Life Lessons & Understanding the Bible
Life Lesson is a continuous learning experience. Throughout our lives we keep rising and falling, picking up important lessons along the way. Some of these lessons come from experience, yet there are others that we learn by watching others or reading books for example.
No matter how much we learn from books there is a significant difference between practical and theoretical experience.
Furthermore, there are many life lessons that we simply cannot learn until we face certain situations in our life. Most people would say that there are some lessons that come too late, catching us off-guard and unprepared.
The following list unveils some of the most important lessons in life that people learn the hard way.
Life Lessons: Inspirational Readings
LESSON POINT 2: An inheritance Gained by Fighting
2 Corinthians 10:4-6 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Both Israel and the church will gain their inheritance by fighting. Israel gained the promised Land by fighting. They received the miracle of the walls coming down at Jericho, and then they had to fight their way through on the rest of the land. God says of Israel, “You are My battle-ax and weapons of war: for with you I will break the nations in pieces; with you I will destroy kingdoms” (Jer. 51:20).
And now God says through Paul to the church, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:3). “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). God is saying to the church, “Your destiny is being a battle-ax in the hand of God to pull down the strong-holds of iniquity.”
The evil day is not coming; the evil day is here. We are in a fight to the finish. There is not a crown without a cross. There is not a victory without a fight. Paul said to the church, “Fight the good fight of faith. Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Take a stand and fight.” Take a stand against abortion. Every child has a right to life when they are conceived in the womb of their mother. Take a stand against government corruption. Speak out against immorality and homosexuality We are here to please God and nobody else! You cannot cower in the corner and claim to be a follower of Jesus.
In the above verse, our Lord tells us that a believer “shall not come into judgment.” Our sins were judged in Christ on Calvary, and every believer “has passed from death into life” (v. 24). This is present salvation. Christ paid for our sins. He was judged in the believer’s stead. The believer will not come into judgment because:
(1) Jesus Christ paid the penalty. On the grounds of His substitutionary death, the believer is separated from his sins forever (Ps. 103:12).
(2) The sins of the believer have been blotted out, and God has promised that He “will not remember your sins” (Is. 43:25).
(3) Our Lord suffered for our sins, “the just for the unjust,” that we might be saved and never come into judgment as sinners (1 Pet. 3:18).
(4) The believer will never be condemned by the world because Christ was condemned in his place. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us” (2 Cor. 5:21). Christ was made a curse for us on the cross, and “has redeemed us from the curse of the law” (Gal. 3:13). “He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb. 9:26). The believer will not come into judgment, because his sins have been purged (Heb. 1:3).
John 3:19-21—”And this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Besides being the sacred washbowl of the tabernacle used for cleansing purposes (Ex. 30.20), the bronze laver was God’s looking glass. The huge basin was made from the bronze mirrors of the Israelite women (Ex. 38:8). Approaching the brazen altar to make a sacrifice to atone for your sin, you would look into the laver and see your worst enemy: you. Mirrors don’t lie. You were the reason that an animal s life had to be shed for sin. You could look away if you wanted, but that did not change the fact that you were to blame. Your sin was yours alone.
James calls the Word of God a mirror. When you read it you see yourself for who you really are, and that is not always a pleasant sight. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:22-25).
The Word of God is a mirror to your soul because it contains the mind of God. The Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the Word. The truth on its sacred pages will expose error in your life and shine light upon any darkness. The Word of God will be an infallible judge of right and wrong in your life. It will cause you to forsake sinful ways, and it will break the chains of sin. It will tell you that you are a child of God and everlasting life is yours!
Lesson Point 2: Forgiveness Demands a Change
John 8:3-5—Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
The Pharisees, as representatives of the Law, brought this guilty woman to Jesus, who represented God’s grace. After saving her life, Jesus looked at her and said, “Go and sin no more” (v. 11). What does that mean? It means that Jesus expected her to change her conduct. Forgiveness is not soft-hearted foolishness. Forgiveness is full of compassion, but it demands a change in conduct. To forgive without demanding change is to make the grace of God an accomplice to evil.
A husband asks his wife, “Will you forgive me for adultery?” Her answer is, “Yes, if you’ll change. But if this is going to be a pattern of conduct, hit the road, Jack.” When a son comes in and tells his father, “I’ve been a homosexual. Will you forgive me?” The answer should be, “Yes, but I want you to change. I love you, but through God’s grace you’re going to change.” The same is true for a drug or alcohol abuser. Forgiveness without demanding a change is a license to sin. Jesus did not teach it. Paul did not teach it. Some teach it and practice it today and I call it greasy grace because it allows the stench of a godless life to be covered with the perfume of religious respectability.
Grace is not a license to sin. Grace gives you the opportunity to confess your sin before the judgment of God comes to you. Confess your sins and become like Christ, but quit trying to see how much you can live in sin under the cloak of the grace of God. Repent of your sin and live like the Son of God.
LESSON POINT 5: The Power of Prayer and Praise
1 Chronicles 20:22—Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes gainst the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.
