Question: Do I need a priest to absolve my sins? Short Answer: Jesus, who is the propitiation for our sins, is your intercessor.  What the Bible Says Jesus’s life and death fulfilled all of the Old Testament ritualistic requirements for an Old Testament priest to enter God’s Temple and intercede on behalf of the people. Absolute purity and cleanliness were required to bring a sacrifice before the Lord, and Jesus was the embodiment of perfection. His death was the required unblemished sacrifice. His resurrection brings us directly to God.  Scripture teaches how all of us can be purified and made clean so that we can, “approach the throne of grace with confidence” ( Hebrews 4:16 ) - believe that Jesus’s sacrifice is enough ( John 3:16 ), confess our sins ( 1 John 1:9 ). It also teaches us how to remain in that purity and cleanliness - wash each other’s feet ( John 13 ), have a clean heart ( Matthew 15 ), be clothed in humility ( 1 Peter 5:5 ) - the spiritual equiv...

Question:  How do I approach God in prayer? Short Answer:   Approach the throne of grace boldly. Be confident that as your Father, He wants to help you, and, as your God, He can. What the Bible Says Jesus told us to begin our prayers by approaching God as our Father. The remainder of what we know as The Lord’s Prayer essentially tells us to honor the name of the Lord and trust in Him. However, our heart posture in doing so should be one that seeks an intimate relationship. Why? Because believing in God as our Father recognizes that we understand how He sees Himself in relation to us ( Jeremiah 31:9 ). When we see God for who He truly is, we’re better able to trust in Him rather than our worldly desired outcomes. What do you do with this? Scripture doesn’t tell us that we’ll get everything we want, and getting what we want is not the purpose of prayer. Prayer connects us to God as our Father, who is wholly deserving of our trust. We are to approach Him with the confid...

Question:  How do I get Biblical wisdom? Short Answer:  Biblical wisdom begins with fear of the Lord.    What the Bible Says Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name ( Psalm 86:6 ). The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding ( Proverbs 9:10 ). The psalmist seems to be saying that the reason he wants to understand the scriptures is for the purpose of keeping God’s laws. To fully observe what God has asked him to do. He is not seeking to memorize a daily verse or to check daily reading off his to-do list. These verses are essentially laying out a roadmap for Biblical wisdom:  Learning the way of the Lord leads to  walking in the way of the Lord which  leads to  fearing the name of the Lord which leads to Biblical wisdom. What do you do with this? It’s much easier to map out a plan than to follow it. We can read the Bible from cover-to-c...

Question:  Why is the Bible so hard to understand? Short Answer:  What you understand when you’re reading your Bible has a lot to do with what you do with your mind when you’re not reading it.  What the Bible Says Why does the psalmist ask for his eyes to be turned from what is worthless ( Psalm 119: 33 – 40 )? Because what we see becomes our thoughts and our thoughts take root in our hearts and “out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” ( Mark 7:21-23 ESV). Even if you don’t act on feelings of pride or envy, God sees that those feelings are there. As God told Samuel before anointing David over Israel, “Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart” ( 1 Samuel 16:17 CSB). In other words, even when don’t act on evil desires, God stil...