You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
11 Be glad
[samach] in the LORD [Yahovah], and
rejoice [giyl], ye righteous [tsaddiyq]: and shout [ranan] for joy,
all ye that are upright [yashar] in heart [leb]. KJV-Interlinear
11 Be glad in the Lord,
and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! ESV
Who is glad? Who rejoices? Who shouts for joy? All who are upright in heart. Heart, ‘leb,’ refers to the pump or functioning action of ongoing doctrinal thinking throughout your soul. And without learning of doctrine there is no thinking, and without thinking of doctrine there is no gladness, rejoicing, or shouts of happiness.
You have to learn doctrine in order to think it. What you think is what you are.
This is why the content of the scriptures hugely emphasizes the daily study and learning, leading to understanding and a spiritual pattern of life, leading to wisdom and the faith or power that is so important in ones life.
Even if you have studied for decades, it is important that you do not stop, that you never stop, because once stopped, then you can easily slide back into the old patterns of the sin nature, and lose what spiritual ground you have gained.
There is no finish line in this life. That comes when you move on to heaven and the next life.
The objective of this life is advancement to spiritual maturity.
Everything else that you do in this life, such as your daily job or career, or whatever it is that you do from day to day, serve as the logistics for making a living in this world, and add to your overall understanding of the responsibilities of life.
But your most important objective is to study Bible doctrine daily, and study in the correct way, namely from instruction, while in fellowship, and advance to spiritual maturity.
You will not have any measuring device, no gauge, nothing to tell you where you are within your spiritual life, except your hindsight and how you react or respond to the many things that can and will happen to you during your life.
The world will hurl enticements and compromises and distractions and troubles that are obvious and subtle, in order to get you to leave or skip your daily studies, and thus fail.
But, God has given us all a few minutes each day, to study, and God has given us all twenty-four hours a day to think. That assumes that you do think. So you have no excuse, even though you will try to find excuses for being too busy or too distracted or confident that you know it all, already.
In the end, your commitment or lack of it, will determine your success or failure. And that will determine the genuineness and level of your inner happiness. For genuine inner happiness accompanies spiritual maturity.
Babies look for help or for someone else to do things for them. Adults seek out the answers that they need and pursue them until they find them and even then, keep on looking, never giving up, always moving forward.
Just as you grow up in life eating one meal at a time, advancing from one day to another day at a time, so too, the spiritual life comes from a steady daily diet of Bible doctrine. Your read, you listen, you ponder, you think things through, and you live your life as unto the Lord.
God will keep you in this world until He is finished with you, and God gives everyone time to advance in their spiritual life, or show their commitment or lack of it, toward their daily study.
A long time ago we did a study on the story of your life, or your very own song. I think that, that study is a part of the special studies library online. Anyway, you have time to write your story in a way that will demonstrate your phenomenal life, and then present yourself to the Lord when you are called before Him.
How will your story read?
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