The Manual

One of the things I love about the internet is how easy it is to find instructions, how tos, or manuals to do things. It's become my first go to if I need to work on something that I've never worked on before. And being a person who works in the I.T. world, it is our go to for things we run across, because chances are someone else has already seen this problem and you can find the fix for it somewhere on the web. It's just a great place to find a collection of helpful information...
But today I want to talk about another place to go for answers. It's a manual that has an answer for everything that that ever was, is and ever will be. The Bible is the manual for our life. It not just a book that has stories and commandments, but it is THE God inspired word that has something in it for every area of our life. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". And I think the most important part in the verse (other than it being inspired by God) is that we need the bible to show us correction and instructions. It not only offers us a way to look back on exactly what God did all throughout history, but it also shows us what man did, the good and the bad. It teaches us about men that chased after God's heart and allows us to learn from the right and wrong that they did. It also shows us how to maintain a close relationship with God. The most important part of our walk with him. It is not a book to be read and looked over without conviction, it should grab out attention and allow us to actually hear God through the words that we read. James 1:22 says "But be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves". This is one of the 2 ways that the enemy tries to get into our head when comes to God's word, especially when we read something that steps on our own toes. We will tend to dismiss it with the "that was then and this is now" statement, or the "times have changed" statement. But those kind of statements are lies from the enemy to keep us from trusting God's word. James 1:17 tells us that God never changes and since we know this is true, then this also means that God's word never changes. It is foundational...or least it should be. When something is built on a foundation then that is what it rests on. You can try to change the looks of it, you can redesign it, but the foundation that is was built on will still be the same. This is how we should see God's word and this is how it should apply to our lives. Isaiah 40:8 says "The grass withers, the flower fades,But the word of our God stands forever". FOREVER...it will stand against all tests and it will endure all times. It tells us what happened in the beginning and it tells us what will happen in the end. But even more important it tells us how we should live our lives in between those times.
I said earlier that there are 2 ways the enemy tries to keep us from the word, one way trying to disproof it, but the 2nd way is by trying to convince people that they can't grasp it. I have spoken to numerous people that just don't get in the word because they either don't know where to start, or they are afraid they just won't understand it. And even though I do believe there are some great reading plans out there, this is also another great area that I use the internet. There are great sites out there to help you find answers in Gods' word. Another place where God has allowed technology to be used for good. There are sites like www.biblegateway.com that will give you many different translations of The Word in case you are struggling with the meaning of a verse, as well as www.openbible.info (one of my person favorites) that will help you find verses on a topic. And if either of of those are not quite helping you, then you can always just hit Google. Any time I am struggling with finding a verse I'm looking for I start a Google search with these words..."Verse about.....". It might be tithing, love, faith, patience, healing...whatever. If you search it, you'll find it.
God has blessed us with a manual, THE manual, to help us with life. Yes, if you pray and listen for the Holy Spirit He will help you as well, but what an awesome thing that He has left us with His Word as a light to guide us (Psalms 119:105), a method to correct us before we stray from Him and even a moral compass. It offers us hope, healing, love and it offers us a great way to share all of this with others. But it offers no help at all, if you don't get into it. So today defeat the enemy by picking up God's Word and letting it start to come to life in your life.
God, thank You that You inspired men to write ONLY what you would have them write. That You word proves itself to be true and that every word is ALIVE (Hebrews 4:12). Help us get into it and see the power that it can have on our lives. In Jesus name, Amen.