Blinded by the old ways

Raymond Richard

Forum Owner & Moderator
The more I think about spiritual blindness the more I discover how many different types of spiritual blindness there is. I looked back at my life and I see how blind I was even after I accepted Christ as my own personal Lord and Savior. I was baptized just before the birth of our first child 37 years ago at the age of 31. I really got into doing a lot of different things in the first church we belonged to. I sang in the choir, rang English hand bells, acted in several dramas and even did some comedy. I helped out with the children and even worked in the nursery until I attempted to change Emile's diaper and was overcome by the smell. After that I did work with the children that were a few years older and out of diapers. I would be a helper in several of the kids classes. Never taught but was just there to help control the children if they got disruptive. I was helping out with the 5 & 6 year old's one morning when I realized that these young children know more about the Bible than I do but it wasn't till I was 60 years old that I first started reading the bible. Up until then I had belonged to several home groups that always did some sort of bible study but that was usually just one book from the bible and I would usually just read the few pages we were assigned the day or even a few hours before we had our next group meeting. To tell you the truth I never got much out of those group studies except to get to know a few new people which was a good part of these meetings.

I never really understood much of anything bible related until I joined a men's bible study and we decided to start reading the bible starting from the Old Testament and finished up with Revelation in the New Testament over a period of 7 years. This was an older men's group and speed was something we were not into. I certainly learned some from doing this reading in the men's group but when I learned the most is when I took a bible into my shop. Once I did that my knife production really slowed down because of the time I spent reading and studying the Word.

Several times I prayed this one prayer, Dear Lord Jesus please fill me with the fullness of you and please live within me. Please help me understand what it is I have been reading and help me to remember what it is I had just read. I remember one time saying this prayer and while I was i praying I realized what I had prayed for I already had. Thank you Lord for all you have given me, Amen......

When we are baptized it is an act of obedience. The dying of our old self and ways and becoming a new creation. It is acknowledging that Christ died for the removal of my sins. Christ the Lamb of God, the most perfect sacrifice! When we are baptized we are given the free gift, the Holy Spirit. What I have finally discovered is this Holy Spirit can act like it isn't there for many years until you start feeding it. I also found out the Holy Spirits favorite food is the Words in the Bible. The more you feed it the more it grows but when you forget to feed it it starts to fad away. Please keep your Spirit well fed and you will enjoy the fruits of this spirit.

To be continued:
 
Ray,
Thank you for encouraging Bible study,I'm a firm believer in it. I've been not only reading but studying the Bible daily for the last eight years,the whole Bible. I try to encourage everyone to read and study the Bible daily. We feed our bodies daily,just as importantly we should feed our spirit daily.
 
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