Distort the Scriptures to own destruction
The world is full of disinformation and deception, it also affect churches. Many are teaching mixture of man’s doctrine with scripture with fewer people preaching the whole counsel of God. As it is written, (2 Peter 3:16) He speaks about this subject in all his letters. Some things in them are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort to their own destruction, as they do the rest of the Scriptures. Beware, we are easily deceived by our own heart, our self-confidence without seeking the holy Spirit. Then, many are misled as it is written, (Hosea 4:6) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being priest to Me. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons, even I.
Be filled with the Spirit
The only one can protect us from false teaching and guide us to the truth is Jesus. And he said, “my sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me“. We listen to him through the Holy Spirit. But most have failed to do so because the instruction on how to be filled with the Spirit seems hidden. It is in (Ephesians 5:18-19) And do not be drunk with wine, in which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; I could not see this before, regardless how many times I had read Ephesians. Only after praying all the psalms for a few years then I realized Ephesians 5:19 is the key to be filled with the Spirit.
Speaking to yourselves in psalms
I noticed each time I pray the psalms for 2 to 3 hours a day for a few days, I will get new understanding from reading scriptures or receive revelation from the Spirit. Although my mind does not seems getting new understanding of the content by praying psalms, but my inner being is getting closer to the Spirit for communication. This is a process of spiritual growth that we don’t know much about it. The scriptures says, (Jude 1:20) But you, beloved, building yourselves up by your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. But many of us either forget or don’t care to ask the Lord teaching us how to pray properly.
Pick up the cross, die to the self
When I look back all these things, I have learned a lesson that the spiritual growth mainly depend on the fear of the Lord that affect prayer and obedience. Due to my unwilling of dying to the self, my faith did not grow much for a very long time. Only by God’s grace I somehow started to pray through all the psalms, and my eyes of the heart then slowly opened. In the beginning, most words of the psalms do not make any sens to me, but I did it anyways. This turned out to be the best thing to do, that is obeying the word and denying my understanding. Today many people still do not know what it means to pray in the holy Spirit. May we all make serious effect to seek the Lord more and more, for the time is running out.
How to study the Bible
This week I was led by the Spirit realizing the fact that I don’t really know how to study the Bible. To truly learn from Jesus means reading plus praying. Starting from Jesus’ first sermon on the mount, take the Beatitudes for example:
- “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” If I want to be saved and get to heaven, then I should pray, “O Lord, teach me and guide me to be poor in spirit so that I can have the kingdom of heaven.
- “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” If I want to see God then I should pray, Please, Jesus give give me a pure heart, I want to see God. Psalms have many prayer template for us, We can follow psalms 26:2, (MKJV) Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; purify my heart and my mind. And (Psalms 51:10), Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
About Salt and Light;
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” If I don’t want to be thrown out and trampled by men, I should pray, “O Lord, teach me how to avoid losing the saltiness and show me how to ‘let your light shine before men‘ “. And (Psalms 25:4-5) “Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You do I wait all the day long“.
On Fulfillment of the Law
“For I tell you, unless your righteousness greatly exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven!” If I want to enter the kingdom of heaven, I should pray, “O Lord, I don’t know the real meaning here, please teach me how to let my righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, for I don’t want to be left out.”
If I do not hear His voice, then I should pray, (Psalms 28:1) I will cry to You, O LORD; my Rock, do not be silent to me, lest, if You be silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit.
Consequence of sin
“And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into hell.” There are lots of man’s opinions about sin, telling people not to worry about it. If I do trust Jesus, I have to ask him to teach me what does it mean “causing you to sin” and how to avoid it. There are some prayer examples telling us God will answer these prayer request in regard to sin.
- (Psalms 19:12-14) Who can understand his errors? Oh, cleanse me from my secret faults; And keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; do not let them rule over me; then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
- (Psalms 119:65-66 NIV) Do good to your servant according to your word, O Lord. Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands.
