I really believe that what you are about to read will spark a new desire and passion in you that you have not yet witnessed before. If you have been in church for more than 10 years, then it’s probably safe to say that you’ve heard most of the popular stories in the Bible.

I’ll be honest, sometimes I hear the same stories over and over that it starts to get mundane. It’s not that the stories are any less important, but I’m left wanting something new and fresh.

Before I go any further, I must say that I’m not promoting Judaism at all. But, I believe that there are some key things that we can learn from Jewish Rabbis and Scholars that will allow us to grab a hold of this new revolutionary thinking.

For centuries, Jewish Scholars and Rabbis have taught that there are 4 Layers of the Bible. Meaning that, they believe that the Bible can be understood in 4 different ways. This is not taking scripture out of context, instead it is grasping a hold of something that may change how you read the scriptures.

So, we have these 4 layers of understanding the Bible. So, what are they? Glad you asked!

•Layer 1 = Primary
Layer one is defined as the primary layer. This is the first layer of understanding the Bible. This is where all new believers start out. You read the Bible as a story. Simple as that. So for example, we know the story of Noah. We know that God commanded Noah to build an ark. We know that he was scoffed at by the rest of the world for what he knew God was telling him to do. We know that God flooded the earth and that Noah and his family was safe. This is an example of the first layer. Basically, you are just reading the Bible as it is written.

•Layer 2 = Practical
Layer two is defined as the practical layer. It is taking scripture and somehow applying it to your life. So for example, we take the story of Noah again. We know that just like Noah, sometimes God asks us to do something that we know that we will be scoffed at. But like Noah, if we are steadfast in what God is calling us to do, God will keep His promises to us. Even in the midst of sarcasm and mockery, we must be steadfast in what God has asked us to do. This is an example of the second layer of the Bible. Taking scripture and applying it to your life.

•Layer 3 = Prophetic
Layer three is defined as the prophetic layer. It is being able to take multiple scriptures of the Bible and linking them to each other which will reveal an understanding of future events. For example, we take the story of Noah again. In Matthew 24:37, Jesus describes the Last Days as being like the days of Noah. So what were the days of Noah like? We know that God was going to bring destruction upon the earth. He warned Noah about the destruction (flood). He told Noah exactly what needed to be done to be saved. The rest of the world mocked Noah. “Where is this flood?”…”Where’s the evidence of this so called destruction?”…”You’re crazy!”.

We know that we live in a world right now where people are acting the very same way. There are many people who don’t believe that either God or Jesus existed in the first place, or they don’t believe that He will come again and bring destruction with him. They mock and ridicule all those who believe, by faith, just as Noah did, of what they believe to be true. That God will come again and will bring destruction to the earth. We can link these two scriptures together which reveal to us that the last days will be very similar to the days of Noah. When God comes back, it will be too late for those who mocked those who believed in God’s word, just like it was too late when the door to the ark was closed and it started to flood.

• Layer 4 = Mystical
Man! I almost hate writing that term down. Especially in the day and age we live in right now. I’m just giving you the term that Jewish Rabbis and Scholars have been teaching for centuries. We know that in today’s world, it’s very common for people to take words and give them new meanings. This is no exception. When we hear the word “mystical” we often interpret that to be of supernatural elements which are “not of God”. However, after thinking about it for a while, I really don’t know what else I would call it.

The fourth layer is something that will be completely new to you. It was to me, until I started understanding what it really entails. Jewish Rabbis and Scholars believe that there are certain understandings of the Bible that can only be given out supernaturally (spiritually) by the Holy Spirit. This is really interesting to me because I can instantly think of several scriptures that talk about how the Holy Spirit will pour out understanding to people in the last days.

I will give you an example, but it will be in my next writing. Let me end by saying that it’s imperative that you have a good foundation in the first two layers before you will even begin to understand the third and fourth layer. It’s like reading a book. You don’t skip to the end of the book, because it won’t make sense. You must start at the beginning and work your way. Familiarize yourself with the scriptures of the Bible. Pray that God will grant the Holy Spirit to pour upon you new understanding of the Bible, that your eyes of understanding will be opened.

