditation – ???
  9. How does God’s Word renew your mind?
  10. Why memorize
  11. The power of God’s laws

Meditating on the move. “The Lord is good to those who depend on Him, to those who search for Him. So, it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. Lamentations 3:25 and 26. (NLT)”

I looked once more at the half sheet of paper, folded it in half once more so it fit into my purse, then walked out the door, repeating “The Lord is good to those who depend on Him, to those who search for Him. So, it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:25 and 26. The Lord is good. . .”   As I walked down the stairs, my frayed blue and white paisley gym bag, the one my daughter Sharon had used in high school, banged against my knee.

 “Hmm..” I half moaned as stiff hips complained. “Lord, thank You that I live on the second floor. That gives more exercise for the hips and low back. Help me, Lord, not complain!”

A slight breeze moved cool morning air over my face as three chestnut brown sparrows flushed into the dense bushes bordering the sidewalk, chirping in chorus as they flitted from sight. I put my gym bag in the back seat, my purse in the front, pulled out my verses and read them again, slowly, before backing the car up.

 “It is making a difference, Lord, it really is. Your Word pops into my mind so often now when the enemy shoots thought arrows of fear and discouragement.”

 “The Lord is good to those who depend on Him. . . uh. . . “The Lord is good to those who depend on Him. . . uh. . . mmm.”  Up and down the little hills on First Street I struggled to remember the next phrase. Finally, at the stop light, I glanced at my paper. “to those who search for Him. So, it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:25 and 26.”

 “Ah! Yes, that was it! ‘The Lord is good. . . ‘” During the five-minute sprint on the interstate, where there were no stoplights, I managed to repeat the whole passage in my mind. During the next hour of stretches, weights and recumbent bicycling, I repeated that passage and talked silently with the Lord about it.

“Well, Lord, that says to me that You want me to depend on You and wait for You, with patience, and to keep searching for You. So, how do I depend on You today, right now? If I am depending on You, then I will not worry about . . . “

 That scene happened more than two years ago, on a morning in April 2019. That was the year God dramatically healed my life-long struggle with depression and anxiety. What brought about the healing, when nothing else had worked?

Taking God’s Word like the medicine He says it is healed depression and fear and renewed my mind. (Romans 12:2, Proverbs 4:20-22.)  Since I began diligently meditating God has kept me in His peace, even in these troubling times. Yes, I’ve stumbled a few times but God always gets me back in peace as I get my mind back on Him. If meditating is a daily habit, I rejoice with you! However, many are like I was, far from God’s mark regarding meditation.

So far from the mark. That morning back in April 2019 God began unveiling this invincible weapon that Satan had hidden for most of my life as a believer. I was ignorant of what God means by meditation and taking his Word like the medicine it is until I was actually doing it.

Some reasons we fail to follow God’s clear commands about meditation are:

  • Meditation does not come naturally. Forming new habits requires discipline and self-control. We may not even know how important it is. How often do you hear about meditation?
  • Our enemy knows how dangerous and powerful the Word in the mouth of a believer is and he sets roadblocks using lies, distractions, and our flesh. How often I said, “I just do not have time” or “I just cannot remember” or “I tried but it will not work for me.”
  • Pride blinds the eyes of the heart. 1 Corinthians 10:12 warns us, “So, if you think you are standing, be careful that you don’t fall!” (NIV)
  • Comparisons also blind us to the truth. It is tempting to think we are doing fine because we are “doing more” in some areas of spiritual life than someone else. We are unwise if we compare ourselves with others and use ourselves as the standard of measurement (2 Corinthians 10:12b, NLT). A piano tuner uses a tuning fork, not another piano.
  • I had to confess a very ugly, very bad attitude. I remember thinking that constantly thinking about God’s Word was for people who are “far out” there with God. Wow was I in danger! Fortunately, God convicted me, I confessed and turned away from that attitude, and by His grace, I do the same thing that I, to my great regret, spurned for so long.

 [2] So what is meditation?  To meditate is “to dwell on anything in thought; to contemplate; to study; to turn or revolve any subject in the mind.” (www.webstersdictionary1828.com). Synonyms include to ponder, muse, brood, concentrate, be lost in thought, think deeply and carefully upon–and my favorite—to chew the cud! Cows chew their cud up to eight hours a day, chewing each mouthful 40 to 60 times so the grass will be digested properly and absorbed by the body. The cow eats the grass and then, later chews it. We read the Word, and then, later, we think about it until it is digested.

<<Meditation on the Word changes us from the inside out.>> To meditate means to ponder and think about a verse or passage so long that it becomes part of you. Grass, properly chewed, becomes part of a cow. The Word, properly meditated upon or thoroughly chewed and swallowed, becomes part of who we are. The Word changes our innermost being. It renews our mind (Romans 12:1-2).

