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Discussion Forum : Scriptures and Doctrine : Helping someone get to adore God through scripture.

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All2and4Him
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Joined: 2004/6/10
Posts: 39


 Helping someone get to adore God through scripture.

Ok, so I need your help brothers and sisters in Christ. I am distressed by a dear friends interest, but slight boredom in scripture. It is hard for me to know what to use, but I need to find a way to show her through scripture how incredibly wonderful God is. I dont want her loving God only for the things He does, but rather because He is who He is. I didnt get to know God through scripture, so it is kind of hard for me to know what scriptures to use to really drive the point home that God is incredible. The end result I wish to see in this is that she would be so in love with God that she would be searching so greatly how to please Him that she would devour the Word of God with joy, desperately seeking anything that she could do to please Him. Any help is appreciated I know a ton of verses but have a very scattered mind and terrible recall. I am looking for verses that could almost be experiential. Something to really paint a picture. May God bless you all.

John


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John C. Kelly

 2004/6/22 19:05Profile
Gideons
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Joined: 2003/9/16
Posts: 474
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 Re: Helping someone get to adore God through scripture.

Hi Brother John,

The Psalms is a great place to start. They are so full of God's character. Psalms 139 is one of my favorites but there are many other ones. Since David was referenced as a man "after God's own heart" it's a wonderful place to begin because he knew God in a very real, personal way.

1. O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
5. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10. Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
13. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
14. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
20. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
21. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
22. I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
23. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.


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Ed Pugh

 2004/6/22 21:01Profile
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Joined: 2002/12/11
Posts: 39795
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 Re:

A wondeful book by A.W. Tozer is called: [i]"The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God : Their Meaning in the Christian Life"[/i] He goes through the attributes of God using scripture and its a wonderful eye-opener.

"Recovers lost aspects of the biblical faith for contemporary Christianity."

[b]Book Description[/b]

An Inspiring Classic on the Nature of God

What is the nature of God? How can we recapture a real sense of God's majesty and truly live in the Spirit? This beloved book, a modern classic of Christian testimony and devotion, addresses these and other vital questions, showing us how we can rejuvenate our prayer life, meditate more reverently, understand God more deeply, and experience God's presence in our daily lives.

Informative and inspiring, The Knowledge of the Holy illuminates God's attributes'from wisdom, to grace, to mercy'and shows through prayerful and insightful discussion, how we can more fully recognize and appreciate each of these divine aspects. This book will be treasured by anyone committed to the Christian faith. It bears eloquent witness to God's majesty and shows us new ways to experience and understand the wonder and the power of God's spirit in our daily lives.

[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060684127/104-8195773-7596720?v=glance]The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God : Their Meaning in the Christian Life by A.W. Tozer[/url]


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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon

 2004/6/22 21:08Profile
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Joined: 2003/7/18
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 Re: Helping someone get to adore God through scripture.

Quote:
I am distressed by a dear friends interest, but slight boredom in scripture. It is hard for me to know what to use, but I need to find a way to show her through scripture how incredibly wonderful God is. I dont want her loving God only for the things He does, but rather because He is who He is. I didnt get to know God through scripture, so it is kind of hard for me to know what scriptures to use to really drive the point home that God is incredible.



John
there is a profundity in your explanation which may have escaped you. We love God's word because it is the word of God. It it because we love God that we want to hear what He has to say. I open my wife's letters with more relish than those from the Inland Revenue department.

If your friend has any personal experience of God I would try to find some portion of scripture which expounds that experience. One of my favourite stories is of a young man who found Christ in a 'corn-field' and then ran all the way home. When he got home he called 'Mother, is there a bible in the house? I want to find out what has happened to me.'

When you friend discovers that the God of experience wants her to understand what has happended to herI think her interest in the scriptures will awaken.


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Ron Bailey

 2004/6/24 10:29Profile
Matthew2323
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Joined: 2004/5/17
Posts: 235
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 Re: Helping someone get to adore God through scripture.

John,

I agree with Ed (Gideons). The Psalms are beautiful.

I would also urge you to pray for your lady-friend to find an older Christian woman to disciple her. One, who like Paul can say: Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to [b]impart to you[/b] [u]not only[/u] the gospel of God but [b]also our own lives[/b], because you had become very dear to us. (I Thessalonians 2:8) Pray God to send a mature woman who can teach Christian living while modeling the love of God. Ron's (philologos) point about loving the Word because we love God is so important. Perhaps seeing this lived out would be helpful for your friend. I suggest you pray for an older woman to come along because of the teaching of Titus 2.

