The more we come to study truth more in depth, the more we can begin to understand all of the common misconceptions that we seem like to overlook. There is a phrase that many people have been guilty of using (myself included) when the questions seem hard to answer without confrontation taking place, hurting someone's feelings, or even worse sometimes we do this when we like a particular thing that's known to be sinful, but we don't want to recognize it for what it really is. The phrase is known as "gray areas". This is a tool that Satan wields like a weapon a soldier would wield on the battlefield. God gives us His holy Word, the Bible. The Bible tells us all things that are CLEARLY right and wrong, sometimes in great detail. We must each take the time to read it for ourselves and give the Holy Spirit and the Word a chance to stir in our hearts. Whether that be alone in your private time, in a small group setting, a family setting with your children and/or grandkids, or just sitting down with your spouse and having nightly study sessions together.  Nothing works on relationships like a couple who actually takes the time to keep God in the relationship. That doesn't mean He is in my private life and my wife's private life. It means He is in the relationship. In the middle shared by you both when one petitions Him, you petition together. That's not to say you don't have private prayer too but, keeping Him at the center and shared in a relationship is essential in keeping it happy and healthy. For someone doing it alone it is a deeply personal experience in which one can't help but feel God speaking to their most inner self. if you have trouble doing it alone and can't find a group locally zoom is a great option, also YouTube is full of different audio Bible translations that you can read along with for motivation. If you have trouble understanding first and foremost pray for the wisdom to understand and for God to lead you in the path of understanding HIs Word, also know that there are many extra biblical historical writings, great commentaries, and study Bibles to help where you may have trouble understanding the text. Also, there are tons of websites, podcasts, and video materials to cover all subject matter of the Bible. Just use discernment and pray about the things you read, because many false teachers are among us today and we have to make sure we are not wrongly representing God and teaching others to do it out of lack of godly knowledge. The easiest way to know if you are being misled by people is to know the scriptures and see if what you are being told by those individuals lines up with God's truth that He gives us in His word. That's okay to do. The Bereans fact check the Apostle Paul even to make sure that it aligned with the scriptures. And that is fine to do. We want to make sure that we are correctly understanding our Lord.

Paul and Silas in Berea

[Acts 17:10-13 NLT] 10 That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul's message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. 12 As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men. 13 But when some Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God in Berea, they went there and stirred up trouble.

 

When Jesus spoke to His Apostles about knowing the Father and the things to come, He said...

Oneness with the Father

[John 14:7 LSB] 7 "If you have come to know Me, you will know My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." 8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 9 Jesus *said to him, “Have I been with you all so long and have you not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. 12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater [works] than these he will do because I go to the Father. 13 "Whatever you ask in My name, this will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do [it]. 15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

[Jhn 14:16-17, 20-31 LSB] 16 "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, that He may be with you forever; 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him. You know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. ... 20 "On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?" 23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. 24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me. 25 "These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. 26 "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. 27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. 28 "You heard that I said to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 "And now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. 30 "I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; 31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.

 

[John 15:25-27 LSB] 25 "But [this happened] to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, 'THEY HATED ME WITHOUT CAUSE.' 26 "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me, 27 and you [will] bear witness also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

 

In 2nd Timothy chapter 3 we get insight not only into truth but, into what the times will be like in the last days after Jesus ascended back into Heaven...

 

The Dangers of the Last Days

[2Ti 3:1-9 NLT] 1 You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! 6 They are the kind who work their way into people's homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by various desires. 7 (Such women are forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth.) 8 These teachers oppose the truth just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses. They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith. 9 But they won't get away with this for long. Someday everyone will recognize what fools they are, just as with Jannes and Jambres.

 

Paul lived some of these same last days just as we do. Civilizations were less than civil then and they are much the same today. In Paul's letter to the believers in Rome he wrote of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth...

 

Life in the Spirit

[Rom 8:1-17 NLT] 1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. 5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will. 8 That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. 9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. 12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father." 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

 

God has given us His Spirit to help us live obediently and to teach us how to understand, apply the truths of God's Word, and be your guide on your journey to live a Christlike life. He will alert you when your old sinful nature is trying to take over and distort the truth.

 

 

Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving yourself for us and showing yourself to us so that we may understand truth, love, patience, right, wrong, and forgiveness. We thank you for mercy, grace, and forgiveness we did not earn Lord. We ask blessings upon all of those on our prayer list and upon all those who are suffering Lord. We just ask that you allow us wisdom and discernment, that we may understand and follow your ways God. Allow us to open our hearts and minds to Your Spirit and allow us to give in and let Your Spirit carry us where it will. Above all Lord we ask that Your will be done, not ours. 

 

Bless you all and may God's love shower on each and all of you!