Meditation is NOT yoga. When we meditate, we do not repeat a mantra. We are thinking about and talking with the God Who made heaven and earth, the Most High, and His Word to us. We are purposefully thinking, not trying to turn off our thoughts. We are pondering on, contemplating, thinking about God’s law – His instructions to us on how to live.

[3] Meditation can heal your heart and your life. The power of God’s Word will “fix” your heart whether your problem is addiction, anger, self-control, loneliness, depression, or fear. Then, as your heart changes, your life will change. Hebrews 4:12 says God’s Word is alive and full of power, and that it “judges the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (NIV) That phrase means to me that God’s Word in my mind enables me to discern, or to judge, whether thoughts and feelings in my heart are good or bad, true or false, beneficial or detrimental, holy or corrupted, whether they are from God or from the devil, and whether they lead toward life or lead toward death.

<<The light of truth chases the darkness of lies away, just as dawn chases the darkness of night away (Proverbs 4:18).>> While deeply depressed and cowered down by fear, most of my thoughts were negative. The enemy and my own downtrodden heart generated thoughts and feelings of hopelessness and discouragement, day after day. Only when I began studying the Word for myself in my areas of need and then consciously kept those verses in my mind minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, did healing begin.

<<As God’s truth increases in your heart, lies and darkness decrease.>> When we meditate on God’s truths, truth begins occupying more space in our thoughts than lies, and truth becomes dominant, or foremost.  You eventually make salt water drinkable if you add enough pure water. Really, it is more like a desalinization plant because the salt, or lie, is actually removed, not just diluted!

I believe that is one reason God tells us, many times, to think about His Word all day long. As we keep His Word in our mind, hour by hour, day by day, we begin to think about life and situations like God thinks about because we have more of Truth about life and those situations in our hearts. We start to walk in truth, to live in truth, to think like God and to act in more godly ways.

As we keep diligently studying the Word, treasuring up truths in the storehouse of our mind, we grow spiritually, we step into Satan’s snares less often, and strongholds constructed of his lies crumble.

To be continued. . .

Diligent Bible study–now! Part Three

BIBLE TEACHING & STUDY, HOLY SPIRIT, TRUSTING GOD

Review:
Part One  and Two showed we must study the Bible diligently because  God says to;  we need God’s peace to withstand the evil attacking our nation and our world today; and we must be ready to do our part in the world-wide revival that has already begun.

Guidelines in Part One and Two of “Diligent Bible Study–now!” urged us to
A.  Read the Bible through each year.
B.  But do not just read – STUDY.
C. And do not just study—study FOR YOURSELF.
D. And do not just study for yourself—study IN YOUR AREAS OF NEED.
E. Let Holy Spirit teach you—DIRECTLY!

Today we will look at one guideline — the importance of getting the context when we do Bible study.

[F] Use a context net to study the Word, not just a cane pole. If you want just one fish, a cane pole might catch a fish. But what if you want all the fish you can get? What if you hunger and thirst for all the fish in an area? In that case, you would use a cast net.

A cast net is a fishing net with weights on the side that help it sink so as to catch whatever creature is in the netted area. You catch few or no fish if you do not know how to cast the net properly because it will not open up and cover the area you are focusing on. Your net will hit the water in a wadded-up, probably fish-less tangle.  Watch any video on using a cast net. A person knowing the basics of cast netting makes the net unfurl just right and cover the area he wants it to cover.

But suppose you have never seen a cast net properly used. You make toss after toss of your wadded up net, you catch one small fish, and stop. Or, suppose you often catch nothing but you keep casting that net, day after day, because other people say they catch many fish. You grow discouraged and feel something must be wrong with you but you keep trying. And you survive on the occasional fish you catch yourself and the abundance that others share with you from their own fishing.

<<God means for you, too, to be a successful fisher for His truths.
That requires casting a net wide enough
to pull the context of a verse into your thoughts.>>

Are you catching the context? Just reading one verse is like overhearing one single sentence of a ten-minute conversation. To correctly interpret one or two sentences you hear requires hearing the entire conversation, in other words, catching the context.  God wants you to correctly understand His “conversations”, or discussions, in the Bible. So, at bare minimum read verses before and after the one you are studying. Preferably, at least glance over the entire chapter and an outline of the book of the Bible you are studying or a short summary (both of which are often included in the front of each book of the Bible and always in the front of study Bibles).

