A Morning Cup of Tea: It is Written

  Good morning! I hope your day has started out well. I'm sitting here reading John chapter 7 and listening to our "resident ghost", aka J. He's in a good mood this morning, and that always makes me happy.
  Jesus is teaching in the temple and the Pharisees just are not happy with him. They have been trying to discredit him and say he has a devil but he just keeps coming right back at them with the truth. Please be sure to read this chapter for yourself because I may miss something.
  The Pharisees said that Jesus bore record of himself, and his record is not true (v13). Jesus responded that indeed his record was true because it came from the Father; He pointed out that the Pharisees judge by the outward appearance of a person. When Jesus judges, his judgement is true because he is not alone but with the Father. He reminded them "It is written." The testimony of two men is true (v 17).  Did you notice that? Just as Jesus had done with the devil, he used "It is written" with the Pharisees.  That should be a lesson for us all: know the scripture. Our enemy knows the scripture and will twist it to suit his needs. The only way to win this (and to help us not sin Psalm 119:11 ) is to study and know what the bible says (2 Timothy 2;15) . Every time I see those words it reminds me I don't know nearly enough. There are some days I can read and read and read, but I'm not sure how much I absorb when I do that. 
  Have you ever seen Christmas in Connecticut? It's a 1945 movie starring Barbara Stanwyck. Bear with me here. It's set in WWII and a German U boat has sunk an American ship. There are two survivors, and one had given up the last of his food to his friend. When they were rescued and in the hospital, the one who had given up his food couldn't start out on steak and all the other foods he'd dreamed of for so long. The doctor had him on milk at first. Even at that, little bits at a time till he grew stronger.  
 Honestly? I'm not real sure whether I'm ready for real steak yet although I'm trying to nibble at it at least. It doesn't matter at this moment whether you are taking the bible small bites at a time, or can handle large chapters all at once. Continue on. Surround yourself with others who understand the reading and can help teach you, but don't stop reading and studying for yourself. The bible isn't so hard to understand when you want to know what it says. However, it's not a book that you read from cover to cover once and set on a shelf to collect dust. Nor is it a book that is only to be opened at church or to press flowers, or to collect recordings of births and deaths. It should be opened and read daily. How else are we to learn and to grow, and to know when someone is telling the truth about what the scripture says?
  That message is for me as well as anyone else who reads this. It gets so easy to set aside personal time in the word because our lives get so busy. Some of us have jobs outside the home, we have children to raise, family members to look after, on and on and on. Yet there is something missing if we make time for Pinterest or Facebook, or hockey or our favorite television program and there is no time left for reading God's word. How can we fight temptation with It is Written when we have no clue what it says or where that scripture is found?  Psalm 119:11 and 2 Timothy 2:15? I knew them partially and had to do a search for them. I want to challenge myself, as well as anyone else reading this, to put those two scriptures to memory, and to continue on hiding the word in our hearts through memorizing scriptures. Have them so ingrained in our minds that book, chapter and verse comes to mind easily. 
  I've gone off on a tangent today,but I hope you will forgive me and join me again tomorrow as we learn more of God's word together.  Until next time, have a great day!

  Good morning! I hope your day has started out well. I'm sitting here reading John chapter 7 and listening to our "resident ghost", aka J. He's in a good mood this morning, and that always makes me happy.
  Jesus is teaching in the temple and the Pharisees just are not happy with him. They have been trying to discredit him and say he has a devil but he just keeps coming right back at them with the truth. Please be sure to read this chapter for yourself because I may miss something.
  The Pharisees said that Jesus bore record of himself, and his record is not true (v13). Jesus responded that indeed his record was true because it came from the Father; He pointed out that the Pharisees judge by the outward appearance of a person. When Jesus judges, his judgement is true because he is not alone but with the Father. He reminded them "It is written." The testimony of two men is true (v 17).  Did you notice that? Just as Jesus had done with the devil, he used "It is written" with the Pharisees.  That should be a lesson for us all: know the scripture. Our enemy knows the scripture and will twist it to suit his needs. The only way to win this (and to help us not sin Psalm 119:11 ) is to study and know what the bible says (2 Timothy 2;15) . Every time I see those words it reminds me I don't know nearly enough. There are some days I can read and read and read, but I'm not sure how much I absorb when I do that. 
  Have you ever seen Christmas in Connecticut? It's a 1945 movie starring Barbara Stanwyck. Bear with me here. It's set in WWII and a German U boat has sunk an American ship. There are two survivors, and one had given up the last of his food to his friend. When they were rescued and in the hospital, the one who had given up his food couldn't start out on steak and all the other foods he'd dreamed of for so long. The doctor had him on milk at first. Even at that, little bits at a time till he grew stronger.  
 Honestly? I'm not real sure whether I'm ready for real steak yet although I'm trying to nibble at it at least. It doesn't matter at this moment whether you are taking the bible small bites at a time, or can handle large chapters all at once. Continue on. Surround yourself with others who understand the reading and can help teach you, but don't stop reading and studying for yourself. The bible isn't so hard to understand when you want to know what it says. However, it's not a book that you read from cover to cover once and set on a shelf to collect dust. Nor is it a book that is only to be opened at church or to press flowers, or to collect recordings of births and deaths. It should be opened and read daily. How else are we to learn and to grow, and to know when someone is telling the truth about what the scripture says?
  That message is for me as well as anyone else who reads this. It gets so easy to set aside personal time in the word because our lives get so busy. Some of us have jobs outside the home, we have children to raise, family members to look after, on and on and on. Yet there is something missing if we make time for Pinterest or Facebook, or hockey or our favorite television program and there is no time left for reading God's word. How can we fight temptation with It is Written when we have no clue what it says or where that scripture is found?  Psalm 119:11 and 2 Timothy 2:15? I knew them partially and had to do a search for them. I want to challenge myself, as well as anyone else reading this, to put those two scriptures to memory, and to continue on hiding the word in our hearts through memorizing scriptures. Have them so ingrained in our minds that book, chapter and verse comes to mind easily. 
  I've gone off on a tangent today,but I hope you will forgive me and join me again tomorrow as we learn more of God's word together.  Until next time, have a great day!