Stephanie Okafor - Jesus: How To Study His Word

The spiritual things are spiritually discerned. The Bible is a closed book. You can read it, but it is a closed book. It is the spirit of God that opens it up and you begin to receive from it and not just memorize in it. Welcome to plot God with me, Stephanie okafor and this is your invitation to return to what matters the most, and that is your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now today's episode, I'm going to be teaching about how to study the Bible. Now. I know that there are many incredible ways that you know, you can find research and all of that, but I just want to add to that space and by the grace of God, present this in a way that is removes the intimidation and confusion from what it means to really just study the Word of God. Right, you know, when you think about studying the Word. In the previous episode that talked about how we have to walk in the true revelation of Jesus, and one of the ways that we begin to grow in our revelation and in our knowledge of Him is by giving ourselves to the study of the Word. You know, in the Scripture, the apostles who talk about how they give themselves to prayer and the study of the Word. Now you're not studying the Word so that you can be a theologian, right. There are many theologians that can study the text and not know the author. Right. It's not just to a mass information. It is to see Jesus through it. One of the key things you know that will kick off with is protection. And why is that Because when you know the Word of God and you begin to see Jesus through his word, you start to learn his nature, you start to learn his ways, you start to learn his principles, you recognize the things you know. There are certain things that you can put within a healthy and holy boundary. And I'll explain that because if you are not in tune with the ways of Jesus, like for example, when even the Lord will say, be holy, for I am holy, if you if that scripture is not revealed to you by the Holy Spirit, and first of all, if you don't even know that scripture is in the Bible, someone else, because you have to understand that Satan is a theologian. Right, So again I'm not talking about just a massive information. When we talk about studying the Bible, it's about seeing Jesus in it, coming to have revelation of it. But you can have revelation if you don't even start by opening it, right, because the enemy knows the word of God. He can he has the information, and if you don't have the revelation, he would use information to lead you into this struction. There's going to be so much, you know, false doctrines that will come about in these end times, in these last days, and if you are not giving yourself to the study of the world, information would override revelation. Wherever revelation is lacking, information would win. And information can be twisted, distorted, and just so much confusion. Because remember Satan is a theologian. He knows the written word, he has knowledge of it. Right, So it will protect you. Number two, it will transform you. Right, So as you grow in your revelation of Jesus, his world will begin to transform your life. You begin to walk in his authority. Right. You're no longer a victim, You're not living as one who is powerless. You see, a powerless Christian is an ignorant Christian is one who is ignorant of who they truly are. In Christ is one who does not know their true identity in the Lord. Right, and so it begins to transform you. Romans twelve, verse two says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You see, you cannot discern the good, acceptable and perfect will of God if your mind is not renewed, and it's renewed by the Word of God. Right. The Bible also says in Psalms one nineteen, verse one thirty, the entrance of your word gives lights. It brings illumination. Right, illumination leads to transformation. Illumination is when the Holy Spirit takes information and turns it into revelation. It's not just what you're seeing on paper. Then, all of a sudden, because you've invited the Spirit of God, it begins to to bring revelation of what The text is truly speaking to what I love about. When the Scripture says the entrance of your word gives light is because you cannot be transformed in the dark. Right, you are transformed in the light, because that is where truth is revealed. Now, remember the scripture talks about how you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free. You would know it and then it will, and then the knowledge of the truth is what sets you free. So it's not just truth exists. Truth is a person and the person is Jesus. But it's in your knowledge of Him that you now can walk in freedom. It transforms your life. And number three is new life. Right, you start to walk in the life that you received when you received Christ. You start to because now the word of God begins to activate your faith to know what is possible what you received when you got him, and it flows that new life out of you. Right again, my favorite scripture Realatians to twenty. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me. And so how does Christ reveal himself through me? How does He express himself through me? There there's a revelation I need that begins to unlock what I know is possible. It begins to activate my faith to believe that indeed Jesus is the one who lives in me. Right when you read Romans sixty four, it talks about you know that we should walk in the newness of life right, study the whole actually, just read that whole chapter for yourself. And so when you walk in the newness of life, fear begins to lose its grip. Right when you become aware of what you received, when you receive Jesus, you start to have the faith, the expectation of the life of God flowing through you. What that means for you, so you can walk it out right. You know, there was something so interesting not too long ago that I experienced. I was this Holy Spirit was speaking to me about you know, the ish the problem in our generation today where you know, everyone can consume media, you know, at their fingertip. You know, not only do people have Netflix at home or Prime or however you engage with movies or shows or any of those things, it's in yours in your phone. You know. The times of the airport, I'll literally see people just prop their phone and they're watching a show and all that stuff. And now you can watch an entire season or seasons. Right. I remember someone saying how they watched a show that had like six seasons and they watched it in a week. And I'm like, did you sleep like you just back to back to back to back to back watching the show. So everything is so accessible to us, right. I remember growing up, you know, you had to know the time that your show comes on, and then it's like, oh man, it's Sunday, like this is gonna come on at ten am, Like I gotta watch this. So there was this like you know, there are other things you had to do to fill up your day, but now everything is so accessible, and the Holy Spirit was you're showing me how when believers re respond to circumstances, to trials and tribulation from a place of fear, that what they don't realize is that they are actually being discipled by the world and not the word of God. Because it is what is in you that comes out out of the abundance of the heart. The mouth speaks, right. It's just like, for example, someone can say, you know, a person, if a person who maybe like around people, they speak, you know, they don't have any curse words or anything like that. If they curse at home, let them get angry, it's gonna come out. You know in public. They may hide it, they may act like no, I don't talk like that, or whatever, but let them get aggravated if you're with them, when someone cuts them off on traffic or something crazy. It will come out because whatever is in you will come out. And the Lord was showing me that. You know, people don't realize that when your you know, how you respond to trials and tribulation is your response is from a place of like you respond with anxiety, you respond with you know where you start questioning yourself, questioning God. And when your response reveals unbelief, it actually shows that what has been discipling you, what you have more familiarity with, is not the word of God, but it is the way of the world. And he began to show me this through media and entertainment. And why is that? Because for example, right, they're sitting shows. There's shows that model something. Right, there are shows that I remember growing up that everybody used to love to watch and all things like that. But when I look