Which way do I need to go?

I’m back… did you miss me?
It has been 4 months since my last entry, and a lot has happened in that time. Thinking back on that time I can see where God was opening and closing doors to direct my path to where I am now. However, during June and July I had troubles determining what I was supposed to be doing. It had been a rough time.
So what has made those months more difficult?
One day as I was thinking about how mixed up things were, and praying for direction, I realized I had not had the time to read my men’s devotional in quite a while. A few days later I managed to pick it up and read the day’s verse and the author’s take on what it meant. It was Ephesians 3:19 – and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all fullness of God.
The author said that the journey toward spiritual maturity lasts a lifetime. If we don’t study God’s Word, obey his commandments, and live in the center of His will, we will become “stagnant” believers.
A day or two later I heard a speaker on the radio say that God speaks to us through His Word. If we do not continually read and study God’s Word we will have a hard time hearing and understanding what direction He wants us to go.
It finally began to sink in. I had been doing my best to keep God’s commandments, and I was trying to live in the center of His will, but I had not been studying His Word. That was the missing piece. As I got back up to speed in study the Bible, things started to smooth out and become clearer.
After a presentation I made several months ago some people asked me if the fact that they came to church every week, but had not done a Bible study in many years made them religious and not spiritual? I am now better able to answer that question. Both things are important. One without the other is not a good thing. Without studying His Word the things we do can become to religious, we begin doing things because they are what has always been done. We become caught up in the tradition.
In Matthew 15:3 Jesus admonishes the Pharisees and scribes for worrying more about man made traditions than God’s commandments.
Paul warns in Colossians 2:8,
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
How do we keep this from happening? Look at Ephesians 4:13-16
…until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants …
Without studying God’s Word we do not grow in our faith and understanding of what our Lord wants and expects from us. The Holy Spirit uses His Word to direct us. Without the continued input our human understanding takes over. His Word does make it easier to make all of our decisions and understand the path He is leading His people down.

P.S. There is a difference between reading and studying. But that is for another article.

For the Glory of God
Bill
P.S. If you have questions or comments please click on comment bellow.