I am not very good about being disciplined, when it comes to reading the Bible.
Oh, I have a Bible reading plan on my phone. And I read it for awhile, then start skipping days… here….and there.
I listen to sermons via podcast, and when life is “normal”, I try to attend church more often…than I don’t.
I listen to Christian music in addition to my “non-Christian” music.
I pray.
These things keep me focused on being and acting, along the lines of what I believe. But they are not God’s Word directly. Not all of them.
I heard someone say once that we rely on God’s people (pastors, bible study leaders, christian authors, etc) to tell us what to believe and think when it comes to being a Christian. But it’s filtered. We are asking God’s words to come to us THROUGH someone else. And that’s not bad. Except if that’s ALL and the ONLY place that we hear from the Lord.
I actually read a little of God’s Word this morning. HIS word. From the Bible. Not through and filtered from someone else. And do you know what I read?
In Joshua 1 verse 8, God says “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
MEDITATE ON IT DAY AND NIGHT.
Now how many of us do that?
If we go to church, maybe a sermon here and there sticks with us. But even then, do we meditate on it?
If we are training for a marathon, we meditate on our runs, our eating, our everything.
If we are preparing for a big presentation at work, throwing a big wedding together, planning a huge cross-country trip - we dwell on it. We plan for it. We think about it all day. We go purchase the things we will need. We are “all about it.”
Yet we don’t do that with God’s Word. Most of us don’t anyways.
So how can we expect to hear from Him? Why do we complain and say, “I never know what God wants me to do. He is silent.”
Why do we WISH we had the kind of faith life and evidence of God in it as someone else? (Maybe they actually open their Bible).
Friends - I’m just as guilty. And I’m convicted.
The Lord means everything to me. EVERYTHING. And I can see in the world today, how His time of coming is growing nearer and nearer. Am I prepared? Are you?
Do I battle fear over what is going on, or do I feel peace knowing He’s got it in His hands?
Do I know what He’s said? Do I see the signs around me? It would be hard to see them if I never took the time to read them in His Holy Word!
MEDITATE ON IT DAY AND NIGHT.
If we say we believe in Him - why do we not make the effort, take the time, and actually saturate our lives with Him?
You can’t expect to finish a marathon if you haven’t trained for it.
You won’t know what to say for your presentation at work, if you didn’t study.
The same is true for being a Christian believer.
We need to KNOW God’s Word. BELIEVE in God’s Word. READ God’s Word. Ponder it. Digest it. Learn it. Listen to it.
And watch our lives change because of it.