back, what was those shows modeling casual sex? Right? You know series where you have you know, girls get together and you know they're professionals, but what do they do every other day? It's just sleeping around with random men. So what does that do for a generation? It normalizes that this is the way of life. And what we don't realize is that there is a spirit that is engineering that narrative. You see, life is spiritual. Unfortunately, we are sometimes the last ones to realize that life is spiritual. It's people in the Kingdom of God that fail to realize that. But life is very spiritual. Nothing is there to just entertain you, is there to disciple you. Something is trying to win you over. It's trying to, you know, cause you to adapt to their culture, their kingdom. So when you think about what is happening, even in media, in the space of media, some of your favorite shows, just take a moment and ask yourself, what message does it promote? Some of your favorite TV shows, what is it promoting? Some of them is promoting, you know, it is normalizing casual sex. It's normalizing, you know, drunkenness, normalizing drugs, normalizing things that you know are not the way of life in the Kingdom of God, that as believers, this is not our way of life, right, Things that are glorifying the acts of the flesh. Right. So when you think of it, you think that's random because again you don't even realize how much that the media you you know, consume, shapes how you live. It shapes your fashion. There's some things that people desire to have, and the only reason you desire to have it is because you've seen other people wear it. It's not because you're in the fashion world and you're like, oh my gosh, you know this was made with ninety percent cowskin. I just need to have it. No, you like it because everyone is wearing it. There is something that is shaping your appetite. There is something that is shaping what you desire. It's based on what you see, what you give your eyes to. And so when the Holy Spirit began to show me that, you know, because there is so much available to people, people are spending more time being entertained by the world, which actually is being discipled by the world, and that is what is feeling their heart, that is what is feeling their lives. And so when that life is squeezed, that's what comes out. And why the Holy Spirit was showing me this, He was telling me that you know what we have to be people. He gave me this vision of a pot on fire, and he says, if I remove when you remove the pot, it was boiling water, right, he said, when you remove the pot, what happens? I said, the water is no longer boiling. He says, this is how we ought to be. We need to cook ourselves in the world of God. That you're constantly hot in the world, you're constantly in this place where you're cook. You're you're like cooked in Christ. You're constantly on. And what does that look like? Because when the scripture says things like meditate on the you know, on the world of the Lord, on this law, I would meditate day night, you know, pray always. Does that mean we don't live a life and we're just always praying and we're always meditating. What does that look like in a practical sense. That's what we're going to talk about today, because you see, studying the Word of God. Number one, I want to remove the the how do I even put this? Let me say that again. Number one. I want to remove the intimidation behind studying the Word right because oftentimes people feel like, man, okay, if I have to study the world, I need to make sure I have an hour in my day that I can give to the Word. And if I don't have an hour in the morning, I have to rush out and I'm you know, I'm always on. I'm thinking, I'm blow slow down. There's three steps to this, and before we actually get into the meat of what I want to teach. There is reading the word. They're studying the word. There's meditating on the word. You can start by reading the word when you're at the gym. You can listen to the Bible when you're taking a walk, when you're cleaning the house, you can have the Bible. You know, a scripture playing out loud. It's so in a seed in your heart, whether you know it or not. Just listening to the word, right, just letting the word play out. You want to give yourself to the word of God. That when you have in moments where you have the opportunity to that. I'm not saying you don't have a social life or things like that, but just follow me, because many times people feel as dull, Oh, I don't have time to study, which you should make the time. Right, it's worthy of your time. God gave you twenty four hours. You can give him some back, right, it's worthy of it. But I want to remove this intimidation that start by listening to the word, having the word play and then we get into studying the world, because studying the world guys intentionality. You need to set aside time. And again, if you're serious about your walk with the Lord, you should be studying the Word. But why I'm also saying listen to the Word is because the Word of God should not only be open when it's time to study it. Because again, you have maybe you have work, you have things going on, you have your schedule, you know their activities in your day. That if we are being honest, if you only have an hour in a day to study the Word, then what has your attention more the world? If you only see the time I read the Bible is that first hour in my day, But the rest of your day is given to the ways of the world. Okay, I have to interact with this person. Then you watch a show. Then you're watching comedy that, you're watching this, then you're watching that. Of course, when Chrials and Tribulation said you are going, what will be squeezed out of you is fear, anxiety, you know, discomfort and all kinds of things. God, are you even with me? Because the time you spend with God is least in your life. It ranks the least in your life. You spend more time with friends, and you spend with the Lord. You spend more time watching shows than you spend with the Lord. And what I mean by spending the Lord spending with that conscious reality of engaging the Holy Spirit. And so when we talk about studying the world, I don't want you to look at this as the only time you open the scriptures. I don't want you to look at this as the only time you think about the Scriptures. There are moments during your day, maybe when you're you might be cooking, right, be intentional to stay cooked in God. You might be cooking. Just have romans play. You know you have a Bible app Just play it, asking the Holy Spirit, let this word come alive in me. It might just be playing in the background and all of a sudden something you hear a verse and it clicks something in you. When you hear that verse, pay attention to it. Note it down somewhere, Write it somewhere that you can study later. But don't look at the Bible as something you only study in the morning and the rest of your day is like blocked out. No, give yourself to the study of the Word. This life is a battlefield. The Word is your weapon. Why would you drop your weapon? Why would you only pick it up an hour in the day. Meditation is a beautiful thing because you can be out and about, you can be socializing and still meditating on the Word of God, thinking on what you read God, what does that mean? And it could be the most random event, the most random thing that happens at a restaurant that actually brings light to the thing that you're asking about. In the most random way, something happens and you're like, oh my gosh, this makes sense. I see what the Lord is showing me. My husband always tells me this thing that he thinks in scriptures, so he can be in the most random places, but there's something about a random activity, and what he's thinking about is, oh, this is like what it says in the Bible when and I'm like, that is interesting how you saw that through this. But he's always mindful of his fellowship with the Holy Spirit that when there's something that the Holy Spirit puts on his heart, he carries it with him everywhere he goes. He can be in a conversation with you, he's still meditating on that, like, okay, hmm, what did it mean when I was going up the mountain? Why did he do this like this? Why did Abraham say this things that you feel like you already know, but there's something else God wants to show you. And you could be at work and you're doing your job and then all of a sudden, you're asking the Holy Spirit, you're meditating, you're reflecting your thinking on the word. Right. I want to say that because I don't want you to see this, you know, especially for new believers