What is context anyway?  If we think about Webster’s 1828 online dictionary definition, we see that context means the general sense or structure of a discussion, specifically the parts of a discussion coming before or after the sentence quoted,  or “the passages of Scripture which are near the text, either before it or after it.”

If we still read the Bible on scrolls, we would nearly always at least skim the context. Think about it. Back in those times, suppose you were a cruel husband and wanted to justify how you treat your wife. If you heard that Paul’s teaching on marriage was “toward the end of the Ephesians scroll”, you would have to at least skim through many sentences to find the passage. And if you were looking for that specific statement that wives are to submit to their husbands (what we label today as Verse 22 of Chapter 5), you would need to read that entire passage slowly and carefully.  In so doing, you would at least be exposed to the context. And if your heart was right, God would use that entire passage—not just one isolated statement—to guide your conduct.

Do you see how the modern convenience of grouping verses into sections and assigning chapter and verse makes it easier to take God’s Words out of His intended context and misuse them? No, God did not “accidentally” let us put His Word into this format. Using a book format, with section, chapter, and verse designations is helpful but God’s Word—and simple common sense—tell us that studying the Word correctly involves more than plucking a sentence here or there.  Would you approach a college chemistry textbook that way, or a recipe for lasagna, or the instruction manual for assembling playground equipment?

We cannot take one isolated verse here, one there and another fifty pages away and think we have “studied”, for example, what God means by righteousness. If we get the correct context of each of those three verses, and then study them, however, we might have a little bit of a start on understanding righteousness.

Another example. To further illustrate this point, suppose you want to find some verses about safety because you travel often.  You find a list of verses and start with Deuteronomy 28:6: “You will be blessed when you go in and blessed when you go out.” (NIV). It would comfort your soul to rest in that promise but wait. Do you know to whom God is making that promise? This promise and those following apply to those who fulfill the conditions of the first two verses of Chapter 28. Hear verses 1 and 2: IF you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you IF you obey the Lord your God:” (emphasis added)

But suppose you are not really interested in what God thinks about this subject, and you do not take time to reason with Him and see His perspective. No, you only want to get something for yourself., not really study the Bible.   So you do not cast that wide context net and you fail to see what is around that one little blessing you want to grab. Instead, you claim that blessing and go on to the next verse on your list.

What if Holy Spirit is right there, longing to correct you, to convict you of sin, true righteousness and the consequences of disobedience? What if Holy Spirit wants you to remember one instance where you have not fully obeyed Him. What if, for example, you recently stopped tithing because finances are tight and someone you trust said “God will understand”. What if God wants to use this verse to convict you for your good—so that you can correct your behavior and He can bless your finances.

Suppose, that in this same time of Bible study, after claiming Deuteronomy 28:6, you read another verse on the list–Psalm 91:11—where God says He will “command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” but again, you fail to catch the context.

Sadly, you do not hear God explain that the astounding promises in Psalm 91 are for those who fulfill the conditions in the first two verses–verse one that requires us to dwell (which means to make our permanent home) in His very presence, and verse two, which requires us to say God is our refuge and our fortress and that we trust in Him. If we have not done that, we sit in a parked car, spinning the wheel and making “Vroom vroom” sounds.

<<Like a child engaging in fantasy,
we deceive ourselves into thinking we are going somewhere
but we never activated the engine.>>

I simply cannot read part of an operator’s manual for a complex machine and expect to operate the machine correctly.

How do you know how wide to cast your context net? One way is to look for connecting words and phrases.  Pay attention to connecting words, such as because, for, therefore, whereas, accordingly, etc. Words like these link statements or ideas together where the second statement or idea depends on the first. Connecting words show you the if/then nature of God’s laws and promises. They show what we must do to have the uncountable blessings He has prepared for us. Just as you cannot correctly understand what you read without understanding the context, you also cannot understand how God’s laws and promises work if you only grasp the end of a chain of thought.  You will not see God carefully, lovingly telling you what obeying and disobeying do and what will be the effect of your actions.

Verses 1 through 6 of Psalm 119 start explaining how to live an upright life, a life pleases God. Verse 7 says I will be able to praise God with an upright heart “when I shall have learned [by sanctified experiences] Your righteous judgements [Your decisions for and against particular lines of thought and conduct’]. (AMPC) We learn when we experience consequences for our actions, when we experience God’s judgements for what we think and do, when we see the results or effects of breaking or keeping His laws. If we search out the Word, seeking to understand how God’s laws work, we will see that our action was the cause that led to the effect, or result, we experienced.

As you become more keenly aware of context, you will start going backward and forwards as a habit, seeking to see where the condition for a promise was stated, and you will find yourself reading bigger and bigger segments of Scripture.  Woohoo! Keep going!

