Our Weekly Devotionals

Godly influences

So the Lord Jesus says that: If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 1 Corinthians 12: 17 – 20 (NIV).

This verse means that for a body to work WELL - it needs different parts: some legs, heart, bones, and marrow etc. These parts when joined together, form the body, of which Christ is the head.

If you therefore want to for example understand certain parts of the Bible, try as you can, you will not understand - because God in his wisdom has made it that we are not supposed to be alone or independent. You need people around you - godly influences.

Many new disciples however struggle with the purpose of other people, BUT I SHOULD WARN YOU. It is only Satan your great enemy who wants you isolated for he is a prowling lion. How do lions hunt?

They isolate the weak, the sick, the young. They separate them from the herd and then steal, kill, and destroy so every time you feel that "I don’t need others" you are facing a temptation from Satan – resist the enemy by using the word (I taught you that in part 4).

In your Christian walk to understand the Bible, you need to have all sorts of godly influences. These godly influences have been very critical for me understanding the Bible better. For example:

• When I wanted to understand the basics of Christianity, I read Nicky Gumbel.
• When I wanted answers to difficult bible questions such as: "Who was Cain's wife" or "Is having a tattoo a sin" or "Is homosexuality wrong" I went to sites like gotquestions.org
• When I needed to understand how to preach to Muslims, I read a book by an Egyptian pastor, who had grown up around Muslims.
• When I needed to grow in faith for miracles, I followed a minister who performed such.

As you can see that supplementing your bible reading with different resources will make you a stronger disciple who is not "tossed on every wind of doctrine" … a stronger Christian is a better soldier and a good soldier also needs to be accountable to an immediate supervisor and that is where the church fits in, as I will explain next time.

To be continued…

 

Your brother in the Lord and a slave of the Lord Jesus.

D E Wasake.