ELEMENTS OF MY FAITH & PRACTICE

Two of the most important elements of my religious life are the Bible and worship.  They both are ways of communication and communion between God and me.  The Bible enhances my worship and worship enhances my reading and studying of the Bible, so the two go hand in hand in my walk with God.  They are both Fountains of Living Water for my heart, mind, and soul.

I am more of a devotional reader than a scholarly reader of the Bible; but I believe both methods are important.  The more I love someone, the more I want to know about that someone.  The more I know about someone, the more I love that someone.  So I intentionally use both methods as I study and simply read the Bible.  Both ways of reading the Bible must be done with a firm foundation of faith in God so that I know that the Bible is God speaking to me.  I listen and obey His words and ways He is sharing with me, not forming my own opinions as to what the words are saying. 

There has been a lot of damage done by interpreting the words through a personal agenda, or using the words to backup a personal opinion.  I come to the Bible empty of my words and drink in God’s words.  Then I build my ideas and thoughts on God’s words and thoughts, with the Holy Spirit of truth guiding me.  I drink them in and let them work an inner transformation and then let my faith and practice grow and mature from inside to outside in my life. I continue to use the Bible as a plum line, a standard to measure my faith and practice by.  I also use the Bible as a way to correct myself when I realize I have gotten off the path.  God knows I am not perfect and lovingly “recalculates” the way back on the path.  This makes me love Him even more.

How can I not worship a God who cares so much about me?  The God who created the heavens and the earth cares intimately for His creation, and that includes each and every one of us human beings.  He created everything good and is actively involved in keeping everything good.  He hates everything that would effect His creation in a harmful way and will do everything to protect all of it.  That should invoke a sense of fear in the minds and hearts of people, not a bad fear but a good fear; a fear motivated and driven by ultimate love.  It is a fear that causes me to bow down to Him, not run away from Him.  It is a fear that results in a sense of awe and worship of Him, not a hiding ourselves from Him.  His protectiveness over His creation is a trait of worth and is worthy of worship.