thinking Biblically part 1

section 1

the Bible is for you

deuteronomy 30:11-14  esv 

"For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’

Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’

But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

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The Bible was written to YOU, not so that others around you follow the Word to ease your passage, but that YOU would follow Christ no matter what others choose to do  john 21:21-22 . What has been revealed is so that you may follow the Way of Jesus  deuteronomy 29:29 .

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reference scriptures

john 21:21-22  esv 

When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?"

Jesus said to him, "If it is My will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!"

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deuteronomy 29:29  esv 

"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

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section 2

reasoning

isaiah 1:18  esv 

"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

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We are to reason, not from our own wisdom, knowledge and understanding  ii corinthians 1:12   proverbs 3:5-6 , but rather from believing  ii corinthians 4:18   ii corinthians 5:7  the One Who has the whole scope of Truth  i corinthians 1:30   colossians 2:2-3 . So, we need to think in a wholly different way than what we are used to in this world  romans 12:2 ; we are to think through the plumb-lined framework of Heavenly Truths  colossians 3:2   colossians 2:6-7 . We are to think, not as what comes naturally to us, but what is actually True which we’ve come to know by faith  ii corinthians 5:16 . To put it into Hollywood language Biblical thinking is like an alternate reality  isaiah 55:8-9 , though, it is really the overriding, determinative Truth of our whole being  ii corinthians 4:17-18   romans 8:18 .

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reference scriptures

ii corinthians 1:12  niv84 

Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God’s grace.

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proverbs 3:5-6  esv 

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.

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ii corinthians 4:18  csb 

...we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

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ii corinthians 5:7  esv 

...we walk by faith, not by sight.

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i corinthians 1:30  esv 

...because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, Who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption...

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colossians 2:2-3  esv 

...all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

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romans 12:2  niv84 

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--His good, pleasing and perfect will.

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colossians 3:2  esv 

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

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colossians 2:6-7  niv84 

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

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ii corinthians 5:16  csb 

From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know Him in this way.

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isaiah 55:8-9  esv 

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

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ii corinthians 4:17-18  niv84 

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

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romans 8:18  esv 

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

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my notes:

section 3

childish thinking

Its hard to believe, but if we do not think in a Biblical manner our thinking actually becomes more foolish than unthinking creatures  jeremiah 8:4-8 . For our thinking becomes a device to deceive, justify and bolster the evil desires that live within us  i peter 2:11 . Those desires master us with our animalistic instinct of selfishness  ii peter 2:19, 22 . God has given us the gift of reasonable thinking so as to willfully worship Him  romans 12:1   job 35:10-11 , but too often we conduct ourselves by emotion and impulse rather than by Truth  ii peter 2:12, 16 . A reasonable person counts the cost of decisions with the reasonable prudence that is afforded by Truth  luke 14:26-35   ii timothy 4:5   proverbs 22:3 .

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jeremiah 8:4-8  nlt 

This is what the LORD says: "When people fall down, don’t they get up again? When they discover they’re on the wrong road, don’t they turn back?

Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path? Why do the people of Jerusalem refuse to turn back? They cling tightly to their lies and will not turn around.

I listen to their conversations and don’t hear a word of truth. Is anyone sorry for doing wrong? Does anyone say, ‘What a terrible thing I have done’? No! All are running down the path of sin as swiftly as a horse galloping into battle!

Even the stork that flies across the sky knows the time of her migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane. They all return at the proper time each year. But not my people! They do not know the LORD’s laws.

How can you say, ‘We are wise because we have the word of the LORD,’ when your teachers have twisted it by writing lies?"

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i peter 2:11  esv 

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

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ii peter 2:19  nlt 

They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.

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ii peter 2:22  esv 

What the true proverb says has happened to them: "The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire."

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romans 12:1  nkjv 

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship.

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job 35:10-11  esv 

But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night, Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’

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ii peter 2:12  nas 

But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed...

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ii peter 2:16  nkjv 

but {Balaam} was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

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my notes:

luke 14:26-35  esv 

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.

"Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

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ii timothy 4:5  nlt 

But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.

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proverbs 22:3  esv 

The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

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my notes:

section 4

But we naturally reason as foreigners to the principles of God  isaiah 55:8-9   i corinthians 14:10-11 . We have an idea of what He says and can use the same words, but do not live them from the heart  proverbs 26:23 . Beware of the language of Scripture while missing the meaning {the heart} from the descriptions of Scriptures  psalm 50:16-17   john 4:23-24 . One only starts to grow up in their understanding by practicing the very things God prescribes and describes  hebrews 5:11-14   i peter 1:22 .

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reference scriptures

isaiah 55:8-9  esv 

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

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i corinthians 14:10-11  nlt 

There are many different languages in the world, and every language has meaning. But if I don’t understand a language, I will be a foreigner to someone who speaks it, and the one who speaks it will be a foreigner to me.

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proverbs 26:23  nlt 

Smooth words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a clay pot.

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psalm 50:16-17  esv 

But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite My statutes or take My covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast My words behind you."

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john 4:23-24  esv 

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

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hebrews 5:11-14  esv 

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

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i peter 1:22  niv84 

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.

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my notes:

section 5

Reasoning from our own limited scope is childish thinking  i corinthians 13:11 , but that immature, limited thinking is overwhelmed by following the way of Biblical Love  i corinthians 13:11-14:1   ii john 4-6   i john 3:18, 5:2-3 . Biblical thinking is giving sight into that which cannot be seen naturally  ii kings 6:14-17 . We experience loss in worldly circumstances so as to be pushed to seek greater Truths  ii corinthians 4:4-10 . It is the Bible that lights the way into the unsensed, the unseen, eternal, Heavenly Truths that actually determine our lives  psalm 119:105 . Biblically thinking is literally taking the Scriptures and reasoning out those Truths in application to what God has allotted to you in your specific, immediate circumstances  psalm 119:3, 9, 59  so that by way of continued practice of Truth and Love  hebrews 5:13-14  we will grow up in our responsiveness, perception and reasoning  i corinthians 14:20   ephesians 4:11-15 .

reference scriptures

i corinthians 13:11  esv 

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

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i corinthians 13:11-14:1  niv84 

When 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 childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor 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. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.

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ii john 4-6  esv 

I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

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i john 3:18  csb 

Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.

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i john 5:2-3  esv 

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

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ii kings 6:14-17  esv 

So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?"

He said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see." So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

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notes

ii corinthians 4:4-10  nlt 

Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, Who is the exact likeness of God.

You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, Who said, "Let there be light in the darkness," has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.

We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.

We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.

We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.

Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

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my notes:

psalm 119:105  esv 

Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

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psalm 119:3, 9, 59

They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in His paths.

How can a young person stay pure? By obeying Your Word.

I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow Your laws.

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hebrews 5:13-14  esv 

for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

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i corinthians 14:20  niv84 

Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.

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ephesians 4:11-15  nlt 

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, Who is the head of His body, the church.

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notes