SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/10/2025 10:03 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-5 “The Teaching Scripture”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Timothy 3:16b
Message of the verse: “for teaching”
I continue looking at what John MacArthur has written as I begin this fourth part from the words “for teaching.”
“Both the first and last pieces of spiritual armor
that Paul mentions in his letter to believers at Ephesus pertain to
Scripture. ‘Stand firm therefore,’ he
says ‘having girded your loins with truth.’
Then, after putting on the ‘breastplate of righteousness,’ shodding our
feet with ‘the gospel of peace,’ ‘taking up the shield of faith,’ and donning ‘the
helmet of salvation,’ we are to equip ourselves with the only offensive
implement mentioned here—‘the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God’
(Eph. 6:14-17). Machaira (‘sword’) refers to a short sword, or dagger, a weapon
used in close combat that required skillful use in order to be effective. ‘Word’
translates rhema, which refers to a
specific statement or wording, not to general truth, as does the more commonly
used logos.
“Our ‘wielding’ of Scripture, as it were, should be as
precise, accurate, and appropriate as possible.
No matter how good our intentions might be, to interpret or apply a
passage thoughtlessly or to quote it out of context creates confusion and
uncertainty. It does disservice to the
Lord and to those we are attempting to instruct. In order to present ourselves ‘approved to
God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed,’ we must handle ‘accurately
the word of truth’ (2 Tim. 2:15).
Careless use of Scripture, even by the Lord’s own people, can do great
damage to the cause of Christ, as it often has done throughout church history.” Once again I see 2 Timothy 2:15 in this
paragraph, and as mentioned that is what I have named by blogs, and it has been
and always will be that I fulfill that verse while writing and posting my Spiritual Diaries, as I would never want to
mislead anyone who would be reading them.
“During His wilderness ordeal, Jesus responded to each of Satan’s temptations with an accurate and carefully chosen quotation from Scripture (see Matt. 4:3-10). Because He was the incarnate Son of God, anything He might have said would have carried the same divine weight as Scripture. But as an example for His followers, He chose to quote divine truth that already was recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures. Following the pattern of our gracious Lord, our weapon against the temptations and deceptions of the devil should always be a careful and precise use of God’s revealed Word. It then goes without saying that, in order to use Scripture in that effective way, we must thoroughly know it and understand it. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we must ‘let the word of Christ richly dwell within [us], with all wisdom’ (Col 3:16).
“The truths of God’s Word are spiritual wealth that
we should continually be depositing into our minds and hearts. Like deposits of money in our bank account,
those deposits of divine truth become spiritual assets that we can draw on
readily when confronting temptation, when making moral choices and when seeking
God’s specific will and guidance for our lives.”
Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today: I desire to
remember what one of my senior pastors said, and that was to finish strong, for
at times that has been hard for me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I continue
to trust the Lord to guide my wife and I as we continue to look for medical
help to make sure that all her cancer is gone.
6/10/2025 10:26 AM
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