Welcome to Lesson Ten!
All four of my children were martial arts students. Three of them obtained their black belts, and the fourth was a high school wrestler. As I watched them train, I was struck with the attention that was given to footing. They were taught how to not lose their balance, how to stay on their feet, and they spent hours and hours focusing on that specific skill.
The material we’re covering in these lessons is very similar. In Spiritual Self Defense, you need to keep your footing. When the time comes to use the Spiritual Self Defense tactics I will teach you in later lessons, you’ll want the foundation these lessons on verifying truth provide. This is the last lesson on verifying truth.
Understanding the Bible
You may be a Bible expert or you may be a Bible newbie, but I hope you are a Bible student, that is, I hope you are reading and pondering the Bible regularly. A few years ago I interviewed Left Behind author Jerry Jenkins for a book I was writing. He told me about a conversation he had with Evangelist Billy Graham. Dr. Graham always kept an open Bible with him wherever he was. When he walked by it, he would pause and read a few verses. He called it his spiritual food.
“Do you ever miss a day?” Jenkins asked him.
“No, as I said, the Bible is my spiritual food,” Dr. Graham replied.
Most of us wouldn’t go a day without forgetting to eat. Nourishing our spiritual selves is just as important—no, even more important.
A few years ago, I felt the Lord speak to me: “You are getting weak,” He said, “you need to spend more time in the Bible.” Since then I’ve made it a practice to listen to the Bible on audio (I downloaded it to my phone) every night, all night, while I’m sleeping. That way, I take in several chapters as I fall asleep, if/when I wake up during the night, and as I’m waking up and getting up in the morning. In addition, I often study or check passages online on Biblegateway.com. I’m also working on my own version of the Bible that I’m slowly getting online at ABibleWeCanUnderstand.com and I’ve published under various titles including Rediscover God.
I hope the information and suggestions in this lesson will help you better understand the Bible and/or encourage you to dig in and enjoy the spiritual food God has for you in His word.
Reading
No video today. Our reading is pages 115–123. (You might also want to look at the chapter summary on page 124.)
Questions
Check your understanding
Let’s work through questions 5 & 6 on page 125.
Answers to “Check your understanding” questions
Group discussion
I recommend you discuss questions 5, 6, 8, 9 on page 125 from the “Group discussion” either with others who are studying with you and/or with our Facebook group.
Journal
You might also want to explore Journal question 1 on page 126.
Congratulations! Lesson Ten complete!
In the next two lessons, we’re going to discuss what really happens when we come into the family of God, and how that positions you for total transformation. After that we’ll pull everything we’ve learned so far together to develop the strategies and tactics for Spiritual Self Defense.
Look forward to seeing you next time!
Dwight
Reading and other links
Chapter 3
Section 3.8
Reading: Pages 115-124
Questions: Pages 124-126 (selected questions)
Questions? Comments? Use our private Facebook group to connect…
Links to other pages in the Spiritual Self Defense textbook
Glossary & index (pages 285-289) | Answers to “Check your understanding” questions (pages 278-284) | Table of contents (pages 3-9) | About the author (page 290) | Cover page (page 1) | Copyright page (page 2) | How this book came to be (page 11) | How to get the most from this book (page 12) | Other books to explore (page 10)
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