Prayer is a powerful weapon of attack in spiritual warfare. “Praying always withall prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18). Prayer has no limita¬tions. Prayer can pull down every demonic stronghold in the city you live in. Politicians cant, but prayer can. Prayer can crush the gates of hell and can con¬quer disease. But a prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian.
In Acts 12:1-6, James had been killed and Peter was held in a maximum secu¬rity prison and scheduled for execution. “But constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church” (v. 5). They had an all-night prayer meeting. And heaven’s response? God miraculously delivered Peter, and even the church could not believe it. They knew prayer had power; they just didn’t believe it had more power than the Roman Empire. When you begin to pray, believe that angels are released to help you through prayer (Dan. 10:12-21).
In Psalm 8:2, David adds that praise is also a powerful weapon in spiritual warfare: “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger.” From Matthew 11:25, it is clear that “babes” refers to the disciples of Jesus, and the purpose of their praise is to silence Satan. Praise is released out of our mouths and is our source of strength. Combine praise with the Word of God—”Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand” (Ps. 149:6)—and you have a mighty weapon of judgment upon the enemy.
And that’s why the Bible says to pray without ceasing. God, as powerful as He is, cannot answer a prayer until you pray it. If you do not pray the prayer, you do not release God to move on your behalf.
LESSON POINT 3: Obedience That Defeats the Enemy
2 Chronicles 14:9-11—Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried out to the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, YOU are our God; do not let man prevail against You!”
Before great victories, there is always serious preparation. Such is true in the life of King Asa in Judah. “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God, for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images. He com-manded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment” (2 Chr. 14:2-4). Asa first cleaned up the land spiritually.
So when an Ethiopian army of a million men came against the 300,000 men of Judah, Asa had the right to remind the Lord that they had been faithful to Him and that it was nothing for the Lord to help. That’s a powerful principle to remember. But it was because they had been loyal to God that He was loyal to help! Remember that today and every other day when you’re in a great battle for God to help you. “So the LORD struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar. So the Ethiopians were overthrown, and they could not recover, for they were broken before the LORD and His army. And they carried away very much spoil (vv. 12, 13). They literally went in and picked up everything these other countries had and took it home.
The kingdom of God operates by the will of God, and the will of God was found by doing what Asa did—restoring the place of God’s Word When you fol-low the Lord, you walk the path of righteousness that brings victory You are on the highway to accomplishing great things with your life when your dedication is to obedience first.
LESSON POINT 2: By Faith in the Name of Jesus
John 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name e ui give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
God does not answer prayer that you do not pray in the name of Jesus. The only access you gain into heaven is through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:14). You don’t gain access into heaven with Mary s name, Buddha’s name, Mohammed’s name, or Allah’s name. But you will with the name that is above every name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we might be saved” (Acts 4:12). When you get down on your knees, whisper that name and every demon begins to tremble with fear. “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Son of David,” and suddenly the heavens begin to tremble with the power and the majesty of God. The host of heaven begins to assemble around you, and the earth begins to shake because you’ve mentioned the name that created heaven and
earth, and God shows up!
God also requires that you pray in faith. “If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matt. 21:21-23). Going to God without faith is like going to Sears without money. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Heb. 11:6). Faith starts out before you know how it’s going to work out. Faith does not demand miracles. Faith creates the environ- ment where a miracle is the only thing that can happen. “Have faith in God/’ Jesus said (Mark 11:22). It doesn’t take great faith to believe in something that never fails. And God never fails.
Lesson Point 2: Because of the Triumph of the Cross Job 19:25-27—For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. Because Jesus triumphed on the Cross: 1. The plan of salvation that began in Genesis 3 was finished. Genesis 3 tells us that the “Seed” of the woman, being Jesus, shall crush the head of the serpent (v. 15). I am saved because of the blood of Jesus, not for good works or by human merit. John writes: “You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood” (Rev. 5:9). When the Prince of Glory shouted, “It is finished!” (John 19:30), I became royalty, and so did you. We were adopted into the family of God. The royal blood of heaven is flowing in your veins. You have the power and the authority of Jesus’ name as ambassadors of the living God. Act like it, seek like it, and talk like it in Jesus’ name. 2. Whenever you pray in the authority of Jesus’ name, demons tremble in absolute fear. “And they overcame him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony” (Rev. 12:11). Satan is totally defeated forever. He is a lion, but he has been destroyed by the Lion of the tribe of Judah at the Cross. When I whisper the name of Jesus, every demon in the area shakes with catatonic fear because Christ is Lord indeed! 3. You have everlasting life. If there was no other message to the gospel than this one, it would make this message the most exciting message in all of human history. Someday you will hear that John Hagee is dead. Don’t you believe it. I’ll be dancing and shouting on the hills of glory, alive and well with my disease-free, absolutely perfect body. I can’t wait to see what I will look like. Saved by the blood of Jesus Christ!