that might be watching this, I don't want you to think that studying the world is just what you do an hour in your day and then you go back into the world. You know, the Lord Jesus said, abide in me and I in you, right, Abide abide it is it is a place of being. When the Holy Spirit gave me that image of water boiling on a stove and he says, you need to stay cooked in Christ, he said, And what he showed me was that when people, you know, get to this place of being just look your hot in the morning, then you're kind of just anywhere in between the day and then it causes that what was actually even placed in you to leak out. Now, when I talk about leak in this context, I'm talking about waste that you start losing the awareness of who you are, and that's where you cannot utilize or walk in the authority that you have. So the anointing begins to leak out because you start you're more familiar with the world than with the Word. You're more familiar with how you respond as though you are one of the world than how you respond when you're a person in Christ. Right, And so, yes, we're going to get into this, but understand that it is not about just ten minutes of your day, twenty minutes of your day. Spend time, go with the flow. There are times when you listen, there are times when you study, and there are times when you meditate. What we're going to tackle on intentionally is how to study right now. First of all, you have to understand this about the Bible. The Bible has many writers, but one author. The author is the Holy Spirit. They are many writers, but the Holy Spirit is the true author of the scripture. And all of it has one unified agenda. And what is that to reveal Jesus and his kingdom. The Old Testament the New Testament. They are not disconnected, they're not separate from each other. The Old Testament points to the Cross. The New Testament flows from the Cross. The Old Testament is pointing to Jesus. The New Testament is revealing the covenant we have through Jesus, the life from that covenant, that new New Testament, new Covenant. Right, and so everything is literally about Jesus. You have to understand that, because when you open the scripture, what you're praying to receive is to see more of him. Right. Luke twenty four, verse twenty Chapter twenty four, verse twenty seven says, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them all he expounded to them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. This was literally about Jesus. What this scripture is talking about is that the Bible was Jesus revealing that it's about him. Everything points to him. Right again, Remember you know, Jesus did not the introduction to who Jesus is did not start when he was born, right, did not start in his earthly ministry. John one one tells us, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God in the beginning. The Bible has It's not just this thing of like some type think about Old Testament is talking about something else. And then New Testament is when we see Jesus. No, the entire book, Jesus has been there from the beginning. The Bible points to him. And I wanted to show you just an example of this using the first five books of the Bible, which is also can be known as the Law, you know, or the Torah. You will see that it is about Jesus right in Genesis. And there's so much I mean, I could this could be a whole study in itself. But just to give you little snippets here and there, in Genesis twenty two, when Isaac was carrying the wood up the mountain, you know, for his own sacrifice that he did not know of, it was pointing to Jesus, who would be carrying the cross. Isaac is the promised son. Jesus is the promised son. Isaac is spared, but Jesus, you know it was not. You know, God provides the realm for Isaac. Well, Jesus is the Lamb. So remember in Genesis twenty two, from verse six, it says, so Abraham took the wood of the barn offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. And then it continues to verse eight when he says, you know, Isaac is asking him like, hey, like where's the animal? Like you know, there's the wood, but we don't see the sacrifice. And Abraham said, my son, God will provide for himself the lamb. You see when Isaac, when Abraham takes Isaac up the mountain, what was presented was a ram. But then Abraham this was I mean Abraham was had just a prophetic understanding. He says, God will provide for himself the lamb. You know who the lamb was Jesus pointing to Jesus in Exodus the passover, the passover lamb. You know that the blood that they had to put for the Israelites to protect themselves from judgment. What was it pointing to Jesus? Right, So look at this Exodus twelve thirteen. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. But then Paul made this clear in First Corinthians five seven he says, for indeed, Christ, our passover was sacrificed for us. Then you go to Leviticus. Leviticus gives us this detailed picture of sacrifice and holiness and atonement. But every offering points to Jesus that Jesus will be the final and sufficient sacrifice. No other sacrifice what was worthy or could even hold any weight. That's why they had to keep sacrifice and keep sacrificing, because it was pointing to the fact that none of this was sufficient. It was pointed to the fact that Jesus will be the final and the only sufficient sacrifice that can actually, you know, redeem us onto the Lord. So now in Leviticus we see this detailed picture right of the sacrifices of atonement of holiness. But every sacrifice, what was it pointing to was pointing to the fact that only in Jesus will be the final and sufficient sacrifice. The reason why they had to keep killing animals over and over and over and over again, because none of it was worthy. He alone would be worthy to seal it all that only his blood was worthy to reconcile us back to the Lord. Only his blood will actually justify the payments for our sins. Right, So all of it was pointing to Jesus. And then you have in numbers, right in numbers, there was a moment where you know, and you have to study this first, and I don't want to go too much in the weeds of this. But when the Moses literally created like this bronze serpent and he lifted it up on the pole for people to look on it and be healed, because those all kinds of things going on in the camp. But it was a prophetic picture of the cross, right in numbers twenty one to nine. We see it here. So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. Jesus himself would explain in John three, from verse fourteen to fifteen. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of Man be lifted up. You can't make this up when people try to look at the Bible like, oh, this is just all random books put together. No, the Old Testament points to the Cross. The New Testament flows from it. Everything was centered and is centered on Jesus and his kingdom. Then we look at it in Deuteronomy, right, Deuteronomy speaks of a prophet greater than Moses, who would come. Deuteronomy eighteen, verse fifteen, it says, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your mist. Peter confirms that this is Jesus in Acts three from verse twenty two to twenty six. You have to read this in your own time, but I'm actually read the whole chapter, but let's just read that part from Moses truly said to the fathers, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren him. You shall hear in all things whatever he says to you, and it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from amongst the people. Then he continues into verse twenty six, to you. First, God having raised up his servants, Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from your iniquities. So the Bible is not just like a collection of stories that are disjointed and disconnected. It actually all comes together and it is speaking and revealing Christ and his kingdom. Right, That's one of the key things to know, because then when we get into I put together I use the acronym of plug to put together a simple way to study the Word. And again there's so many ways out there, but you know, with the podcast, and it just was clear to me, I was like, wow, that makes sense, and it's things that I implement in my life. I didn't know that it would be so easy with the acronym of plug, but I use this as an acronym. But first of all, you have to understand the person you are looking for in the scripture is Jesus. You want to behold him in the text. And so how do we study the word? Now? Start by prayer, right, pee, prayer, begin by inviting the author. You want to approach the Word of God with humility. The Word of God is not something that you know, you're just again, it's not about just amassing information, but it's that you want to receive revelation. Right. The spiritual things are spiritually discerned. The Bible is a closed book. You can read it, but it is a closed book. It is the spirit of God that opens it up and you begin to receive from it and not just memorize in it. Right, And so you want to start with prayer because at the end of the day, again, let's read John five from verse thirty nine to forty, and look at what Jesus says. You search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life. And these are they which testify of me. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. Who is Jesus speaking to the religious folks, the folks that are like they are so, I mean, these are the theologians, but yet they reject the one who the book is about. So I don't want you to fall into the error where you have so much information but no revelation of him. The more you would know that you are growing in the Word, when you are growing in your revelation of Jesus through the Word, because you can use the Bible can speak to all kinds of things. When you don't have the perspective of the Holy Spirit, it can. I mean, the Bible was used for slavery, and people believe that that was It's a closed book. The Bible does not support slavery in the context of what they've been showing. No, but we are slaves of Christ and that is a positive thing, but not in the context that it was used. And there are many people who are still walking away from the faith because they look at it through the lens of what people did in their carnality, not by the spirit of God. Right. So Jesus is literally even telling to the people you are, you are more, you have a better relationship with information than actually who the Bible is talking about. The word is talking about. It speaks of me, right, and so it's possible, you know, because I know obviously, memorizing scripture is a powerful thing. It's a beautiful thing when you know, because you can encourage yourself by the word that you know. Right, But you can memorize scripture and miss the person the scripture is about. That's why there are many times that people are very good with the recital of it but lack the power in it because you know how to say it, but you miss the person it's about, right, So you want to pray that you will see Jesus. Now the other thing. So then we go to you know, plug, which I think is so cool. This is the kid in me guys, but ell, which is look, and that is observe the text. Now. I love this so much because when you study the word, you have to read slowly and carefully look at it. Not just that you're reading through it, because many times we would just open the Bible and we're just reading, but when you observe it, when you allow and what I mean by observing it, what I mean by looking at it, look at it through the lens of the spirit. Now that you have prayed and you invite the Holy Spirit to study with you, then ask the Lord, make me sensitive to things that I need to pay attention to. You see, you know there was an episode, the previous episode we did when I was studying the scripture when it says, you know how Peter, when Peter healed the lame man who was at the gate of the temple. You can read it and just read through it. But as I looked at the word, what stood out to me. I'm reading it slowly, and it stood out to me that this happened in the hour of prayer as they were going to the temple. I didn't have the revelation behind who was at the temple because it was in my study Bible. No, it's because that jumped at me. Because when you read it slowly and you observe the scripture, you're allowing the Holy Spirit to make you sensitive to key things that you can now research. So when that jumped at me, I said, wait, at the hour of prayer, Okay, Peter is going to the temple at the hour of prayer, and this is when they encountered this man. So then my question was because you see, when you look at it, you can ask questions of the texts. Now, my question is who was at the temple? Why did we have to know that this happened at the hour of prayer? Because definitely the Pharisees insaide you sees will be at the temple at the hour of prayer. So when you look at the scripture, you partner with the Holy Spirit, and there are certain phrases that will just come to life. You see, you have to understand, you know, if you're English speaking, you would know that the Bible was not English is not the language of the Bible, right English. It's translated into English, and so a lot of it, you know, based on whatever translation you use. They try to be accurate to the original language. But that's not always the case. And so sometimes when you're looking at the scripture, when you're observing a scripture, it will be a name, a phrase, something will jump at you. It could be something random, and it's actually it might be a prompting for you to find out, what is the original meaning behind this word? If it was a Greek word, if it was a Hebrew world what is the original meaning behind this because when you understand what it originally meant, it changes everything in the scripture for you. Like, for example, you know there's a scripture that talks about how, you know, how we were made God had made us a little lower than angels. Now, if you read it from that lens, God made us a little lower than angels, it could actually even you might just you know, read it and be like, okay, yeah, angels are so powerful. Of course he made us lower than angels. But when you actually go to the original text and it says he made us a little lower than elo Him and ell of him is actually speaking of himself, God, not angels. The original text is pointing to God, which is more accurate biblically. When you understand the role of angels. Angels are not created in the image of God. We are. And when you understand how the role and positioning of angels, you would now comprehend and no, we are actually not made a little lower than the angels, but a little lower than God. But in the translation of it, sometimes you also have to realize that when people are translating this, some things might be too weighty, like, wait, there's no way this means God. So let's just put angels, because it could also speak to the supernatural beings, so it must be angels. And so I remember the first time I read that scripture something like, I kept having this prompting. I don't know if this word really means it's angels. And there's some translations that will say it like it is that he made us a little lower than God. But many translations will say he made us a little lower than the angels. Right, And so there are times that the spirit of God will begin to prompt your spirit about something about a word, about a phrase, about a name, and it's a prompting to research it deeper, understand it, deeper, study it, find out the meaning of the word, and it will change. It will give you a whole new revelation of the text. Right, and then you understand, understand context, and understand the meaning. Never read a verse in isolation. Never read a verse in isolation. Scripture is meant to be read in contexts. You see, for example, you know we had an episode about the name of Jesus. Now there's a verse that says, whatsoever you ask in my name, I will do. If you just read that, you're like, whoa this is a blank check whatever we ask in his name, and then you will become a frustrated Christian because you're like, Okay, I'm asking a lot God in your name, and nothing is happening if you don't read it in context, because in context, it's actually pointing to Jesus's mission that he's encouraging the disciples that look, yes, I am going. But as you continue in my mission, whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, He's telling them, do not be troubled. But it's pointing not as this random blank check is pointing to alignment. If you are aligned with me in the place of alignment, whatever you ask in my name, because you're asking it in my authority, and I will not authorize that which is not connected or aligned with my mission. So if you read that verse outside of its context, you will be frustrated, like, God, I'm asking a lot of things in your name. Nothing is happening. I remember that when I was when I first started reading the Bible as a kid. Oh my goodness, there was so much frustration I had, you know, I remember the first time because I started reading from Genesis and when I got into Levinicus and I was like, oh, we have to sacrifice animals. You know, growing up, we would like literally buy a live chicken and then you know, you kill the chicken, clean