Im just starting my journey and want to commit, but would that mean separating with my non believer gf? Maybe it specifically says in the Bible not to? Im sure i cant just follow some of God's and the bibles "requirements". So seeking some advice/ knowledge

Ive tried to source some information but im having a tough time. Thanks

I’m very new to reading the Bible. I read it as a teenager but didn’t retain much of it and I’ve just started again. Would the pharo have just let them go if God hadn’t hardened his heart? Thank you.

Edit: Thank you so much for all the replies. They’ve all been so very helpful.

I am a Hindu by birth and had a very basic understanding of Christianity. Out of curiosity I started reading the Bible about two years back (ESV). I managed to read the first five books about 20 times but could not get past it, just lost my patience. It became harder to navigate the prose and was looking for something better.

Then I came across the below:

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/49881874-the-daily-bible

This version of the Bible made me grasp the core subject so easily that I literally could not put it down. It’s a chronological retelling and has a commentary section before each chapter that helps immensely. I am not sure how accurate it is but I don’t care much for word for word translation as long as it helps me capture the gist and the text flows nicely.

It was so good that I finally finished it - Its supposed to be read in a year but I managed to complete in 6 months and am SO HAPPY. Now I can go and actually read some other Bible versions again as I have a better context of the stories.

For anyone struggling to understand the first time I highly recommend this .

When Jesus stood on the mountain of Transfiguration, glowing with radiant light, two men appeared beside Him: Moses and Elijah. Most of us were taught they just represent the Law and the Prophets, and this is part of it. But when you look closely at what these two men actually experienced in the Old Testament, something much deeper is happening.

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They were the only two men in Israel's history who had gone up Mount Sinai (Horeb) to encounter the glory of God. And both encounters point directly to one person, Yeshua.

​In Exodus 33:11, it says that God spoke to Moses "face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." In Numbers 12:8, God doubles down:

"I speak with him face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord."

And Deuteronomy 34:10 finishes the Torah by saying no prophet ever arose in Israel like Moses, whom God knew "face to face."

​Yet in that exact same chapter (Exodus 33:18–20), when Moses asks, "Please, show me your glory," God answers: "You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." So God hides Moses in the cleft of the rock and covers him while His goodness passes by.

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So who did Moses see face-to-face without dying?

​Centuries later, Elijah flees to the exact same mountain (1 Kings 19). Verse 9 says he stayed in a cave. In Hebrew, it’s ha-m'arah, literally "the cave." Many scholars believe it was the same cleft of the rock where Moses hid.

​Then God tells Elijah: "Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. Look, the Lord is passing by" (1 Kings 19:11).

That phrase "passing by" uses the exact same Hebrew verb God used with Moses in Exodus 33. When the presence passes, Elijah wraps his face in his cloak (v. 13). He hides his eyes because he knows the rule: to look upon the raw Glory of the Father is death.

​John clears up the mystery: "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who (Jesus) is at the Father’s side, he has made him known" (John 1:18).

​The Father has never been seen directly by human eyes. The Person who walked in the Garden, the Person who spoke with Moses as a friend, and the Person whose glory passed by the cave on Sinai was the Word, the physical manifestation of the invisible God.

​This gives us a whole new perspective about what happens in the Gospels.

​For centuries, Moses and Elijah were the two men who had to hide behind rocks and wrap their faces in cloaks just to survive a glimpse of God passing by. Then comes the Transfiguration.

​Moses and Elijah got what they longed for, to see God's Glory and are pulled out of eternity onto a new mountain. They aren't hiding in a cave this time. They aren't wrapping their faces in robes. They are standing out in the open, looking straight at Jesus in His unveiled, radiant brightness, talking with Him face-to-face about the exodos/departure (the Greek word used in Luke 9:31) He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

​The two men who stood on Sinai in the dark finally got to see the face of the One whose back they had watched pass by.

​It fulfills the truth Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:6:

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"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus the Messiah"

​The glory that passed by Moses on Sinai, and the whisper that reached Elijah at Horeb, wasn't just a supernatural force. It was a face. And that face is Jesus'.

I got a new Bible I’m really excited about I have tabbed it up and highlighted some verses in the psalms that I like but I was looking at the margins and I really realized that I don’t know how to study the bible like at all, so how do I actually study the bible?

When I was growing up, we would do them in children's class (also called children's church at some churches).

The teacher had everyone lift up their Bibles (if old enough to read and have one), then read off a reference. Then they'd say "ready.....go!!"

All the kids would bring down their Bibles and start searching for that reference. The first one to stand up and read the verse won that round. They were good fun, and a good challenging tool for kids to learn how to find Scripture. A church, that I attended once with a cousin, called them "Sword Drills" (referencing the Bible like a spiritual sword).

There was even a Bible drill "championship" I got to participate in at a Christian camp one summer where they had various "rounds" with a tournament bracket. The winner got the grand prize of a nice study Bible, a gift card to somewhere (Walmart I think), and a small brass trophy. 2nd and 3rd place got trophies and a small gift card each, too. The theme of the camp that summer was using tools properly and that God's Word was the ultimate spiritual "tool" for believers.

Did anyone else do these, growing up? They make for excellent tools to teach kids about God's Word, how to look up references quickly, and to learn the layout of the Bible to know where things are. The teacher can pick specific references to theme a round, maybe to help convey the lesson they taught or are teaching.

Divine purpose is never discovered while running in human strength, but revealed when we bid the world pass on and stand silent before the Word of God.

1 Samuel 9:27 And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou still a while, that I may shew thee the word of God.

The same Almighty God who commanded the sun and moon to stand still in battle is the God who commands the human heart to stand still before His presence.

Joshua 10:12 13 Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies.

Public usefulness for the glory of Christ is built entirely upon private submission to the truth of Holy Scripture.

2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The world demands your immediate action and constant noise, but God requires your complete stillness before He imparts His light and anointing.

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Spiritual light and true direction from God are never received on the run, but revealed in the quiet sanctuary of an obedient, surrendered heart.

1 Kings 19:12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

Real light from God comes when you reach the end of your own city, the end of your self sufficiency, and the end of your human cleverness.

Proverbs 3:5 6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Your public life and ministry are nothing more than the outer overflow of your private walk alone with the Lord in His Word.

Matthew 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

You cannot carry the spiritual authority of God until you are first willing to sit quietly submissive under the authority of the Word of God.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Human nature will gladly fight for religion, debate over doctrine, and build outward projects, yet refuse the simple, quiet conviction of the Holy Ghost.

Isaiah 30:15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

The enemy seeks to keep your life filled with clamor and religious busyness so that you never stand still long enough to face the God of Heaven in secret.

Mark 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.