God asks us, for our happiness, to seek the things that are pleasing in His sight. Furthermore, the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us about another important reason why we must faithfully follow God: «Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of , let us lay aside every , and the which does so easily beset us.» So, as ambassadors for Jesus, we must set an example to the people around us, in order to attract them to Christ.
While a bad choice of music can exert a disastrous influence on us, a good choice of music can help to purify our thoughts. Among the following list, please check off every example of music recommended by the Word of God to further our spiritual growth in Jesus:
«Psalms.»
«Hymns.»
«Spiritual songs.»
«Singing in our hearts to the Lord.»
In the book of the prophet Isaiah , God says, «[He] that stops his ears from hearing of , and shuts his eyes from seeing , he shall dwell on .» We must therefore act with proper judgment when choosing how we feed our mind.
To bring His people to purify themselves, God gave them the following order, reported in the book of Exodus , «Therefore now put off your from you.» Another call to purification was given in the book of Genesis , and the people then did the following thing: «And they gave to Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their which were in their .»
During our lesson, we have seen an Old Testament apostate woman, whose life is exactly the example not to be followed by Christian women. What was the name of this apostate woman?
Jezreel.
Ruth.
Jezebel.
Esther.
In the Gospel according to John , Jesus prayed His Father so that His disciples may not be badly influenced by the world in which they live. In His prayer, Jesus asked, «I pray that...»
«... You should take them out of the world.»
«... You should reduce their contact with people.»
«...You should make them deaf and blind.»
«... You should keep them from the evil.»
To further our growth in Jesus Christ, the Epistle of Paul to the Romans gives us this precious piece of advice, «Be not to this world: but be you by the renewing of your mind, that you may what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.»
The apostle Paul also compares the progress of the Christian with an athlete’s training, since both require discipline and perseverance. In his First Epistle to the Thessalonians , he wrote, «We beseech you, brothers, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought to and to God, so you would abound and .»
In his Epistle to the Ephesians , the apostle Paul advises us to do many things which will help us to avoid the enemy’s snares. Among these pieces of advice, we find the following ones (check off all the right answers):
«Prove what is acceptable to the Lord.»
«Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.»
«Understand what the will of the Lord is.»
«Submit yourselves to temptation, in order to test your faith.»
And finally, when we face, in our spiritual life, obstacles which seem insurmountable, let’s remember these encouraging words that we can read in the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians , «I thank my God on every remembrance of you, (...) being confident of this very thing, that He which has a good work in you will it until the day of .»