How does God let the nations know he exists? Ever think about that?
Paul tells us in Acts 14
“In the past, God let all the nations do what they wanted. Yet he did things to prove he is real: He shows kindness to you. He gives you rain from heaven and crops at the right times. He gives you food and fills your hearts with joy.”
Acts 14:17 (International Children’s Bible)
God showed his existence to the nations by giving rain and crops and filling hearts with joy.
Where does Joy come from? from God.
If God is so willing to give joy in the hearts of even those who don’t know him, how much more to those who love him!
Father, thank you for your witness of Joy. Open my understanding to how joyful you are. Thank you for sending your son, Jesus, to remove all barricades to your joy by paying for my sins and living in me by the power of the Holy Spirit.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work”
2 Timothy 3:16-17
The Apostle, Paul, pointed his protege, Timothy, to “the Scriptures” as the source of faith, encouragement and correction. We know these scriptures as The Bible.
The next three Wednesdays I plan to focus on the Bible itself. Where it came from, how it can be applied and correctly understood
What is the very first thing that has to happen when you want to know what’s in the Bible and what it means?
It has to be opened; opened not just to see it and read it but opened to your understanding. Before then, it is just a disjointed, isolated, collection of stories and letters other people have quoted. And the quotes are often confusing, contradictory, and not making much sense.
Seeing something is more than its light hitting the eye; there needs to be mental activity to understand what is seen. It has to be into context.
Ever been in a crowd of people and suddenly recognized someone you knew? What a shock. They went from being a faceless person to a good friend. They hadn’t changed, you changed.
The Bible is like that, just words on a page until something happens.
That something has nothing to do with intellect; a lot of smart people are clueless when it comes to the Bible. To others, smart and simple, those words touch something deep inside and make perfect sense.
After his resurrection, Jesus had a message for his followers:
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “When I was with you before I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.
Luke 24:45
The first step in understanding the bible is to ask Jesus to open it to you like he did to the disciples. Don’t tell him what the Bible means, let him tell you. Tell Jesus you want to know the truth and will accept what he shows you.
Thank you, Jesus, for offering yourself on the cross for my sins, my pride, my self-sufficiency. Thank you for leaving my sins there, in the grave, when you rose from the dead.
I surrender to you and want to know your book, the Bible. Please open the scriptures to me like you did to your disciples. Let the scriptures come alive to me as I read them, fresh, again.
Patrikin - Kinship through The Father 