You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of Lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To whom be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
When I first came to know the Lord as my personal savior, I would lie in bed every night reading the word of God and journaling what the Lord had spoken to me through every verse. Everyday began in the word and prayer. There was a large chalkboard in our kitchen and I would put a Bible verse on it daily, for our children to see and to read. I could not get enough of God and His word.
Unfortunately, as the enemy would have it, over time we may lose our fervency for the Lord. We will ebb and flow in our walk with Him. And I had periods of time that I wasn’t in His word or praying the way that I should. But eventually I grew strong, in Him, again.
Prayerfully, we will consistently examine our lives and determine whether we are growing or wilting in the Son and if we are wilting, we will right our ship and begin with repentant prayer and start studying and praying the way that we should and hopefully used to.
As we become more seasoned Christians we should be growing stronger both in our faith and in our knowledge of God AND his word.
Remember that the enemy loves it when Christians become complacent in their faith. It’s as if we think okay I’m saved and I will spend eternity with the Lord so I don’t have to do anything else. If that is your thinking, you are absolutely right you don’t have to do anything more. Your salvation is secure in the Lord and nothing can pluck you from your Father’s hand. (I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:28).
But, if our heavenly father devised a plan that would allow us to be called children of God and to spend eternity with him in heaven. And if our precious Lord and Savior would suffer the cross and take on our sin so that God’s plan would be complete and we could be redeemed, how are we not DEVOURING God’s word to learn everything we can about Him?
You may be thinking, why do I have to study His word? I already think He is a wonderful, loving Heavenly Father, I don’t need His word to show me that He is. Or, you may think you know all that you need to know. To that I would say, why then does His word say, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15; and – “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
If you have stopped studying the word of God and stopped growing in your knowledge of Him, I would remind you of Galatians 1:6-8 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ”. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:6-8.
Galatians 1:6-8 is relevant because when we stop seeking Him and studying his word it is an astonishment that we would turn away from Him so quickly. It also is relevant because it says if anybody preaches a different gospel let it be accursed. The enemy enlists people to preach a different gospel. But if you’re not studying God’s word you won’t recognize it and you will be deceived.
Ephesians 4:11-16 speaks to what it looks like to be a mature Christian. It says that a mature Christian can recognize the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming (false teachers). That is because a mature Christian is studying and growing in their knowledge of God and His word.
I pray that we would seek to grow in our knowledge of the Lord. I pray that we would recognize that the scriptures are love letters written to us, by our loving Heavenly Father. I pray that we would desire, deep into our old age, to study and show ourselves approved unto God.
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and have not studied the scriptures to see for yourself the magnitude of his love for us, I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/) and pray the prayer that is outlined there. Then, I ask that you do two things, contact me at admin@Forgiven-N-Loved.com and let me know so that I can be in prayer for you and might help you grow in your knowledge of and relationship with our Precious Savior, Jesus Christ. The second thing I ask that you would do, is begin to read the word of God for yourself, the book of John is a good place to start, but I just want you to start. I assure you that God will speak to you through His word and that you will find a love within those pages that is beyond your comprehension.
Luv Ya!
