Lesson #2 How to STUDY the Bible

LESSON #2

THE BEST WAY TO STUDY THE BIBLE!

OBSERVATION

INTERPRETATION

APPLICATION

to the GOAL of

TRANSFORMATION!

WEEK #2

DAY #8

The subject under discussion for day number 8 is entitled "The best way to study the Bible". Now when I say the BEST WAY, I by no means say that it is the ONLY WAY to study the Bible, as does the author of this book, which we are using as a guide line to study the Bible. In other words, what may be the "BEST" way for one individual to study the Bible may NOT be the "BEST" way for another individual to study the Bible.

For example, author of the book we are reading states that the best way to study the Bible in her OPIONION is to study the Bible book by book, and her line of reasoning is that this is the way that the Bible, God's WORD was given to us. In other words, God did not give us his word subject by subject, or topic by topic, but rather the word of God was inspired by God as his Spirit moved upon men of old to record was God was doing in the life of mankind. Therefore the best way to study the Bible, again in her opinion is to study God's word book by book.

However, "FOR ME" and I emphasize the words "FOR ME" the BEST way that I personally have found to study the Bible is by "SUBJECT" or "TOPIC", which is totally opposite of what we read in the book we are studying by Kay Arthur, Lord, Teach Me To Pray In 28 Days.

Now the reason WHY I say this is the best way for ME is because my mind is only able to focus upon ONE THING at a time. In other words, when I am studying a math problem I do NOT need all the distractions of a history lesson going on at the same time. One subject or topic is going to suffer in the process of trying to figure out more than one thing at a time. Well at least for ME this is the case. So for me personally I am a far better student if I focus upon ONE CERTAIN TOPIC or SUBJECT at a time. Also the Bible teaches us in Isaiah 28:9,10 that God teaches us knowledge and causes us to understand doctrine by precept upon precept, line upon line, HERE a little and THERE a little. In other words, God places a little knowledge HERE in one particular book and then in ANOTHER book God places a little MORE knowledge to help us understand even further than what we gained from the ONE book. Can you see what I am saying? Go ahead and read Isaiah 28:9,10 which says,

"Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

10. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; HERE a little, and THERE a little:"

In other words, God hides his TRUTH a LITTLE HERE in one book and a LITTLE THERE in another book, so if you desire to know the WHOLE truth you need to study more than one book of the Bible. Of course I realize that those who prefer to study book by book do study more than just one book of the Bible, but if you are like me and are prone to want to know the answer NOW, then it is hard to be patient and wait for the answer until you have studied ALL the books of the Bible. I mean think about this from a logic standpoint. It takes most of us just to READ through the entire Bible almost a year, let alone taking time to STUDY the whole Bible. So the let's say you were sick and want to learn for your self about healing. Would it not be more logical to FOCUS upon ONLY the scriptures that speak on HEALING, rather than trying to learn about all the places Paul went to minister in the BOOK of Acts? Of course it would, because what good is obtaining knowledge about the place that Paul traveled when you are in need of HEALING?

Therefore, for ME personally, WHILE I am searching and looking for TRUTH I find it easier to focus on ONE topic or ONE POINT of TRUTH at a time. For you see, when studying book by book there are MANY points of TRUTH that may arise and from book to book where each book may differ or bring forth addition truths that must be kept in memory until you have studied ALL the books.

Whereas studying by subject or topic you are FOCUSED on answering ONLY the question you have in your mind to answer. It is kind of like when we were in school and you read the questions at the end of each lesson BEFORE you actually read the study material. Then WHILE your are reading the text you are FOCUSED upon finding the answers to the questions that will be on the test. For example the "TEST" in you life at this moment may be a need for healing and you may want to KNOW if it is God's WILL to heal you? Now you can be patient and read the entire Bible book by book or you can FOCUS upon the TOPIC of HEALING and search through each book looking for the ANSWER to that SPECIFIC QUESTION to help you pass the TEST. With that being said, I leave it to you so that you can draw your OWN conclusions as to what is the best way to study the Bible for YOU. We will however endeavor to take a close look at both of these ways as we continue this study in God's word.

In the title of this lesson lesson number 2, I made mention of four words: OBSERVATION, INTERPRETAION, APPLICATION and the goal to which we are all striving for is; TRANSFORMATION!

