The Power of Knowing and Understanding God’s Word
Did you know that in 2017, the American Culture and Faith Institute found that only 10% of Americans have a biblical worldview?1
In 2020, the American Worldview Inventory found that only 6% of Americans have a biblical worldview. Among 18 to 29-year-olds, only 2% have a biblical worldview.2
And among evangelical Protestant churches, only 21% have a biblical worldview!3
Christians have slowly become so much like our culture that many have adopted a secular worldview. Rather than impacting our culture with truth, we are allowing the culture to influence the church.
A Biblical Worldview
Now, just in case you are wondering what exactly a worldview is, let me explain.
Our worldview is the lens through which see the world around us. Everyone has a worldview whether we acknowledge it or not. A biblical worldview means that we allow God’s Word to be the lens through which we evaluate our lives and our culture.
The reason for this ministry of writing and teaching is to help women grow and mature in their relationship with God and be on mission with Him to make disciples.
After almost eight years of writing, speaking, and being active on social media, I have heard from thousands of women about their challenges to spiritual growth.
One of the main obstacles mentioned is the struggle in understanding God’s Word.
I have read dozens of books on our current cultural crisis of faith, and all of them come down to one thing: lack of biblical literacy.
You see, while some people say you just need to read the Bible and do what it says, there is much more to it than that. If that were all we needed, we wouldn’t have different denominations and so much division and strife within the body of Christ.
Biblical Literacy: Learning to Understand God’s Word
What we need is for the church to get back to making disciples by teaching people how to read, interpret, and apply God’s Word to their lives.
We need to teach people how to study the Bible in its context, how to memorize and meditate on Scripture, how to walk in the Spirit, and how to do this within the community of faith.
We need each other!
So, my goal is to encourage spiritual growth through teaching and empowering women in the spiritual disciplines that grow our faith, and that begins with understanding how to study and live out God’s Word in our lives.
My new book, Get Grounded: Understanding the Historical and Cultural Context of the Bible, was written for this very reason. My heart behind this book is to help women to better grasp God’s truth for their lives so they can impact their families, friends, and neighbors for Christ.
When we grow our understanding of God and His Word, it changes us.
“Teach me, LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will follow them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word” (Psalm 119:33-37, NIV 84).
Here’s the thing: every time you open your Bible, you are interpreting what you believe it says. And that interpretation can be based on many things, your education, your upbringing, your culture–in a nutshell: your worldview.
Context Matters
Learning how to interpret God’s Word from its historical, cultural, literary, and linguistic context is the key to properly understanding and applying it.
And that changes everything.
It keeps us from misinterpreting and falling for some of the cultural deceptions taking place today that are shaking up the church and causing so many people–especially young people–to fall away.
They are encountering hypocrisy or legalism, both of which result from misinterpretation of the Scriptures. That is why Jesus corrected the misunderstandings of God’s Word in His day:
“You have heard that it was said” (bad interpretation)…”but I tell you” (right interpretation).
The enemy wants to speak into your life, and if you don’t know God’s voice from time in His Word, you will not be able to discern His voice from the enemy’s.
I honestly believe that if we can get back to the basics of discipleship in the church, we can help raise a new generation of believers who know how to read, study, apply, and defend the truth of God’s Word and have a lasting impact on the generations to come.
This book is the first in a series aimed toward the goal of making disciples who understand God’s truth and teach it to others, fulfilling the Great Commission to make disciples (Matt. 28:19-20).
Let’s get grounded in God’s Word, grow our faith, and watch God bring the increase in a harvest of souls for the kingdom.
Go here to find out more about Get Grounded: Understanding the Historical and Cultural Context of the Bible.
1 Natasha Crain, Faithfully Different: Regaining Biblical Clarity in a Secular Culture (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 2022), 25.
2 Ibid., 26.
3 Ibid.