<<God’s Word NEVER fails, although
it APPEARS to fail
when WE FAIL to handle the Word correctly.>>

A pause to reflect. You might be saying, “This is getting complicated, and it will take a lot of time!” As for the former, with persistence these things will become as automatic as driving a car. As for the latter, yes, following these suggestions you are reading about requires time and steady, focused effort.

Dear fellow pilgrim, please hear me. I dare not presume to explain exactly how God works, but I can, with trembling and reverence, put forth some Bible truths. (1) God rewards obedience and He loves those who approach Him with sincere, pure motives. So, I believe He rewards any sincere effort at Bible reading and Bible study.  (2) However, God also says—many times in His Word—that we get what we deserve. “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:10, NIV). God does just give us many, many things, but He does require us to labor for some things. Would it be fair if I rarely even read my Bible yet received the same deep understanding as someone who reads the Bible daily and studies diligently several times a week?

<<Little effort studying the Word, yields little reward.
Great effort produces great reward. >>

God will teach you how to study better.  And let’s demolish another sinister lie from the enemy that so often provides excuses for not studying the Word. God WILL teach you His Word, if you make the effort, no matter your situation or circumstance. Would God be fair if He withheld the riches of His Word from those of lesser means or education? No! He longs to open the storehouse of His Word to you—if you ask Him to! It does not matter if you “never were a good student” and/or have no formal training in Bible study. If you whole-heartedly ask God to help you, He will—somehow, some way—teach you how He wants you to study better.

God will give you the gift of wanting to do Bible study. Enjoying the act of studying is a great blessing. But whether it comes naturally or not, God will give you great pleasure in studying His Word. He did it for me and millions more. Proverbs 2:11 says “For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul (NIV). When we look at the verses before this one–when we unroll the scroll, when we cast that context net–Holy Spirit teaches us that this enjoyment of the Word is but one blessing that comes when we do what He lovingly urges us to do in Verses 1 through 4.

All these guidelines for Bible study require no formal training or costly resources, just a sincere heart, sincere effort, and faith—like a little child–that God WILL teach YOU, directly, through His Word. He wants you to catch lots of truth when you go fishing with Him!

Diligent Bible study–now! Part Two

BIBLE TEACHING & STUDY, ENCOURAGEMENT, HOLY SPIRIT, TRUSTING GOD

Part One  of this series showed we must study the Bible diligently because  God says to;  we need God’s peace to withstand the evil attacking our nation and our world today; and we must be ready to do our part in the world-wide revival that has already begun.
We saw that it is important to:
A. Do read the Bible through each year.
B.  But do not just read – STUDY.

Part Two: Today, we will look at the following guidelines:
C. And do not just study—study FOR YOURSELF.
D. And do not just study for yourself—study IN YOUR AREAS OF NEED.
E. Let Holy Spirit teach you—DIRECTLY!

[Guideline C] And do not just study–Study for yourself! It is vital that you study for yourself, not just what other people have labored to unearth. I read many, many excellent books by sound Bible teachers about handling emotions, and I took part in Bible studies, but God did not heal me until I dug deeply into the Word for myself. Be warned especially if the study materials you rely on are strings of single verses, lacking the context of those verses and failing to show how those verses fit into God’s laws—His causes and effects, His conditional promises. If you are in a Bible study group or working through a Bible teaching book – good and very good! But you also need—as much as you need oxygen—to study for yourself!

But what if you just do not like studying, what if you do not have training in how to study the Bible, what if you cannot afford or do not know how to use computer programs or cell phone apps that provide commentary and exposition of Greek and Hebrew words? What if you are decades away from the classroom?

SO WHAT!!!! Are you going to believe that God can do anything (Job 42:2) or not? Are you going to let the devil or fear or laziness rob you of constant peace and of the strength to overcome temptation? Will you let self-doubt rob you of the wise counsel of the LORD, of knowing the deep, inner meaning of His covenant, as He promises in Psalm 25:14? Will you let Satan steal the healing God has for you? Will you refuse God’s call to prepare yourself to share the Bread of Life with starving souls He wants you to nurture? Certainly not!

<<The key point here is— I must do my own
digging–just me, my Bible and Holy Spirit.
Further, I must dig for what I, as an individual, need. >>

[D]  And do not just study for yourself—study IN YOUR AREAS OF NEED. You will never find wheat in the apple orchard. If you need potatoes, you do not go to the cornfield! If I wander around through acres and acres and acres of rich farming country, I will  perhaps find the specific fruit or vegetable, nut or berry that I need, but it will take a looong time! And I will likely give up and just eat what is convenient, although I really need something else.

