This week we had the topic of Bible Study, which turned out to not really be Bible Study. Our verse for the week was Proverbs 24: 3-6, “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength; for waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisers.” This was the way we were told to approach our studying the Bible. We were told to look at the word study in the Hebrew language. We found that the meaning was to keep going back to it and to go over it again and again as to search and seek for a way to follow.
Our three types of study for the Bible are Topical, Inductive, and Meditation. A Topical Bible study is a study on a particular topic that the Bible will talk about in numerous verses and we can make a summary based upon those verses. An Inductive Bible Study is a way to study the in which we read a particular verse in the context in which it is written and then ask questions to help understand what it means in that context. Then with those questions we can pick out themes that will help us cross the hermeneutical bridge so we can make applications to what it means in today’s world. Our other Bible study was Meditation, which is when you read a verse over and over and get something from God as He speaks to you through the Holy Spirit so you can apply it to your life. With this we have to understand rhema, which means the active word of God and then also logos, the written word of God. Through all these things we are able to hear God through the Holy Spirit
So we spent about 5 to 10 minutes on those Bible Studies and then the rest of the week we covered a variety of topics that seemed to be farfetched in relation to studying the Bible. So we talked about the spiritual gifts of God and the power that He can give us to help expand His kingdom. Our speaker was Diane Pierce, an older lady that has been given the gift of prophecy to come through her in the Holy Spirit. This lady has a great testimony and one that spoke volumes to me as she had not only been through a life of constant struggles and injustices, but now she is living a life that is guided by God through the Holy Spirit. Prophecy is something that is the combination of the heart, feelings, and emotions of God spoken through a spiritual person, not for the person but for the glory of God.
To many of you reading this I understand that it might seem far out to be talking about the Holy Spirit and it working inside of you and through you to bring a power or message to the earth through God. We talked about the Lord’s favor in Isaiah 61 that discusses how we have been anointed to proclaim the good news to the poor and to bind up the brokenhearted. This means that those who are poor in spirit and that Him anointing us is His glory and through that we receive the inheritance because He loves us and loves justice and doesn’t want any of us to suffer or have poor spirits. With this glory that He has he wants us to be equipped to repair and restore nonbelievers to God’s Kingdom. With this He gives us spiritual gifts so we can get a glimpse of our glory. 1 Corinthians 12 talks about the spiritual gifts and then chapter 13 and 14 tell us how to use them and when to use them as they are used to glorify God’s Kingdom.
So when we look at the New Testament, the covenant in which we are living under, we see that 21.5 percent of it is prophetic in nature. So we look at the great gifts that God gives us and we see that the Bible states that prophecy is one of the greatest gifts in expanding the kingdom of Christ. Prophecy is something that can be used to build up the church as people can see ways in which God can and will provide for them in the future as it gives us a way to see how we will be used. With each of these 9 spiritual gifts we can possess any of them and there are no disqualifications, God will give you the power through Him when He sees fit and when His glory needs to shine out among the nations.
Our speaker this week who has the gift of praying and get prophetic visions and word for people, so she came three days early and started praying for each of us knowing only pictures and God gave her words for everyone. My prophesy was Isaiah 49:8 which says, “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances’.” When she saw my photo she said she saw a big question mark and God said, “I will answer all of your questions and I will make you a covenant for people in whom you will restore desolate land and set people to be free because I am a man of compassion.” The land was not just a metaphor either, it was a literal piece of land and there was a building and it was being restored and used to bring those in darkness to light. She also saw that I was a coach and that it was a gift in which I could encourage people and lift up their performance from a 5 to an 8. With all of these things God will use me to bring people out of hindrance and to walk beside still waters. Jesus had compassion and miracles happened and I will see miracles happen. She also said that we are called to hear these visions but also to wait upon them because they will be confirmed or validated by 2 or 3 people before you will see them come to pass.
This week was one that was very new to me as it really had little to do with Bible study, but with all this new stuff that I have never covered in the Bible I have burnt through numerous pages. Spiritual gifts that seem to be covered to the minimum no matter where I go because I think it is hard for us to fully understand them and how to use them because it’s the overflowing of God’s love for us and it’s incomprehensible. Some of you may be in the same boat and I want to tell you to look at it in the Bible and see what the law says and then also take it to God because He says when we call He will answer. So in all we covered topics and we didn’t necessarily learn how to study the Bible yet we learned why we have to study it and also why we have to take our confusion to God as He will make our conscience clear.
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