As I wrote the other day, I’m studying the Book of Acts in my studies at Global University. I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

I’m not just using my book from Global University or the Bible when I’m studying my courses. I’m using the books suggested in the courses, too, to give a broader understanding of the Books of the Bible that I’m studying so I have an in-depth knowledge of the Word of God. I want to know the Word in my heart, as the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:11, to hide the Word in my heart, that I might not sin against God. That’s what I’m doing by taking these courses at Global University, to hide the Word of God, that I might not sin against God. Oh, I’m also taking them to get my ministerial degree so I can preach the Word of God, too, but I can preach whether I have papers or not, but the more I study the Word of God, the more I know the Lord and about the Lord and what His Will and plan are for my life. Pastor has been preaching from the Book of Nehemiah and about how Nehemiah had a S-M-A-R-T plan in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Earlier, the Jews had been allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple, but the walls of Jerusalem had been destroyed by fire. So Nehemiah had been lead by the Lord to pray for several months. After he had prayed, the king asked him why he was downcast and sad looking. To be sad looking before Artaxerxes, the king, could mean death to Nehemiah. But Nehemiah told him what the Lord revealed to him about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, which was Nehemiah’s S-M-A-R-T plan. Because the plan was God’s plan, of course, the king okayed it. When it’s God’s plan, the pieces fall right into place. Nehemiah’s S-M-A-R-T goal was from Nehemiah 2:6-8 and it was:
1. Specific
2. Measurable
3. Advantageous (worthwhile)
4. Realistic
5. Timely.
We all need to have these goals in our lives if we’re going to work for the Lord. Not just Nehemiah, but all of us who want to get somewhere in our lives working for the Lord, even just getting a chapter or Book of the Bible read. We need SMART goals in our lives, just like Nehemiah. We need to HIDE the Word of God in our hearts, in our minds, in our lives, so much, that we don’t sin against the Lord. That’s what these courses I’m taking at Global University has been teaching me. To really dig in and learn what the Lord wants me to know and to know Him  as the Apostle Paul taught in his Epistle to the Philippians 3:10-11, (AMP): “10 [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] 11 That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].” That is what I want to attain for myself, what the Apostle Paul wrote in that Epistle.