Contenders: Confirm

Gather up all your financial documents, it is tax time again. Will you get money back this year, or will you bite your nails in terror; while you tabulate the numbers and see what you owe continue to rise? Whichever position you may be in this year, how you get there is the same. Filing taxes is a three-step process with an intended and expected end. We begin this process by gathering (activate) all the obligatory information poignant to the task at hand.  Laid out before you now is all the necessary material  needed  to enter the specific , line by line information required by tax law. Every answer you give qualifies you entrance into a sweepstakes affectionately offered by the I.R.S.  Known as an audit. Unlike Publishers Clearing House, this is a sweepstakes none of us desire to win. To avoid becoming their (I.R.S.) next winner we spend the necessary time in the second process of filling; we confirm all the gathered information that we have entered is correct. It is at this point in confidence or gambling we finalize the process; whether by mail or electronically we must submit for the confirmation of another.
As contenders of the faith (principle) studious study of God’s scripture begins with activating; this is by making observations of the characters, times, locations, terms, commands, ECT. That we gather up an endless supply of God’s communication. Like filling our taxes, we must begin appropriating all this accumulated information and connect them properly as intended. The bible is uncontradictory in its entirety and in its presentation; our conviction here keeps our focus on confirming text with text and not placing our own presumptions on them. When we file our taxes we have been given the freedom to do so ourselves; the same is true of the scriptures once and for all handed down to us. It is of the upmost importance we handle it with care; confirming it with its self, before we submit it not only to our own lives, but also into the lives of others. It is by the fellowship and ministry of the Holy Spirit that Christians are able with confidence and assurance to rightly divide His inspired word. Confirming scripture authenticates or seriousness in taking God’s word in its entirety; proving  we can without any hesitation or grief accept the Holy Spirits constant audit of our minds, hearts, and conclusions; anticipating his ministry of cleansing, purifying, sanctifying, and conforming us  to the image of the One who sent him. ( 2 Tim 3:16)
Contenders who diligently submit to activating and confirming the word enter into a relationship. This relationship is one of a benefactor / benefiter nature. The scripture is like an abundant storehouse. We are the recipients (in full) of its benefits as we study, meditate, and pray it. The catch to receiving its full benefit (appropriate what is already ours) is accepting it as provided for by the Benefactor. Confirming the revealed word as intended is our responsibility to the Benefactor. If we check the wrong boxes, or enter insufficient data on our taxes, we cannot expect to receive what is already rightly ours. It’s important to note that we as citizens ( also of His Kingdom) have been held responsible to accurately and circumspectly file our own taxes( handle the word of that kingdom); errors and lack of integrity only disqualify and discredit us as accountable stewards to what has been afforded to us. If we  are committed to boldly approaching  The throne of God to benefit from His bountiful grace ; shouldn’t that boldness first come from the Contender who has activated and confirmed what  God has revealed           (substance)  His provisional supply for( 2 tim 2:15).  Lastly, unlike the process of tax season, I can guarantee those of us who contend for our faith through faithful bible study; we are assured to be blessed (happy) of the outcome ( Psalm 1). Until next time when we discuss TRUTH (trusted) from our acronym A.C.T.I.O.N., pick up your sword….it is the leather one