Silver Crosshair

Many people desire to know more about the Bible. When they try to read it they find it difficult to understand, and at times, a little dry in some portions, as they put it. But the Bible is really not difficult to understand, it just takes some time, and a couple of other factors. But more important, is that the joy that the truths of God’s precious Word can give to a person who understands it - are almost beyond belief!

The Bible, and its truths, David said, are “more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10). He loved the Word of God, and so do those who know how to understand it. But first, let me say that learning the Bible cannot be done overnight. Its truths are deep, and it must be slowly and carefully dug out with some work - like school - which is progressive in nature.

Here are five things that will help to open the door of the Bible to your understanding.

1. Through The Teacher

The Teacher is ready to make all things clear to you - one at a time. He is always near to a believer and ready to show you “great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3).

The conditions under which He teaches you are simple - you must be one of His children. This simply means that Christ has become your Savior through your simply telling Him that you hate your sins, and are sorry to God for having committed them. Then by confessing to God that you believe that Christ is the Son of God you can be buried with him in baptism. Then, His Spirit comes to live within and He is ready to teach and to guide you. Acts 2:38; Romans 6-3-6.

When you, as a believer who is willing to be taught, and follow, ask Him to teach you just before you open it and read. David prayed: “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Psalm 119:18).

2. Continued Obedience

It may seem strange to you that this is mentioned next - rather than some academic principle. As strange as it may seem, obedience is the next thing that helps open the door to your understanding. It is not a means to an end after baptism. Jesus put it like this, in John 7:17: “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine…” Now the word “doctrine” is not something to be afraid of, it simply means the “teachings” of the Bible. Jesus was saying that those who are willing to obey Him, and seek first the Kingdom of God, are those whose heart the Spirit can instruct to understand the Bible.

3. Keeping Faith

An individual, who is not willing to believe, will not be able to understand the deeper truths of the Word of God. They will just be so much foolishness to that person. But a believer, on the other hand, through faith can have their eyes opened to see things that an unbelieving person will never see.

4. Through Other Scriptures

The Bible is a Book that will largely interpret itself, if we will not let our preconceived prejudices distort what we read. For instance, when many people read the story of the birth of Christ in Matthew, they automatically follow the mistaken views of others in their understanding of the story here. This is only given to show how a preconceived idea can overshadow the real truth of the Bible. One such example is that everyone assumes there were three wise men because there were three gifts. Maybe one could assume this however the Bible does not actually say their were three of them.

The principle here is to let other Scripture verses show you what a particular passage means. “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10). If you will look up other verses dealing with the same subject, it will help you, along with the other principles to understand God’s Word.

5. Through our Preachers

Those teachers of the Word of God in that nearby Bible-teaching church are the best ways to help you to understand the Bible. While they are not perfect, they are given the task of making plain to the people the Word of God, and its meaning.

These five things can greatly help you to understand the Bible better, along with a regular and daily reading of it. If you have not read the whole Bible through, start with the Gospel of John, and then go to Matthew and read through the New Testament - follow that by reading through the whole Bible. Following these steps carefully will allow you to begin to get a rich and enjoyable understanding of God’s precious Word.

Christine Bettridge has loved writing since childhood. She has written Plays, poetry and many articles on several topics. She is the editor of the article directory Above All Content She is also the author of the highly popular End Times e-book which has caused a stir in the religious world. It can be found at End Time Secrets Visit her blog at: The Bible Sound Blog

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When the Bible speak of circumcision, what does it really mean? Some say it’s the cutting of one’s private part of the body, some say it’s the matter of the heart. We must first understand that there are two very important facts surrounding this subject. One is that in the Old Testament men were under the law, and now in the New Testament men are under the Grace of God. Lets see what the Bible say about being circumcised. Let’s start with the book of Genesis 17:9 it says Then God said to Abraham, As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your
descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep; Every male among you shall be circumcised.

Look at what the book of Romans 4:11 tell us it says And he (Abraham) received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised , so then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Now look at Galatians 3:6 it says Consider Abraham; He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. Look at Galatians 3:10 it says All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written; Curse is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law. Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, The righteous will live by faith. The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, The man who does these things will live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written; Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

Look at 1Corinthians 7:19 it says Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts. Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him.

