THE BOOK OF JONAH
This past week for Bible reading classes we were assigned
three books in the Old Testament who were all prophets. We read Amos, Jonah and
Micah. The questions we were given were these:
Why did Jonah not want
to go to Nineveh?
God called Jonah to go and preach the Word of God to Nineveh,
but instead he ran away to Tarshish. He did not want to go to Nineveh because
he was aware of how evil and wicked the people were, and he also knew that
since God was sending him to try to turn them from their ways God would be
compassionate upon them and save them. I suppose that Jonah did not think the
people of Nineveh deserved this salvation at first, so that is why he fled to
Tarshish. (See Jonah 4:2)
How is Jonah and his
book different from the other prophets?
The other prophets speak in a different format as well as a
different style. Much of their words are prophesies against the people and they
talk of God and what he has done and what he will do. But Jonah is a book that
tells a story very simply, and does not include very much prophesy at all. Another
thing is that the topic of the other books is mainly Israel, yet in Jonah the
subject and people of the story is quite different.
THE BOOK OF EXODUS
The book of Exodus was a difficult and boring read for me, because
all I remembered from reading it through with our group were the incessant
exact details for instructions on how to build the sanctuary of the Lord,
repeated over and over again. When I went back to read through it again on my
own, I began to see the awesome and exciting things that happened in the book
of Exodus. I was reading through it again to try and figure out what I could
present on. (Every week, at least two people have to present on the book of the
Bible that was read. I volunteered to present on the book of Exodus.) So last
week, I did my presentation and it went well. I was nervous, but I received a
lot of compliments and encouragement. I presented on how Moses trusted God so
fully that he obeyed every command from God without question. Moses did not
care what anyone around him thought about him, not the Egyptians nor his own people,
the Israelites. No matter how crazy it seemed that God’s commands were, Moses
did them all without question. He trusted God, listened and obeyed God, and as
a result of that, their relationship was so intimate and deep that Moses was
able to see the glory of God. Imagine just for a second how crazy that would
be: to be able to see the glory of God. I want that; I want to be able to see
the glory of God and be able to have a conversation with him. God was Moses’
best friend and their relationship was so solid. I want to be able to have
that. I challenged the class along with
myself during my presentation with questions such as “How much do you
trust God?” and “How much are you willing to do in order to actually see the glory
of God?” These are such big questions for me. Moses is a huge role model in my
life, and I want to have a relationship with God and see the glory of God just
like Moses did. I am doing my best to be fully obedient to God in everything
that I do. This is so much easier said than done, but I know that God is
patient with me and he will help me with this, as long as I keep trying.
These are the questions assigned to us that we had to answer
on the book of Exodus:
What is your Egypt?
What is your promised land? In other words, what is God leading you out of and
bringing you into?
I have never been a slave in the physical sense, and I pray I
never will be. Yet I have been a slave to the things of this world such as
money, reputation, image, and selfishness. I have been very blessed with a
wonderful childhood, a loving family, a really solid education, and a chance to
follow any of my dreams. But I know that I have gotten caught up in the
whirlwind of pleasing myself and thinking only of my own world, and I feel God
bringing me out of that. Instead of striving after money, reputation, image and
selfishness, I know God’s calling on my life involves changing that mindset and
to only strive after him. My promised land is heaven, and while that feels so
far away, I know that is where God will take me when it is my time. The future,
I fear, will present many trials and struggles, but I am assured that if God is
my priority, I shall not fail for he will be my strength when I am weak.
Why did the magicians
fail?
When Moses came to the Pharaoh, asking him to set the
Israelites free, he performed many miraculous wonders by the power of God,
known as the ten plagues. Yet there were magicians in Pharaoh’s court that were
able to perform some of the same signs. The magicians were able to turn the
water into blood and were able to cover the land with frogs, but when the
plague of gnats came, they could not imitate what Moses did. I do not think
there is any right or wrong answer, but let me give you my theory on this
question. I believe that the magicians had some power by some form of secret
arts, and that God allowed them to keep this power. With this magic, they were
able to turn water into blood and also make all the frogs come up out of the
water onto the land. But when God commanded Moses to “strike the dust of the
ground, and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats” (Exodus 8:16),
so Moses and Aaron listened to God and through the power from God were able to
create life from the dust. When the magicians “tried to produce gnats by their
secret arts, they could not.” (Exodus 8:18) This shows that while the magicians
had some sort of powers, they were not able to create life from merely dust.
That power, to create life, only lies with God. That is why I think the
magicians failed.
THE BOOK OF ROMANS
What are three weaknesses of the church?
·
Judgemental (Romans 2)
·
Stubborn (Romans 2:5)
·
Unrepentant hearts (Romans 2:5)
What are three strengths of the church?
