Daily Bible Readings YLT March 21st

When we have turned to following Jesus, we cannot take with us anything of our past life which will lead us away from Him and our obedience to His teaching.We have to be utterly ruthless to cut off every thing that is not of God and not of His teaching, every influence, every input, every teaching however appealing, however attractive and benign they might seem to us. Everything that is not of God and not of His teaching will draw us away from Him and from the fullness of life He wants to give us.The Bible is not a history book. It is a God-breathed, God-inspired, God given book.It is no good bringing our world taught thinking to the Scriptures: we must read with the help and wisdom of the Holy Spirit: "the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of Jehovah"We must understand in the Spirit what God is teaching, otherwise we cannot understand.We must be born of the Spirit. Nicodemus could not understand this.Many of those who heard Jesus say that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood, left off following Him because "this is a hard saying".The disciples who heard Jesus say, "Beware the leaven of the Pharisees," understood this as being because they had not brought bread with them.The disciples asked Jesus to explain the meaning of the parable, the simile, of the sower of the seed.Jesus says: Do you still not understand?We must understand that "we have not the wrestling with blood and flesh, but with the principalities, with the authorities, with the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, with the spiritual things of the evil in the heavenly places" Ephesians 6: 12.Elisha prayed for his servant, "Jehovah, open, I pray thee, his eyes and he doth see""and Jehovah openeth the eyes of the young man and he seeth, and lo, the hill is full of horses and chariots of fire, round about Elisha."We are so unaware of our spiritual environment. We walk around with our eyes closed. But Jesus says, "Stay awake! Be alert!"The apostle Paul exhorts us to "Be on guard!""Be sober, be vigilant, because your opponent the devil, as a roaring lion, doth walk about, seeking whom he may swallow up." 1 Peter 5:8Be sure to put on the whole armour of God. Gird your emotions with the belt of truth. Read the Word, this is the only truth and the truth will set you free from fear, from false thinking, from deception, from lies, for even our imagination can lie to use to keep us trapped.Put on the breastplate of righteousness, by which you know that you are a forgiven child of God, no more in condemnation as the accuser of the brethren, the devil, would have you believe for he is a liar and a thief, a murderer and a false accuser.Put on the shoes of the preparation of the good-news of the peace,"above all, having taken up the the shield of the faith, in which ye shall be able all the fiery darts of the evil one to quench, and the helmet of salvation receive, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the saying of GodHow can you take the sword of the Spirit unless you know the Word?Be watchful. Be on guard. Do not be naive but aware."Because we have not the wrestling with blood and flesh, but with the principalities, with the authorities, with the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, with the spiritual things of the evil in the heavenly places,because of this, take ye up the whole armour of God that ye may be able to resist in the day of evil and all things having done - to stand." Ephesians 6:12-13