Study to show thyself approved

What if I told you that no matter how much you pray, fast, donate or even "tithe", there is one missing  ingredient that could  possibly be the game changer in your relationship with TMH?

I  routinely  come  across  a  lot  of  self  proclaimed  followers  of  The  Most  High  who  have opinions  but  very  little  evidence from the book   to  back  these  opinions.  When  you  ask them  to  reference  the source of their opinions and   they  fail  to  do  so, some actually  have  a  tendency  of  proudly  regurgitating  what  their  Pastors  have  said. This  is  a  very  dangerous  strategy  and  I  myself  used  to  be  like  this  until  I realized  that  this  method of deflection was actually  stifling  my  own spiritual growth.  Please understand, I'm not trying to portray myself as this holier than thou Bible thumping fountain of all knowledge. I am far from that and there is a lot I do not know however, I cannot understate the importance of studying the book.

Let  me  give  you a practical  example  that  will  hopefully  get  my  point  across.  When  I  was  in law  school,  the  lecturers  would  give  us  what  is  known  as  a  course reader.  This  course  reader  contained  all  the  prescribed  readings  that  we would  be  examined  on.  When  a  lecturer  came  to  class  in order to  discuss  the prescribed  readings,  usually  the  first  question  he/she would  ask was  whether  we  had  done  the  readings  beforehand.

Now if  the  lecturer  was  meant  to  discuss  the  readings  in  class, what  was  the  point  of  them  requiring  us  to  do  the  readings  beforehand? Obviously  a  number  of  reasons  come  to  mind;  firstly  as  law  students, reading  is  an  indispensable  part  of  our  regimen and a lawyer who hates to read is like an Olympic aspiring swimmer who is afraid of water. Another reason is that  a  thorough  reading  of  the prescribed  material  would  help  one  to  take  more  concrete  notes that  would  come  in  handy  when  studying  for  the  exams. The third and perhaps most important reason is that reading  before  class  helps  one  to critically think  about  the  material before  listening  to  what  the  lecturer  has  to  say. 

As  one  would  expect,  students  who  did  their readings  before  class,  on  average,  tended  to  do better  than  those  who  would  come  for  lecture discussions  without  doing  the  readings. 

What  is  the  moral of  the  story? A lot  of followers of TMH  today  treat church  in  the  same  way  as students who go to lectures without having done their readings. By  this  I  mean  that  most believers of Yah just  show  up  on  Sunday  and expect  their  Pastor  to give them all the answers and   deliver  them  a  feel  good message  without  actually  studying  Yah's word.

The  Most  High  has  even  warned  that  "cursed  is  the one  who  trusts  in  man,  who  depends  on  flesh  for his  strength  and  whose  heart  turns  away  from  the Lord"  (Jeremiah  17:5).

There  are  some  people  don't  study  to  show themselves  approved  unto  The Most  High (2  Timothy  2:15).

I  have  a  series  of  questions  that  will  help you  to  determine  whether  you  are  heavily reliant  on  The  Most  High's  word  or  what your  pastor  tells  you.    Please  understand  that    in  answering these  questions,  honesty  is  the  best  policy because  it  is  only  with  honesty  that  are  we  going  to  better  our relationship  with  The  Most  High  and  grow  in  our  walk with  him.

• Are  your  conversations based  on  what  your  Pastor  says  or rather  what  the  word  of  The  Most  High  says? 

• When  you  give in the church,  do  you  do  it    to  help  and  promote  the  less  fortunate  or rather  because  a  religious  leader said you should do it ?

• Are  you  afraid  of    your  Pastor  more  than  the Most  High  seeing  do  wrong?