Category: Faith Fix

Disclaimer: If you are being abused, forgiveness does not equate to allowing abuse to continue, NEVER! Abuse should not be tolerated at all! If you are being abused, get out and seek help immediately!

I  struggling with resentment and unforgiveness. This person is a big part of my life but is often at odds with me and has been verbally quite unkind to me for many many years. It has eaten away at my self esteem and self worth. While things are getting better I have a hard time with resentment and unforgiveness especially when they slip up again? It’s like it reopens the wound. I know we are to forgive constantly, but how do I do this? How do I know I’ve forgiven even when it still hurts. 

Now, I want to deal with the self worth aspect of this post. Before I go further I want people to know, I speak from a place of understanding. I know what it’s like to feel worthless from abuse. To this day, it is one of the number one areas that the devil tries to get me tripped up. That said, I also overcome and understand how to but that doesn’t mean that I don’t deal with it.

The real problem in all of this is what I mentioned in the last post, pride. Now I know, that word is not popular today and seems like the last one you would or should use when someone has been hurt. This is the problem with these types of things. Abuse is very wrong and it produces wrong reactions. Neither is justified but, neither is justified. Just because we have been wronged does not put us in the right of bad response. Our bad response to something bad that has happened will not produce a right outcome. IT WILL ONLY MAKE THINGS WORSE!

The wisdom of James 1:19-20 will help us. “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” That word anger can also be understood as the natural disposition of man. Also, the way a person would act when they are stirred up. Now typically that has a bad connotation with it because it is acting against another spiritual principal.

Read these next scriptures carefully and then go back over them again and again. Romans 8:5-8: For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

The natural disposition of man is to act according to emotion and the devil knows it! If acting in love separated man from God the devil would be the most loving being that exists! Don’t be trapped by his devices! Emotions are given to us from God to experience life but the devil tries to manipulate them to trap us. 

Now let’s address the issue. You define your self worth, no one else. If you have low self worth based on what someone says and does, you have not completely submitted yourself to God. He will never look down on you. He will never call you a failure. He will never be disappointed in you because you missed it. If you will only allow yourself to be defined by God’s love, you will never feel bad about who you are.

If you feel resentment toward a person for how they made you feel it is because you have taken on their imagery as yours. I’m telling you and you have to see this, others do not truly define you, you do!

Listen, I am not saying it doesn’t feel bad when someone belittles us and we certainly shouldn’t do it to anyone else. However, we must learn to trust God. This is the only way out of that sort of depression. I know this first hand because this has been my life. Even today, if I am depressed I have to get my mind back on the Word. If I feel weak I need to rest in His ability. I practice this daily because I have to, or else I will fail.

I have been abused and taken advantage of in relationships, friendships, family and even from spiritual leadership but if any of that is allowed to define me, I cease to be effective for God. If I don’t forgive all of those situations, I cease to be effective for God. I wasted too much of my life in the paralyzing reality of self worthless depression, I will not be defined by that.

My self worth comes from God and it all starts here, Romans 5:8. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” At my worst, at your worst, Jesus went to the cross gladly to purchase the right to you. He bought you, then made you free! We were emancipated by Christ and then He said if you will choose to live for me, you can experience my kind of life! That’s pretty good and a heck of a lot better then being reduced to someone’s warped projection of their own self worthlessness on us, isn’t it?

God thought you were worth the price so live that way! Not high and mighty like you’re better than everyone else, but humble and blessed just the way He taught us.  Allow yourself to live the God life defined how He defines you and you will be all you ever need to to be. Even for those who spitefully use you. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB)

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jeff 

Disclaimer: If you are being abused, forgiveness does not equate to allowing abuse to continue, NEVER! Abuse should not be tolerated at all! If you are being abused, get out and seek help immediately!

I’m struggling with resentment and unforgiveness. This person is a big part of my life but is often at odds with me and has been verbally quite unkind to me for many, many years. It has eaten away at my self esteem and self worth. While things are getting better I have a hard time with resentment and unforgiveness especially when they slip up again. It’s like it reopens the wound. I know we are to forgive constantly, but how do I do this? How do I know I’ve forgiven even when it still hurts. 