the feathers and all that stuff, and then you cook, but will be a live chicken. And I remember we bought this chicken and I was like, no, we need to offer it onto the Lord. It's a sacrifice. I was so young. But that is reading the scripture outside of context, right, And so you want to read don't read any verse in isolation. And so when you study, I want you to consider these questions, right, who is speaking, who is being spoken to? What is happening before and after the passage? And what is happening historically? Right now, not every question may apply to every passage, but it will help you engage with the scriptures more thoughtfully. Right. You know, there's this argument and one of these days I'm going to do a teaching outside of the podcast. This would just be a separate teach And when it comes to you know, can women preach the gospel? Right? Can women be pastors? And all that stuff? And there's so much argument around it, which is so hilarious to me because I'm like, man, this are people who have so much information but just no revelation, right, and there they're as certain, you know, guidelines to that. But why the average person would just say, oh, women cannot be a pastor because they read when you know, the apostle Paul was saying women should be silent. They didn't understand first of all, who was he speaking to, what was happening, what was happening historically. When you begin to answer these questions, that's what one of these days I'm going to do a real teaching on that, you would realize that this was not this you know, blanket statement. Remember Paul wrote was writing letters to different churches, right, there were things happening in the context of those regions. There were things happening in certain territories and atmospheres, and there were things he was addressing. But if you just read it, you know, read a verse, well Paul said this, But okay, yeah, we know Paul is the one speaking, but who was he speaking to? What was happening before and after, and what was also happening historically in that time. Now, the beauty of knowing that the Holy Spirit is the author is because there are things that the Holy Spirit begins to use to echo throughout eternity. Right, But you also you still have to understand the context of what is taking place. If you don't understand the context, you will miss you, oh my goodness, you will take scripture and make it what it's not and hit people over the head with it. Understand context and meaning, right, and all of this will not It's not just about a massive information. That's why finally you have to go live it out. You have to apply it and obey it because revelation demands response. Now, sometimes the response is not. You know, there are three key things I look at, you know, for myself as I'm reading the scripture after you know, going through like okay, what am I reading? What is happening? Who is being spoken to? But then and now I look at it from the lens of what does this reveal about God and his character? What is this? What about this scripture? Also gives me an insight to who Jesus is? What is it teaching me about the Lord? Right? What is he correcting or affirming in me? Let the word speak back to you. Right when you're reading a scripture, maybe you're reading something about forgiveness. What is it correcting in my life? Or what is it affirming in me when I'm seeing people walk in disobedience. You see, just because something is in the Bible does not mean it's to be modeled after. When you look at sometimes people would make the excuse of polygamy, like it's okay because well Abraham, Solomon, David, like these were people who lived in polygamy. And it's like no, no, no, no no. Just because it's in the Bible does not mean it's an example or a model. Because when I read about okay, I read about Abraham and how Abraham God gave Abraham a promise that he would have a son, the promised son Isaac. So God gave him that in the context of him and his wife. Now, culturally, there were things happening in the culture right where they were. It was allowed within their culture where they could you know, what Abraham did was allowed in their culture. Doesn't mean that it was something that God gave a thumbs up to, you know, where he sleep with his servant and then that child would belong to Sarah. These were things that were happening within the culture. But that does not translate to the culture of the kingdom because when you study it, what the polygamy produced destruction. What did adultery produce? What differentication produced? What did multiple wives or the things that were culturally acceptable that we learn it's not the culture of the kingdom. What did it produce? Ishmael And we are still at war with the descendants of ishmael Ty today. So when you start to see it, look at the life of David, right when you think that, okay, well, David, you know, well polygamy, what did it produce? So because something is in the word okay, what is this correcting or affirming in me? Because now I see, okay, I love God. David love God, you know, out of his love for God. There were things that he did that maybe there are times that will actually there are times I do things and I don't really feel the conviction that because I don't sense the conviction does not mean that God is okay with it. Because when David, do you realize that it was David having you know, not just the what did the affair with Batshi? But because these are not things that are of the spirit of God. So when he desired another woman that was not his wife, was another man's wife, it led him in the path of that spirit, What did that produce? Murder? Lies and it brought destruction in his home if you study it when it talks about how the sword will not depart from the house of David because he literally killed an innocent man, or he you know, he arranged the killing of the man because David had impregnated the man's wife. So his lust after another man's wife, his lust after another woman. Some people will be like, you know what, God would not be upset about what he did with Batscheba. He was upset about the killing of Batshiba's husband. But the spirit that led David, the desire that led David to sleep with Batschiba, is the same desire that produced him to arrange the killing of her husband. So there are things that you begin to read and you're like, wait, if I go down this path, yes, it's culturally acceptable, but does it actually mirror the culture of the kingdom. Yes, I know, people applaud this like, oh it happened. This was a man after God's own heart. But actually, when he was walking in the ways of the flesh, what did it produce in his life? What did it produce in his home? Was it things of good or things of evil? Now? Yes, God can use all things, right, He can work all things and kind of and just change the narrative. What was meant for evil he can turn to good. But you still have to understand the context of it and see it properly. So you don't start to call evil good just because God turned You know, he caused what was intended for evil and made it good. You have to pay attention to these things. And so what is it correcting or affirming in me? And what step of obedience is required out of me? Sometimes? Does that look like repentance? Does that look like seeking? You know? There are things that I need to pray about. There are things I need to search deeper in the Lord, so that you open up yourself to Lord. From what I am reading, what should be my response? Right? The Bible talks about be doers of the word and not hearers. Only From what I am reading, what should it produce out of me? What does the revelation of this world? What should flow out of me? Is it teaching me to be more patient? Is it teaching me to not judge a thing too quickly? What is it that it is producing out of me? Right? So you want to live it out so there are few helpful tips that I want to share with you. You know. Number one, have a physical study Bible, A good study Bible. You know, that would do help you with so much of the research right. It will provide a historical background of the chapter you're reading. It will help you to understand who is speaking right. Normally, study Bible will always have a page where it gives you some context about you know, the author, and if the author is unknown, it will tell you that the author is unknown. It will just give you a contral cultural context. Rather, there are things that it could cross reference for you. Where else you know, what other scriptures that what you're reading? Where else in the Bible does it show up? What else in the Bible is it being spoken about? And so a good