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Scripture teaches us that all that is written in it has been written for our learning:

Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Here are 12 keys to profiting fully from what is written in Scripture for our learning.

1. Read the book repeatedly.

Deuteronomy 17:18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: 20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.

Concerning the importance of reading a book of Scripture repeatedly, I have read the book of Psalms 100 times because God has burdened me to saturate my mind with His own thoughts about music.

2. Prize it supremely and expect to work hard in studying it diligently.

Proverbs 2:1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

3. Pray fervently for illumination.

Psalm 119:18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Proverbs 2:3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

Ephesians 1:16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

4. Mark your Bible and take notes.

Consider, for example, how marking certain key statements in 1 Samuel 12 helps in understanding how what is written has been divinely structured:

Marking your Bible and taking notes is crucial for fully understanding what God has said:

5. Keep in mind that the whole book is the context of anything that is in the book.

When God originally inspired the books of the Bible, there were no chapter breaks or verse divisions in them. The context of anything that is in a book of Scripture therefore is the whole book itself and not just some smaller part of it.

6. Note the beginning and the ending of the book.

How God has chosen to begin and to end each book displays His infinite and perfect wisdom. We must pay special attention to what He has inspired to be written at the beginning and at the ending of each book of Scripture.

7. Note the names of God and the truths about God found in the book.

Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

8. Look especially for commands.

Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

9. Note repetition, connect ideas, and do cross referencing.

Concerning repetition, consider, for example, the vast number of times “the LORD” occurs in 1 Samuel 12:

As an example of connecting ideas, note how Paul does so concerning what Scripture says in different books of Scripture:

1 Timothy 5:18 For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.

10. Think about what you have read, believe it, and memorize what God specially brings to your attention.

Psalm 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

11. Praise Him for what He has inspired to be written and pray about the instruction that He has given in the book.

Psalm 119:164 Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.

Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

12. Do what is written in the book and teach others.

Ezra 7:9 For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. 10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.

Copyright © 2011-2023 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

When it comes to music, when it comes to that kind of thing, really, all that change starts with a philosophy that says that sound is not an issue to God. Text is an issue to God, not sound. You take a Bible governor off the sound. Well, now, the sky’s the limit in terms of what can be done as long as your viewpoint is, “Sound is not an issue to God.” It just becomes then a matter of personal preference and taste.

–Pastor Mark Minnick, Sunday PM message, “Preachers and Missionaries UK 2023,” 8/20/23

I believe that these statements very insightfully express what really is at the heart of so many of the worship music issues in our day.

Copyright © 2011-2023 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Book Update 7.22.23

July 22, 2023

I am getting closer to finishing the first draft of my book, “The Battle for Kingdom Music: A Call to Worldwide Consecration”!

Here is the current layout of the book:

Section Page Numbers Total Pages
Title Page i 1
Preliminary ii-iv 3
Table of Contents v-xi 7
Introduction 1-3 3
Part I 4-12 9
Part II 13-32 20
Part III 33-60 28
Part IV 61-76 16
Conclusion* 77 1
Appendices 78-104 27

The page counts are for 8.5×11 pages, font size 12. The total length is 42,527 words on 115 pages.


*I have not done very much with this section yet and plan to work on it a good bit more.

Copyright © 2011-2023 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Praise God that He directed brethren in the FBFI to speak out in resolve concerning music that is acceptable to God!

97.10 Regarding a Commitment to Godly, Christ-honoring Music:

The FBF rejects the notion that music is not a matter of separation. Clearly, we would separate from a pastor or church that used rock music either to attract a crowd or-God forbid-in worship. Therefore, we recognize that it is a separation issue. The encroachment of “CCM” or Contemporary Christian Music as a musical genre has been ignored too long. It is wrong to judge motives subjectively, but it is essential to discern the implications of methods, particularly in music. Fundamentalists should be able to agree that we must be committed to Godly,
Christ-honoring music. With sufficient prayerful discussion with Fundamentalist musicians, and necessary study of the subject by our preachers we will be able to move toward a consensus of what is meant by ‘Christ-honoring’ music in practice. We call for Fundamentalists to cease defending tastes in music as a matter of “preference” and begin to expound the principles whereby those who need guidance on this issue can be truly helped. We assert that those who boast of their “balance’ and ‘objectivity” while rejecting the teaching of biblical principles concerning music are compromising the means whereby this issue can be resolved. Neither tradition nor taste are the issue. The Bible communicates principles of music that is acceptable to God that can and should be known and taught.


This resolution is from the PDF “Past FBFI Resolutions: 1946—Present” available at the bottom of this page: https://fbfi.org/positions/

Copyright © 2011-2023 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Book Update 12.31.22

December 31, 2022

I have been studying what the Bible teaches about music for more than 11 years now. I have also been working for several years on writing my book The Battle for Kingdom Music: A Call to Worldwide Consecration.

On December 23, I began an extended time off from work. My goals for this time were to do at least 30 hours of work on my book and read the Psalms through twice while doing so to saturate my mind with God’s own thoughts about music.

This morning, I finished my second time going through the Psalms since December 22!

This afternoon, I finished working 30 hours on my book since December 23! God has given me tremendous progress on my book during this time!

It seems that I am getting close to having the rough draft of the book done. Lord willing, I hope to complete the book and have it published by September 2023.

Praise God for His faithfulness!

Copyright © 2011-2023 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Book Update 3.30.22

March 30, 2022

I have been working on writing my book “The Battle for Kingdom Music: A Call to Worldwide Consecration” since January 2020. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been more than two years since I started.

January 2022

I took the first full week of 2022 off from work so that I could devote much concentrated time to writing my book. Because of illness at the beginning of the week, I was not able to do as much work on it as I had wanted to do.

I made major revisions and expansions to a key section in Part I of the book. Parts I and II are near completion now!