Mark 11:25 (NASB)

Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.

The lack of forgiveness is a trap. 2 Corinthians 2:11 says, “so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” The problem is even many Christians aren’t aware of this. The truth is, forgiveness is not a hard thing but pride is.

Let me start by saying Jesus said to forgive as recorded in the above scripture in Mark. If He said do it then it is more than possible, it’s easy! Wait, what?!? That’s right, I said it, easy. Jesus didn’t give us any commands we couldn’t accomplish. He came and did what we couldn’t do only asking of us what we can. So the first thing we must know is we must get our understanding in line with the truth. To do this lets look at what forgiveness actually is.

People always look at forgiving as if it’s something that is for the one who has perpetrated the wrong. The truth is, forgiveness doesn’t always or sometimes ever do anything at all to the person who has wronged us. Forgiveness isn’t about them, it’s about us.

God judges each of us perfectly and individually. Every human will someday stand before the Lord and give an account for everything they’ve said and done. One thing we will not do is give account for what anyone else has done. Forgiveness does not free someone of their actions. Forgiveness frees you from the actions of others. Let me explain.

Have you ever associated something you love with a bad event that has happened? For example, maybe someone you love suffered something terrible around a holiday. Forever that holiday is associated in your mind with that event and that makes it hard to enjoy. That is because you haven’t forgiven it! See the word forgiveness literally means to leave, abandon, or disregard. The idea is that it is not to have control over your thoughts or emotions. I will return to that later.

Forgiveness isn’t saying, “You’ve hurt me but that’s ok, you can do it again.” Forgiveness is making up in your mind that something will not hold you any longer. See, when someone hurts you, the pain of what has happened makes you focus inwardly. That focus distracts you from what God wants you to do. Pride rises up and says, “That wasn’t fair to me! I want retribution!” That pride and those thoughts stir each other until you are so obsessed with what someone did, it becomes impossible to see how to move forward.

It’s like being stuck in quicksand. People who get trapped in quicksand only focus on getting out. They start struggling which makes the situation worse which in turn magnifies their emotion which in turn puts them in a worse situation. See the cycle? Not forgiving someone works much the same way. Pride (focus on oneself) stirs emotion. Emotion stirs pride. These things go back and forth until a person is so stuck they can’t tell up from down.

The reason we need to forgive people is because they become the face of the trial to us. If we would be honest with ourselves, as our emotions spiral out of control, we can end up blaming a person who has wronged us in areas they never even wronged us in. We see this in our society with the constant blame game. You can blame someone else and let’s say you’re even totally right. So what! Someone wronged you, how are your feelings of insecurity going to help you?

Now before I completely lose everyone, let me explain this. Also, I am getting back to what I said I would. Forgiveness is about keeping yourself sober. Why does the Bible have so much to say about sobriety? Because insobriety is filling yourself so much with one thing, you can’t see another, in this case the right thing. What happens to us does not matter! Everyone will have bad things happen to them, we live in a fallen world. Only what WE do and how WE respond will determine our outcome!

1 Peter 5:8 instructs us, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” The thing about any trap is distraction. Get something distracted by what they love (in the case of being wronged, themselves) and you’ve got them trapped. Think about it, you don’t hang a gold ring on a fishing hook and cast it into the lake. Fish won’t be drawn by that. When someone listens to the devil and does something against you and you respond in kind, the devil has you right where he wants you! You have taken the bait! When you forgive, there’s no bait had and he can’t get you out of sober thinking!

There’s much more to this, which will probably be another Faith Fix but I think this at least helps us understand forgiveness. When we understand it isn’t about them, it’s about us and sober thinking we should be able to be better equipped for it. 

Let me end on this note. I have mentioned pride. Pride is nasty, it is ugly to God. We have to understand this. Pride is essentially and simply self love. Not self respect, self love and what that amounts to is idol worship. People worship themselves! Have you ever looked at social media? I’m not trying to be mean but when someone has been hurt, their need for revenge comes from this pride. What this all amounts to is this: one person’s wrong (the thing perpetrated) ends up being another person’s wrong (retaliation).