study Bible provides that. And I'm going to put some recommendations if you're listening, if you're watching this on YouTube, or if you're listening on the podcast, I'll have it in the YouTube description for a good study Bible. And so that just helps you to slow down and engage with the text without distraction when you're studying the word. I don't recommend you do it on your phone. You need you need to touch the word. You need to highlight it, you need to sit with it. You don't need to be distracted because the moment that the Holy Spirit is trying to prompt you about something, a text message comes in. Right. That's why I said that there's a time for listening or just reading where you know you're you're doing that while actively doing other things. But it's so in a seed. But there's a time to study, and that requires intentionality. You need to set time aside, right, the same way that prayer. You can pray while driving, you can pray in the shower, you can pray brushing your teeth. But prayer is so effective when you set a side time because it's not just about what you're pouring out, but you set aside time to receive. Right. And so when you're studying the Word, have a physical study Bible right number two. When there are things that the Holy Spirit begins to prompt on your heart, or maybe a verse or a chapter, read it in more than one translation, right, so you know if something is standing out to you because you again, translations has to do with language. Right there, If you read the message translation and you reading New King James, you're reading two different things. And so translations is to help you understand what the scripture is saying better. But sometimes for the sake of clarity, it lacks accuracy. So for the sake of you know, wherever generation you're born into, for the sake of you having an understanding some kind of clarity about the text, it lacks what it's actually saying. And so again, for example, I want you to do this right now, open a message translation of a scripture and open a new King James or King James side by side, and you're reading two different things, right, the same to some degree, the same messaging, but one can lack more accuracy than the other. So I always encourage that when you're reading the word and something highlights to you, read it in more than one translation. Now you also want to choose a translation that you can easily understand, right, but pair it with one that is also more accurate. And what I have learned, you know, is that there have seen more accuracy when it comes to the New King James version. And so some people love like NIV NLT the message amplified. You know, whatever helps you to study the word is amazing. But pair that have another translation that also helps you with more accuracy. Right, you want to balance accuracy and clarity. You don't want to you know you're looking for Oh wait, I just want to just read this, not even clarity like simplicity. Rather, you don't want to just want to have the simplicity of the text. But then you're sacrificing the accuracy of the text and so pairent with something that is more accurate and not saying that these translations are not accurate. I have so many Bibles in my house. I have NIV. Some people don't like NIV, and I understand why another conversation. But I have New King James ESV and so have some translations that are closer to the original language. And then number four again we've talked about this. Be intentional about your study time. This is not an accidental thing. To study means to really sit. It's almost like imagine you are a student and the Holy Spirit is your teacher, and you're in a classroom and he's present. Can you do that while driving? Can you do that while whatever? Be intentional? You want to give yourself again, give yourself to the study of the world. Right, And so yes, it's going to be a sacrifice, but it's worth it. I remember a minister talks about about waste time with God. I love that so much. Waste time with God because when you waste time with God, you're actually redeeming time. You're actually gaining time back. So don't look at it as though if you feel like, oh man, I have so much to do, yeah, yeah, waste waste time with God, because it's not time wasted. You're trying to figure life out on your own and you're doing all these things. You're actually wasting time because you're doing it at the strength of your own wisdom. When you spend time with God intentionally, yes, it's going to cost you something, but it will actually bring you to clarity faster because you become more sensitive to his voice, to his leading and his prompts. Right, and then again, do not rush understanding. Just because you're reading the world and you don't understand it does not mean you should become frustrated and stop reading. Some people will say like, I just don't understand what I'm reading, like it doesn't make sense. Don't rush it. That's where meditation comes. Sit with it. If there's something you're wondering, like you're asking the Lord, like, man, Lord, do we really have free will? Is that a real thing? Sit with it, meditate on it. Because when you meditate on it, the following day you go back and you're studying it again. And then in meditation, I'm telling you, it could be you could be laying down and you know, about to go to bed, and the Holy Spirit just comes and starts to reveal to you the mystery behind what you were asking. Or sometimes there's something you're meditating on and you're like, God, what is this? And the Lord will put the name of a minister in your heart and they have a teaching on it. There's something you could be meditating on and all of a sudden, like someone will randomly share with you some information about the very thing that you are you were asking the Holy Spirit about out. But meditation is beautiful because it helps to steerward encounters. There's a way that God wants to encounter you that you meditating is the invitation. You see, they're encounters we don't have with God because we have not invited him. But all of a sudden, when you begin to meditate, when you're thinking about something, it's so interesting. Recently, I had this encounter that it was just it did it changed something in me? And how did that encounter come about? I was watching a sermon and there was something that, you know, they were speaking on and I was like, huh. Instead of meditating on it, I was like, Lord, what is that? What does that mean? I don't understand, Like I just I was just thinking on it, and that night an encounter spoke to it. You know, even it's so interesting. The first time I encountered Jesus, I can never forget. This was actually in response to something else, another sermon I was watching. There was a man who was ministering about something. I think it was actually like on TBN or something like that, and he was ministering and he said something. I was like, nah, that's that's not true. That nah. And then after I turned off the TV and I was thinking about it, I remember falling asleep off my couch and I was thinking on it and I was like, Holy Spirit, could that be true? Is that true? Like? What is nah? And I remember waking up to the Lord sitting by the couch and it was just this peaceful, calm presence, and you know, all he said to me was to listen to what that man was saying, and he explained to me that no, you this thing, you should follow it like it is. It is my word. That was it. That was the encounter. It was not this lengthy thing. It was short, brief telling me to listen to what his servant was teaching. Right, And so meditation is an invitation. When you begin to meditate on the scripture. What you don't realize you're doing is that you're actually steward in encounters. You're making room for the Holy Spirit to encounter you with teachings. You're making room for the Lord to encounter you. You're making room for him to begin to unpack things to you. Think on it, right, do not rush understanding right, look at Psalms one two. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. This does not disrupt your life as a human being, as a functional human being. Doesn't disrupt anything about your life. You could be chatting with your friends, you could be having dinner or brunch or working, and there is still you're still engaging with the Holy Spirit. Is being conscious of the fact that Christ in me, Lord, you abide in me, And so at any point in time I can talk to you. So like I'm in this room, I'm surrounded by light, right there's light in the room. There's light, you know, lighting up this shot and all of that. And the whole time I'm literally having this teaching with you. But in my spirit, I'm asking the Lord, if you know what as the you know, this room is being lit up right now, this set is being lit up, what must the throne of heaven look like? Because the light you dwell in. The scripture talks about how it's it's unapproachable, like what type of light is radiating from your throne? And then at the same time, I'm telling you what is in my spirit while I'm teaching. At the same time, I'm like, wow, if you dwell in unapproachable light, if I'm in you, darkness can never be my reality. The kingdom of darkness cannot even come close to me because the light of the light that excuses from your throne, the light that comes from you, would expose every darkness. I'm telling you what is in my spirit as I'm teaching, and at the same time, I started praying in my spirit, this does not stop you from being functional. I started to think about the fact that Lord, if you dwell in unapproachable light and I am in you, then Lord, any activity of darkness, you would expose it because that's what light does. Light reveals, Light illuminates. Right, So you can be functional and I meditate, You can be around people, and yet you're still aware of your relationship and your fellowship with the Holy Spirit. One of the questions that people often ask me is, Stephanie, how do I actually study the Bible? When we desire to go deeper, sometimes it can feel a little intimidating. And I'm here to tell you about an amazing Bible study too, and it's called Logos. It's an incredible app that helps you engage with scripture in a more meaningful way. So, for example, you can type in what does the Bible say about holiness and it will give you scripture, scholarly insights, historical background, and so much more. Logos helps you to understand what you're reading and why it matters. So, whether you're new to the faith or you've been following Jesus for some time, this is going to help you study the world with so much confidence. And we have received such an incredible gift for every plog pod listener. You can use Logus Today for free for the next sixty days. All you have to do is go to lagas dot com. Backshot Stephanie to get started. Now, let's go back into the episode number seven. Have a reading plan, don't just wing it, right. I remember growing up, Oh my goodness, I would just you know, I would wake up in the morning and I would just open the Bible and I was just like, oh, there it go, Yeah, there it is. There's a scripture. And then for some of you know, some of us who have like you know, apps with the Bible and things like that, you might have you know, notifications for a verse of the day, and you know, these verses might be at random. They show up on your phone and the verse of the day is all you read. It's like, oh, this is the message. No, have an actual reading plan, right. The beauty is that there are many you know, the Bible app is one of them. It has incredible reading plans. Maybe you if there's a specific place area you want to growing their plans on faith plans on just different things, right, or you can even have reading the Bible in a year. Now, when it comes to reading the Bible, in a year. It's it's not something that I'm always advocating for new believers because it's not about speed, right, It's not about let me just finish the Bible. You know, if you want to read the Bible in a year, this what I would recommend to you is you follow the reading plan right, but pay attention to the things that jump at you and study them so you can read that. You can whatever the reading plan is, you study that in the morning. But because it's there's so much you're reading at one time, it's like, you know, seven chapters or whatever the case might be, that sometimes people just read it for the information, right, And so even if you're going to do that, or maybe you play the bi you're listening to the Bible, you have it playing in your card, things like that, be still be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is revealing to you. You're not you know, reading the Bible is not what is done just because you read the chapter. It's not concluded at the final sentence. It's concluded when it speaks back to you, so let it. That's why you have to create space. Asks the Holy Spirit, what about this scripture? You know, how should I respond to this? Something should minister to you. It might be a word or phrase, but that is the sign of a healthy engagement with the scripture. If you just read it and you're reading it like a story and you're like, okay, blah blah blah blah, boom boom, there was no there was no prompting, there was nothing. The Holy Spirit highlighted nothing. Then you want to read it again, read it again until there's something, something that you you know that the Spirit of God and gains you are reading the word. It could be a little thing. It could be a name and you research the name and you realize, with all the meaning of this name, okay actually supports this. Or you know there's something that you know. You did not read this word by yourself, but you were doing it in partnership with the Holy Spirit. Now, if you're a new believer, I would recommend that you start reading the Bible because many times people say, but where do I start? Don't start in Genesis. It will confuse you because when you're a new believer and you start in Genesis and you get to Abraham, you know, about to sacrifice Isaac, and then confusion sets it like wait, wait, hold up, what is going on here, Lord, you know where you're really gonna allow this man or not even the fact that God, are you going to allow him to sacrifice Isaac? But was he really gonna sacrifice Isaac? It is too much. They'll start there, right. You want to grow in your walk with God, and then some things are easier to digest. And so if you're a new believer, I would actually recommend you start in the epistles, Start in the Book of Romans, start in the letters that Paul wrote. And why do I say the epistles, because most people will say start in the gospels, right, But you see, even in the Gospels, the Gospels has many parables that to some degree there were some things that Jesus was trying to educate them through parables, and some things were closed. But what I love about the epistles is because it explains what it means to live in Christ after salvation. You just got saved, right, and there's many you're you're confused about, many things. You're going you're in between your old life and Okay, who am I in Christ? Paul's letters speak to these things. Paul's letters talk about who you are after salvation. They help in establishing identity, they help an establishing doctrine, you know, Christian living. And when you're done with the epistles, and actually let me know, because the way I would encourage the one to read the Bible, I don't think I've seen a reading plan like that. But if this, if this resonates with anyone, I think I'm actually gonna work on a reading plan because even in the epistles, there are some things that will hold off until later. And those are some of the letters that Paul wrote now to like ministers, because again you're still a babe, right, but still start with like starting the epistles because it will teach you what it means to be a believe Then from there you can go now to the Gospels, and I will start with John, because John reveals in such a beautiful way the identity, the the the you know, gives you an understanding of who Jesus is. You know, the book of John really speaks to Jesus right, his divinity, his nature. So that's why the book literally starts within the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the word was God right. And so then I would have head over to John and then you know, you can read the gospels and then you continue. But I actually think I will work on a reading guide and I'll make it available if that is something that could be beneficial, you know, for especially for a new believer. Now we are in the age of AI. How do you use AI when studying the Bible? Now, AI can be effective if you're trying to locate a scripture, if you're trying to cross reference scriptures, if you're trying to say things like what are the scriptures that you know where Jesus spoke about the kingdom? It can bring scriptures like that up. But do not use AI to interpret the Bible. Do not use AI as you know, you're almost like to give you revelation of the text, because it's very subtle. If you're reading a scripture and your go to is to say, oh what you put it in CHAT and you're like, hey, what does this scripture mean? Boom, it gives it to you. You don't realize that you begin to silence the