Daily study has its rewards

I would like to thank everyone for the well wishes on a speedy recovery and especially for the nice remarks about the WFTD website. If you have not visited it, hopefully you will find some time to do so soon. During the web-site development process, I was informed by chief architect Ken Ross that I have been writing WFTD since 1999 and that I average sending out approximately 200-250 per year. I wish it were more but traveling over 200,000 miles a year and managing an ever-growing company makes it difficult sometimes.

You may wonder why I started Words for the Day. I have a habit of studying the Bible in the mornings. I am a morning person and I like to start my day off reaching out to God for guidance and strength. I do that through daily Bible study and prayer. It occurred to me that many of the things that I face on a daily basis such as temptation, frustration, anger, impatience, sorrow, trials and tribulations, etc. are common to us all. I realized too that many of my friends and colleagues have not read the Bible completely through nor have they perhaps studied it regularly and were missing out on the comforting love of the Father when facing life. I felt that sharing what I was learning from my Bible study on a daily basis might help out on occasion. That is how it started.

Not everyone has appreciated it especially those who have differing spiritual views or those who question my motives. I do not take too much offense to that as I believe that “free will” is a good thing. Otherwise why would God have set it up that way? We all have a choice and when we die that choice will determine our eternal destiny. I base my belief system directly in the Bible as I believe everyone should. I have read the Bible cover to cover numerous times and I study it often. My views on spiritual matters come directly from my interpretation of reading and studying the Bible, not from something that comes from ME or some “opinion” that I heard from a pulpit somewhere.

For example when discussing the subject of Baptism I believe in immersion. Many religious denominations believe in sprinkling, but the Bible specifically spells out immersion. Another example is that some religious denominations call their spiritual leaders “Father”, but the Bible states that Jesus instructed us to call no man Father but only God. I read the late Pope John Paul’s book and this passage was troubling to him. There are many examples like that.

I hesitate to tell anyone where I attend church because I am not hung up on denominations. I believe the Bible and attend churches that are Bible based and preach the word of God right out of the Bible and obviously as close to my interpretation of what I believe the Bible means. After a lifetime of Bible study and observation of different denominations with their traditions, various rites, rituals, and interpretations I am convinced that it primarily boils down to one main point, Have you accepted the blood sacrifice of Jesus as payment for your sins, or not? If you have you will see heaven. If you have not you will not. You can know that you are truly born again if you will give it your utmost to love God with all of your heart, mind and soul and will want to follow His commands the best you know how and during this process you will strive to care about those who surround you as much as you care for yourself. No you will not be perfect in this lifetime, just forgiven

Mark 12:30
And you shall love the Lord
your God with all of your heart, with
all your soul, and with all of your mind, and
with all your strength. This is the
first commandment.
And the second like it, is this:
you shall love your neighbor as
yourself. There is no other
commandment greater than these.