Now look at Romans 2:29 it says No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.

Look at Colossians 3:9 it says Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircmcised, or barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

In closing look at Galatians 2:15 it says We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too have put our faith in Christ Jesus that may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

Now look at Hebrews 10:35 it says So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will received what he has promised. For in just a very little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Love Always,
Your Sister in Christ,
Mellody Davis

Enjoy more reading at: http://www.hostinghelps.com/allaboutjesus

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“An Emotional Jesus…”

- by Caleb Osborne

© Caleb Osborne - All Rights reserved
http://www.ChristThroughMe.com
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Lately In my email newsletters (available for FREE at
http://www.ChristThroughMe.com ) I’ve been talking about how
Jesus has experienced everything that we will ever go through
here on earth.

Yes, even in our most trying times we can be sure that our Lord
has already triumphed in our particular situation. So we can be
comfortable talking to him about our troubles.

This is important and a comforting thing to know. For it’s
comforting to know you can talk to someone who has been through
your situation. More important than the comforting feelings is
that Jesus showed us the way to deal with these emotions.

In the last email Jesus got mad at people disgracing the house
of prayer, the temple. So He did the right thing and threw them
out and was rightly justified in expressing His anger with them.

It’s important for me to interject that anger in and of itself
is not a sinful emotion, it’s a natural one. It will occur, the
important thing is to be in control of the emotion, let it out
and recover. Remember that after Jesus stopped the selling and
misuse of the temple grounds He taught them that what they were
doing was wrong (Mark 11:17-18).

There is another emotion that I want to focus on in this
article though. An emotion so powerful it can hurt worse and
cripple more severely than physical pain. That emotion is
Sorrow. Sorrow can come in many forms, from many places and can
hurt tremendously. So much so that death can seem like a
welcomed event..and an acceptable alternative to the present
circumstances.

Yes, tis true, Sorrow can be the worst emotion. Just look at the
suicide rate in this Country (USA) and you’ll see that there are
a lot of people that suffer from great sorrow. I’d bet dollars
to donuts that you can probably think of someone that you’ve
personally known that has given in to sorrow and taken their
life. Such a sad fact, but true (I know it’s true for me).

Jesus has experienced horrible sorrow too! And He has showed us
the way to deal with it! The correct manner to deal with
situations that are not turning out the way we had hoped, and
the future seems so bleak.

Jesus taught us to TRUST. To trust in Father’s perfect will and
trust that He knows what’s best for us even when we can’t see it
, even when it seems like the hardest thing to do in the world,
Jesus taught us to trust and submit to the will of Father.

On the night that Jesus was to be betrayed He knew what had to
happen, the horrible suffering that was going to come. I like
the way the NIV version translates what Jesus tells His
disciples about his feelings, when He was going off to pray:

“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Mark
14:34)

Wow! How incredibly troubled He must of been! He was so
troubled that He did what most of us would do. He prayed that
Father could take the trouble from Him. (Mark 14:35-36):

“Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that
if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he
said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me…”

But! Remember what Jesus did next is what we should pay
attention to (as we often forget). In an almost inconceivable
act of humble submissiveness and amazing trust, amazing faith in
His Father’s will for Him. He prays:

“…Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

Jesus was in such anguish during this prayer that His sweat was
like drops of blood falling to the ground (Luke 22:44). He even
went back from praying to find His disciples asleep where He had
left them (talk about feeling alone and uncared for–they were
sleeping!) and after waking them, went back and repeated his
prayer.

He did this again. 3 Times He prayed that if it was possible,
that His Father could take this burden from Him because He was
in such troublesome spirits. But each time He reaffirmed His
father’s will for His life to be what He desired most (Mark
14:37-42)

So Take Note Christian! Next time Life’s troubles have you so
unhappy and full of sorrow that you don’t think you can stand
it. Don’t be afraid to ask God first for deliverance but
sincerely, honestly and humbly pray that His will be done, no
yours.

Jesus showed us the way to live, relying on the Father and
through faith accepting His will even when it seems horribly
painful to do so!

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