141. WHEN GOD SPEAKS. FINDING GOD IN YOUR BIBLE. Proverbs 2:4.

Studying your Bible is a bit like prospecting for gold or silver, it involves two things. (1) You must look for it. Solomon writes in (Proverbs 2:4-5) “If you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand...and find the knowledge of God.” Simply stepping into a mine and glancing all around it, just wont cut it, If you want to get the gold or silver that you know is there, you have to search for it. Any gold miner will tell you that ..“gold doesn’t strike you - you strike gold. “ The purpose I have in doing these writings each week is to whet your apatite for scripture, You know there are truths in there which will lead you to God’s wisdom, commands and promises; which will encourage you to read your bible everyday. According to the Barna Research Group, only 9 per cent of Christians read their bibles on a daily bases. The question is are you one of them? Or, do you only read God’s Word when there’s nothing else around worth reading or listening to, or your phone is on charge!! You must dig into it. Worry it, tease it Prayerfully to get the right answers to questions that will inevitably arise. The Spirit of God will speak to you, Why? Because you are doing exactly what God told you to do, you are “Searching for Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength” and obedience to God will ALWAYS bring results. The story is told of a man who loved to study the Bible. Every time he found something he didn’t understand, His friend Jack would pop into his mind, Jack was a great student of Scripture, who seemed to ooze Biblical wisdom. So whenever our friend would encounter something he didn’t quite get, off he’d go to Jack. Until one day, when he actually heard the Holy Spirit speak to him saying, “Why don’t you just ask me, after all I’m the one who teaches Jack.”!! ‘ For my part, I know this... God isn’t playing “Hide and seek” with us, or crouching somewhere in the pages of Scripture to make it difficult for us to find Him in the Bible, No! His Word is plain, positive and progressive, and as you intensify your searching He will grow your understanding and knowledge of Himself. Then you will get to a point, (as I did) where you’ve had enough of knowing about God and are now getting to love Him and want to have a personal, intimate relationship with this God that you know so well. Anyone we love, we first had to get to know them. Why? To see if they were worthy of our confidence, our personal thoughts, our trust and our love. And God fulfils all those categories and more. When you feel let down, misunderstood, unable to express yourself adequately and completely lost; God is your only refuge, He understands, your loneliness, your fears, your inability to cope, your need to be loved, by someone; and He provides all that. For you, when you need it most. But this can only be achieved by having a deep, trusting personal relationship with God. Which comes about only through Daily, Communication with Him. I hear you say, “But I pray everyday, sometimes several times a day” Answer:- Yes but when do you listen to God? One of the main ways God speaks to us is through His Word. If we don’t Hear it, see it, or speak it, we will never know what His Will is for us because we are so busy talking, that we don’t have time to listen and take in what He is trying to make known to us. or i get through to us. Expect God to reveal Himself to you, Look for and dig into His Word and He will show Himself to you in several ways. Like many other Christians I regularly have this intimate experience with God, because we have taken the time, put in the effort and sought God with all our Minds, all our Hearts, all our Souls and all our Strength. This is what He told us to do to find Him. and God is true and faithful to His Word. We found Him and you can too . President Woodrow Wilson once said, “I am sorry for men who do not read the Bible each day; I wonder why they deprive themselves of that strength and pleasure? it is one of the most singular books in the world, for every time you open it, some old text which you have read several times before suddenly beams with a brand new meaning and significance. There is no other book that I know of, which is true of that, there is no other book that yields its meaning so personally that it seems to fit itself so intimately to the very Spirit that’s seeking it’s guidance.” Yes, God’s Spirit speaks personally to the spirit of the person who seriously searches His Word. If you want to get the most out of your Bible, take a note of these 7 questions, keep them inside the front cover of your Bible and refer to them prior to your readings.;- 1. Is there a warning here for me to heed? 2. Is there a promise here for me to claim? 3. Is there a particular or potential sin that I need to deal with? 4. is there a command here I need to obey? 5. Is there a lesson to be learned here? 6. Is there a principle here to be applied ? 7 Is there an example I can follow. Before completing your study time, refer to your list again. As you ask yourself these seven questions, Keep a journal to write down the answers God gives you, and you will be amazed at the wisdom you glean. And thrilled at the success of principles you learn. Your anxieties will begin to lift, your mind will clear and you will experience peace. In (John 1:1) we read:-”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God” The more you read your Bible, the more of God’s presence and power you will experience. You may even adopt this old advertising slogan. “Don’t leave home without it.” (Your Bible). Whether you are an old Christian or a young one or just investigating, don’t make a decision without referring to your Bible. Get the whole truth before you commit. Thank you for reading my thoughts on “Finding God in your Bible” Without asking you wont get, without seeking you wont find without knocking, the door wont be opened. To you. But when you do ask, seek and knock, everything else will be added to you as well. That’s a promise from Almighty God Himself. So read your Bible everyday, and hear what God has to say to you personally. May God Bless us all with His Word “The Bible.” Phaline. ----------------------------