Romans 12:19 tells us, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.” Why do you suppose this is? God is just! He knows what you don’t. He sees all angles, all directions, and knows all intents. Let’s leave His job up to Him and do what we are called to do. Not forgiving someone doesn’t hurt them, it hurts you.

1 Peter 2:23 (NASB)

and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jeff

To be continued…

How does one transition from just reading the Bible out of habit to truly studying the Word?

I remember in high school being assigned many chapters of many books and many times doing nothing more than skimming the assignment. You probably know what I mean. The teacher’s quizzing and questioning routines became easy to decode. You pretty much figured out how to get around actually doing the work and for the most part you did well in the course anyways. But, there was always that one chapter or that one teacher or that one  pop quiz that got you! We can pretend we know all we want until we actually need to know. It’s the same with the things of God. His Word wasn’t a cumbersome assignment meant to make us have homework in place of our favorite recreation. Remember Proverbs 4:20-22, “My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body.” His Word literally sustains us! This is why it’s crucial to really grab hold and understand it instead of simply reading it. 

Reading the Bible should never be about crossing an item off our to do list. I used to live like this, thinking I’d get some sort of points with God by accomplishing that “Bible In A Year” program or finishing the daily devotional, treating His Word like an assignment I wanted to get out of the way so I could move on with my day. I’m telling on myself, but I might be telling on you too! Something changed in me when I realized reading the Bible was about knowing God more. 

I love what we see in John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” I ask the Holy Spirit, who literally lives inside me (and you, Christian), to teach me all things I need to see. He is our GPS, our guide to all things God has to show us and get over to us. Besides this, notice that the Holy Spirit of God wants to bring to our remembrance the things we were told. If we aren’t in God’s Word, putting what He said into our hearts, the Holy Spirit won’t be able to remind us of those things. When I learned this, I realized the importance of knowing His Word! This is why it’s so important to be in church and to listen to the services again and again. This is why we should go back over our notes. The more we hear the Word, the more it gets in us. 

All this to say, it’s really a rewiring of sorts, this transition you asked about. We no longer do it for our checklist. If we get to one scripture in an hour but we walk away after spending that time meditating and muttering that to our heart, letting the words illuminate and shine light to our understanding, that’s better than spending that same hour reading a whole book of the Bible. Sometimes less is more! Now, I’m kind of kidding, but really if you do more with less than you’ll do with the more, less really is more. I challenge you to focus on letting each scripture or passage of scripture speak to you. When you read it and another scripture comes to mind, go there. It might just be the Holy Spirit is taking you somewhere! If you end up in 10 books of the Bible reading only 10 verses, that’s ok. 

As you begin to start this way, with this new thought process, you’ll notice more and more of the words in the scriptures become illuminated to you. It’s like the Holy Spirit on the inside is highlighting them to you for you to understand. There are concordances and commentaries  written by many well studied scholars to help with the understanding of these words and passages. Read several and see what the overwhelming consensus is. As always, test everything against what you know of the Word and present any questions to those the Lord has placed in your life as your spiritual authority, such as your pastors. 

Be Blessed,

Pastor Renée 

Can you discuss how to truly win the lost when we see the world is getting darker and darker and Christianity is becoming more and more unpopular. How do we get out of our comfort zones and really reach people for and like Christ? How do we go from what we know into the unknown… from selfish to selfless. Many times it’s easy to get into the “Christian routine” of going to church on Sundays and living morally without actually living to make a difference in others’ lives.

Romans 12:9 (NASB)

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

When I was writing this last week, I really felt that it deserved more than one Faith Fix could answer. So let’s take this a little further, shall we?

The above scripture could also be said like this, “Let love be sincere.” In context, this section of Romans is talking about doing whatever we are called to from the place of where God has equipped us. Sincerity when we are trying to reach people is so important. I have often said I don’t prefer handing out Bible tracks to people. This is because most people simply throw them away. You can tell where people are handing them out because you often see them littering the ground! Though the heart of the one handing them out may be sincere, they come across as scripted and insincere.