The word "OBSERVATION" is seeing, or discovering WHAT the text SAYS. In our first lesson we learned the importance of OBSERVING who is speaking and to whom are the words being spoken to was just as important as to what was actually being said. Now we want to add to this observation the questions: Is it HISTORY? Is it POETRY? Is it LAW, that is to say, is it a COMMANDMENT and an INSTRUCTION? Or is it a LETTER? In other words, these QUESTIONS are part of our OBSERVATION of the text in which we are reading and studying.

Other questions we may ask of the text are: Who are the main characters? Where is it taking place? What time period is it? Also we want to pay attention to see if words, phrases, or things are REPEATED! Observation is one of the KEY things to coming to a CORRECT and ACCURATE INTERPRTATION of the text. So therefore learn to ask QUESTIONS of the text WHILE you are reading.

Now the word "INTERPRETATION" in its TRUE meaning is the discovering of WHAT the text ACTUALLY and CORRECTLY MEANS. In other words, there may be more than ONE way to VIEW what a text is saying, BUT there can be only ONE TRUE interpretation. Now this ONE TRUE interpretation may involve PARTS of several viewpoints that have been arrived at by several different people. In other words, when two sides have DIFFERENT "interpretations" or different points of view that are most often completely opposite of each other, then the TRUE INTERPTPRETATION may be down the middle somewhere BETWEEN these two opposing viewpoints. In other words, it may not be that one side is WRONG and the other side is RIGHT, but RATHER BOTH sides may contain a little truth and the WHOLE truth is somewhere INBETWEEN the two opposing points of view.

Therefore never completely throw away any viewpoint, UNTIL you have heard ALL the evidence from both sides, because there may be a little truth from each side that will point to the TRUE interpretation of the text. Also keep in mind that is some instances there are more than just ONE valid or correct interpretation. So how do we know fore sure which viewpoint is correct?

Sometimes we need to take a close look at what particular words in the text actually mean in the original language in order to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now please keep in mind that words may have DIFFERENT meanings in the original language just as words in our own language have different meanings as well. So then, HOW do we choose the TRUE meaning for the particular text that we are reading?

The same way we do in our own language, we judge the meaning of the word being used BY the CONTEXT of what is being said. Therefore the CONTEXT of the text is ultimately the determining factor of what a particular word means, when there are multiple meanings of a word. Again we know this to be so in our own native language where some words have DIFFERENT meanings and it can only be determined what the author means by his or her choice of words by the WHOLE CONTEXT of what is being said. Therefore we need to ask the question: "What is the SUBJECT that is under discussion". In other words, what is the POINT that is being made in the text?

Another way to ACCURATELY INTERPRET a passage of scripture, or to CHECK to see if the point of view we have arrived at is the TRUE interpretation of the text and the entire word of God is to CROSS-REFERENCE it with other passages of scripture. In other words, WHAT does the WHOLE word of God have to say on this particular SUBJECT? So then, we see the need, or rather the VITAL IMPORTANCE of COMPARING scripture with other scripture!

In other words, ACCURATE interpretation depends upon CAREFUL and COMPLETE OBSERVATION of not ONLY the text or book that we are studying, but rather upon what the WHOLE word of God has to say. It is vitally important to lay to good sound and unshakeable FOUNDATION so that the point of view that you arrive at is a BIBLICALLY SOUND INTERPRETATION of the WHOLE word of God. In other words, NO interpretation should ever CONTRADICT what the CLEAR and PLAIN reading of the WHOLE word of God teaches us!

Now observation and interpretation will help you see and understand what the text says and what the text means, BUT before anyone can EXPERIENCE TRANSFORMATION one must learn and know how to APPLY God's word to their life.

So then, "APPLICATION" is the process of CONFORMING one's self to the word of God. Therefore we need to ask the questions: How does God desire for us to LIVE? What STEPS to we need to take in order to bring about God's WILL for our life? In other words, HOW do we WALK in the LIGHT of the TRUTH, which we have learned? We are often taught the DO'S and the DON'TS: now DON'T do this, and DON'T do that, or DO this and DO that, but sometimes some have not been properly TAUGHT as to HOW to bring this about. In other words, some of us know WHAT we are to DO and NOT to do, but there are some that do NOT know HOW to APPLY these things to our lives.