Watch soon for my next note. I really believe now is the time when God is starting to unlock some of the best kept secrets and understandings of the Bible. Meant for us!

Are you experiencing a difficult time in your life right now? Is your job, family, finances, church (or lack thereof), friends, or your walk with God (again, lack thereof) under fire?

I want to share with you something really amazing that I believe will help you greatly (probably within 10 minutes of doing these two things).

Before I go any further, I need to use a couple verses to act as my foundation. Then, I can build on that to reveal some really interesting things.

Matthew 9:17
Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

Mark 2:22
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.

I don’t know if any of you have seen the kind of wineskins they use in the Middle East, but they are quite large and ugly! Ever seen the Princess Bride? Remember the large rodent of unusual size in the forest? Picture that – but dead. Yeah, pretty disgusting when you consider that they would drink the stuff coming out of it.

Now picture the same thing all dried up! When wineskins were not being used, they would toss them outside usually by the side of their houses (or tents). As the wineskin would sit outside in the weather, the sun beating down on it, it would dry up and would become hard. The material or outer shell of a good wineskin would be flexible, but if it sat outside in the hot sun and not being used, then it would dry up and get really hard.

The problem starts when they want to use this wineskin again. If they pour new wine in the wineskin, the new wine would start to ferment. And if the wineskin is dry and hard, then it won’t expand – it would only crack – thus damaging the wineskin and causing the new wine to pour out of it. Ruining both.

As some of you know, I like picking words out and looking up the original Hebrew & Greek meanings to the English words in our Bible. In this case, it was the Greek translation of the word “New” that was interesting.

When we look at the phrase “New Wine” – the Greek word actually means something that is “Brand New” (neos) – however when we look at the Greek word for “New Wineskin”, it is referring to something that has been renewed (kainos).

So how do you take an old wineskin and renew it? Simple…really it is. They would take the old dried up wineskin and submerge it under water for a while. They would bring the wineskin out of the water and they would start to rub olive oil on the wineskin. They would repeat this process until the wineskin was soft and flexible. This was their way of making a “new” or “renewed” wineskin.

So how can this help you where you are right now? When I’m battling issues in my life, whether it be in my job, finances, my family, or even my walk with God – I find that there seems to be one common factor in all of these things. A lack of “joy” in my life.

I’ll be honest, there are times when I go to church during worship time and I do not feel anything. I know that I should be feeling joy and happiness, but I don’t. It’s like the joy comes in and then goes right back out. I don’t retain it. I can’t retain it. And I leave church feeling just as worse or sometimes just plain worse than how I felt when I got there. It has nothing to do with the church, the preacher, the worship leader, the songs being sung, the atmosphere. It’s about my spiritual body being dried up and not used.

Let’s just say for example that our spiritual bodies are like the wineskin. If we are not using our spiritual lives, then we are like the unused wineskin. And over time we allow all of life’s troubles to beat down on us and dry up everything that was once joy.

The problem is, we go to church expecting the church to fix the problem. When sometimes, it simply can’t be done. It’s something that you alone have to do yourself.

So what’s the process? Simple….really it is.

Submerge yourself into the Word of God (Water). Refresh yourself. Just open up the Bible and start reading. You don’t have to find the perfect verse to read. Just begin to read.

The next thing to do is the oil. Now, don’t physically start rubbing oil all over your body (especially in public as this causes unnecessary embarrassment both for you and the viewer) instead use something that is commonly referred to as oil in the Bible – the Holy Spirit. You receive the Holy Spirit by how? Praying! Just start praying. You don’t have to come up with the perfect words to say. Just start asking God to allow the Spirit to move in you and to make you flexible and soft again. So that when joy does enter into you – you will be able to capture it and retain it.

Sometimes I have to do this several times during the day. If you only do it once, it won’t last forever because your physical and spiritual bodies are constantly under fire. Submerge in the Word of God and cover yourself in Prayer. It works – try it!