140 DEALING WITH S.T.R.E.S.S GOD’S WAY. Luke 12;25

King Jehoshaphat heard that he was to be attacked by three different armies. Talk about stress! You need to read his story which you will find in (2 Chronicles 20) and follow his example. When life gets overwhelming; just take a look at his response. By using the word STRESS we can learn the following lessons.-:-- S = is to SEEK God’s guidance, (2 Chronicles 20:3) “Jehoshaphat set himself to seek the Lord” years prior to this, when his father King Asa faced a similar threat, He had responded by collecting all the silver and gold from the temple and his palace then used it to bribe one of the raiding kings to defect to his side. That only solved the immediate problem - but not without negative consequences. Although the invasion endeavour was abandoned God became very angry at king Asa’s reliance on another king to help him conquer his enemies. See (2 Chronicles 16:1-9) So He pronounced Asa’s punishment for the rest of his reign. “In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.” there are always consequences to the decisions we make, (good or bad) He would live with the stress of constantly being at war Because he had not sought God’s council So for this reason, his son decided he wasn’t going down the same road as his father!! Do you stress out attempting to figure out a solution instead of finding out how God wants you to handle it? Think of the last major problem you faced. Did you rely on the opinion of other people or, your own ideas or’ was your first thought to seek God on the matter and see how He wants you to deal with it. (Jeremiah 29:13) reads God’s promise this way”You will seek me and find me, WHEN you search for me with all your heart” So first talk to God about it. SEARCH,SEEK and then FIND. T = TRUST what God tells you. (2 Chronicles 20:17) “You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves and stand still and see the salvation of the Lord… Do not fear or be dismayed; Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” God’s way of resolving our problems can frequently go against our logic, maybe that’s why we are hesitant to approach Him in certain matters. Why would God instruct Jehoshaphat’s army, (which was clearly no match for three armies,) to show up prepared for a battle they were not intended to fight? It didn’t make any sense at all. Many times God will tell us to position ourselves to deal with a demanding task or problem which we feel quite inadequate to handle. But our challenge is to obey Him and position ourselves to win. How do we do that? (1) You position yourself when you choose to go to university, even though you haven’t been a top achiever at high school (2) You position yourself when you resign from your job at God’s urging and start a new business, even though a long line of clients or customers are not waiting in the wings. (3) You position yourself when you sit at your computor each day to write a book you have always desired to write without a head full of knowledge, but with a heart full of faith that God will join you there with His word His , understanding and His knowledge. God’s instruction is to position ourselves for victory. He wants us to show up, so that He can show himself strong on our behalf. See (2Chronicles 16:9). R= REMEMBER: Past victories, notice how King Jehoshaphat prayed, (2 chronicles 3:4) “Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of the land before your people Israel, and gave it to the descendents of Abraham your friend forever.” If God has ever performed a miracle for you or someone you know, He can do it again. So read His Word which will strengthen your faith by recalling His great deeds and achievements (E) =EXALT: God above the problem. (2 Chronicles 20:3-4) “O Lord God of our fathers, are you not God in Heaven, and do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you.” In his anguish Jehoshaphat asked rhetorical questions, that exposed how big his God was when compared to his problem. Sometimes it’s difficult to look past the problem, especially when the reality of it is so close and clear. You need to try and blind yourself to the problem itself, and put God in its place with all His Magnificence, Glory and Power. Do you get the idea? S =SOLICIT: The prayers and support of others, in (2 Chronicles 3-4) we also get that Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast throughout all Judea… They came to seek the Lord. The King didn’t ask the people for their opinion but for their prayers, because sincere prayer is what moves the heart of God. (S) =STAND: on the promises of God, When you do, you can say like the Psalmist in (Psalm 119;143) “As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands.” I believe that’s God’s formula for reducing and eliminating STRESS all we have to do is use it. Yes, there are many other ways. But I recommend you try God’s way, first if for no other reason but that it’s free. And you might even benefit in more ways than the one!! Thank you for reading these words on dealing with Stress “God’s way”.I truly hope they help. God Bless Phaline. -----------------------