We all know that we should OBEY God's word, but some lack the knowledge of HOW to OBEY God's word.

Sometimes OBEDIENCE is JUST DOING, like the Nike commercial that says, JUST DO IT! As a side note the word "NIKE" is a Greek word that mean SUCCESS. So for me I have to wonder if the person that founded this company and gave it the name "NIKE" DELIBERATELY chose this word "NIKE" knowing that it meant SUCCESS, knowing that every time someone said the word "NIKE" they were saying SUCCESS, as in SUCCESS to the company? One thing for sure is that no one steps out and invests their life and their finances to a venture that they do not BELIEVE in! In other words, no one in their right mind would start a business having no hope or vision of the business being prosperous and successful.

My point is this, BEFORE DOING one must BELIEVE! For example, BEFORE you can live your life WITHOUT SIN you MUST BELIEVE that you CAN live your life without sin! BEFORE you can be saved you MUST BELIEVE that you CAN be saved! BEFORE DOING, or BEFORE APPLYING God's word to our life we MUST BELIEVE that we CAN apply God's word to our life to bring about TRANSFORMATION!

Therefore KNOW that when you are studying the Bible that you are studying the VERY WORD of Almighty God. God's word is TRUTH. God's word is LIFE. God's word is PURE. And the ENTRANCE of God's word BRINGS LIGHT. Also ALWAYS remember what we learned in the introduction of this Bible study that Almighty God is ALWAYS FAITHFUL to his WORD! KNOW THIS for your GOOD! Now let's read 2 Timothy 3:14-17, which teaches us several things about the WORD of God.

"But CONTINUE you in the things which you have LEARNED and have been ASSURE of, knowing of whom you have learned them;

15. And that from a child you have known the HOLY SCRIPTURES, which are able to make you WISE unto salvation (HOW?)through FAITH which is in Christ Jesus.

16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, (profitable) for reproof, (profitable) for correction, (profitable) for instruction in righteousness: (WHY?)

17. That the man of God (speaking of EVERY born again BELIEVER) may be PERFECT, thoroughly furnished unto ALL GOOD WORKS."

So in other words, all scripture is given for the PURPOSE to TEACH us, to REPROVE us, to CORRECT us, and to INSTRUCT us HOW to LIVE a PERFECT and GODLY life before Almighty God by FULLY and THOROUGHLY FURNISHING us with ALL we NEED to get the job DONE. In other words, Almighty God has GIVEN us ALL the MATERIAL we need, ALL the TOOLS we need, ALL the INSTRUCTIONS and blueprints we need, which INCLUDES apostles, teachers, pastors and instructors in righteousness that help us understand the instructions and blueprints. God also has GIVEN us his EXCEEDING GREAT and PRECIOUS PROMISES in his WORD along with his HOLY SPIRIT to lead us and guide us into ALL TRUTH so that we can LIVE GODLY IN this PRESENT world and be found BLAMELESS before him in love.

In short, the ANSWER to what you need is IN the WORD of Almighty God! So WHERE do we BEGIN?

DAY #9

(Following the author of the book that we are using as a guide line) which states that the best way to study the Bible is book by book we will begin by taking a close look at the book of Jonah. So then let us begin by reading the book of Jonah through once with several questions in mind, the the five W's and the H questions, such as, who is the author?, who are the people involved in the story?, that is to say, who are the main characters. Think about what type of book it is that you are reading, whether or not it is a historical book, a poetic book, a biographical book, or a prophetic book? Think on the question as to where things take place and when they take place. Also on this first reading go ahead and highlight the Lord and all pronouns such as he, him, his and you that refer to the Lord in yellow and also highlight Jonah and all the pronouns the refer to him in blue. But also try and keep the above questions in mind as well when reading the book of Jonah.

Chapter 1 of Jonah

"1. Now the WORD of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2. Arise, (the Lord speaking to Jonah, saying ARISE) go to Nineveh (Where did the Lord send Jonah? The answer is NINEVAH), that great city, and cry against it; (WHY did the Lord send Jonah to Nineveh?) for (or because) their wickedness is come up before me.

3. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish (another place other than where God sent Jonah to go) from the presence of the LORD,(which tells me that the presence of the Lord is where or in place or in the thing God sends us to do, but Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord) and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

4. But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

5. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

6. So the ship master came to him, and said unto him, What mean you, O sleeper? (the captain of the ship speaking to Jonah) Arise, call upon your God, if so be that God (referring to Jonah's God, the TRUE and only wise God) will think upon us, that we perish not.

7. And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

8. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray you, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is your occupation? and whence come you? What is your country? And of what people are you?

9. And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which has made the sea and the dry land.

10. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why have you done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

11. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto you, that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.

12. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

13. Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.

14. Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech you, O LORD, we beseech you, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you.

15. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.

16. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.

17. Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights."

So you can see how I asked different questions of the text by the way I placed the questions in parenthesizes after certain words or phases. I do this quite often in the studies I write to help the reader see the direction of what I am trying to learn from the text. Let us continue reading by reading chapter 2 of Jonah and you ask the questions this time.

1. Then Jonah PRAYED unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,

2. And said, I cried (cried out or prayed to God) by reason of my affliction unto the LORD, and he heardme; out of the belly of hell cried I, and you heard my voice.

3. For you had cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all your billows and your waves passed over me.

4. Then I said, I am cast out of your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.

5. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

6. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her BARS was about me for ever: yet have you brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.

7. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto you, into your holy temple.

8. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

9. But I will sacrifice unto you with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

10. And the LORD spoke unto the fish (or symbolically, or prophetically the Lord spoke to the grave or the belly of hell saying release my Son), and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land."

Before we proceed with chapter three I want to point out that one of the things that I personally OBSERVED in chapter two of Jonah was that some of the verses in this chapter seem to point to Jesus as a prophecy of Jesus dying and going into the belly of the earth or the belly of hell as Jonah 2:2 plainly states in the King James version of the Bible. Anyway I highlighted in red the pronouns that are referring to Jonah, which I have seen or have viewed or have observed as referring to Jesus as well in a prophetic sense. There may be more, but the ones in red, definitely, to ME, have a reference to Jesus in other parts of God's word, that I will bring forth at a later time. But for now let us continue with the study.

Charter 3 of Jonah

1. And the WORD of the LORD came unto Jonah the SECOND time, saying,

2. Arise (the Lord speaking unto Jonah), go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid you.

3. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the WORD of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.

4. And Jonah BEGAN to enter into the city a day's journey,(in other words, Jonah was only one third of the way through the city after a day's journey) and he cried (or PREACHED the word of the Lord), and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

5. So the people of Nineveh BELIEVED God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.(WHY?)

6. FOR (or because) WORD came unto the king of Nineveh,(or more precisely the king RECEIVED the WORD of God into his heart and BELEIVED the WORD of the Lord) and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

7. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

8. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and CRY (or PRAY) mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

9. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

10. And God SAW their works, (WHAT WORKS?) that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it NOT."

Chapter 4 of Jonah

1. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly , and he was very angry.

2. And he PRAYED unto the LORD, and said, I PRAY you, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repent you of the evil.

3. Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

4. Then said the LORD, do you well to be angry?

5. So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

6. And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

7. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

8. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

9. And God said to Jonah, Do you well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.

10. Then said the LORD, You have had pity on the gourd, for the which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

11. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand (120,000) persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?"

Now that you have identified the two main characters in this book I want you to make two columns; one for the Lord and one for Jonah and then go verse by verse and ask the questions who, what, why, where, when, and how.

For example WHAT happened in Jonah 1:1?

"Now the WORD of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,"

Please notice that I emphasized the phrase "WORD of the LORD" by underlining it and putting it in bold letters, because this tells me that the LORD God Almighty is the one who is speaking. Then I underlined the words "came unto", which tells me to WHOM the Lord is speaking. So we see that the Lord was speaking to Jonah, because we OBSERVED that the WORD of the LORD CAME UNTO or was spoken TO JONAH, who we also observe is the son of Amittai, which gives us some genealogy that falls under the categories of biographical and history.

Continue this method taking each verse one at a time throughout the entire book you are studying. Then when you are finished making your OBSERVATIONS, pray and meditate on what you have come to SEE and have discovered by your OBSERVATION of CLOSELY examining each verse, phrase, and word in the text.

