How to Study a Book of the Bible

It is one thing to hear someone teach a book of the Bible. It is another thing entirely to study it yourself. Many are intimidated by the Bible, as a whole, and are quite content to let others tell them what it means. This should never be. God’s Word is a book meant to be understood by everyone. But how do you do it? Where does one begin? How can you study an entire book of the Bible? Learning the fine art will pay rich dividends in your life.  So, here are some basic thoughts about how to study God’s Word on your own.

Praying for Your Enemies

Mostly, when we read verses on loving our enemies, we make a personal application and rightly so. As Americans, we understand we are to ‘pray for those that do mean or cross things to us in our everyday life on planet earth. We come to that understanding because we do not experience persecution to the point of imprisonment or death because for our Christian faith as some believers experience in other parts of the world. Our job, nevertheless, is to obey the words of Jesus and love and pray for everyone that opposes us.

Enduring Tests and Trials: Faith and Wisdom; James 1:5-8

James begins his letter with instructions on tests and trials encouraging the ‘scattered’ of the Diaspora to ‘hang in there’ and respect the journey understanding that blessings in development and heavenly rewards await the victorious. Verses five through eight address the wisdom component necessary to be able to count it all joy when enduring tests and trials.

How to Defeat the Common Cold of the Emotions: Discouragement

God is a God of encouragement not discouragement. He is God of the ‘can do’ not the God of the ‘can’t be done’. Your interactions with Him will bring comfort and encouragement. If you are being discouraged, you are listening to the wrong voice. What is discouragement really and how can we gain the victory against this enemy.

Three Steps to Becoming a Highly Effective Prayer

Have you noticed that many times in the life of your prayer our conversations with God are more us talking at God than speaking to Him? You know if you walk up to a person and have a conversation with them and all you do is talk, talk, talk and the manner of that conversation is that way all that time you talk at them, what do you think about that?” Would that annoy and disinterest you rather quickly? Prayer is a conversation between two beings that love each other. It’s a conversation not a monologue. Prayer is speaking and listening, that is what conversation is. You can become more effective in this essential Christian discipline by incorporating some practical steps into your everyday life.

Making a Quality Decision to Enjoy Life

What kind of life did Jesus come to bring us? A sad life? A depressed life? A barely rake by, scrape by life? Is that what a Christian is supposed to be? No, God gave us things to enjoy (1Tim. 6:17). Mark, this down sanguine personalities are not the only ones that are supposed to be enjoying life! Certain personality types have a harder time chilling out than other personality types. The key to it is for all of us to learn to enjoy the normal everyday situations of life. Here are some further thoughts on making a quality decision to enjoy life.