Take 5!: How to Know God

” as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.”

2 Peter 1:3-7

Please take a moment to empty your heart of sin and self and ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit. If you haven’t already, please read 2 Peter 1:3-7.

According to verse 3, what has God given us?

Did you notice that God has given us everything we need to live a highly effective successful Christian life? Have you ever thought you were unable to bring a certain area of your life under the control of the Holy Spirit? I know I have. But, God has given us divine power to overcome our flesh and live by the Spirit. An untamed area of sin is no match for the power of God.

How can we begin to unleash the divine power God made available to us (verse 3)?

By knowing God. The original Greek word for knowing used in this verse is epignosis which means precise and correct knowledge, to become thoroughly acquainted with, to know accurately, to know thoroughly, to perceive, ascertain, to understand (BLB). How do we acquire this kind of knowledge of God? By studying His holy word; a cursory glance at a few verses each day won’t cut it. We need to dig in deep, investing our time and ourselves in order to know God.

What else has been given to us (verse 4)?

“Exceedingly great and precious promises” have been given to us, which are recorded in the Bible, enable us to partake of the divine nature of God.

Please list everything we are to add to our faith mentioned in verses 5-7.

Now let’s take a quick at what each of these concepts mean in the original language.

Virtue: a course of thought, feeling and actions concerning modesty, purity and moral excellence.

Knowledge: knowledge of lawful and unlawful things for Christians, right living.

Self-control: “the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, esp. his sensual appetites” (BLB).

Perseverance: the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.

Godliness: reverence, respect, to be well off, to prosper, acting well, to revere, to worship.

Brotherly kindness: love or affection between friends

Love: the love of God, love that always acts for the best interest of the recipient.

Which of the above virtues do you need God to develop in your life?

If you feel discouraged by lack of progress in one of the above areas, remember you have access to His divine power. And He is greater than your sin. Power up and press on!

i hear: i am

Do you only have a few minutes for Bible Study today?

Do you ever get spiritual amnesia? Every once in a while I do. When this condition comes upon me, Satan is usually on the spot, trying to convince me of who I was. God is not about who I was, He is about who I am. I need to find out who I am from the GREAT I AM. Whenever you are struggling with spiritual amensia, please listen to this list podcast. The enemy will flee at the sound of His great Name!

Thank you for joining me today for i hear. I pray you gain some freedom from listening to the truths contained in this podcast. Please comment below on what you learn today. I’d love to hear from you!

For a written version of this study, please click on the link below:

Identity Prescription

Listen to Him.

Short & Sweet: 5 Ways to Fear God, Not Man

Princes also sit and speak against me, but your servant meditates on your statutes.

Psalm 119:23

I have struggled with the fear of man for a long time. For many years it got the better of me and cost me plenty: lost sleep, decreased fruitfulness, and lack of peace. Fear of man has caused me to blindly stumble by sight instead of walking by faith with my Savior.

The fear of man.

The fear of man is a horrible way to live—peace depends on the acceptance and affirmation of others. And those who don’t affirm and accept us, own us. Like puppets on a string, we jump and dance, striving to gain approval. Our mind, heart, soul and energy are focused on keeping them happy, and they will never be happy. The only One who can be trusted to own us is Jesus.

When we are in bondage to the fear of man, we are not free to serve God.
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If we follow God, men will not be happy with us, and in some cases, Christians will not approve either. The key to freedom, however, is embedded in the verse above. Instead of meditating on what men say, we purposely and intentionally shift our focus to what God says. Focusing on God’s Word frees us from the fear of man, and when we fear God, He blesses us.

The choice is ours.

From the verse above, we see we have a choice; we can either meditate on the lies and slander of men OR the truth and grace of God’s Word. Man’s word or God’s Word? Man’s word kills, steals and destroys, but God’s Word creates, builds and empowers. Even when He rebukes us, He’s busy developing greater character, faith and fruit in our heart.

Meditate=Create

In Hebrew the word meditate transliterates as siyach, which means “to put forth, mediate, muse, commune, speak, complain, ponder, sing.” It also means, “to talk to oneself.” In addition, siyach means “to produce, to bring forth, to germinate, to put forth shoots and buds.” Do you see the progression? Whatever we choose to focus on will produce fruit.

Our Choices:

The Words of Man

We hear what others say about us.
We think about what they say about us.
We tell others what they said about us.
We TELL ourselves what others have said about us.
We focus and act on lies.

We cooperate with the enemy as he works to destroy us.

The Word of God

We read what God says about us.
We think about what God says about us.
We tell others what God says about us.
We tell ourselves what God says about us.
We focus on God and act on truth.

We cooperate with God as He works to transform us into the image of Christ, and further His Kingdom on earth.

If you are like me, you sometimes have trouble eliminating the lies echoing through your mind. How do we silence the broken record of the lies?

5 Ways to cultivate the fear of God.

Get a new broken record. Memorize scripture and say it over and over in your mind.
MEDITATE on what God says about you. Whenever Satan attacks you with a lie (he often does this through other people), speak scripture in your mind and out loud.
Reboot your mind. When a depressing thought enters your mind or your self-talk turns south, immediately shut it down and go back to step 2. Replace lies with truth.
Hold your ground. Do step 3 as often as needed.
Praise God. Turn the temptation to despair into opportunities to praise God. Say something like, “God, thank you that You are using what so-and-so said for my good. I thank you that You are stronger than this situation.” Satan will be silenced.