So often, we feel like we cannot be effective unless we look like, well, someone else. I like to listen to Christian apologists talk about the Word. They often do so with so much knowledge and words that are the spoken equivalent of honey. Oh how I’ve longed to not stutter, to have a clear thought, not to shake when I speak or get red in the face. Truly, so many times when I have to minister or speak in front of people, it is anything but eloquent. In fact, often I have to deal with thoughts of how I was sure I screwed up the last message I preached.

Once I was with some friends helping a church ministry hand out food and share the gospel in section 8 housing in Annapolis, Maryland. I was nominated (much to my horror) to be a group leader as we went door to door. My job was to knock and be the first to speak. I was convinced not an intelligible word would come out. Have you ever heard when in times of incredibly hard circumstances sometimes people are miraculously empowered with ability they never had? I could have only hoped that that would have happened, but it did not. I stuttered and stammered at each house, leaving each feeling like a fool. How could I possibly be a blessing to anyone?

Then God spoke to me in my spirit, so clear it was as if He was next to me. As He usually does with me, first I heard a scripture. I heard 1 Corinthians 2:3-4, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” This was followed by, “Who cares how you sound, you’re kicking the devil’s butt right now!” What a release from my self-imagined bondage!

What I didn’t know is that God was preparing me in this time for something I had no idea about. This was the fact that many years later I would be a pastor in two churches. See, then, just like now, I don’t feel able. I don’t think I ever have entered any pulpit that I was going to preach in with a lick of self-confidence. That said, God always meets me there to help me. Even though He meets me, I still have to yield to Him. Sometimes I miss it and yield to my flesh but I’ll come back to that in a minute.

The fact is, there is probably very little we will feel like doing when it comes to righteousness but are we willing? “God, I don’t want to but I will!” I have said that so many times. See, if we truly want to reach people we are going to have to start stepping out in faith, looking for opportunity. I love what Galatians 6:10 says, “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” Notice it says “as we have opportunity.” We need to be looking for opportunity! Another scripture in the same vein is Ephesians 5:16 which says, “making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” We make the most or least of our own time!

Now, I had said I’d come back to something and that was the idea of yielding ourselves to God. Jesus taught, what is in us will come out of us, or a tree is known by its fruit. If we spend our time doing mostly unspiritual things, never reading, never praying, not going to church but instead watching a lot of tv or spending too much time on social media or constantly fighting with people, our spiritual well will be dry. When we want to tap into good things, we will find there isn’t much there. People who do not purpose for good, will not have good to use.

For example, some may say, “I always want to give into that offering but I never have any money.” Well, do you actually purpose to set money aside to fill that need or one that might arise? Do you sacrifice in one area so you can purpose to give in another? See a good heart, the right heart that God desires, is one that purposes to do right. That means it makes a plan to do and then searches until it finds a way. If there’s anything people have proven it’s that when you set your mind to do something, you will do it. It’s a universal truth and one that is found in scripture.

Speaking of the people of Babel, Genesis 11:6 says, “The LORD said, ‘Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.’” People who set their hearts and mind in an area and then work to accomplish what they set out to do, so often reach their goal.

So how does one do more and reach more people? They make it their aim and then they start doing whatever they know to do, seeking God continually for His direction as they go. These are people who will fulfill their call, these are those that will please the Lord. This is faith and this is what God desires from each one of His children. So how will you go and do? You must start with going and doing. God’s will falls on no man but anyone who hungers for righteousness God has promised to fill. Are you hungry, are you willing? Only you can make that decision.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jeff 

Can you discuss how to truly win the lost when we see the world is getting darker and darker and Christianity is becoming more and more unpopular. How do we get out of our comfort zones and really reach people for and like Christ? How do we go from what we know into the unknown… from selfish to selfless. Many times it’s easy to get into the “Christian routine” of going to church on Sundays and living morally without actually living to make a difference in others’ lives. 

Mark 16:15 (NASB)

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

This is a good question, one that I have asked myself. What people don’t realize is that while we have been given great instructions through God’s word, every detail isn’t spelled out. I believe this is purposeful, but I will get back to that. Often we will get a directive, whether by the Word or by the Spirit but not the exact steps to take. We can find ourselves in a place of confusion and sometimes people even give up.