We all must understand the basics of our faith and then keep learning—all of the Bible. It is wonderful to follow a planned curriculum that will cover the entire Bible but it could take years before that curriculum followed by your church focuses on conquering fear, anger, depression, lust, or whatever you most need. Even then, that curriculum will not be personalized for you, as Holy Spirit will personalize it. Nor will books specifically devoted to those subjects be personalized for you. Some books are good starting places but they are just that – a point from which to start your own study with God as your teacher.

So, how do you study strategically, in your area of personal need? Here are four steps.
[1]        Identify what you need God’s help with.
[2]        Use a concordance to find verses about that subject.
[3]        Study those verses.
[4]        Meditate on those verses constantly.

[Study for yourself-Step 1]  Identify what you need God’s help with. You likely already know what your greatest struggle is. If not, ask God to show you. How will He do that? If I lose my temper in traffic and an obscenity pops out of my mouth. Hmmm. I need to study self-control. What if I see a romance novel, but I see the cover indicates the book is really pornography. Hmmm. God says to study temptation and purity.

[Study for yourself-Step 2]  Use a concordance. Most Bibles have at least a small concordance in the back. You can start there or use another concordance. I suggest saving for later the exhaustive concordances—which list every time a word appears in the Bible. Smaller, compact concordances and those in the backs of Bibles list just the most important occurrences in the most common verses.

Do not get bogged down trying to decide which concordance to use—just start! Holy Spirit is right there with you and He will guide you.  If you are humbly seeking God, God will “guide you in what is right and teach you His way.” (Psalm 25:9) Yes, YOU!

[Study for yourself-Step 3] Study those verses! Later sections will cover more about studying but, briefly, at a bare minimum, please, read the verses before and after and preferably the entire chapter. Read the verses slowly, phrase by phrase, thinking about what the words mean. Rewrite the verse by hand, adding underlines and arrows, using all capitals or circling the words and phrases as Holy Spirit emphasizes—for you—what He meant when He moved on people to write His words.

<<Sit there a while. Just look at the verse. Think about it.
Give yourself time to hear what God wants to tell you.>>

 Consider this: does a good classroom teacher rattle off rapid-fire explanations of complicated concepts? Does she yell her most important points at students zipping up backpacks, eager to go on to the next thing? No! She waits for the full attention of the class and then speaks slowly and clearly. And she is entirely willing to answer questions.

 So, take your time. Rewrite the verse in your own words. Look up other verses in your list and see if they help you understand better. If you vaguely remember a verse that seems relevant but cannot recall where it is in the Bible, skim the rest of your list for that verse, but if you cannot find it, return to the verse you are studying. God will arrange for you to find that verse later. Yes, He will! Just try Him and see.

[Study for yourself-Step 4]  Meditate on those verses constantly. To meditate is to roll something over and over in your mind so as to understand it. A cow chews cud to render the food digestible. We are commanded to meditate constantly and promised tremendous blessings if we obey. It is NOT an option! We must meditate, taking time to think deeply, while we are studying, and we must also keep thinking about God’s Word all day.  Because this is vital, detailed suggestions are provided in Guideline G on how to make that a habit, but for now, let’s look at another key to diligent Bible study—letting Holy Spirit Himself teach you.

[Guideline E] Let Holy Spirit teach you – directly! In looking up verses about Holy Spirit as teacher, I found an excellent writing by R. A. Torrey, world-renowned pastor, evangelist, educator and writer. Pastor Torrey referenced I John 2:27:

“As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit-just as it has taught you, remain in him.”

Amen, Pastor Torrey! Amen! Pastor Torrey eloquently states that the humblest believer has the privilege of being taught by God directly. And, although we do learn from others who have been taught by Holy Spirit, we “never truly know the truth” until we are taught directly by Holy Spirit. Further, he says that those who are taught by Holy Spirit will have better understanding of the Word than those who know Greek and Hebrew thoroughly and have studied diligently but without being taught by Holy Spirit. (See https://freeurlshortener.net/BDx).

Paul tells us in I Corinthians 2:13 that God’s Holy Spirit reveals the deep things of God to us “not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught word” (NIV).

I cannot urge you strongly enough:

<<Let Holy Spirit–Himself!–teach you directly,
in your areas of need,
as you sit alone with just Him and His Word.>>

In March 2019, depression and fear made me desperate enough to finally take advice I had heard repeatedly from Bible teacher Joyce Meyer: to study the Bible, for myself, in my personal areas of need. Having made growing with God my priority for 38 years and loving Bible study, I thought I was doing okay, hearing sermons each week, reading the Bible, doing Bible studies and reading Christian books. No! No! No! I was trying to hear God second-hand.