Repeat steps 1-5 as often as needed. There are days when I carry my Bible verse cards with me every where I go. The enemy can be that relentless. But God has given us the victory, if we will only hold our ground and walk by faith.

Life is sweet. Fear God.

Christmas To Do-ers List, Day 5: Seek Him

Christmas To Do-ers List

Day 5: Seek Him

“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,”
Says the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:1

O come, O come, Emmanuel.

Come Emmanuel, to our homes, to our workplaces, and to our churches. Come Emmanuel to our prisons, hospitals, schools, nursing homes, slums, street corners, and to our hearts. God promises when we seek Him, He will come.

.

Seek.

To seek. In the Ancient Hebrew, baqash, means “to seek, require, desire, exact, request.” Do we seek God in everything we do, every place we go, in every decision we make? Do we require His presence in order to do life or do we trudge along without Him?

Seek Him.

Baqash also means “to search for as by touching.” When do we search by touch? When we can’t see. Tripping through the darkness with hands outstretched to protect ourselves and find our way. Stumbling because we are blinded by the darkness of our own sin and frailty. Grappling in the shadow of our guilt, hands reaching through the blackness until we grasp the One we seek, the One we long for. Jesus. Our Emmanuel.

Seek the face of God.

As traditions states, the Wise Men sought His face, wet with sweat and blood at the manger. We seek His face, wet with sweat and blood at the foot of the cross. So begins our journey with God, a lifetime of searching, seeking and finding as Jesus reveals Himself to those who seek Him.

Seek the face of God this Christmas.

Most significantly, baqash translates “to seek specifically in worship or prayer.” The keys to finding Jesus this Christmas: prayer and worship. In the midst of the merry making, the caroling, the tree and the stockings, remember the reason we’re celebrating: Jesus

We don’t need more Christmas spirit, but Holy Spirit.

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Seek His word, His will, His wisdom, His presence, seek Him through prayer and worship.

Seek Him.

Action Points:

In order to seek Jesus, we must think of places where He may be found. List a few places or activities in which you can meet with Jesus. Pick one to do today.
Jesus can always be found when we seek Him in His Word. Play the beautiful Christmas music embedded below, get your Bible and read Luke 2. Write down what God speaks to your heart as your seek Him.
Seek Jesus while enjoying His creation. Unplug. Leave the phone at home and just listen to Him.

How will you seek Jesus today? Please comment below.

Be a doer of the word!

Christmas To Do-ers List: Believe Him part 2

A little something extra for Believe Him, Day 1! Please read the scripture below. Comment on how you see Ruth exercising her belief in God and what God wants you to believe today. Happy Advent!

Elimelech’s Family Goes to Moab

1 Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there. 3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. 5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.

Naomi Returns with Ruth

6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had visited His people by giving them bread. 7 Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.”

So she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”

11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, 13 would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me!”

14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

15 And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

Ruth’s Commitment

16 But Ruth said:

“Entreat me not to leave you,

Or to turn back from following after you;

For wherever you go, I will go;

And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;

Your people shall be my people,

And your God, my God.

17 Where you die, I will die,

And there will I be buried.

The LORD do so to me, and more also,

If anything but death parts you and me.”

18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.

19 Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”

20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the LORD has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.”

Don’t forget to comment below on how you will continue to believe God today!

Believe Him.

“Blue Letter Bible – Rth 1: Story of Ruth 1 (Blue Letter Bible: NKJV – New King James Version).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 30 Nov, 2015. <http://www.blueletterbible.orghttps://www.blueletterbible.org/nkjv/rth/1/1/s_233001>.

Take 5!: A Stronger You

A Stronger You

6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. 7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. 9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. 10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. 11 These things command and teach. 1 Timothy 6:6-11

Thank you for returning for another Take 5! Bible Study.

Before we begin our study time today, please take a moment to pray. Ask God to ready your heart, mind and spirit to receive from His Holy Word.

If you haven’t already, read the verses above.

Name two things from verse 6 which nourish us.

We are nourished by words of faith and good doctrine. The word nourish transliterates as entreph. Entreph and its derivatives mean “to nourish or fatten a person, to educate the mind, to bring up, to nurture.” The truth of God’s Word is the only thing we should feed our heart. It enriches the mind, body and spirit.

Two types of exercise are mentioned in verses 7 and 8, godly and bodily exercise.

While we are all very familiar with bodily exercise, what does exercise in godliness consist of?

Matthew Henry states exercising godliness is “ceasing to do evil and learning to do well.” We must stop living to gratify our own desires and learn what God wants us to do by studying, praying and meditating on His Word.

The Greek word for exercise is gymnazo. Gym—exercise. Very fitting. Its definition is rather … huh … interesting. Gymnaz0 means “to vigorously exercise the body or the mind, to exercise naked.” We come before God with souls uncovered (naked), admitting our sin and our need for Him. That’s exercising godliness in the raw.

Why is exercise in godliness more beneficial than bodily exercise?

Bodily exercise gives us life. Exercising godliness gives us life and eternal life. Life for the here and now and life for forever.

What words come to mind when you think of exercise?

Blood, sweat, tears, pain, perseverance — words that also speak of the Cross. The Cross is an exercise of love and grace. Like all exercise, exercise in godliness is painful, critical and beneficial. Without it we may exist, but we will never flourish.

What are we to do after we have suffered and labored to exercise godliness (verse 11)?

We turn and teach others what we have learned. Just as we love to exercise with a friend, we ask others to join us in the journey.

Thank you for studying with me today. Be strong in the Lord.