I know people who were convinced they are called to ministry but then try and walk it out through what someone else has built. For example, they believe they are called to preach or teach and then expect that they should then be given a platform to do so. Is this right? My answer in short is no. God generally does not call people to take over what someone else is doing. How can I know this? 1 Corinthians 12:19, “If they were all one member, where would the body be?” God calls the body to function together but have different assignments. The hands do what hands do, the feet what feet do. If I have built a ministry, I build according to what God is doing in me in an area. If you are called, He will do the same for you. This may look different and what God will have one do He may not have another do. 

Now, you are thinking, I wasn’t asking about ministry! You see, God does different things but with similar principles. What we have to know is, when God calls, He makes a way. If you think back to how you came to God, especially if you weren’t really raised to follow Him, it was probably an interesting process. I have learned that you could ask a hundred people how they got to where they got in Christ and you would have a hundred different answers. God’s pathways are infinite, but there are two things that never change. God requires faith (Hebrews 10:38) and God requires desire (Matthew 5:6).

“Ok, ok, we get it! But how do I reach people in this world?!?” The same way anyone ever did. It is a misunderstanding that the world is so much more evil than it ever has been. It’s not, there’s just more people in it. Let’s return to the scripture I started with, Mark 16:15. This scripture is known in Christian circles as the Great Commission. Take note of the first word in that verse, it’s the word go. Go is a definitive direction. It means go. It means do. It means if you stay put you are not going!

To a worldly minded person this is scary. To a person who lives by faith principles, this is all you need. I have found in my own experience and even very often in scripture (I could point to a lot) that people who did anything for God did so usually with no end in sight! Hebrews 11:8 tells us, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, NOT KNOWING WHERE HE WAS GOING.” We are naturally comfort creatures. We want it easy, this is why fast food became a thing. We don’t want opposition, we want sure investments, we want everyone to agree every time. 

The only way to enact faith is to enact it. You may say, “But I don’t have faith!” You’re right, not until you enact it. Faith is not active until it is given action. Faith manifests as it is used.  I again could go to so many scriptures but let me just name a few. Romans 10:8 says, “But what does it say? ‘THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART’—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching.” Also, Jesus instructs in Mark 11:22, “Have faith in God.” The faith we need at any given time is already within the believer! However, not all believe!

Do you believe? If you believe then you can go. The great thing about all this is it doesn’t matter if you have been a believer for 60 minutes or 60 years, if you believe, you can go, and this is the basis for acting in faith. Faith is strengthened in us as we put it to practice. It’s like a muscle. We all have them but those whose are bigger and stronger have been worked more. A body builder knows how much they can lift. If you step out in basic faith, soon you will find yourself using it more and more. This is pleasing to God (Hebrews 11:6), and He will instruct you further as you go.

Let me wrap it up here. Jesus said go, this is the first instruction. Until you start going, don’t expect more instruction. Have faith! Have it, it’s already given! Make yourself stronger by stepping out into even that which scares you but do so in faith. Go to God and say, “Father, I believe this is the direction I am supposed to go. I thank you that you have given me the Holy Spirit to guide and I believe He will. If I get off on the wrong path, I trust He will show me and I will listen and be correctable.” If you approach life this way you will not fail. Be confident in Him, trust God and do good! 

Philippians 1:6 

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

To be continued next week.

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jeff 

Study And Be Approved (ATP)

How does one transition from just reading the Bible out of habit to truly studying the Word?

Good question! I would say that simply by asking this question, you have already begun. See, the first and most important thing to growing in faith (which is why one would want to study) is desire. Jesus is called the Desire of nations. He is the longing that is ingrained in every human everywhere. 

One very important thing to understand about the Word is that it is living. Hebrews 4:12 tells us it’s living and powerful! We do a great disservice to it to simply JUST pick it up and read or even JUST memorize this wonderful book. God did not give us His Word for entertainment. His Word is living and transforming and if we embrace it as such, it will do exactly what God has said it will do. 

