Taking Scripture Personally
You are who God says you are.
At first we are taught the basic things of God and learning to read the Bible. These are the basics of learning about the Lord and there is a next step. Taking scripture personally.
Now…some people may not like this but here it goes…God is the One in charge. He is the One Who has allowed so many translations of the Bible.
Go with me on this. I know some are stuck on “King James Only” paradigm but what about before 1611 when it was written? What about after, when scholars of Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek are putting these languages into modern vernacular?
We all see in part and know in part - 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 - "9For we know in part and we see in part, 10but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
Meaning, none of us has the full picture. We all see certain and different aspects. Thus the different translations. I want to know what others are “seeing” from the Word. I have many translations. When I study I commonly go from one translation to another to see the perspective of each translator. Frankly, KJV for many, many people is turn off because they don’t understand it. And God wants His Word to go forth. So however you best understand it, in whatever translation - GO FOR IT!
With that being said, when you take the scripture personally and realize it’s talking about you, you’ll see that you are who God says you are!
It’s all in the nouns.
Your identity now that you have received Jesus into your heart is completely new. You are not “who” you have known yourself to be. Weird as that may seem. So how do you find out now that you are a new creature and old things have gone away, and all things have become new? (2 Corinthians 5:17-18.) You don’t look any different but you know “something” happened. Your thinking has changed. Your outlook has changed. But while our spirit-man is brand new, our mind still needs to be renewed and our body will won’t be renewed until we go by way of the grave or the Rapture/Resurrection.
The best way to begin this journey is to spend time in the Epistles: Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and so on. These are books that were written to the churches in the New Testament. Most were written by Paul and a few were written by others like Peter, John, Jude, and James. If you’re not aware of this, both James and Jude were brothers of Jesus.
As you come across passages that say: “in Him; in Whom; in Christ; in Christ Jesus…” know that they are declaring part of “who” you are. Take Colossians 2:9 for example: “9For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; “ - now, change the noun of “in Him” with “me” - “For in me dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Now make this a confession that you say daily in your “Jesus time” as I call it - in prayer and reading the Word. Take time to speak the scriptures that excite you and put “you”, like your name or “me” in them.
That will put a jump in your step!
Here’s another example: 2 Corinthians 5:17-18, 21 - “17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 21For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Here’s the confession - don't just read this. Speak it: “I am in Christ and He is in me. I am a new creation; old things have passed away and all things have become new; and all these things are of God Who has reconciled me to Himself, through Christ Jesus, Praise God! And He gave me the ministry of reconciliation to Himself. I am reconciled to God! For He made Jesus Who knew no sin to be my very sin - all of it - He took my sin and gave me His righteousness with God!”
As your reading scripture in the Epistles, do this. Change the appropriate noun to make it personal - because this is “who” you are now! It will renew your thoughts as Romans 12:2 says to do. This is how you do it. Then take the scriptures that really excite you and write them down. Make confessions out of them and speak them out loud and declare them over yourself.
This is how you change your thinking. Keep speaking these scriptures. This automatically puts them into your thinking and then into your heart. This is how the Lord instructs us to do this in Proverbs 4:20-27 -
“20My son, give attention to My Words;
Incline your ear to My sayings.
21Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart;
22For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.
23Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.
24Put away from you a [c]deceitful mouth,
And put perverse lips far from you.
25Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
26Ponder the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established.
27Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil.
These are all ways things enter our heart: eyes, ears, mouth. They are gateways to our heart. What goes in our eyes; what goes in our ears; what comes out of our mouth. By guarding theses gateways we guard our heart. We are to stay focused on God’s Word. As we speak it out loud our ears hear it. We keep reading it with our eyes. And all of this is putting God’s Word within us, in our hearts, showing us who we really are.
Sometimes we realize we have stuff in our heart that’s not good. These are “automatic ways of thinking” - they are what God calls “strongholds.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6.) And they inhibit our relationship with the Lord because we think these thoughts are real and true. Line it up with what the Word says. Not what you’ve learned from your parents, family, and such like. And you change the stronghold by changing how you think, on purpose. Through prayer pull those thoughts out in the Name of Jesus, pull them up like a weed. Wheat and chaff. Pull up the root in your thought life in the Name of Jesus and cut all cords to it in Jesus Name, and burn it up with the fire of God. And yes there are scriptures to back all this up: Ezekiel 17:9 - “9“Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Will it thrive? Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it withers? All its new growth will wither. It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it up by the roots.”
And Matthew 3:12 - “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
And Hebrews 12:28-29 - “28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Then replace that thought with what God’s Word says on the matter. Literally speak it to yourself so you can hear what you are saying. You may have to repeat the scripture coming into your ears; looking at it with your eyes; confessing it with your mouth - you do this until you know, that you know you are what the scripture says you are. This is how you will change your thinking and renew your mind.
Truly “SEE” Yourself in the Scriptures
DON'T allow the words, "yeah, but..." come out
CHANGE your thinking to who God says you are.
The Lord has been impressing me to share with my brothers and sisters for a while now that we have to See Ourselves In His Scriptures.
For example, I was reading in
Jude verse 24
“To Him, Who is able to keep you from stumbling; to present you without fault to present you before His Glorious Presence,"
INSTEAD read this scripture as such:
“To Jesus, Who is able to keep me from stumbling; to present me without fault, to present me before His Glorious Presence, “
When we read vs 24 as written, we tend not see ourselves in the Word. So by changing “you” to “me” we are able to take this scripture personally and find ourselves in it.
Hebrews 13:5-6 Amplified
“…….for God Himself has said, ‘I will not in anyway fail you or give you up, nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless, nor forsake you, nor let you down or relax my hold on you. Assuredly not!’”
Taking it personally, I repeat it aloud as such:
“God Himself has said, He will not in anyway fail me or give me up nor leave me without support. He will not, He will not, He will not in any degree leave me helpless nor forsake me, nor let me down or relax His hold on me. Assuredly not!!”
1 John 5:14,15
“And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His Will He hears us, whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him.”
Once again put yourself in this scripture.
“Father God, I have this confidence in You, that if I ask anything according to Your Will You hear me, whatsoever I ask we know that we have the petitions what I desire of Him. “
Do this each time you're reading your Bible. It will change you!