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Lesson Point 4: Turn Problems into Blessings Job 23:10—”But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” J. Sidlow Baxter said, “What’s the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? The answer is, our attitude toward it.” The power of an attitude of fortitude turns problems into blessings. Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity. Life is like a grindstone that either grinds you down or polishes you, depending on what you’re made of. Grinding makes a diamond shine with the radiance of the noonday sun but reduces dirt to dust. So what are you? A diamond or dust? Adversity is prosperity to those who possess the attitude of fortitude. A turtle gets nowhere until he sticks his neck out. The teakettle is up to its neck in hot water but continues to sing. Kites rise against the wind, not with it. A tiny seed has to struggle and push its way up through the hard soil to the sunshine and the fresh air. There is always a struggle before there is success. Joseph came to the throne of Egypt through the pit his brothers threw him in and through the slanderous charge of rape from Potiphar’s wife. But you can bet what most people were saying after Joseph became prime minister of the world’s most powerful nation: “What a lucky guy! Some people get all the breaks.” It was because Joseph had grit and fortitude, and he rode the winds of adversity to the highest pinnacle of success . . . just as you can. And after faithfully enduring the blast furnace of God’s school of hard knocks for years in a dungeon, God sent him into Pharaoh’s court with a vision and wisdom that saved countless people from starvation. God will not use you until He puts you into a blast furnace to determine your fortitude factor. God wants to know if you are a warrior or a wimp- And the only way is the furnace. |
Lesson Point 4: God’s Purpose Produces Opportunity Acts 8:26—Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is the desert. Philip was preaching in Samaria when the Lord spoke to him about going into the desert. No explanation was given as to why he should leave a revival and travel toward adversity. If you continue to read the story, you discover that Philip met the Ethiopian government official who was seeking the Lord and led him to faith (Acts 8:27-40). One of the great principles in life is that good opportunities are seldom labeled. Opportunities do not come down the sidewalk wearing a sandwich board saying, “This is the opportunity of your life to do something good!” In 1864, a civil engineer named John Clow volunteered to the American Baptist Society to go to India as a missionary. With no seminary training, he did not seem a good missionary candidate, but through persistence to God’s call, Clow was sent. Ten years after his arrival, India was devastated by a tremendous famine. Clow used his engineering to supervise the digging of the Buckingham Canal, which put hundreds of thousands of Indians to work and helped feed their families. It also brought water to the areas stricken with drought and literally broke the back of the famine. The Indians, who had before refused the gospel, saw the good Clow had done and responded by the thousands. God sees the end from the beginning. You cannot. And as you pursue the purposes of God, God always gets you in position for an opportunity. Opportunities are seldom labeled. “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all” (Gal. 6:10). When you see something that God has for you to do, do it with all your heart, and God will cause the opportunities to come. If you think life is giving you a lemon, turn it into lemonade. And God will help you do that. |
Lesson Point 4: Spiritual Power and Authority Acts 13:9-11—Then Saul . . . filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him mid said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.” To understand spiritual authority, you must know the difference between power and authority. For instance, a uniformed policeman has both power and authority. If he is standing in the street and has his hand up, you stop—that’s authority. If you don’t stop, he can shoot your tire out—that’s power. And if you get out and pull a weapon, he can shoot you, and every other policeman will back him up. If you are under the authority of God, you have the power of God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Jesus so lived under divine authority that just the touch of the hem of His garment could unleash His power to heal (Mark 5:28-30). The apostle Paul was given the authority to preach the gospel and the power to cast an evil spirit out of a slave girl without being asked to do so (Acts 16:18). Peter confronted Ananias and Sapphira with their lies, and they both fell over dead (Acts 5:1-11). In submission to Jesus Christ, you have both authority and power. Many years ago, my grandfather Hagee was preaching a sermon when a wicked man broke into the service, cursed him, then hit my grandfather under the right eye with a ring that left a hole in his face until the day he died. My grandfather said this to the man, “So that the people of this community will know that I’m a man of God, may the judgment of God come to you.” Weeks later, that man’s face developed a cancer that took his life. Christians are not the devil s doormat, and it’s a mistake to jump on somebody who knows how to pray. When I say you have power and authority, you don’t begin to know how much! |
Lesson Point 3: Are Demons Real? Acts 16.18 But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “1 command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour. Here s a Bible fact that may surprise you: Jesus spent 25 percent of His ministry casting unclean spirits/’ which are demons, out of people. And Jesus never sent His disciples out to preach without giving them authority over demon spirits (Luke 9:1). He made it clear that one of the signs that would “follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons” (Mark 16:17). So, if Jesus and the disciples cast out demons, why doesn’t the twenty-first- century church cast out demons? The apostle Paul describes the twenty-first- century church as a church “having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3:5). We are presently watching the birth of the apostate church. It is seen in the acceptance of gay bishops, the lawsuits against pedophile priests, and the denials that the Word of God is true. The apostate church is the church that the Antichrist will rule when he comes to the earth through the false prophet. The top priority of the New Testament church was to get the devil out of the church and get God in the church. The problem today is that most churches deny the existence of Satan and demons and that evil is even present. Satan is perfectly willing for a person to go to church and sing “Amazing Grace” just as long as he does it with a sin-sick soul. The Bible says for this cause Christ came into the world to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8) and to bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). The true church of Jesus Christ is at war with the world, the flesh, and the devil. The fact is, you’re either controlled by the Holy Spirit or being manipulated by an evil spirit. Which are you? |
Learn The Bible
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