7 Fascinating and Important things I learned from the Bible

I was surprised to find out how much I didn’t know about what is in the Bible, even after going to a religious school from grade school through high school and attending various religion based churches throughout my life. I thought I knew all the “important parts” but what I found out was: I was missing the details; the very important details! I only knew the “big picture” mainstream biblical stories. These details from the Bible answered several questions I had:

1.  "Spiritual Warfare" (This explains why certain things happen)

I never heard of this “spiritual warfare” or understood this until reading the bible. So this topic may immediately make you think, “uh oh, she’s one of those crazy people!” That would have been my reaction too, before I read the Bible. But after reading the bible, it became clear that we are the subjects of the spiritual war: between God and Satan (a.k.a.the devil, Lucifer and other names…) We were created by God but given freedom in our choices but Satan continues to try to gain people turning us against God through sin, because sin separates us from God. (God gave Moses the 10 Commandments for us so that we could identify sin and stay away from it.) The book of Job mentions Satan being in the presence of God, telling God he was “roaming the earth”, in fact the entire book of Job is about Satan testing Job, trying to turn him from God. Peter also mentions Satan roaming the earth in a similar way. (1Peter 5-8: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”) Jesus was also tempted by Satan for 40 days in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11)

Why is this happening? Satan had once been a high ranking spiritual being, but filled with excessive pride, wanted to BE God, wanted to be worshiped and was disobedient, so God cast him from heaven. Satan is described as intelligent, the father of lies, deceitful, clever, the accuser of us in God’s presence, the prince of the earth, and powerful. Also, the bible states one third of the angels were cast out with Satan and considered fallen angels, and these spirits also align with Satan’s efforts. But God/Jesus/the Holy Spirit is more powerful than Satan or anything evil.

From the beginning of the Bible until the end of the Bible there are stories of the ongoing spiritual battle: sin vs. obeying God. It is also stated that if we are not for God; we are against Him. If we do not have the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit), we are at risk. In the bible, Jesus cast out spirits that no one else could conquer, but then his disciples and apostles also were able to do this after Jesus ascended to heaven. (This was after the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and the casting out of spirits was done in the name of Jesus, not by any other power.) But then there was this unsettling story about some Jewish people who knew of this “power” and thought they could do the same as the apostles, casting out spirits in Jesus’ name, and they were successful until one demon actually spoke to them and attacked them terribly (Acts 19: 13-16)

The spiritual war is mentioned in Ephesians 6: 10-12 (written by Paul an apostle approximately 60 AD) which states: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power…For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against…the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

2.  God uses unexpected people for His purpose (This explains how important "insignificant" people are to God)

Growing up learning about religion, I always thought the famous biblical people were special, different, good, holy people, but in reading the bible, they were not, or maybe they were good at some point, but they failed at some point also. Some examples: Moses, who delivered the 10 Commandments actually killed a man (but it was a man mistreating someone), Moses also surprisingly had no self confidence in fulfilling God’s request, but God kept pursing. Moses was chosen by God to further God’s purpose. David was also God’s chosen one but he arranged for Bathsheba’s husband to be killed so he could be with her. God punished David for that (by their first child’s death) and David accepted God’s punishment, repented and never turned from God. David and Bathsheba’s next son, Solomon, became a great leader and built a phenomenal temple to worship God, but he also had numerous wives and relationships and later worshiped idols, but he also fulfilled God’s purpose and had a significant role in the Bible. Joseph was the youngest brother and was mistreated/treated like he was insignificant by his own brothers, but God gave him the gift of interpreting dreams and put him in an important role in Egypt. Paul had persecuted Christians, but Jesus appeared to him and temporarily blinded him, calling him for God’s purpose, then Paul changed. Paul is the one who wrote most of the Letters to the people of various cities found in the New Testament. The main point is the people who were significant in the Bible, were not who we might have expected, but God chooses people for His plan and purpose and Jesus often said “the least will be the greatest”

3.  How to get to Heaven? (Good question to know the answer to!)

I have to admit, growing up I also thought that we had to be “good” to get to heaven. But after reading the Bible, that is not how we get to heaven. We could do all sorts of good works, but still not get to heaven if we don’t have saving faith in Jesus. The only way to heaven is faith in Jesus, but faith without good works is not the saving kind of faith. If we have true faith, it will be demonstrated by our actions. (Ephesins 2: 8-10, James 2:26, 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10, Matthew 7:16-23)

4.  Believer defined (And it's not what most of us think/thought!)

This was significant to me because I, like many people I know, thought that if we say “I believe in Jesus,” we are saved. But that is not how the bible defines a “Believer.” Finding this out truly changed my mind and also made me realize, it’s not that “easy.” This is also something that I think a lot of people don’t understand: the biblical definition of a “Believer.” It makes a tremendous difference too. A “non-practicing” person is not a believer according to the Bible (Read: 1 John 1, 1 John 2, 1 John 3, 1 John 5)

A true believer:

• has friendships with those redeemed and Jesus
• lives as Jesus instructs
• admits and confesses our sins (we do not think we are sinless)
• keeps God’s commandments
• loves God, not worldly things
• does what is right
• seeks to maintain a pure life
• experiences less sin in our lives overtime; we don’t keep sinning
• shows love to other Christians
• “walks the walk” not just “talks the talk”
• has a clear conscience

5.  Repentance (John 3:3, 5)  (It's necessary)

Repentance is defined as: deep sorrow or regret felt for a sin we committed, followed by deeds that demonstrate repentance (Acts 26:20) Repentance matters each and every time a sin is committed (Ezekiel 33:12) Jesus preaches repentance (Matthew 4:17) John wrote: “We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the Godly person who does his will.” (John 9:31) It sure sounds like getting right with God comes before God will consider answering a prayer we say!

6.   Obedience (It's necessary)

This is repeated over and over in the bible: follow the 10 commandments, which can be summed up as love God and love your neighbor (if you practice “love” then you will be keeping all the 10 commandments). Love is another word that is defined in the Bible and is probably more comprehensive than what we typically think “love’s” definition is. (Read: Romans 12: 9-21 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

7. Our Purpose? (This was an unanswered question in my mind for years)

Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Daily reading and prayer: After reading the Bible, I realized how it can transform a person’s mind in a good way. Like anything we repeatedly pay attention to; we begin to absorb. So it’s important to me to have something “good” as a focus. The Bible is God inspired, so this is a way to begin and continue building knowledge and understanding of who God is and more. I read the Bible out of curiosity and ended up realizing there were many important things I didn’t know. As I read the Bible, I began summarizing sections, impactful statements and creating a visual that I can go back to in the future to find a quote that stood out to me, my goal is to post daily eventually, to keep me focused on reading the bible. You will see there are quite a number of posts already made from when I first started reading the Bible. (This is a link to the page.) I hope you found some of this information as beneficial as I did.