Read the Bible

I have read the bible by myself for the joy of it all my life. But when I was younger it was also taught to me to prove myself and others wrong, to find sin, to weaponize Jesus and His word. I don’t know if the people that taught me to do this, did it with intention to weaponize it, or if the people that taught them to do it had that reason, but somewhere along the chain, there was some intent to manipulate and control others. When I learned what I was doing, I began to ask God to help me unlearn this behavior. I did this because I could see that it wasn’t helping anyone get closer to God but just the opposite.

This behavior has been used to morph into political gain as well. It makes me angry and sad, depending on where I am and who I am with.

I have been really hurt by well-intentioned people at church. I sometimes, but rarely, visit churches now. My experience at church is nothing like the relationship I have with God when I can just be myself. God has told me I have specific callings on my life. He did not make me to fit in a church. But I did get one method of reading the bible every year from one church that I enjoy. When I finish, I start again and because I have grown and changed each year, the scriptures are different for me. It makes each time I read a scripture like it is new and I learn something special or deeper.

The Bible Was Created to:

• Aid in building relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit
• Teach history and culture
• Bring the reader to their own repentence
• Edify and encourage the reader and others

People get confused. They think because Paul, a fallible man, talks about how to run a church that we are supposed to tell each other how to live, but Paul often gets full of himself, and being a Jew, he still liked laws a lot.

Jesus said to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and love our neighbor as ourselves. If we could do that we were good. He also said all judgement was given to Him, the Son of God, on Judgment Day and He wasn’t judging yet.

Being a Jesus follower is actually pretty simple.

The hard part is letting go of all the lies humans, well-meaning or not, tell us, dropping the bad habits that don’t serve us as well as we once thought they did, and learning to set boundaries that are healthy because our bodies have limits and how can we give freely, and out of love, if we are exhausted and feel taken advantage of?

As we learn the heart of Jesus, we get used to hearing from the Holy Spirit. We learn what our calling is. For some people it is to be parents. For some it is to be a teacher. For some it is to be an encourager. Everyone has an a calling. You wont know if you don’t spend time with God and the best way to learn His voice is to be in the word.

I ran into another Jesus follower the other day. She has been through a TREMENDOUS time in the last few years and she has a HUGE calling on her life. Not unlike myself. I didn’t even know what to say to her. I was astounded by the power that resonated off of both of us. We don’t even cross paths very often. I have been watching her on Facebook. All I could say was: Be blessed. She said the same and we kept going on our own paths.

Sometimes that is all we can say; or all we should say. If I had said more to this amazing person, my human insecurities might have come up and she has come through too much to deserve that. God is dealing with us in different ways. I am so happy for her. I want her to stay exuberant.

This is another reason why it is so important to read the bible. How else can you recharge and reset when we live in a world that is so anti-whatever we are called to do, if we aren’t plugging into God? I know the bible is not perfect. It has been inspired by God, but written and manipulated by men. But it is also beautiful and inspiring, if you really push in and ask the right questions. I don’t remember when I learned this but somewhere, I learned that it was acceptable to ask God questions and wait for the answers. It might take a long time or just a few seconds, but He always answers. You might also have to be open to hearing Him too. Some people are scared of hearing Him but the Jews missed out on a lot of blessings because they were afraid to see His face. They believed they would die if they saw Him and so it was true.

In actuality, He created us for His good pleasure and He delights in us. Just the fact that you think of Him makes Him happy. Imagine what you taking the time to ask Him a question and waiting for the answer, must do for Him. God is a lot more open and loving than I ever imagined or was taught as a child. He wants us to love each other and make space for each other. There is no one that God doesn’t love. That might be hard to imagine, but it is true. It is also hard to reciprocate but God and I are working on that in me. Anyone that wants to honor that in themselves can ask for that. God in all His love and mercy is glad to give good things to His children.

God doesn’t care if we are republicans or democrats, straight or gay, able bodied or disabled. He does not care where our ancestors were born or what color our skin is. He finds all of us fascinating because He created all of us. In heaven, we will be like angels and wont have bodies like we do now, so sex and gender wont matter anymore. In heaven, I imagine there is a great big dining room table for us to fellowship at. Will you be comfortable there if you didn’t learn to live with different types of people on earth?

~

Feel free to leave your comments below!

My name is Summer. That is how you can call me. I hope that I am a blessing to you. I am not perfect. I will fall again. But I am forgiven. For anyone reading this that isn’t a Christian, unapologetically, I am a Jesus Follower, but I believe there is room for lots of beliefs and religions in the world. It is not my intent to offend people with different beliefs than I have and I would be open to open-minded conversations with no goals of changing anyone’s mind, but sharing information. If you are interested in becoming a Jesus Follower…Do you know Jesus? Do want the Holy Spirit to fill you and give you understanding and salvation? Ask Him. Want someone to pray with you? Contact me.

If you would like to know Jesus as your friend, but want to make this amazing commitment by yourself please pray something like this: Thank you Jesus that You are the Son of God, the God that created heaven and earth. Thank you Jesus that You came to earth in the form of a man so that You would be able to empathize with my humanity. Thank You that You did this in order to fulfill the promises You made at the foundation of the world. I realize that I am a sinner and do things that hurt myself and keep myself away from you. Thank You that You died for my sins so that You could defeat death and bring me into Your life. Please forgive me. I ask You to be Lord of my life. I ask you to heal my hurts and show me what my new life, empowered by You looks like. Thank You for Your mercy.