Early on in my Christian walk I heard one of the greatest pieces of advice on this topic. Someone said to me, “Don’t just read the Word, read it prayerfully.” What did they mean? Prayer in its simplest form is speaking to God. So His Bible, His Word, is a written account of His voice to humanity. When we go to the Bible imagine it as a conversation with God. Even ask Him, “Father, help me to understand, speak to me today as I read your Word. If you’ve been in any of my services you will note in my opening prayer I almost always pray Ephesians 1:17. “Give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation.” I am praying from the Word for all of us to receive it in our hearts.

In the Bible we find His will, His plans, His promises, and most importantly the record of His love. Surely God is so much deeper than written words can express, however they are where that relationship begins. It is the mouth of a very deep well. When you go to a well with the intent of really drawing something out, you bring an empty vessel ready to be filled. You should approach fellowship with God the exact same way. Come empty but ready to fill, expecting to be filled! What I mean is don’t come casually during commercial breaks, come with intent to receive from God. You should go to church the same exact way because serious study starts where God has you planted.

This brings me to my next point. Know where God has called you and then be planted or unmoved. I knew a man who came to church. He came for reasons I don’t really know, maybe his wife was making him. They were believers but he never thought he needed a local church. No man was going to teach him, after all he knew some things. See, that’s a vessel that’s already filled with something but that something only tainted the water. He didn’t last long in church and I wasn’t wholly surprised.

So then, one key to study is in recognizing that you cannot get all the material on your own. The very God given direction to all pastors is to feed His sheep. We are to present the word to His people by the Spirit so that they have something to build on. This was God’s design not mine. In life, I would have been just as happy to have this not be so but it is so. God gave us church and He gave us pastors. Therefore, true study cannot happen without those connections. They are not the whole piece of the puzzle but they are a piece nonetheless. 

Here we come to the next thing. Listen, take notes, and return to them! Note how your pastor breaks the Word down. Pay attention to connections he or she makes between scriptures. The vein your pastor is led in is the same one that will feed you spiritually. Remember, the Bible isn’t simply a textbook but it is the living word of the Lord. Part of study is receiving from our teacher, the Holy Spirit. I have known of people who have memorized the Word but never understood it! How can this be? 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised (discerned or understood). If you believe the Bible is just some ancient writing by wise men, you will never access its depths. So to reiterate, put importance on what you are hearing then build from there.

I could go on and on about this subject. Perhaps we will do a question and answer about this in the near future because there is so much we could still explore. The last part I will touch on is to share methods that I use myself. Start reading trusted commentaries about the Bible. Read scholarly books and materials. Watch videos of trusted content. Note that I said trusted! These avenues help and will increase your understanding but I also put out a warning. DO THE FIRST THINGS FIRST! 

Do what I’ve already touched on first and foremost. So many times, baby Christians (usually people who don’t even know they are babies), come to me with questions about scripture. I think to myself, “Why on earth are they studying that?” Not because it’s not good to study the Word, but because some things are for you now and some are for later. This is how well meaning Christians become misled and confused (remember that guy I mentioned earlier?). You don’t give a baby a steak and expect them to not choke. Think soberly of where you are at in your Christian walk and get good at simple things first. If you can’t swim you don’t jump into the deep end of a pool. You know if you can swim or not! Just because you are knowledgeable in one area does not make you knowledgeable in all areas. Just because you can run on land doesn’t mean you can swim in water. However, even if you jump in and find yourself drowning you know you’re in the wrong place so back off for the time being. 

In closing, I want to warn you about being critical. As I write this, I don’t know who asked the question, typically I prefer not to know until after I’ve answered it. I say that so if the asker is reading they understand I am not making any judgement of them. When WE KNOW where God has called us we need to be open to what He wants to say. If we sit in every service trying to find fault with the minister, we get ourselves into a dangerous place. 

IF YOU KNOW where God has placed you, not because someone else has told you but because you know, then you can trust He will feed you there. Just in case you’re wondering, if God has placed you somewhere it is likely not to change. Change is the exception not the rule but even if it does change it won’t often. Just because you’re bored doesn’t mean God changed His mind. If you find yourself thinking it’s time to change really dig into why. Maybe He is leading you, but if He is there will be good reasons for this. Make sure it’s not just an attack to get you to stop feeding. Know where you get fed and return to that table!

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jeff