Thursday June 16, 2011

Read 2 Peter 1:19-21

My youngest son asked a pertinent question as we were watching the DVD series of Matthew’s gospel. He said in his young, innocent voice, ‘How can we know that the Bible is true?’ How would you answer that question? What would you say? I suspect that you will get that question a lot as you talk more about your faith and open up about your love for the Lord.

God’s own word assures us that no prophecy originated from the prophet’s own interpretation. Of course there are so called prophets, liars, who claimed to be speaking from God (see Jeremiah 20:6) but God is talking about his Word, the Bible. Prophesy or Scripture did not originate with an idea born in the mind of a person. Rather, men spoke as they were carried along by God the Holy Spirit. God inspired certain men to write down His own thoughts and Words for all to read. The Westminster Confession of Faith declares that the Holy Spirit confirms with our spirit that when we are reading the Bible, it is the very Word of God we are hearing.

You can be 100% confident that the bible is the unadulterated Word of God given from God for you.  Let me encourage you to read Psalm 119 when you have a spare few hours (which is about 176 verses long!!! - Doh! ) and jot down what the writer says about God’s Word (or laws or commands)  and how he uses it to help him fight against sin in his own life. It really will be a profitable exercise.  The conclusion you’ll come to is that God’s Word is vital for us to be walking daily in victory. We need to be immersed in it. We need to be growing in it, learning it and soaking it up as much as we can.  As we grow in the Word we grow in knowledge (not just head knowledge but heart knowledge and relationship with God)  of God and we grow closer to God. The closer we are to God the more we will walk in victory day by day. You will never enjoy the spoils of victory if you keep God at arm’s length or if you have a ‘she’ll be right’ kind of faith.

Prayer:-

V Pray for God to raise up new leaders at Student Life at USQ.

V Pray for students to be reaching their friends with the Gospel.
Pray for Student Life's initiative with launching movements in Perth this year.

Developing Godly Habits #2

When ever you read the Word get into the habit of asking yourself, ‘So What?’ It’s not a rude question but a question of what God wants me to be doing. So what does God want from me

Reading the Bible should affect your head, heart and hands.

Your head is the way you think about things. Your heart is your emotions and your hands are the way that you act or do things.

When you have read the Bible ask yourself ‘So what? What does this mean for my head, my heart or my hands?’

Some passages will affect all three areas. Some will affect only 1 or 2 of them.