- (Psalms 139:23-24) Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, And see if any wicked way is in me; and lead me in the way everlasting.
The above is just few key points in chapter 5, about 1/3 of the sermon, the whole list can be long, but it is simple and straight forward, after reading Jesus’ word we can ask him to teach us how to carry them out. The reason I didn’t ask for instruction is, I have too much confidence of myself or too much self-righteousness or I didn’t want to believe it. I don’t really know what’s in my heart, for it is written, (Jeremiah 17:9) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? Now I can see my ignorance and arrogance, the holy Spirit is right there, ready to teach me when I was reading. But I am so dumb, I already know all this long time ago, but I somehow did not ask.
Proper way to study
Now I finally learned the correct way to study the Bible from the holy Spirit. Everything Jesus teach us to do, or the apostles ask us to follow are not achievable by our own effort. In fact, all the teachings can be summarized in one sentence, imitate Christ. And the only way to fulfill this command is through prayer, asking God to change us, teach us, guide us, discipline us, give us gifts and so on. Whenever reading the scriptures, just pray and talk to the Lord through the Spirit, either silently or loudly. I usually do it in the form of meditation. Ask Him to give us the ability and power to practice and fulfill them, for He is always there 24/7.
The problem is how to listen to the Lord. Jesus said “my sheep hear my voice” but how to practice? The scripture says, (Psalms 25:4-5) Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You do I wait all the day long. We can also pray some thing like this, (Psalms 28:1) I will cry to You, O LORD; my Rock, do not be silent to me, lest, if You be silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit. In fact these should be the most important prayer items for all believers. Many have been asking the lesser important things, such as health and wellness. We have to agree with the Scripture in Romans 8:26, “We do not know what we ought to pray for”. As the profound impact of praying the psalms is beyond human comprehension.
People need to pray according to God’s will, not telling God to do things first, or to fix their problems. Those who have no fear of the Lord will not hear Him. Many have ignored lots of Jesus’ word such as, (Luke 13:24) “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. And (John 8:24 NIV) I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” They are deceived badly.
Now listen to the word of God, (Isaiah 1:15-17) “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. We need to ask ourselves, since when do we Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow? Do we need to repent?
This is a serious lesson for us to learn, do not easily trust ourselves nor any man for understanding the scriptures, only trust in God. We don’t know how many believers already lost their chances. We have to be more serious about the word of God and do what it says. For example, (Colossians 3:1-2 NIV) Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. This is the same as (Psalms 1:2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in His law does he meditate day and night. “Set your minds on things above” means reading the Bible and meditating the scriptures, the Spirit speak to us often through the written word of God. Those who are too busy with earthly things will fail to obey and have difficulty in hearing the Spirit.
Listen to the word, (Philippians 4:6-7) Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Here the word is “everything“, it definitely include knowing God’s will, how to interpret the scriptures and how to carry it out, these are more important matters for our spiritual life, and we should pray always. Do not ignore this word of God by turning to commentary or man-made doctrine for quick answer. It takes time to wait on the Lord, so be it. (Psalms 37:7 NIV) Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Now let’s pray;
Psalms 51
HAVE mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.
Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight– That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart– These, O God, You will not despise.
Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, With burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
Psalms 27
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked, my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not be afraid; though war should rise against me, even then I will be confident.
One thing I have desired from the LORD, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in His temple,
For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion, in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me upon a rock.
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies round about me; therefore I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy in His tabernacle. I will sing; yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.
Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice; and be gracious unto me and answer me.
When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O LORD, will I seek.”
Hide not Your face from me. Turn not Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
Though my father and my mother forsake me, the LORD will take me up.
Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me in a level path because of my enemies.
Deliver me not over to the will of my enemies, for false witnesses have risen up against me, and he that breathes out violence.
I would have fainted unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall make your heart strong; yea, wait, I say, wait on the LORD.
Psalms 23
THE LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.
Amen.