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READ YOUR BIBLE - ??? - 06-16-2012 08:31 AM
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Number one. From the first day that God places in you a thirst for His Word, you need to begin to read His Word, not books about His Word. No matter what distractions occur, no matter what obstacles happen, no matter how much people get mad at you—read God’s Word. The first week, the first month, the first year, the first few years will set the example you will probably follow for the rest of your life. Over and over, God’s Word tells us and indicates to us to hear, read, study, and memorize God’s Word. Hide God’s Word in your heart. Study to show thyself approved unto God. We are not only to fill ourselves with God’s Word, but we are to do God’s Word and allow the Word to change us to become more and more like Jesus.
Two people come to Jesus at the same time. They both live under the same circumstances. The first reads God’s Word, a chapter or two a day. The other reads the whole New Testament 3 times, and then the whole Bible, all in 3 months. At the end of a year, the first is a sick Christian, barely hanging on. He still has a very worldly attitude and does not understand very much about obeying God. He justified what he did with all sorts of excuses. The other has grown greatly in faith and knowledge. He now fears God. He serves God, as God calls him to do so. But above all, he keeps reading and reading God’s Word. God can use this second person in a far greater way than he can the lukewarm Christian. The first Christian will be like a wave the rest of his life, with an attitude that is very worldly. The first Christian will think he understands God, but he really understands very little. The second has developed a spiritual mind. His mind has been reprogrammed. When others were listening to music, to the television, to the radio, to all sorts of lukewarm preachers, or reading newspapers, and all sorts of so-called books about the Bible, the second person used all his time he could to simply read and study one book—the Bible. The first person always seem to get involved in whatever happened around him, strife among family members, problems family members had or relatives, while the second person did not. It is obvious that the first person did not love God (the Word) nearly as much as the second person, who obeyed what God’s Word said. Jesus tells you to LEARN OF ME.
Heb 12:1-4-WHEREFORE SEEING WE ALSO ARE COMPASSED (or surrounded) ABOUT WITH SO GREAT A CLOUD OF WITNESSES,
LET US LAY ASIDE EVERY WEIGHT, (or every obstacle),
AND THE SIN WHICH DOTH SO EASILY BESET US,
AND LET US RUN WITH PATIENCE THE RACE THAT IS SET BEFORE US,
LOOKING UNTO JESUS THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH;
WHO FOR THE JOY THAT WAS SET BEFORE HIM ENDURED THE CROSS, DESPISING THE SHAME,
AND IS SET DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE THRONE OF GOD.
FOR CONSIDER HIM THAT ENDURED SUCH CONTRADICTION OF SINNERS AGAINST HIMSELF,
LEST YE BE WEARIED AND FAINT IN YOUR MINDS.
YE HAVE NOT YET RESISTED UNTO BLOOD, STRIVING AGAINST SIN.
Note, God’s commands. As you begin to follow Jesus, command number one is—
to lay aside every weight or obstacle—everything that may hinder you in any way from following Jesus which is running the race that God has prepared for you to do.
When you get ready to study God’s Word—turn off the phone. Lock your door. Turn off the door bell. Go hide somewhere. Get your mind off the house cleaning you need to do, the mirror that needs to be straightened, the phone call you need to make, the shopping list you need to write. If you allow Satan to use distractions to hinder you, you are not wise.
Lay aside (or throw off) every sin. Repent. He then tells us that sin can so easily entangle and overcome us. Then He tells us to run the race that God has set for us (or follow Jesus) with patience or perseverance.
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, not on situations. The world looks at situations. Christians are to trust in Jesus, Who is both the Author and perfector of our faith.
The race Jesus ran, included being tempted in all ways and ultimately, the cross, but now Jesus has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The verse tells us to consider Jesus, Who endured such opposition from sinful men that came against Him, including the cross.
Regretfully, many people that begin following Jesus try to change the race course God set up for them. They try to set up their own race course, and they leave God’s race to follow one they make themselves. When this happens, they are usually so blinded by Satan that they actually believe the race they are following is still God’s race, when it is in really another race.
It is all a test. When the test is finished, God will know your heart. Your eternity is at stake, as well as your rewards or lack of rewards. When the Judgment comes, all your petty excuses you make now will seem like nothing, as you stand before the throne of God Almighty.
If you are saved, your body is the temple of God. It is written: 1 Cor 3:16-18-KNOW YE NOT THAT YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, AND THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLETH IN YOU? IF ANY MAN DEFILE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, HIM SHALL GOD DESTROY; FOR THE TEMPLE OF GOD IS HOLY, WHICH TEMPLE YE ARE. LET NO MAN DECEIVE HIMSELF.
When you come to Jesus in repentance, you begin to build your house. If you build it upon God’s Word, you should be building it on the Rock. If you build it on anything else, on excuses, on other things, you are building it on the sand. When distractions, problems, persecutions, and hardships come, your house will surely fall, because it is not built upon a rock. That is why you complained and come here and ask for others to pray for your miracles.
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