I cannot explain why anointed, root deep understanding that changes hearts, was withheld until I came to God as my Teacher directly—rather than second-hand. But I unintentionally proved that to myself through personal experience. Perhaps it is like trying to experience a hug using someone else as a go-between, or your beloved pouring out his heart to a mutual friend who then writes a love letter to you.

Would the words that mutual friend chose hit the mark as well as those of your beloved? And would the actual presence of that mutual friend be as satisfying as that of your beloved? Could you discuss a problem as well with that mutual friend as you could with your beloved, who knows all your past, who knows how you feel, who knows how you think, and who knows just what to say and when and how to say it? Could you trust that mutual friend as deeply as you trust your beloved?

<<Would you want to hear whispered words of love
through a mutual friend, or from your beloved?>>

Would it not be better—and the desire of the Lover of your soul—that the actual sound of His very own words fall on your ears? What if, dear friend, what if that mutual friend and your beloved were both in the room with you. Would you not wound your beloved deeply if you turned away from His outstretched arms and embraced the mutual friend instead?

From the moment I turned my heart to the Lover of my soul directly, from that first morning when I prayed, then sat at my desk, one Bible opened to the concordance in the back, looking up verses on peace in my copy of the Amplified Classic Bible, and taking notes on a clean stack of paper, Holy Spirit–Himself!–began teaching me what the Word meant for me. And He started with what I needed most which was how to find and stay in His peace that He describes in Isaiah 26:3-4.

No, I did not hear an audible voice but I read those verses, over and over, copied them in long-hand, and I kept looking at them, asking God “Lord, I believe You will teach me. Please show me how Your Word can heal this depression and fear. I believe Your Word is true. Help me see how to have this constant peace You promise . . . “

As I studied, I also paused often to look out the window and pray in the Spirit, which means to pray in tongues. I do not understand it-and do not have to!—but many times as I pray in tongues, God puts fresh, just-what-I-need thoughts in my mind. This will be the subject of a future writing, soon

And He did teach, on that morning and countless times since. God revealed, directly, yes, to little insignificant me, the deep truths of those verses. Using just the plain Word and His Spirit—–no commentaries, no fancy Bible app, no human Bible teacher–He gave understandings that I had never heard taught before, understandings that gave the first measure of true peace I had experienced in years, peace that has settled a velvety blanket over my soul every single day since.

<<Holy Spirit longs for you to ask Him
to teach you – personally>>

Next week — The next segment of this writing starts with Recommendation D – Cast a big net.

Diligent Bible study – NOW!

ANXIETY, BIBLE TEACHING & STUDY, CURRENT EVENTTS, THIRD GREAT AWAKENING, TRUSTING GOD

Redeeming the time. “Oh, Father! This is Yours!  Help me get these ideas in order. This is the fourth revision. . . “ I looked at the marked-up pages spread across the desk, on top of an open Amplified and New International Bible and, once again, began at the first page. Thirty minutes later, the printer hummed, I stacked the fresh pages in the center of the desk, put crackers and a bit of chocolate into two baggies and headed out the door for pickup. In the car, I recited “Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8 . . . .”  At stoplights, I glanced at the index card I kept tucked in the console, my memory work this week while in the car. As I waited in the line of cars at the elementary school, I prayed. I prayed for salvation for the children and for Divine protection from Satan’s vicious attacks.

Are you feeling the same sense of urgency to be about our Father’s business? As godlessness increases day by day, desire to do my part in the battle intensifies. I hear reports of revival fires already springing up and I eagerly await the great outpouring of the Holy Ghost that prophets have said is coming soon. I want to be doing my part now, and I want to be ready for what is coming.

For months, prophets have urged us to draw closer to God—now. We need ears that hear Him clearly when He starts judging the evil and evil-doers now seeking to destroy all that is godly. Deep, diligent Bible study is essential to develop hearing ears, so I began writing about that. As usual, the topic expanded as I searched the Word for guidance, so this is the first of several writings.  Why, you may ask, is diligent Bible study so essential right now?

We must study the Bible diligently now because:

[1] God says to. That alone is far more than enough.

[2] We need God’s peace to withstand the evil attacking our nation and our world. With lyin’ Biden, who stole the election, leaving hundreds, possibly thousands, of American citizens and allies behind in Afghanistan to be tortured and murdered by radical extremists; giving $85 billion worth of military equipment to terrorists; launching an all-government push to keep allowing millions of babies to be murdered; threatening to require everyone in the nation to wear face diapers and get an injection whether they want it or not while letting thousands of illegals—untested for covid—cross our southern border; with radical leftists seeking to pass legislation that would allow children as young as five to choose gender-changing surgery; with a homosexual choir singing “We are coming for your children”; with teachers embracing critical race theory. . . and I will stop there.

