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Today is Thursday March 04, 2010 and we are reading through the Bible in a year. Today's message comes from the reading of the Book of Deuteronomy, chapters 8-10. If you would like to read the chapters along with us here online you can Click Here to read them or copy & paste this URL onto your browser: http://www.readytofollow.com/bible-march-4

Title: Bible Study: God's Purpose For His Word
Bible studies are great to help us not only to read, understand, and discuss the Word of God, but to also keep us in fellowship with others who have the same beliefs as you do. The answer to every question that we will ever have in our lives can be found in this great book. Of course, there are some things that God will only reveal to us when we see Him in heaven, but the majority of questions concerning His laws, commands, why He made them, and even the trials we go through are right here in the Old and New Testaments. Sometimes it may seem as though all God wants us to do in our waking hours is read the Bible and pray, while that is a good thing from time to time, that's why He gave the command of the Sabbath day, He knows that we have other work to do, so He came up with these laws and commands to allow us to do other work without getting ourselves into trouble. Since there were only three people out of the over 400,000 Israelites that were freed from Egyptian slavery still alive to survive the wilderness journey, it was important for Moses to remind the new generation of Israelites about God's laws, commands, and why they were in the wilderness for forty years. Now Moses gets to the good part, he answers their question as to why they were in the wilderness for so long and what God's purpose for it was. “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” - Deuteronomy 8:1-3. God places circumstances in our lives to humble us, to remove the pride from our hearts, and to show us that material things are not what we are to live for, but the Word of God. The Word of God gives us the power to know and understand and live the best life we can live on this earth, with no worries, but the second we forget God the worries do begin because we are no longer dependent on God, but ourselves, and that is why He will place circumstances in our lives. When being tempted of the devil, Jesus Himself quoted this verse, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” - Matthew 4:4. Jesus was brought here to show us that no matter how close we are to God the devil is able to try to tempt us, but it is only the power of God through His Word that can keep us from falling into that temptation. Jesus had every part of the soul and flesh that we had and was just as capable as sinning as the rest of us. A vital key to overcoming Satan is knowing God's Word through which we are empowered to be over comer any of His tricks to get us away from God. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” - Hebrews 4:12.

God used forty men, filled with His spirit, to write the Bible, it was written for several reasons, it was written to keep a record of the Israelites journey with God until Jesus came, to show them where they came from and remind them that they were chosen by God Himself to represent Him and show the world who the One true God is. “And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.” - Deuteronomy 10:12-21. God truly does love us and want the best for us, but if we want to receive His best we need to do what He requires, and this is for any generation of God's people. We are to fear God, love Him, trust Him, and delight in having a relationship with Him. We are to serve Him with all our heart and soul, cheerfully and with good will. God knows our hearts and He knows if we are doing something for Him because we want to or out of obligation. God is not forcing us here, He is giving us a choice to serve Him and if we make that choice we need to do it wholeheartedly. It truly is honorable to God when we delight in His Word, respect Him, work, and live in obedience to Him. It is time to circumcise our hearts, to cast away all the things that corrupt it and hider us from truly fearing and loving God as He loves us.

The main reason for God to create the Bible is written in the New Testament, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” - II Timothy 3:16,17. Every word in the Bible is given to us to teach us His doctrine, to show us His truths, the correct us, and to teach us to live righteously. God is teaching us that we are just ordinary, sinful people, with the same problems as every other generation, but we are His people and no matter what background we came from or what we have done in our lives we can turn things around and have a wonderful life, even through trials, serving Him. The first step however, is to know Jesus. If you do not know Jesus, you will never know the true meaning of the Bible, it will be a fictional book to you. The only way the Israelites or any stranger among them was able to be in the presence of God was while He was above them in the Tabernacle. Today His presence still only exists in the Tabernacle, through the Holy Spirit, but this time His Tabernacle is within each person who accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior. “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit........What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” - I Corinthians 6:15-17,19,20. We are God's people and it is time to start acting like we are. We truly have no idea how blessed we are just to be able to say that we are a child of the one and only living God. People make false gods all the time, but not one of them can say that their god is alive and living in them as Jesus Christ lives in us. Praise God! I'll take Jesus any day over the likes and sacrifices that some of these so called Christians have to deal with just to be able to say they are a Christian. Do you know what really makes you a Christian? It is by knowing Jesus personally, the one and only begotten Son of God, who died to save us, then rose again three days later to prove that He and only He is God. Praise God!

Enjoy the rest of your day/night and God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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