·
Full of goodness (Romans 15:14)
·
Complete in knowledge (Romans 15:14)
·
Competent to instruct one another (Romans 15:14)
With each of the books of the Bible that we read in our
groups every week, we are assigned questions to answer. These questions help us
really delve into the Scripture and to explore more about the book that we are
reading. I answer them in a matter-of-fact way because I generally do not enjoy
having assigned questions to answer about a specific thing I read, I would
rather just talk about the book and what I got out of it. Alas, the questions
are required and I do want to do my best here. So the questions and my answers
to them are above. :)
I do want to encourage each of you that is reading this blog
post to take out your Bibles and read the book of Romans. There is so much
jam-packed into this book written by Paul, for he has much to say. The entire
book is full of pointers of how to live and what to do in different circumstances;
there is just so much offered to us as Christians in this book. I also
encourage you to read the Bible as often as possible and to continually study
the Word of God; making this part of your day is an integral part of your walk
with God. This is something I am challenged with as well. My hope is that we
can all begin to take more time to spend with God and to read his Word, for
this is a major way that he speaks to us and it helps us to really get to know
him and understand more about the God that loves us.
THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS
What is spiritual
warfare?
It is war between the good and bad forces in the heavenly
realms. Our struggles are not of flesh and blood, but instead against the
powers of spiritual forces of evil. (Ephesians 6:12) This is where we are able
to wear the armour of God in order to be equipped to fight these evil forces.
(Ephesians 6:13-17)
Make a headline for
about the letter that captures the main thought/idea/theme
“To live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Find the key verse for
Philippians; one that communicates whole message of the book the verse.
Philippians 3:7-8 – “But whatever was to my profit I now
consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a
loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for
who sake I have lost all things.”
THE BOOK OF ACTS
This week for our Bible reading study, the
groups spent the time reading the book of Acts. Acts, which is most likely
written by Luke, ties the gospels and the letters to the churches together.
Before we started reading the book, we were asked who the main character of
this book was. My first thought was the disciples, or Paul, but when we were
told it was the Holy Spirit, it made total sense. Throughout the book of Acts,
there are so many instances of when the Holy Spirit was mentioned and was a
powerful force in the lives of the disciples and those they interacted with.
I chose to focus on three separate men who
were all impacted by the power of the Holy Spirit. First Peter, when he was
before the Sanhedrin, was able to speak with clarity and truth because he was
filled with the Holy Spirit. [“Then Peter, filled
with the Holy Spirit, said to them: ‘Rulers and elders of the people! If we
are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and
are asked how he was healed, then know this: It is be the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this
man stands before you healed.’ … When they saw the courage of Peter and John
and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and
took note that these men had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:8-10,13]
Stephen, who was described as a “man full
of God’s grace and power” (Acts 6:8) was able to do great wonders and
miraculous signs throughout his life. He also stood before the Sanhedrin and
rebuke them harshly along with providing an accurate sum of history, because he
had the power of the Holy Spirit within him. [“…These men began to argue with
Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.” Acts 6:9-10] Even as Stephen was
being stoned to death, he had great faith and the Holy Spirit was constantly
upon him. [“But Stephen, full of the Holy
Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at
the right hand of God.” Acts 7:55]
Saul was another huge figure in Acts. His
story is an inspiring one and full of great faith. On many occasions, when the
Holy Spirit came upon him, miraculous signs and life-changing situations
occurred. [“Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas” and
commanded an evil spirit to come out of him. Acts 13:9]
THE BOOK OF MATTHEW
Reading the Bible is a freedom that I have taken for granted
my entire life. I have always had access to the Word of God and have always
been able to pick up the book whenever it pleased me. If I am being honest, sometimes
I had to read the book when I did not feel like it. Usually I just read it
whenever I needed guidance. Coming here to YWAM, I knew I would learn more
about God and be challenged and be able to do some art, but I never even gave
any thought to studying the Bible. I am unsure why I had that misconception; I
suppose I thought we would learn about God from other sources. What an ignorant
and stupid thought. For what better place to search for God and to grow in him
and who he is than the very words that he spoke through the authors of the
Bible?
My completely misguided thought of not needing the Bible to
learn of God has been shattered, and I am so thankful for this. I regret that I
never realized the blessing that I had with the freedom of constant access to
the Word of God; I could have learned so much more if I had just taken the time
and understood that my craving for more could only be satisfied by God. Yet God
is patient, and he has waited for me. I still have to discipline myself to take
the time to read the Bible outside of class, and this is a crucial lesson for
me to learn. God is constant and he is here to help me with this lesson; his patience
is a continuous example of his love for me.
During the first week of lecture phase, during our Bible
reading class, we were introduced to a specific method of reading the Bible,
called inductive Bible study. There are other methods where you read a few
verses or few chapters of random books, and while this is good, it is not
always the best way to get the full picture and full understanding of what is
being communicated. With inductive Bible study, learning background information
on a book and then reading that entire book of the Bible is read in one sitting
(if possible) gives the opportunity to get the whole picture and full context
of what is being said. We were divided into groups and the book of Matthew was
chosen to be read. We read Matthew out loud, taking turns by chapter, and even
though it took my group three separate sittings to finish the book, we read it
fully and out loud. By doing so, it really opened my eyes to new things that I never
noticed before, such as things about the life of Jesus and how much he taught us
through his actions and his words. I enjoy reading out loud so it was not a
problem for me to do so, and being in a group provided a rest and chance to
listen to the words. I found that it was a great method and I definitely want
to continue this practice so that I can keep learning more about who Jesus and
God and the Holy Spirit are. I am thankful for my change in perspective and
also for the chance to keep up with reading the Word of God in such a way.
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