As Christians, we need to develop the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  How do we do that if we don’t know how to live holy? According to Ephesians chapter five verse ten (NIV), we read the Bible to find out what pleases God.

In order for us to live like Jesus did, we have to develop spiritually and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us on the right path.  We always have to fight the flesh daily.  We are not our own anymore once we gave our lives to Jesus.  We were bought with the price of His blood.  We are always tempted because of the Devil as well by the world that we are living in.  It is important that we are prepared to handle the day by day spiritual challenges.  We are not battling flesh and blood – we are battling spiritual forces that the Devil put in people that we deal with.

In Ephesians chapter six verses ten through seventeen: 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The Bible was written by mostly prophets in the Old Testament.  The New Testament was mainly written by Jesus’ disciples.  Paul (formally known as Saul, one of the former persecutors of the disciples of the early church) wrote several letters to different Gentile churches he helped start.  Those letters made up the majority of the New Testament.

The Old Testament tells a story about how God created the world in six days.  How sin came about and what God’s remedy was for it.  Prophets in the Old Testament predicted Jesus’ birth, life and death over 400 years before He was born.  During that time, God wanted a relationship with the Israelites – who was born through Abraham’s lineage.  There were loyal people in the history of Israelites that were loyal to God during their lives (i.e. Joseph, Samuel, King David, King Josiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, Hosiah).  Nevertheless, due to the people and their sinful ways, God allowed other countries to take them in exile.  Several generations later, the people returned to their lands and rebuilt them under the leadership of the prophets.

The New Testament tells a story about Jesus’ conception and birth.  The Book of John talks about how Jesus was with God since the beginning when the world was created.  The first four books of the New Testament talks about Jesus’ ministry and death on the Cross.  During His ministry, Jesus performed many miracles of healing.  He taught his disciples how to heal people and sent the seventy out to perform miracles.  Jesus told many parables to teach people about how to live life and how to be free from sin.  Then, the books ended with Jesus’ death and resurrection.  The Book of Acts talks about the Holy Spirit and how the early church started.  Jesus confronted Saul (who later became known as Paul) in between cities from Heaven about persecuting His disciples and made him blind for three days.  Saul went to a Christian in the city he went to.   The man baptized Saul and he began his ministry in the faith.  The Holy Spirit guided him and another disciple to teach the Gentiles after teaching the Jews about Jesus.

What does all this have to do with the Christian walk?

The Bible is used as a guide for Christian living.  Our mission as Christians is to live like Jesus did.  This means that we have to put off our old ways and put on the fruits of the spirit daily.  

In Galatians chapter five verses twenty-two through twenty-four: 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Of course, we have challenges.  Jesus will make our burdens light if we lean on Him.  This means we have to know when it is necessary to lean on Him.  We have to turn away from our old sins that God forgave when we got baptized into Christ.  We need God’s guidance on how to handle temptation.

The main reason to study God’s word is live a holy life.  Plus, our main mission is to spread the Good News that Jesus died for the sins of the world and rose three days later – Jesus defeated Eternal death.  We have to be ready to let someone know about Jesus.  We need to plant the seed.  How we live can affect the outcome to bringing more people into the Kingdom of God.

Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you to what to read.  Personally, when I started reading the Bible outside of when I was at a Christian college, I looked at the concordance for different topics I was interested in and read different verses along with the chapter surrounding it.  I was curious about different situations I kept hearing about.  I used a Bible study book as well that had you reading about a topic per day for a year (I never finished the Bible study book).   Over the years, I read Genesis, Ruth and Esther more than once.  I also read the first five books in the New Testament more than once as well.  Every time I read a book, I would pick up on something new.

If you are a new Christian, you can always look into study guides for the Bible to guide you on your daily Bible reading.  You can also get recommendations from your Christian mentor that often studies the Bible where to start reading or what Bible study book to use to help you get more familiar with your Bible.

As you read the Bible, you will want to live the life God has in store for you.  You will want to live like Jesus did.  You will understand what is at stake as well.  If you love Jesus, you will live like He lived and obey God in whatever He asks you to do. The Holy Spirit will feed you with directions from God.

The more you read your Bible, the more you will meditate on the word and pray God’s word back to Him.  The more you pray, the more you will hear fromGod and closer you get to Him.

In the end, building our faith depends on what we feed our spirits daily.  If we don’t feed it with the Bible, we will end up going astray from our beliefs and God.  We need to be alert spiritually at all times and stay connected to our faith in God (along with Jesus and the Holy Spirit) in order to live holy lives that are pleasing to God.