Can you truly say, and know in your heart, that—even in all these things–we are more than conquerors? (Romans 8:37) You can IF you have the peace that comes from knowing God is still in control, nothing has taken Him by surprise, He will preserve His children no matter what, and He WILL make all this “work together and fit into a plan for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.” (Romans 8:28, AMPC).

<<Truths like that must be heart knowledge, hidden inside my
inmost being, so that Satan cannot steal, kill, or
destroy those truths and so that the world cannot twist or pervert them and
so that my own flesh cannot tarnish them. >>

[3] We must be ready. God has already begun the greatest world-wide revival of all time. He needs believers prepared to share Bible truths and His wisdom with fledgling converts and returning prodigals. To do that, we must have genuine faith, faith that comes from understanding what God says. And that understanding comes from the Word (Romans 10:17). We must be “. . . made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” (2 Timothy 2:21, NIV).  We must be ready to explain why we believe and hope in God (I Peter 3:15), to explain how God wants us to live day by day, and to explain how to engage in spiritual battle. That requires diligent, persistent Bible study.

<<Living by and skillfully sharing Bible truths is not
 an option in our present world.>>

I strongly urge you to read the book “Vessels of Fire and Glory” by Mario Murillo. You will understand what God is doing in our world and why we must get ready—now—to be used by God. We must have hearing ears, and we must let God make us holy, devoted to and prepared for His service. How? One essential step is letting Him wash us with water through the Word (Ephesians 5:26).

Image result for free picture of bathing a toddlerAre you being washed thoroughly? Daily?  Letting God clean us up through the Word requires diligent effort. Does a three-year-old child get clean by sprinting through a garden hose once? No, that little child needs to sit in a tub of water—for several minutes–while the loving parent washes arms and legs as well as inside ears, between tiny toes and under chubby necks encrusted with dust and sweat. Little children need a serious bath. God’s little children need serious Bible study!

<<Life-cleansing Bible study requires diligence>>.

One method of diligent Bible study. If you already diligently study the Word – press on! You may not need this writing. But if not, know that diligent Bible study will help you: (1) draw forth meanings missed during casual reading or study, (2) see specific things God wants you to do, and (3) hide the Word in your inmost being.

Listed below are the first five guidelines for one way of diligent Bible study. I pray it helps your Bible study be maximally fruitful. Anything less than diligent, systematic Bible study–as I learned the hard way—deprives us of God’s best.

The first five guidelines are:

A. Do read the Bible through each year.
B.  But do not just read – STUDY.
C. And do not just study—study FOR YOURSELF.
D. And do not just study for yourself—study IN YOUR AREAS OF NEED.
E. Let Holy Spirit teach you—DIRECTLY!

Let’s look at the first two guidelines.

[Guideline A]  Do read the Bible through–repeatedly. I once heard a Bible teacher unintentionally downplay the importance of reading the Bible through repeatedly. The teacher was stressing that we must not merely read but study the Bible. I wholeheartedly agree!  I also believe, in addition, that it is essential to read the entire Bible through repeatedly, throughout your life. Each word of the Bible is put there by God–on purpose. You can find many different Bible-in-a-year plans, which I recommend if you are now reading through the entire Bible for the first time. Such plans include passages from the Old and New Testaments and, usually, the Psalms.  If you have never at least once read through the entire Bible, all I can say is GET BUSY!

I recall, as a new convert, referencing the beautiful nature passages in Job I had read for the first time and being stunned to hear that the person I was speaking with, who had known Jesus for decades, had never even read Job. Fortunately, God instilled a burning desire to study the whole Bible even back then so that particular believer’s disobedience did not lead me along a similar path of neglecting the whole of God’s Word. Yes, some books are hard to understand but God will teach you if you just try (as we will talk about later).

Getting the basics. One reason we need to keep going through the entire Bible is so that we hear the basic doctrines of our faith, at least briefly, once a year. Martin Luther required his pastors to “preach every biblical doctrine within a year.” (Vessels of Fire and Glory, p. 80). I know from experience it is too easy to stay in our favorite books or passages and, in so doing, greatly harm ourselves and grieve God. And unfortunately, I also know from experience that not every pastor follows Martin Luther’s requirement. Unless you plan for it, you will likely NOT hear or read the entire Bible in your lifetime, not even once.  How dare we neglect what so many have given their lives for, most of all, Jesus Himself!

