While I did grow up in a Christian home, my regular Bible reading did not start until around 2013. It was then that my pastor shared the One Year Bible Reading Plan. Around the middle of May (I think May 14), I opened this new Bible up and started reading. Every day I read from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs.
The next year, I started writing down a daily verse that particularly spoke to me and writing why it did. By the end of 2014, I had 100 pages typed up. What started as a development in discipline, opened up to be so much more. I learned that the Bible is not just a good and accurate book given to us by God to guide our lives. It is the Holy Spirit’s words written by others to us. All the speaking from God we ever need in our lives, was sitting in the book I had so long left on the shelf. Speaking and books are not the same though, so there is one more critical element. The same Holy Spirit that wrote the Bible, is inside of me (and you if you are a Christian). The Holy Spirit started emphasizing certain passages depending on what I needed in my life at the time. Since 2014, I have continued to read the Bible yearly (with plenty of times of gaps too). I found by the second and third time, I was reading the same thing but seeing different passages. This reinforced that the Bible is living and active in my life. In this way, I started to listen to God by reading the Bible. I am not given special revelation any more than my willingness to listen (through reading) to what God is showing me. All Christians have access to the same power of the Holy Spirit and the same Bible. God will focus us each on tailored verses as we need them.
First, I write down what I am learning from God. For many years, I would see something interesting, but soon forget it and not make a connection with other parts of the Bible. When I started writing down those things that stuck with me, I started gaining traction in my understanding. We all have the ability to do this, but most don’t.
Second, my mind works like I am collecting puzzle pieces of information all the time. The blessing or curse of this is that I don’t know what the puzzle looks like, and I am building thousands of mental puzzles at a time. For each new thought, I check to see if it fits with other information that I previously received.
When the first and second pieces of my uniqueness are applied to Bible reading, I quickly start to see themes and links across the Bible. The themes that I have sufficiently formed, I share with you.
I write for myself and share with you so that you may start to get a glimpse of what God is wanting to say to you. My initial impressions often end up being wrong. I learn more each day and find that my past writings were early interpretations that started me on a journey but often have errors. When I become aware of them, I will make an effort to note the changes in my understanding. Even if I were to completely understand a portion of what God is wanting me to know, the best I could give you would be my prescription glasses for your eyes. I pray that my writing gives you a head start to listen more intently and dive deeper into the personal relationship that Jesus wants to have with you. Jesus stands at your door and knocks. He does not want anyone, including me, standing between Him and you.
How to Approach this writing.
I take the approach that I would rather be confused and obey the truth that God says to us through the Bible rather than be comfortable knowing what a person is telling me. I hope you will do the same. Many rules God gave the Israelites in the Old Testament provided significant hygiene and health benefits that we did not understand the science of until 3,000 years later.
They lived for generations being told to obey in faith rather than proof. When they obeyed, they enjoyed the benefits even though they didn’t understand how it worked. I feel like God has opened up a few of those explanations to me that I am excited to share with you. However I am just a person sharing my experience. Vet anything I write to you against God’s instructions and other people that you trust. If you find something through your own study that I could learn and better understand what God wants me to know, please send me an email with it. In this way, we will all grow together.
Should you agree with me?
No, I carry no authority other than the urge to point to you to a deepening relationship with Jesus. If you disagree with something, let me know why you feel God is showing you a different understanding. Like you I am pursuing the truth, I could use all the God focused input I can get.
Regarding the translation of the Bible I use:
I desire to learn what God is saying to us in the clearest way possible. I read and as a default share the ESV Bible because it is focused on being a word for word translation using the modern English language. There are others that do similar, and I often read from them too to see if they have translated specific words the same way.
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Jesus stands at your door and knocks.
He does not want anyone, including me, standing between Him and you.
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Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec ullamcorper nulla non metus ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.
Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec ullamcorper nulla non metus ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.
Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec ullamcorper nulla non metus ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.