Good Day, I hope this finds you well. I know it has been a minute since I last posted and I apologize for this.
If you have read any of my Bible Study posts before, you may have noticed that I usually start with Hosea 4:6 "My people (God's people) are destroyed (or perish) for lack of knowledge." Let's look at this a bit closer with the perspective of how the thief confuses us by redefining things if not completely redefining then at least twisting it just enough to cause doubt. The Biblical definitions of Sin, Salvation, Heaven, love, and more all seem to have been hijacked, and tainted by worldly definitions. Why is this important? As I stated before, if and when we understand God's word we are a danger to Satan. We share it and slowly start dismantling the thief's kingdom when we learn it. Today, I look at this in more detail. John 10:10 tells us that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. What better way to do that than to keep us from the truth and power of God's word? He knows that if we understand God's word, he is defeated. So how does he keep us from this knowledge? One way is by confusing us with twisted and modified definitions. Another is to make us think that God's word is no longer alive and active. Mercy, I could go on and on here, but I will spare you.
Remember this Mark 4:15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that has been sown in them. Believe me when I say, that too often we hear the word and believe it, and as soon as we do something will come along to cause us to question it literally stealing the thing that we just believed. The thief comes through many means, it could be religious doctrine and theology, men's traditions that have been passed down for generations, doctor's reports, and situations and/or circumstances, all of these can influence our belief in some way. Let's talk about this.
Let's start with sin, what is it? Is it our actions? Is sin something that we can overcome ourselves? We tend to believe that sin is our actions and it is, but our actions are merely the fruit of the true sin which is doubt, unbelief, and rebellion against God and his word, wrong thinking. Look at Genesis 3 and read how it was that mankind fell into sin. "Did God really say?" We see that the thief caused Eve to question and doubt in her mind that God had said what he said and that he meant it. Now, if you look at this correctly you will see that the sin began when she questioned God's word. All it took was an ounce of unbelief. Sin is generally taught as only our actions, leaving us struggling to change things while we may still have a bit of a wrong mindset. Sure, we may be able to stop the act of sin, but until we change our minds we will remain in confusion, doubt, and unbelief leaving us in the same miserable place. This is the reason that we are told to change or renew our minds. I really hope that this is understood, I am not saying that our actions or behavior is not sinful, I am just trying to make the point that the root of sin is our unbelief, our doubt, and questioning and our sinful actions are the fruit of this. This needs to be dealt with. We need to get in the Word and renew our minds, we must be born again. I only say these things trying to show how we have been deceived in our understanding of things because if we don't have a clear understanding then we will remain defeated, waiting on death and heaven.
Now that we have a better picture of sin let's look at Salvation, no matter what you have been told or led to believe, it is more than going to heaven after you die. As a matter of fact, I can find no example of Jesus telling anyone to just stay stuck in the pit, due to our sinful wrong thinking, just hang in there and you will go to heaven when you die. The examples of salvation that I see throughout the New Testament are healing and deliverance. In Matthew 9:5-8 Jesus, speaking to the Pharisees after healing a paralyzed man said this, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk?' I would like to add Matthew 8:13 "Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would." I only give these few examples to reinforce the above description of sin and to show that when our sins are forgiven healing and deliverance come along with that. Are you willing to admit that perhaps we are thinking wrong? I really could talk about this more. The deceiver has convinced us that healing and deliverance are separate from salvation, but that is not what I see, actually, I see the opposite of that. If we looked at salvation more like being rescued we would be more likely to understand that there should be a change in your life, considering you are no longer hostage to our kidnappers. I do hope this makes a bit of sense.
Heaven (the Kingdom of God) and when we experience it. Luke 17:20-21 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Look here! Or, Look, there! For, behold the kingdom of God is within you. Amen and thank you, Jesus. Also, consider reading Matthew 13. Luke 17:20-21 tells us plainly where heaven is. Do you think heaven is within you? Or has religious theology told you something different. It seems that we have been presented with a picture of heaven somewhere far off that we can not get to until we die, and we must die, but not a physical death, we must die to self. What is die to self, this is a little tricky but I will give it a shot. Basically, we repent which means we change our minds, from what you might ask from believing everything that we experience with our physical senses that are generally "me" focused. For me, I personally got to the point of "I can't do this anymore, I can't take anymore" basically at the end of my road. I suppose you could say, I could no longer deal with "myself" and all of the stuff, so I gave it to God, and let it all go basically accepting what Jesus paid for on the cross. You might say I forgave myself.
These are just a few examples there are many definitions that have been twisted and I could not possibly mention them all but if you retain anything from this post let it be this, "My (God's) people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." So that when you are faced with something, perhaps you will consider approaching it from a biblical standpoint instead of a worldly one. I pray that we understand that often we are our own worst enemies and that we have been given the power to take every thought captive and bring to the obedience of God's word. We must tend our garden keeping all of the weeds out. I hope that this has blessed you in some way, as I have been blessed.
Please remember that these are notes that I take as I study and grow, and as I grow, these notes will surely get modified, so anything I might say should be taken to the Lord in prayer—not only my notes but any and all words that you hear, read, or think. Be blessed, be fruitful, and most of all, Give thanks to God our Father, who has a great plan for us.
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