After you have read the Bible through a few times, as the Lord leads, you could keep going with the same or a similar plan. You could also make your own plan to, for example, read some chapters from the Old and some from the New Testament each day as well as Psalms and Proverbs. You can quickly see, however, that you need a definite, written, systematic plan to keep you on track. Write your plan down and keep it updated.

Read attentively. Besides reading the entire Bible, it is essential to read attentively, not merely dashing through the daily chapters.  Develop the habit of pausing to reflect, while you read and after you finish that day’s reading. Reading lessons for children include reading comprehension exercises, where students must reflect upon what they read and answer questions about it. I need the same to help me focus.

<<Stop and talk with God about what
He means in those verses you are reading.>>

It is certainly preferable to read through the entire Bible every year. Doing that as well as deep studying will take an investment of time, of course, and perhaps much more than you now set aside. I ask you: which is more important, hearing God or being entertained two or three hours each evening? If you have obligations like childcare or work that truly do take most hours of your day, ask and God will make time for your Bible reading and study. Perhaps you can do your Bible “reading” by listening during chores or driving time and do Bible study in the time God helps you carve out. You are asking for something in complete accordance with His will; He WILL answer, as He says in I John 5:14-15.

SPECIAL NOTE HERE: If you are a new believer, I recommend the Bible reading plan Dr. Timothy LaHaye presents in his book “How to Study the Bible for Yourself.”  Dr. LaHaye’s plan points the young Christian to which  of the 1190 chapters in the Bible are especially important for new believers. The entire plan is given in Chapter Five.  I recommend getting your own copy of this book, because it is filled with excellent advice.  Pastor LaHaye passed away in 2016, at the age of 90, and I personally owe him a great debt for writing just this book alone. It pointed my newly-converted heart in the right direction regarding Bible study.  Below is his recommended Bible reading plan for the first year of a new Christian’s life.

FIRST YEAR 
> First John seven times
> John twice
> Mark twice
> Galatians through Philemon
> Luke
> Acts
> Romans
> The New Testament twice

Dr. LaHaye gives a plan for the second and third year as well. I say: GET THE BOOK! It also includes excellent chapters about how to study the Bible.

Image result for free picture of person studying[Guideline B] Do not just read – STUDY! Make time for Bible study daily, if at all possible. We get out of anything according to what we put into it. We find more of God—His strength, His power, His love, His wisdom, and His presence– in His Word—IF we give our utmost effort. God tells us in 2 Timothy 2:15:

Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.“ (AMPC).

This well-known verse tells me that I have reason to be ashamed if I do not do my very best to analyze, divide and handle the Word properly and skillfully – and I cannot do that if I only read.

<<Actual studying—as opposed to mere reading–involves
a level of effort beyond mere reading.>>

Beginning learners just read sentences and learn facts put in careful order by someone else. Successful high school students study. They concentrate and devote much time and effort to understanding sentences and paragraphs in their chemistry book. Why? They know they must conduct successful experiments in the lab to pass the course.

Even many superficial read-throughs will not earn a passing grade when the test requires application, wherein that student must understand why and how, when and where, etc.  Applying knowledge, or facts, requires study. It requires interacting with that knowledge, and how to use it, not just hearing or reading about it.

<<We often fail tests in our walk with Christ if
we do not go beyond merely reading the Word.>>

ANOTHER SPECIAL NOTE HERE: If you have never specifically done so, I recommend studying the chapters listed below (on page 86 of Dr. LaHaye’s book.)  These chapters are essential for Christians to master.

  • Ephesians 5
  • Galatians 5
  • John 14-17
  • Romans 6, 8, and 12
  • I Timothy 2
  • Ephesians 4, 6
  • And I would add Acts 1, 2 and 10

After these chapters listed above, if you have not identified more chapters to prioritize, Dr. LaHaye offers a second list as follows:

  • John 1, 3-5
  • Matthew 5-7, 13, 24-25
  • Matthew 26-28
  • John 11-12, 18-21
  • Acts 23
    I Corinthians 6, 15
  • 2 Corinthians 4-6
  • Proverbs 3
  • Psalms 1, 27, 37

Have you digested First John? And if you have never done so, regardless of how long you have known Jesus, I strongly urge you to first read the little book of First John straight  through seven times. And then thoroughly study it. One key purpose of the book is to reassure those who have eternal life that they are indeed saved from hell. It will also show you if you have not truly made Jesus your personal Lord and Savior.

It is a meaty book, it will enhance your discernment, and it will give you talking points of pure gold.

Next time. Next time we will explore how to study the Bible for yourself, in your areas of need, with Holy Spirit directly teaching you.

Be blessed, fellow pilgrim, as we press on, with the lamp of God’s Word illuminating  our path and the light of His Word illuminating the path ahead. (Psalm 119:105)