Now by the word "MEDITATING" I mean to reflect, think about it over and over. And as you are thinking about WHAT you have learned also consider HOW you can APPLY this knowledge to your life? Always remember to PRAY and ASK God for WISDOM, which we learned that WISDOM is HOW to APPLY what we have learned to our lives in lesson #1 when we last met.

The question of WHERE relates to the PLACES mentioned in the passage. And the question of WHEN relates to the reference of TIME with such words as day, month, year, until, before, after, and then. Some Bibles have maps in them that will help you get a geographical location as to WHERE to story or account took place.

DAY #10

Pray and meditate on what you have learned thus far. Focus on the things that the Holy Spirit brings to your remembrance.

Go ahead and read the book of Jonah again with the question in mind as to the WHERE, such as the PLACES like Nineveh, Joppa, Tarshish and the sea. If you do not have a map in your Bible, please refer to the map in the book for a general idea of the amount of territory that Jonah covered in his rebellion or running from what God wanted him to do.

Also think about the question of WHEN or the time by taking note of such words as day, month, year, before, after, then, and until.

Ask God any questions you may have concerning what you have read in the book of Jonah the past couple of days. Have QUESTIONS come to your mind while reading God's WORD? You may find it useful to write down these questions after you have asked God for the answers, one reason being, is that at times the answers seem to be delayed in coming. Always remember if you desire an answer, then do NOT WAVER in your faith knowing that God WILL without fail ANSWER your prayer, KNOWING that a man or person that WAVERS shall NOT receive ANYTHING of the Lord.

DAY #11

Today we are going to learn the importance of CONTEXT. The book suggests that you go through the book of Jonah chapter 1 again and mark the other characters such as the captain of the ship in a different color than that which you have already used and ask yourself the same basic questions of why, who, what, when, where, and how?

Now when all the questions are asked you have a good understanding of the CONTEXT of WHAT has taken place, WHERE it has taken place, WHEN it has taken place, and WHO is involved in the WHAT, WHERE, and WHEN the taking place has occurred. Now comes the questions of WHY and HOW. Sometimes these questions are easy to answer, and at other times not so easy. Always begin with what you know or what you have OBSERVED. This is what is know as using the CONTEXT.

The word "CONTEXT" has the Latin root "CON" which means WITH. Therefore the word "CONTEXT" means WITH the TEXT. In other words, we need to KEEP the verse of verses that are in question in the center of the meaning of the rest of the TEXT or surrounding verses of scripture. Another word used by those that study the Bible is "PRETEXT" which basically means that the reading takes his of her PRE conceived idea or belief and read it INTO the text, which in some cases leads them AWAY from the TRUE meaning of the text. Therefore studying with pretext sometimes leads the reader to come to a FALSE interpretation of the text and therefore the TRUTH is sometimes concealed.

This is WHY we need to sometimes lay aside what we have been taught and take a closer look at what the WHOLE word of God is teaching us especially when the Holy Spirit of Almighty God is leading you to do so.

DAY #12

After observing people, places, and things begin to ask yourself the reasons of WHY? In other words, WHAT is the PURPOSE? WHY? Sometimes the why is readily answered, but the HOW in not know so easily.

This is where looking for and identifying KEY words and phases will help us in understanding the text.

Sometimes KEY words are REPEATED. It may be that a phrase of subject is stated once and then again in a slightly different way. These are some of the things you want to look for and then mark so that they can be readily seen or picked up upon when you re-read the text. These KEY words help us understand the main subject that is under discussion, and there may be more than one topic that is being discussed.

A good example of REPETITION is found in 1 John chapter 4, which reads as follows:

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2. Hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3. And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

4. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

5. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them.

6. We are of God: he that knows God hears us; he that is not of God hears not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

7. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knows God.

8. He that loves not knows not God; for God is love.

9. In this (referring to in this that God IS LOVE)was manifested (or clearly SHOWN) the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10. Herein (in this ACTION of Almighty God showing his LOVE toward us by sending his only begotten Son) IS love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

12. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

14. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

15. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God.

16. And we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him.

17. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

18. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love.

19. We love him, because he first loved us.

20. If a man say, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

21. And this commandment have we from him, That he who loves God love his brother also."

So the, by OBSERVING the KEY word in this passage of scripture we can plainly see that at least one of the topics under discussion by the writer is LOVE. So for today read Jonah chapter 1 again and this time mark the KEY words that you find.

"Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

3. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

4. But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

5. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

6. So the ship master came to him, and said unto him, What mean you, O sleeper ? arise, call upon your God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

7. And they said every one to his fellow, Come , and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

8. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray you, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is your occupation? and whence come you? what is your country? And of what people are you? 9 And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which has made the sea and the dry land.

10. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why have you done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

11. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto you, that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.

12. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

13. Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought , and was tempestuous against them.

14. Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech you, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you.

15. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.

16. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.

17. Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights."

DAY #13

The author asks the question, What does the phrase "fleeing from the PRESENCE of the Lord" mean seeing that that we have been taught that God is present everywhere and is all knowing therefore no one can truly HIDE from God.

Do you think then that this phrase would best be interpreted as DISOBEDIENCE to Almighty God, rather than HIDING from God's PRESENCE? Another verse that helps support DISOBEDIENCE is verse 12 where Jonah tells us that he knows that he is the cause for the raging sea, therefore reason teaches us that God knows where Jonah was all the time. Therefore we can conclude that DISOBEDIENCE and REBELLION leads us away or cause us to flee from the PRESENCE of the Lord.

Any questions?

DAY #14

God's ENTIRE word is TRUTH and God never contradicts himself. In other words, SCRIPTURE cannot be broken, therefore the best interpreter of scripture is scripture. That is to say, always interpret a verse or passage of scripture in the light of the WHOLE word of God.

Often the Holy Spirit will bring to your remembrance a verse or passage of scripture that you read before that will guide you to the true interpretation of what you are studying. Therefore follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and look up the verses that he is leading you to read.

One of the things that stood out to me was Jonah 2:2, which says,

"And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of HELL cried I, and you heard my voice."

When I read this verse the phrase "out of the belly of HELL" jumped out, or stood out to me bringing to my remembrance the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:40 that says,

"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

The following verses speak of Jesus whose descend into HELL for three days and three nights, but was not left in hell. This speaks of the prophecy of Jesus being resurrected from the dead to ascend into heaven to be seated at the right hand of Almighty God.

Psalm 16

"Preserve me, O God: for in you do I put my trust.

2. O my soul, you have said unto the LORD, You are my Lord: my goodness extends not to you;

3. But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.

4. Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.

5. The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: you maintain my lot.

6. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

7. I will bless the LORD, who has given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.

8. I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

10. For you will NOT leave my soul in HELL; neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption.

11. You will shew me the path of life: in your presence is fulness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore."

Then we read in Acts 2:22-32 that this Psalm is speaking of Jesus.

"You men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know:

23. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

24. Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

25. For David speaks concerning him, (referring to the Psalms) I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

26. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

27. Because you will not leave my soul in HELL, neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption.

28. You have made known to me the ways of life; you shall make me full of joy with your countenance.

29. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.

30. THEREFORE being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

31. He seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

32. This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses."

So then, when Jesus was crucified and and he gave up the ghost, or died he went into the heart of the earth, or the belly of HELL for three days and three nights just like he said he would according to the prophecy of him that spoke before of his resurrection.

Psalm 116

"I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.

2. Because he has inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

3. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of HELL gat hold upon me (or took hold upon me): I found trouble and sorrow.

4. Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech you, deliver my soul.

5. Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.

6. The LORD preserves the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.

7. Return unto your rest, O my soul; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.

8. For you have delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

9. I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

10. I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:

11. I said in my haste, All men are liars.

12. What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?

13. I will take the CUP of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.

14. I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.

15. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

16. O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, and the son of thine handmaid: you have loosed my bonds.

17. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.

18. I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people,

19. In the courts of the LORD'S house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise you the LORD."

(Sorry, but I ran out of time and did not get to finish. We will move on to week 3 and in time I will update week 2 when I find the time. If I have sparked an interest in prophecy please feel free to continue this study on your own.

I want to stress the point that the Holy Spirit is our teacher, so go where the Holy Spirit leads you.

Another thing that I observed when studying Jonah was the words "CRY" and "CRIED" that refer to PRAYER. Therefore in our using these methods of studying the Bible we need to now ADD these words to our study on PRAYER, which I have again ran out of time this week to get done. I will try and catch up.)