leading of the Holy Spirit. So use AI wisely. If you put it in AI, is it gonna give you an interpretation? It will the same way it would interpret your dream. Is it accurate? According to the Holy Spirit. That's a whole different thing, and it's leaning towards no. Right, So use AI wisely. Think of AI as a library of information, right, Think of it from that perspective. Okay, this is an easy source to know. Okay, how many times does Jesus speak about this? How many Where are the scriptures when Jesus healed the sick? Then you can study those scriptures for yourself, right, if you have a study bible, study Bibles have commentaries and things like that. But why I'm saying this is because AI is at your fingertips. And when something is so, when you have easy access to something, it's easy to start depending on it and you stop depending on the leading of the Holy Spirit. Right, So use AI wisely. I literally saw this was so interesting to me. There was a lady who was you know, she was praying over a program or something, and at the end of her prayer, do you know what she said, if you would like to modify this prayer? She copied everything directly using AI. AI wrote the prayer, and at the end of the prayer she did not realize she also copied when it says, if you would like to modify this prayer and read the whole thing. Was so unaware that she's also reading the part of its response to her. Because it's so accessible, people are now depending prayer, prayer, prayer to pray in the church. She got the prayer from using chat and it exposed. It was exposed because she didn't remove it right. So use AI wisely, okay. And then lastly you know their trusted study too, for when you want to understand the original language. Now, Lagos is one of them, and you've seen that there. You know, you're able to use Lagus for free and all that information is available to you. So Lagos is one of them. And another one I also love is Blueletterbible dot org. When you go to blue Letterbible dot org, you can easily also put a scripture and it would show you you know, the original tech and you can see the meanings there. And so log Us Bible software that's amazing. You can download it blue Letterbible dot org. These are excellent for studying, you know, when it comes to original like Hebrew and Greek words and so these are just some helpful tips for you when it comes to studying the world. So I pray that this was helpful. I pray that it transforms how you engage with scripture. It doesn't make it intimidating or confusing, but that you can see clarity. And really one of the key things is that you are studying the Word and you're partnering, partnering with the Holy Spirit that you want to see Jesus get a study Bible. I as much as I can, I will, you know, provide resources that I can good study Bibles plans really just you know, I'll provide a plan in time. It's not gonna be available when you watch this, but I will provide a study plan. But then in the meantime, there's so much resources out there. There's the Bible app They're doing incredible things. You can utilize that as well. But don't rush scripture. Don't rush understanding. Meditate right, so remember you know there's a place at the very least you can listen to scripture. You can read scripture. That's when you are reading the Word while engaging in other activities. But it's so in the seed. And if there's something the Holy Spirit highlights to you, pay attention to it so you can now study. Studying requires intentionality. Meditating can happen anywhere at any time. It's you reflecting, thinking, pondering on the word, considering what is it saying, and engaging with the Holy Spirit. You have the Spirit of God in you, in you stop ignoring him right the scripture talks about the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Engage him, ask questions and watch how he starts to bring the response and feedback into your life. So we're gonna continue next week. We're wrapping up the season. And this has been so special. You know, I am so grateful that I obey the Lord when he told me to start this podcast because it has also been transformational for me. And so next week we're wrapping up the season, and it's really with a charge to you. We're gonna be talking about just the wholeness, the wholeness we have that's available to us in Jesus. You know, sometimes when you're walking with the Lord, you tend to focus so much on the spiritual part of it that you neglect that you also have a body, you have a soul. You neglect care in those areas. You neglect that He can also make you hold in other places in your life. Listen, I'm a minister and I will tell you that it is possible to be anointed and broken, and that's not what the Lord wants for us. He wants us to be whole in every way. And as we're wrapping up the season, I want to really just, you know, have us really reflect in the Word of God that wholeness is possible to you. Right. Remember when engaging with the Lord. Faith, Faith is everything. You have to believe in the God. You serve that he is able to do the things that he is able to do. Right. You don't have to serve him and be bleeding. You know, you don't have to serve him and think that you just have to stay broken. No wholeness is available for you, but you have to believe it. So tune in with us on the next episode. And if you have not received the Lord Jesus and you want to receive him as Lord, then just hang in there. I'm going to pray with you. If you're watching this, then I believe that there is a hunger in your heart. There is something that has moved you with a desire to want to make Jesus Christ your Lord and savior. Now, this is not just a decision that we make out of being convinced by something. But there is a conviction of the Holy Spirit that ministers to us that I need to be saved from this path of destruction that my life has been on. I need to be saved from this sinful nature to come into life, to receive the life of God. Salvation is about an exchange that the Lord has put that sinful nature on the cross. When we believe what Jesus did, when we believe that he died and he was raised up with all victory and all power. You see on the cross, Jesus took captivity, captive. That's what the Word of God says. And what is that captivity Everything that has tried to keep you bound, including that sinful nature that we have received as from the fallen man. You see, when man fell, he took on the nature of sin, and that is the image that every other man has been born into. But in Jesus you have righteousness. You can be made righteous in Christ. And salvation is to be saved from death into life, to come out of bondage into freedom. And so I want to pray with you, but I want you to know that as you say yes to the Lord, you are saying yes to his life. You are saying yes to the ways of Jesus. You are saying yes for Jesus to live in and through you. Your body, your life becomes a home for the Holy Spirit, and he wants to express the nature of Jesus through your life. And so just join with me in prayer, because this will be the start. But salvation is a journey and we're gonna have There's gonna be a link in the description, especially if you are listening to this or you're watching this from YouTube, You're going to see this in the description, and I want you to click on that because it's going to help guide you into things about what comes next, how to study the Bible, just little things that are going to be very beneficial to your walk with the Lord. And so I just want you to pray with me, Lord Jesus, and just repeat after me. And when I say repeat after me, it's not just for you to just use words and they're empty before you. After this prayer, meditate on those words and just really have a moment of personal prayer with the Lord and let the Holy Spirit minister to you beyond what I could do. And so just repeat after me, Lord Jesus, I confess with my mouth as I have believed in my heart in this moment, that indeed you are the son of God, that when you came to the earth and you were crucified on the cross, that you put to death my sinful nature. And as I receive you, I receive your life. I receive the righteousness, the righteous nature that you have brought to give me. I exchange the sinful nature for the righteous nature. And so, Lord, come into my life and make my life your home. Have your way in and through me. Whatever is in me that is not pleasing to you. Convict me of these things. Lord, that I will not identify with the way of the flesh, but I will come in agreement with the way of life. I choose life. I choose you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen,