The verses jumped right at me

Last night I prayed specifically to God and asked Him:
"Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that you bless us with wisdom, with
greater understanding of Your Word, that God, you will speak to us.
God, is the bible still relevant today? Is the bible valid? Speak to
us, Lord, as You would."
and of course my prayer was slightly longer than this, but the above
was the gist of it.

I then proceeded to read my bible (like I should every night, usually
3 chapters per nite)
I was on the book of John.

John 7:15 caught my eye:
"And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters,
having never studied?"

I carried on, to read this John 7:16-19:
"Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?"

I stopped.
I wondered if that was God's answer to my question. So, I prayed to
God and said, "God, are You speaking to me? If this is so, I pray O'
God that You will reinforce the message; the answer.

I proceeded to read the bible and the footnotes said:
"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" John 8:32
"Jesus makes a big deal about truth because only the truth sets you
free. Satan is the father of lies, a master deceiver, and he wants you
to believe anything other than the teachings of Jesus. The truth is
that believing in Jesus saves you from your sin, and saves you for
eternal life. In this verse, Jesus says that the truth will set you
free because Jesus frees you from your bondage to sin. Satan will
whisper lies to you over and over, hoping you will believe his tricks
and get confused. Remember that confusion is not from God. (see 1Cor
14:33)
When you feel confused or overwhelmed, return to scripture and read
the truth of the words of God. From Him, you will find direction and
clear guidance. Meditate on those words. Let His truth come alive in
your mind and in your heart.
The bible makes a big deal about truth because lies will lead you
astray. Stay focused on the truth of God's Word. Know the truth,
follow the truth, tell the truth. It 'shall make you free'! [see for
yourself: Ps 33:4; John 1:17; 17:17; Eph 4:20-21]"

Admittedly, after reading the above, I was still a little skeptical
since my question was about the validity of the bible itself. So, if
it asked me to refer back to doctrine, I was a little skeptical of
what it was saying, although I was already half convinced I had
already gotten the answer.

By the end of my 3rd chapter [John 9] (last chapter for the night's reading),
about the story of how the blind man was healed, this verse spoke to me:
27He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do
you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"

sheesh, I was a little taken aback.
I know not what to say actually :p
I then told God, " God, I know what the first line means, but what about the second line? I mean, yes, I do want to be your disciple; I want to be discipled. God, I pray that You will continue to consecrate me; bless me with Your annointing; set me apart from the world; sanctify me for Your kingdom; for Your glory."

In any case, I am convinced that God is real.
"Seek and you will find."
"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in
me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of
living water." (John 7:37-38)

All in a night's reading! What a night!

Intelligent

I had been going on for a while about knowledge, wisdom and understanding; been praying for intelligence; seeking for answers..
Once, immediately after my prayer, during my bible-reading, God said, "The spirit of God gives understanding, wisdom and knowledge to anyone who asks. (Isa 11:2)"

Two days ago, God spoke to me thru my bible again..

"Faith is not having an intellectual belief in God. It is knowing in your heart that He is real and responding with your life (the things you do) to the gift of mercy He gave you through His son."

God never fail to use my bible to speak to me.. and it is amazing how it is always straight to the point. This is also how I know that God is real. Amen.
Hallelujah!

listen intently

Pastor, you told me to have conviction, but I did not comprehend that fully.
I kept going on and on about wisdom and intelligence, about preaching to the U1s (the intellect agnostics) and you said CONVICTION.
I meditated about it for a while, and the meaning slowly began to surface..
From the book LEFT BEHIND:

Rayford was a pilot. He had paid no attention to his wife when she spoke to him about rapture. Now, he is left behind.

But he is not about to waste his second chance, and neither does he want the others to miss the boat like he did. He had just spoken to the reporter on what he thought of the phenomenon from his perspective as a pilot, whose passengers went missing on his plane. This got the reporter thinking..

“But even more exciting was the possibility that another answer man awaited him in Chicago, a man he trusted simply on the recommendation of a pilot who has seemed to speak the truth with authority.”

Rayford was no intellect nor evangelist, yet he spoke boldly of his new-found faith. That, spoke to me, of CONVICTION.

Tonight, as I went home from cell group. A friend of mine was harping about how it was not possible to be a true Christian, about how corrupt the world is today, and how it was not possible for anyone in any occupation to be true Christians except pastors and full-time church workers. I didn’t like the way he talked about being true Christians, which almost sounded like an excuse.. Anyway, that got me thinking. What (is it) about a True Christian? [He made a mention about Mother Theresa somewhere] Then I remembered yesterday’s Daily Bread:

"He was wounded for our transgressions. —Isaiah 53:5

In our let's-make-everything-okay world we often look at sin and wonder, what's the big deal? After all, our sin isn't so bad. If we lie a little or cheat just a bit—what's the harm? If we gossip some or use coarse language a few times—whom will it hurt? What's so bad about sin?

It's bad because of what it put Jesus through. Yes, our sin was the reason for the torment Jesus suffered as He made His way to the cross—and as He hung on that cross and ultimately died a horrific death.

Of course we can never undo what has been done; that pain can never be reversed. Yet we must understand that if we continue to sin knowingly, we are in effect turning our back on Jesus and His pain. It's as if we're saying that it doesn't matter to us what we put Jesus through, we're going to do what we want. To sin in the light of the cross is to tell Jesus that even His intense suffering has not taught us about the awfulness of sin."

To be a true Christian, let us all try to practise what we preach. Expect no less of yourself what you expect of the world. Disappointments are only as disappointing as your sights.

Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment;....but trust
in GOD, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity.
- Dwight L. Moody

Keep your eyes on God and you'll soon lose sight of your fears. INDEED..

I woke up with a message..

You know, God has been speaking me to me more often these days.. (just when I thought, "hmm.. I haven't updated my prayer journal for a while now..")

This morning as usual, I woke up to my alarm: my anthem which I have chosen for myself:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart

And lean not on your own understanding

In all your ways, acknowledge Him

And He shall direct, and He shall direct your path”

Since I have been praying for a revelation. (I had earlier wanted to join the preaching contest for EMERGE, so I prayed for a revelation on a sermon outline) So, when I woke up this morning, this was the message in my head:

Friends, how hungry are you today?

Are you hungry for God?

How many meals do you take a day?

Are you filled with the spiritual food of God?

God loves those who are hungry and He wants to fill you.

Following that message, were a few others that were ringing in my head.

God’s anointing

Fear. Fear is mistrust.

Fear not. …

What is your anthem?

There were so many messages ringing in my head that I wanted to write all of ‘em down.

Unfortunately, I became too anxious about what I needed to do that I decided to do the rest of the unimportant things first: brush my teeth, change, take supplements etc etc

When I was done with everything, I started to pray, and I prayed very intently knowing that God’s presence is with me.

When I went to work, I was reading today’s daily bread.

Haggai ^2:5 'This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.'

Subsequently, as I was doing my bible reading for today, 12^th April:

Acts ^{13: 15} .. “Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak.”.

It was then, that I started to write down the message that I had this morning.

God is serious. I told Him I wanted to show Him that I was serious too, and I really should.