1 But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. 2 Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. 3 [b]Older women[/b] likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4 [b]so that they may encourage the [u]young women[/u] to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.[/b] 6 Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; 7 in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, 8 sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. (Titus 2:1-8)

I looked at your web page briefly and noticed you are a college student in your early twenties. I will guess that you are not married. Either way, ministering to someone of the opposite sex can pose many complications, emotions not being the least of them. If you follow many of the posts on this site, you can see the dynamics and even some to the problems that can arise in the different ways we (men and women) think. A great example is the thread about the motion picture, Saved. That thread showed the wisdom behind Titus 2.

I do believe that your heart is in the right place, but I wanted to offer you these suggestions... from the Word and personal experience. In college (a touch older than yourself) and recently born again, I attempted to minister to the co-eds on campus. Whatever good came of it, I won't know until glory, but I do know that my emotions where tossed to and fro. Now, as a married man, it is my wife who ministers to other women. If I am even involved, I usually only add a word or two. Women understand women and men understand men. I'm sure you long to be wed one day (if not already) and part of the purity you can offer your wife is that of your emotions. Believe it or not, the way you relate to women now, is setting the precedent for how you will relate to your wife, good or bad.

I hope I have not strayed too terribly far from your original post, but this topic is very close to my heart.

Yours in Him,
Matthew


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Matthew

 2004/6/24 11:12Profile
DelightedInU
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Joined: 2004/5/17
Posts: 102
Escondido, CA

 Re: Helping someone get to adore God through scripture.

Your friend is female? Something that helped me to fall in love with reading the Word and with Jesus was reading his promises and how much he loved me. To think of Jesus as a lover. Not a lover in the worlds definition, but a lover of your soul. I don’t think as many guys are into thinking that way.

Some things that I would read and really portray this idea are Song of Solomon. It’s not just a story of Solomon and his wife, but look at it as the story of Christ and his bride (us). That’s how Christ looks at us. He thinks we’re gorgeous, he thinks highly of us, he loves us so much, and he rejoices in us.

One of my favorite scripture is Hosea Chapter 2. I love his faithfulness. I love how he provided. I love his patience. I love how he renewed us. I love how he loved us all along, when we strayed to other loves.

1. Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
2. Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
3. Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
4. And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.
5. For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.
6. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
7. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
8. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
9. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.
10. And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
11. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
12. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.
14. Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
15. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
16. And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
17. For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
18. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
19. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
20. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.
21. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
22. And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
23. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

Those things should help her start to adore Jesus.


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Jennifer

 2004/6/24 14:46Profile
moreofHim
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Joined: 2003/10/15
Posts: 1632


 Re: friend and scriptures

Hi John,

What Ron (philologos) said is pretty much true as far as I am concerned. It takes more than just the scriptures to fall in love with Christ- it takes experience, a revelation of Him (who He really is). Sometimes this is through scripture and sometimes it's through a thousand other things. I would pray (and I will also be praying) that she would get a revelation for herself of how personal He is to her. Without this- it won't go far.

My experience in being drawn intimately to the Lord has been through quiet time with Him, listening to worship music or even just natural experiences outside where I am quiet and alone with Him. He has shown me many detailed things that I consider intimate about our relationship when I am just thinking about Him and considering His ways.

The only thing I have ever really "read" that drew me closer in "love" was "Abide in Christ" by Hudson Taylor - which is based on the Song of solomon. A wonderful example of how much He loves His bride and longs to be with her.

I pray that she will long to know Him and see Him and feel Him so near!

In His perfect love, Chanin


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Chanin

 2004/6/24 16:51Profile
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I have been always blessed by pondering the picture of Jesus that we get in the beginning of the book of revelation:

[b]Revelation 1:12-18[/b] - And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, [color=CC0000]Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.[/color]

*Sorry Ron about the [color=CC0000]red[/color]
:-P

I remember the words of Leonard Ravenhill on this portion of scripture: "The Church needs a new revelation of the majesty of God". Jesus isn't always seen as meek and mild but he is awesome in majesty also.


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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon

 2004/6/24 17:03Profile
All2and4Him
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 Re:

heh, I dont care too much for the red either... Probably for a different reason though.

John


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John C. Kelly

 2004/6/30 1:51Profile





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