Commit to Know God's Will

We are created in God's image. One of the implications of that reality is that we are to live out God's character in our lives. The best life, the life we were created to live, is discovered in doing God's will.

Since God created us to do His will, then it is logical to assume that God will not hide His will from us. He wants us to know His will.

How do we discover God's will?

We discover God's will by studying His word. The combination of the Bible and the Holy Spirit allow us to know and do God's will.

This is the point Henry and Richard Blackaby make in the book Hearing God’s Voice:

Many people underestimate God’s Word. It is far more powerful than many realize. From Genesis to Revelation God’s Word has the power to speak directly to a person’s heart. By the Holy Spirit, God takes his written Word and applies it specifically to people’s lives...The Bible is not merely one option for discovering God’s will. God’s written Word is the plumb line for our lives as we walk daily with him (p. 91).

If we hope to discover God’s will then the starting point needs to be the Bible. The Bible is God's revealed word to us, and the Holy Spirit is our divine teacher who helps us understand how God's will applies to our lives.

Finish reading at Paul's Ponderings: Commit to Know God's Will

Follow @PaulBSteele

Linkage: Never Read a Bible Verse

Reading the Bible is one of the most important things we can do if we are committed to following Jesus.  The Bible is the foundation of our faith and God will never lead us to do something that goes against what He has already clearly revealed in Scripture.

When reading the Bible the context is very important.  Context is what gives shapes to what has been written.  Context includes the culture that the Bible passage was written in.  When it comes to studying the Bible it is useful to use commentaries and other books to give us a better understanding of the cultural context so we can properly know what is being said.  Equally important to the cultural context is the literary context.  This is something we can take note of without any special training or extra books because it simply involves taking a passage as a whole and not focusing on a single sentence or idea.

Greg Koukl explains why it is so important for us as we read the Bible to take not of the literary context of the passage we are reading.

If there was one bit of wisdom, one rule of thumb, one single skill I could impart, one useful tip I could leave that would serve you well the rest of your life, what would it be? What is the single most important practical skill I've ever learned as a Christian? 

Here it is: Never read a Bible verse. That's right, never read a Bible verse. Instead, always read a paragraph at least. 

My Radio Trick 

When I'm on the radio, I use this simple rule to help me answer the majority of Bible questions I'm asked, even when I'm totally unfamiliar with the verse. It's an amazingly effective technique you can use, too. 

I read the paragraph, not just the verse. I take stock of the relevant material above and below. Since the context frames the verse and gives it specific meaning, I let it tell me what's going on. 

This works because of a basic rule of all communication: Meaning always flows from the top down, from the larger units to the smaller units, not the other way around. The key to the meaning of any verse comes from the paragraph, not just from the individual words.

The numbers in front of the sentences give the illusion the verses stand alone in their meaning. They were not in the originals, though. Numbers were added hundreds of years later. Chapter and verse breaks sometimes pop up in unfortunate places, separating relevant material that should be grouped together.

Continue reading Never Read a Bible Verse

Daily Thought: Putting It Into Practice

"And so we must apply our thinking to and with the Word of God.  We  must thoughtfully take that Word in, dwell upon it, ponder its meaning, explore its implications—especially as it relates to our own lives.  What are we to do in the light of the facts of the gospel and the revelation of God and of human destiny contained in the Bible?  We must 'pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it' (Hebrews 2:1; NRSV).  We must thoughtfully put it into practice."

Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart, NavPress (2002), pp. 104-05

Linkage: The Point of the Book of Job

We understand that the book of Job is about suffering, but there is a lot in it that is hard to understand.  I know that there are times when I have read it and I have found myself agreeing with Job's friends only to remember that God was not pleased with what they had to say.  Greg Boyd in this essay seeks to help us understand the book of Job a little more clearly.

The point of the book of Job is to teach us that the mystery of evil is a mystery of a war-torn and unfathomably complex creation, not the mystery of God’s all-controlling will. 

Given how Christians are yet inclined to look for a divine reason behind catastrophes and personal tragedies, I think it’s a point we have yet to learn. 

In this essay I’ll flesh out my reading of this incredibly profound book. 

The Prologue
The genre of this book is epic poetry. As is customary with epic poems, it begins with a prologue that sets up the story line (chs 1-2). In Job, this prologue serves as a literary device to give the reader a perspective that the characters in the story lack. This is important, for the point of the whole narrative, we shall see, is to expose the vast ignorance of the characters involved.

Continue Reading...

Linkage: Getting the Most from Revelation 2

Here is the second part of Matt Proctor's article on how to get the most out of reading Revelation.  Let's admit it, Revelation is a difficult book.  Partly because it has been abused through sensationalism and partly because we don't know what to make of the numbers, symbols, and images.  Hopefully this article can provide you with a little more confidence when approaching the book.

Part One of this article examined four hermeneutical keys to help you unlock the meaning of the book of Revelation. But, what about the book’s significance? 

Even if I understand how to read Revelation, an important question remains: why should I read it? How will it help me devotionally? In what ways will it make me a better follower of Jesus? 

Another way of asking this: We know God has promised a blessing to those who take hold of the words of Revelation (1:3). But what kind of blessings should our people expect? 

Here are seven ways I deepen my faith when I read Revelation:

Continue Reading...

Daily Thought: Study the Bible

"And the Bible has been given to help us.  God has so superintended the writing of Scripture that it serves as a most reliable guide for our own spiritual formation.  But as in its authorship, so in its presentation to the world, God uses human action.  So we must consider how we can ourselves come to the Bible ans also how we can present it to all peoples in a way that does not destroy the soul but inducts it into the eternal kind of life." ~ Richard Foster, Life with God, p. 9