Holy Spirit

So grateful to read today how Ezra directed the core of his being constantly toward the task of studying and pouring over the Scriptures.

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. – Ezra 7:10 ESV

I would say that if we wanted to cop out and say that he did this because of his “ministry,” I would say we are missing the emphasis. It was his life – his all-consuming passion. Little else commanded his attention. He gave his best in study, practice and teaching. I try to do a personal inventory and ask myself if I truly give God my best efforts in this area. If I plug up the source of life that is found in His living and active word, I short circuit the Spirit’s power in both my life and my ministry. How can I, an “anemic,” find the power or passion to pass on to those I am called to disciple.

As a disciple, I start my life as a “student.” As I study, I teach from a place where I have served. I mean that study leads to doing, and as I progress in studying and doing, I gain the ability to teach.

If my discipleship suffers, it comes with a lack of studying or even believing that study is foundational to me becoming a disciple.

That is why I love what Ezra had to say. He was not content to deal with the law from an academic matter. He devoted himself to the study of the law so he could observe it, and only then teach it to others.

Remember when Jesus said this —

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;^[a] believe also in me. – John 14:1 ESV

In my study of His word I am actually practicing trusting in God. In the trusting of Him I receive a radical promise that doing so would bring comfort and peace to a troubled heart.

“What signalizes Him, and separates Him from all other religious teachers, is not the clearness or the tenderness with which He reiterated the truths about the Father’s love, or about morality, and justice, and truth, and goodness; but the peculiarity of His call to the world is, ‘Believe in Me.’” – Maclaren

I think Jesus is making a clear request here. If I follow Jesus, I must worship God – through Jesus, because He is my Mediator.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6 ESV