But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.  And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water....." Psalm 1:2-3

I think of the scriptures as my lifeblood.  They nourish my spirit, they strengthen me, they give me the where-with-all to make wise decisions.... they are a link with the Holy God.  But, it wasn't always this way.  I spent a lot of years sitting in church pews, wondering what was missing. I would see people around me worshiping, and listening to the pastor talking about this Living God.  A God, that somehow seemed totally disconnected from me.  I rarely cracked a Bible in between church services.  As a matter of fact, I'd typically have to dust it off when Sunday rolled around.  Those church-going days were spent just listening to the pastor or Bible study teacher, but never finding out what the Word said for myself.  I did have beliefs. Those beliefs were based on what my family, pastors and Bible study teachers had taught me.  But, you know what was missing out of that?  A personal relationship with God.  I believe the problem was that my ideas about God were based on what other people told me the Scriptures said.  Not only that, I had no way of knowing whether what I believed was true because I didn't know how to study the Bible for myself.  If something came up that contradicted what I'd been taught, I didn't know who to believe.  And since these beliefs weren't really mine, it was easy to set them aside when I wanted to do something that was wrong.

To make a long story short, I eventually discovered inductive Bible study, and it was one of the things God used to make Himself real to me. When I began to study the Bible for myself, the beliefs became mine.  And when they became mine, then and only then did I truly accept Christ as my Savior.  That is when my life changed, when the disconnectedness with God ended.

I'd like to share a special verse with you. It's found in Ps 119:97-104.   A few years ago, when I came across this passage, one particular verse jumped out at me.  "I have not turned aside from Thine ordinances, For Thou Thyself has taught me."  This verse is embedded in a passage about studying the Scriptures.... the interesting thing is that the writer says that he has not turned away from God's laws because God Himself has taught him through the Scriptures.  He has been taught by God, not man. This verse meant a lot to me because it confirmed what I had experienced.  When I went from being taught strictly by man, to being taught by God Himself through the Scriptures, my life changed.  It's not that I didn't sin any more, but it was no longer the habit of my life.  Not only did I come to know Jesus as my personal Savior, but I had started to understand what God expected of me.  This was a breakthrough.... a revelation....  I had gone to church all my life, but this was the first time I allowed God to speak for Himself.  That is when He became real to me.  That is when the personal relationship with the One True God began.
 
God has gifted many people to be pastors and teachers, and we all  learn from them. I have sat under and learned awesome truths from some of the best teachers in the world.  But it can be a problem if we let teaching by man totally take the place of teaching by God.  If we do not study the Bible, we are missing out on the intimacy that it brings.  We miss out on coming to know him in a deeply personal way, and we miss out on those quiet moments when God suddenly reveals something wonderful in His Word to us.
Want to know God personally? Check out the link below titled "How can I know God personally?". You can also email me or sign my guest book and I'll get in touch with you.

 
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