Do you understand what you are reading?

“This book [The Bible] had to be written by one of three people: good men, bad men or God. It couldn’t have been written by good men because they said it was inspired by the revelation of God. Good men don’t lie and deceive. It couldn’t have been written by bad men because bad men would not write something that would condemn themselves. It leaves only one conclusion. It was given by divine inspiration of God.”
(John Wesley, British religious leader who founded Methodism, 1703-1791)

In the Book of Acts chapter 8, Philip was told by an Angel of the Lord to ‘Go South’ for a mission. There he met an Ethiopian and the Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” As Philip ran (I imagine he ran) toward the man, he was close enough to hear the man reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet (you got to understand, everybody read the scriptures aloud in those days) and closes enough to shout to him the question,

“Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30)

Wow! That’s a world-class question! That question can be applied to today’s contemporary readers as well. The Bible; Do you understand what you are reading? The truth is that the Bible can be difficult to understand sometime. And because of that, some us might be frustrated and left God’s Word unread. Keep it on the shelf collecting dust, piled it up together with Ujang magazines, New Strait Times newspaper etc. Perhaps, it’s time for us to be free and frank to admits, to rededicate our lives, to ask and to boldly confess,

“How can I, unless someone explains it to me.” (Acts 8:31)

With that honest question and thirst for the Word of Life, God answered his prayer by sending Philip prior to that event. Isn’t that amazing?! Late John R. W. Stott writes, “The fact is that God has given us two gifts, first the Scriptures and secondly teachers to open up, explain, expound and apply the Scriptures. It is wonderful to note God’s providence in the Ethiopian’s life, first enabling him to obtain a copy of the Isaiah scroll and then sending Philip to teach him out of it.” When you really open your heart to understand the eternal insights into God’s Word; you can be sure that God will provide teachers, resources and wisdom for you to discern, understand and applied what you read.  

Do you understand what you are reading? Well, we may never understand everything – but we will understand much more when we ask the Author Himself, “Lord, explains it to me.”

"It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand" explained Mark Twain. THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP. 

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Overwhelmed by God's Word? Then read Understand Your Bible by John A. Beck, and see how the historical, geographic, literary, and other contexts of scripture can clarify what you study. This book will show you solutions to the roadblocks that keep many people from regularly reading and understanding scripture.

I’m giving away ONLY 3 copies of this book. If you never receive any book from Motivates4Life before, you are welcome to get a copy for yourself. Do these 2 things:

1)   1) Comment below “Rich, give me one copy___(Your name). My resolution for new year is to read the entire Bible. Thus, I want to understand my Bible more than before.”

2)   2) E-mail me at Motivates4life@hotmail.com or send message to my Facebook your real name, phone no. and your postal address.