Plant Deep Roots

O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, For You Yourself have taught me. How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.  Psalms 119:97-105 NASB

Do we believe that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, authoritative Word of God? When we choose by faith to surrender our lives to Jesus we will receive the understanding of why we believe it, what we believe, and why it matters. 

First, as we daily study the Word of God we will develop a deeper knowledge and appreciation of the Truths revealed in the Bible. Jesus Christ is the Truth, the way, the life. These Truths will not only become the authority and guide for our life, but as we live them out with the help of Holy Spirit, they will transform us to more and more resemble our Lord and Savior, 

Second, as Apostle Paul teaches us in 2 Timothy 3:13, knowing God’s Truth is the only way we will be able to discern andidentify the, “evil people and imposters who deceive and are being deceived.” Knowing God’s Truth of the Gospel will keep us from falling prey to those who are preaching and teaching something contrary to the Gospel of Jesus the Christ. 

Third, we are not just to gain knowledge of Scripture for the sake of knowledge itself. Our gracious Lord has given us the privilege and responsibility to understand and proclaim the Bible’s beautiful, life-transforming Truth of Jesus Christ to others as we come alongside them in their own faith walk. 

While our salvation is paramount, our study and application of Scripture is a life-long pursuit! Sanctification! As our Biblical understanding deepens, we will find by God’s grace that our love, gratitude, and reverence for our Heavenly Father will increase, also. We will be able to articulate the reason for our hope and belief in the Gospel more clearly and more simply to others, and we will stand firm in those beliefs even when persecution comes! Do we have faith in this? Yes! We can be assured by God’s promises. 

Read the Bible ! Everything we need is available—all and only—because Holy Spirit within us is the all-sufficient teacher, the third person of the Trinity, equal in power and glory with God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. 

Proverbs 9:9-10 NASB ”Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.“ 

The Gospel. Thank You Lord Jesus….. God’s presence, through His indwelling Spirit, is permanent. Even in our loneliest moments, we are never truly alone. Holy Spirit is present. And I’m certain we’ve never needed to know this like we do today. When the day feels too hard to face and we want to stop showing up, or when we want to run from opposition or make ourselves numb to avoid we need to know that Jesus remains closer than our breath— hallelujah! during our most rebellious days, Jesus stays, lovingly convicting us and leading us back to the heart of God. And here’s the other thing: though dead in our sin Jesus paid the ransom for His people, by His crucifixion, death and resurrection we are rescued and redeemed, the Lord has come for all who call upon His name (Romans 10:13) 

Thank You Holy Spirit for the insight, all of us have had the attitude of thinking we know better than someone who is more experienced than we are. This attitude of pride is a root of sin. This includes the sin that got the enemy, thrown out of heaven, the sin of Adam & Eve in the garden, the sin every person who has ever lived. 

All sin can be traced to fear of man over fear of the Lord, or a lack of understanding the great holiness of God and His position as Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign Lord over the entire universe which leads us to either thinking we know better than God or wanting to be our own god. In addition, failure to understand and revere the holiness of God, makes it impossible to worship Him as is His due. It will reduce our worship to mere appreciation of God, or worse, to coming before the Almighty with our hand out with an expectation of entitlement. 

My friend, the very first step in understanding the Bible and the Gospel is to get grounded in the holiness of God!