I praise God for the tremendous progress that He granted me on my book that week!

Total Pages: 67 (as of 1/7/22)

Time Spent 1/3/22 to 1/7/22: 23.5 hours

Notes

1. I discovered that you can remove all the hyperlinks in a Word document by selecting all the text and then hitting “Ctrl” + “Shift” + “F9.” This discovery saved me a lot of time going through certain sections and removing the links one at a time.

2. I read the book of Psalms as part of my work on my book but did not count that reading time as time spent working on the book.

March 2022

I took three days off from work last week (March 23-36) so that I could have some concentrated time to work on my book.

I was able to make extensive revisions on several sections in the book, and I fixed a key formatting problem.

God be praised for the substantial progress that He gave me last week!

Total Pages: 86 (as of 3/30/22)

Time Spent 3/23/22 to 3/26/22: > 24 hours

July 2022 (tentatively)

I hope to have a whole week off from work in July. Lord willing, I would like to be close to finishing the first draft of the book that week.

Ongoing Prayers Requested

Thanks to any who have prayed with me about this book! I would appreciate ongoing prayers for consistent, Spirit-filled progress on the book and for the timely completion of it.

Copyright © 2011-2023 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In God’s providence, He has directed me to spend a decade or more studying each of four different subjects. These subjects have been quite diverse.

Stewardship of the Physical Body

Prior to becoming a Christian, I earned a bachelor’s degree in Fitness Instruction and a master’s degree in Human Performance. After I was saved, God used that background to open up a graduate assistant position while I worked on a Masters in Bible.

After finishing that degree, He led me to serve on full-time staff for many years in helping believers be good stewards of their physical bodies.

During those years of coursework and ministry, I studied intensely everything that the Bible teaches about health, exercise, nutrition, and stewardship of the body. God gave me numerous opportunities over that time to speak to believers on these subjects.

Evangelism and Discipleship

Soon after I was saved, I became very active in evangelistic ministries successively in the two local churches that I have been a member of during my lifetime as a believer. All through those years, I studied intensely all that Scripture reveals about evangelism and discipleship ministries.

God gave me many opportunities to preach and teach on these subjects for a number of years, but it has been quite some time since I have had such opportunities. It’s puzzling to me that I have not had more opportunities to edify God’s people in this area.

Christ as God’s Judicial Agent

After having served for many years in ministering to believers about stewardship of their bodies and about evangelism and discipleship, God dramatically redirected me to return for seminary work in a doctoral program. During those very hard years of working on that degree, God directed me to study with a passion everything that He has revealed in Scripture about Christ as His judicial agent.

During the years of working on that degree and for about a year afterwards, God gave me many opportunities to preach and teach on passages concerning the topic of my dissertation. Remarkably, however, I have had very few opportunities to do so in the past decade.

Acceptable Music for Corporate Worship

For at least the last decade, God has dramatically shifted the focus of my studies and ministry opportunities to an exhaustive study of everything in the Bible about music and worship. He has directed me to immerse myself profoundly in the book of Psalms during these years, beginning in 2012.

God has led me to write numerous articles about what Scripture reveals about music and worship and has given me several opportunities to speak multiple times on these subjects in a few churches. I am also writing a book about what God has given me in this area of study over this past decade.

Conclusion

Reflecting on how God has directed me during my Christian lifetime, I find it striking that God has led me to so intensively study these four different subjects during that time. Seeing how God has dramatically changed the focus of my studies and ministries more than once in my life makes me wonder what God may have in store for me in whatever years He has left for me to serve Him in this life.

God has been faithful in all these things in spite of much unfaithfulness on my part throughout these years. To God be the glory for all that He has done for and through me!

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2011-2023 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Is it an essential mark of a good preacher, teacher, or writer that he makes everything easy to understand for everyone? Scripture provides revelation that answers this important question decisively.

An Inspired Evaluation of Some Pauline Epistolary Teaching

The apostle Peter provides us with an inspired evaluation that some of Paul’s teaching in his epistles is not easy to understand:

2 Peter 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

Keeping in mind that the Spirit inspired Paul to write everything in all his epistles exactly as the Spirit wanted them to be, we learn that the perfect Writer, the Holy Spirit, has not written everything that He has given us in Scripture so that all of it is easy to understand for everyone.

It simply is not true that a good preacher, teacher, or writer makes or even can make everything easy to understand for everyone. Although Christian ministers should try to make their preaching, teaching, and writing as understandable as possible, they should not burden themselves with the faulty notion that everything that they say about every subject must be made easy to understand for everyone.

Conclusion

There are subjects and issues that cannot be made easy to understand for everyone. Let us beware holding the faulty notion that if something is not easy to understand, the one communicating that message has necessarily failed to communicate it properly.

Copyright © 2011-2023 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Progress on My First Book

January 23, 2021

For the past decade, God has directed me to study Scripture intensely to learn what He has revealed about music. Lord willing, I hope to write my first book this year: “The Battle for Kingdom Music: A Call to Worldwide Consecration.”

I worked for several hours on the book today and am very thankful to God that I made some good progress!

As the Lord leads, please pray with me for Spirit-filled wisdom, skill, and grace to finish writing this book this year. Thanks in advance to any who pray for me about this matter in the days to come.

Copyright © 2011-2023 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In a church-wide time of prayer this past Wednesday evening, my pastor directed six men to lead us online in a time of focused prayer on six key prayer topics. One topic was specific only to our church, but the other five apply to all believers in all local churches:

Reviving of God’s people

Salvation of lost people

Our church’s healthcare workers

Our missionaries and their churches

Our own protection and provision

Taking extra time to pray regularly about these prayer topics would be a great way to redeem the time during this pandemic.

Copyright © 2011-2023 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.