Dear Unbeliever,

Welcome to part 3 of my letter. If you haven’t read the first 2 parts, I encourage you to do so by clicking on the previous weeks’ blogs to read before you proceed with this one. Today we are discussing the reality of the Bible being the true word of God. I know most non-believing people think us believing Christians are crazy to think God actually wrote the bible or even believe in its potency. I remember a rapper making fun as to why there are so many versions of this one book – suggesting that maybe we are confused as Christians but think the secular world is the one confused instead.

If you do a google search on this topic, you will find so many articles – some defending the Bible as the true word of God and others opposing it. Thus, I’ll spare you another argument or reproduce what others have already said. One article I found so helpful was written by Dr. Adrian Rogers of Love Worth Finding Ministries for Christianity.com and I think you should read it as well. The title of his article is “Is the Bible Really the Word of God?” It is so insightful and spot on and confirms the viability of the Bible. For now, I’d like to share my own experience on this topic for you.

I started reading the bible quite early, from my Sunday school days. Do you know that as I grew older, I only remembered the interesting stories that were shared in Sunday school? I was once in a debate and ‘sword drill’, oh you’d love it. It was a competition for various Sunday Schools. We’d come together and see who was well versed in the bible and could open to a quoted scripture first. My surprise is how I seemed to easily forget the scriptures as I grew older. As an adult, when I started having encounters with the Lord, I thought it would be nice to read the bible from Genesis to Revelation so I embarked on the journey. Do you know that I got frustrated not long after I started reading it? I couldn’t seem to retain the scriptures and be able to quote them as others did. Yes – most believers memorize scriptures and actually take pride in quoting them. Oh trust me, they can make other believers feel like they know nothing. I used to equate their ability in quoting scriptures to a high-level spirituality. Boy was I wrong. Yes I was and if you ever encounter one of those kinds of believers, don’t let them scare you away. Proximity to the word of God is not proof that they truly know God. If you see a believer who knows every scripture but has not been transformed by it, then your guess is as good as mine so you have nothing to worry about.

You see, the bible on its own is a compendium of words and reading it from your human mind and intellect can be confusing. Some of the stories make you squirm, others give you hope. I wasn’t retaining anything I was reading because I was doing it from a human perspective. God is a spirit, so if I was going to read his book, reading it from a fleshy mindset wasn’t going to cut it for me. When I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and He started to manifest in my life, I suddenly started to read the bible with a different meaning and understanding. It was as if someone was explaining to me everything I read and I was getting tons of revelations from what I read. I found 3 things as I read the Bible: Promises, Prophecies and Principles to live by. The stories stuck with me and through each chapter, I’d find so much gold I have become addicted to reading it daily.

I love the different versions because they expand the words as well as make it more understandable to the modern reader. My newest obsession is with the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) which gives you a raw translation of the bible from Hebrew to English. I’m also on the YouVersion Bible App and oh how I have been blessed by it. I can sort through different versions with just a scroll of the finger. YouVersion also has tons of daily devotionals which speak to every aspect of your life or things that are boggling your mind. In just the last year and half, I have completed over 150 devotionals and I hope I can make it to 200 completed devotionals before the end of this year. Another time I will share who and what sparked my fire to study these devotionals. All you need to know is that it has blessed me and now I can’t stop.

I went to bed one night wondering if God will ever avenge me on a situation I had been wrongly dealt in. I usually don’t keep my bible open in the night for fear that I might roll over it and tear a page. I woke up that morning to find my bible open to a chapter in Genesis. I was a bit confused because my last reading in the night time was Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. Even if I wanted to flip it to Genesis, the bible would have closed entirely because it’s a heavy one. I curiously read the chapter and lo and behold, it was addressing my very concern and how God avenged the person. Immediately I knew that the Holy Spirit had opened that scripture for me to read. Since then, I didn’t underestimate the power of God’s word anymore. He truly is everywhere, sees everything and hears every conversation and prayer. The ones we speak out and the ones we speak only in our minds and heart. This has been my true encounter with the word of God and I cannot doubt it again. I am currently studying Robert M’Cheyne’s One Year Bible Reading Plan on day 268 out of 365 days. I encourage you to satisfy your doubts and curiosity by reading it too. I pray that the Holy Spirit will bring the bible to life for you. Maybe, and just maybe, you’ll have a different perspective on the genuineness of the Bible.

May the Lord bless you and keep you this week. We will continue our discussions on Oct 10, 2021 because at the beginning of each month, I like to make some declarations over the month and I hope you’ll join me on that as well. If you’ve been reading this series thus far, I’d like to think we have some kind of friendship going on here? It doesn’t matter or bother me if you believe in my God or not, I still love and accept you as Jesus Christ has commanded.

To be continued…

XOXO,

Lady Abena.