The Key is in your hands: To open or not to!

I have come to realise that the greatest key you have to unravelling your identity in Christ is the Bible…it is, to your Christian life as food is to your body. I know, your saying you have heard this before..well am gonna say it again…Yes!! the Bible: that’s your greatest key. It holds the answers to EVERYTHING. It will clear confusions about ANYTHING, will make you to succeed at ALL THINGS, it will build you up, make you everything it talks about. It sounds so much like God, isn’t it? Well, it is His word and He has placed it above all things (Psalm 138:2).

Considering how important it is, I for one have been on the craziest ride with it. Even as I write this I write with a smile remembering it all. There were times when I just left it on the shelf or table without reading it for ages. I just preferred novels, or doing my own things. Other things seemed more exciting and more rewarding. If I read a novel for instance, I was entertained. If I studied, I knew it was helping me with my career. On the other hand, when I read the bible, I would see no immediate results. It became a routine, something I had to get out of the way in the morning and what an easy routine it was to break if something more exciting was happening. But now, when I reflect on my life, gosh I wish I had read it everyday, making sure I understand every word. It would have saved me so much heart ache, confusion, and just made me a better person.

It’s tempting to say that if God had wanted to or destined for it to be that way, then it would have happened. But that is not true. To every Christian God has given a wonderful life, but He will not force you to have it. He makes it so clear; it is probably right in your face! In fact, Proverbs 8:1-6, 17 says wisdom stands on a high hill calling out loudly to you, stating all she has to offer. She is not whispering so that you can say, ‘oh but I did not hear’. And further He has said that you will find Him when you seek Him with ALL YOUR HEART (Jeremiah 29:13).He is not going to play hide and seek: If you go after Him you will find Him. So He is there in His word, and He wants you to pick it up and really read it, not rush through it. To study and meditate it, for you own good. People often don’t want to seek God so hard because they feel they might miss out on life but boy, is that so wrong!! Genesis 15:1 says He is your abundant compensation, and the reward you get is exceedingly great. You are not going to miss anything, you will have much much more than you can think of (Ephesians 3:20).

 

Imagine, when you read the Bible, and keep the word, length of days and years of a life [worth living] and tranquillity [inward and outward and continuing through old age till death], these shall it add to you (Proverbs 3: 1-2(amp)) and health to all your flesh (Proverbs 4:20-23).This is not a metaphor meaning something else, it is what it is. As you read it, it makes the life you lead richer, fuller. You do not just live your life or survive it, you enjoy it. You see a flower and you say, ‘WOW!! Look what my father designed!! And if He designed that fragile flower surely He can handle fragility. I can be vulnerable and naïve with Him and He won’t hurt me or disregard my feelings.  He will help me handle my feelings to the glory of His name.’ As you read it, and meditate you will be laying claim on the health that is already yours in Christ Jesus. Understand that it is the word of God, as if God Himself was speaking to you. Do you think an encounter with Him will leave you the same? When God speaks, creation listens! Ask the winds that stopped at Jesus’ command (Mark 4:35-40) or the fish that had to rush from all directions into Simon’s net (Luke 5:4-8). Do you think your flesh won’t listen when u read His word?

Also His word is a lamp to your feet and a light for your path (Psalm 119:105). That means, as you read the word, your path of life will have light: You are not walking in darkness, in confusion. So for instance, while it will not tell you whether to go to town or stay at home expressly, it will enable you to see which route is best, as perhaps a torch does. God told Joshua this, that if he studied the law (which was the only equivalent to the Bible then), and meditated on it, he would make his own way prosperous, deal wisely and have good success (Joshua 1:8). The word would show him how to do all this. It will show you how to be a good student or employee, wife, mother. You do not have to worry whether you will be a grumpy mother or a nagging wife, or a bad boss, just read the word. It will make you into what it talks about. All those positives. Though at times it may seem as if you are not making progress, you ARE more than you know: you are being transformed into His likeness from one level of glory to another(2 Corinthians 3:18).

Not only this, the word corrects you (2 Timothy 3:16,17)! We live in a world that people would rather flatter you than tell you the truth of what kind of a person you are so that either you continue to be better or change for the better. The word will not do this. It is honesty. If you are selfish, you will find out. If you are lazy, you will too. And not in a harsh way. God is amazing like that. He is velvet and steel. At times, it may be overwhelming that you have so much wrong but do not despair, as Joyce Meyer says, ‘you might not yet be where you are supposed to be but you are not where you used to be.’ Stick at it and you will be closer to it!!   And what is more beneficial is that it will tell you how to change and where the power to change is. Most times people want to change, but will-power by itself is never enough, if it was, addictions would be non-existent.

Also it transforms your thinking. You begin to see yourself the way God does and to discover the purpose He created you for. Your ‘I thinks’ begin to be ‘I knows’: Just as Paul wrote, but We KNOW, all things work together (Romans 8:28), as if it is common knowledge. Your insecurities begin to disappear. If you thought before that things were just getting from bad to worse, you begin to see that though you might not have all the answers, it will all work out and that your path is a path of glory, getting brighter and brighter with each day (Proverbs 4:18). Not only this, but your faith grows, you believe that it will happen as it is in His word because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).

I could go on telling you the benefits of Bible reading but I will stop here. It is a magnificent treasure and so SO much is packed into it, all for your good. But God will not force you to read it, even though it is near you. He has laid a table for you full of blessings, and it is your choice to eat and feast. At the same time satan , through daily pressures and busy routines of this world  that distract you from the word has laid out his. If you are not reading the word, do not think that you are not feeding on something else. Your teachers will become what you watch, what you listen to and what you see. And we all know the state of the world right now…you will begin to believe things you should not believe in, accept lies  or principles you do not function on as a Christian, because remember as a Christian, God has not given you a normal life, He has given you everything that pertains to this life( 2 Peter 1:3). You just have to tap into it.

And when you read it, don’t do it so fast that you miss points. Read it slowly, prayerfully, expectantly, meditating upon it, because if you do not understand it, the devil comes to steal it away. It should sink into you and this can only be done by reading it again and again so that it takes root other wise again it will die. Don’t let things during the day rob you of time to sit and read His word, don’t let circumstances choke your spiritual life but be good ground and let the word dwell richly in you and produce fruit (Matthew 13:18-23; Colossians 3:16).

Have a lovely week!!