Paying attention-In the Word!
When Paul formerly known as Saul was
living his life doing what he thought was correct and within God's
will he was focused on ridding the world of those whom he thought
were against God's plan. God wanted him to notice the truth He
stopped Saul in his tracks. He blinded him from all distractions so
that he could become Paul, a great man of God and an inspiration to
many people who study the Word of God today.
If Saul were not in the place he was at
the time he was to be there he would not have met Jesus exactly then
and Ananias would not have been summoned and Peter and the rest of
the Disciples would not have realized there were others out there
whom God wanted to reach; or at least it could have been that way. If
we do not take a Selah moment, stop and think about what we are
reading then we could miss something very important that God wants us
to learn.
Sometimes we get too common place in
our reading, we do our daily devotions as we think the Word tells us
to, give thanks to God for our food, our day and present our requests
to Him. I want you to ask yourself today is that really enough?
I asked myself and realized that its
not enough for me to glance at the words and 'do my time in the Word'
I have to grab a hold of it and make it real in my day. I need to focus
on what I am reading and think about what is happening in the time it
was written, the time it is talking about and in my time. I need to
think on these things as I go about my day. I need to make reading,
studying, meditating on the Word of God a life line to my life, not
just what I do.
When we take the time, or rather make
the time to put away our whatever we would have been doing and focus
on the Word; we will find connection and direction from God Himself.
If we just flip through the words we are reading they will only be
words on paper not the life giving God breathed Word that God spoke
into the heart of the writer just for us to read. We should walk away
changed.
The other thing I was thinking about
today was the prayer time that accompanies our reading. We should
always ask God to open our eyes to see what His Spirit is telling us
in the Word each day. Or at least as often as we remember to do so.
When we take a trip, as I am doing at
the moment, we research the best route, find the right path to
follow, and then we apply it to our plan for the day.
Before the trip we set aside the time,
we figure out what we need to have with us and we pack for whatever
is needed.
As we go we follow and use what we have
prepared for ourselves and family to use, and do.
Preparation has been done for our trip,
so why not for the day in the walk with Christ that we are in?
Why is it so hard to set aside the
specific time to really dig into the Word, or really get down in
prayer and open our hearts and minds to it?
Because the enemy is fighting to distract us. The adversary is just that, against us; he wants us to be 'too busy' or 'distracted' from prayer and reading of the Word of God. If he can keep us away from the life flow of the Word, and the connection of prayer then he knows he can weaken us to become less effective warriors for God's kingdom.
So what can we do about this?
Stay connected. If I am not connected
to the internet I am unable to send out my devotional article on
Mondays. I need the power of that connection to send it out or post
it on the blog. I can write it up with electrical power or by hand
for that matter, but unless I have connection most of you will not
get the most recent issue for at least three days. Even if I used the
regular mail it would not be as regular as you are used to and some
of you may get tired of waiting. We are blessed with a God who wont
necessarily get tired of waiting but He has been known to pass on the
mantel to someone else when time was of the essence.
Set your mind on things above not on
the earth. Colossians 3:1
Contain: Hide the Word n our hearts and
minds, don't just glance at it. Make it our own and keep it
internally. Make the words personal by asking God to open the meaning
up to us.
They word have I hid in my heart that I
may not sin against you. Psalm 119:11
The fact is that the more we look into
the words we read in the Bible the more we will have them on our
minds. We are told to meditate on them day and night that we would
find the peace, guidance and direction that we need.
Collect: Collecting data is what
computers do, in order to play a game, or watch a video the computer
collects the items by loading it to your computer, or tablet or phone
and then it brings it to the screen as you need it.
When we collect scriptures in our
hearts and mind then we can pull them up as needed. We can walk in
peace, contentment, strength and joy when we have collected the Word
uploaded to our heart and mind.
This morning as we drove by the other side of a mountain from where I usually drive I remembered a drawing that plagued me as a preteen. I drew it a lot and almost the the point of distraction I had a mountain, rolling hills, and certain peeks on the mountain that stood out in each picture. As I grew the picture stayed in my mind, I fed it by looking at every mountain picture I had ever seen, every mountain I drove by became less beautiful if it did not line up.
This morning as we drove by the other side of a mountain from where I usually drive I remembered a drawing that plagued me as a preteen. I drew it a lot and almost the the point of distraction I had a mountain, rolling hills, and certain peeks on the mountain that stood out in each picture. As I grew the picture stayed in my mind, I fed it by looking at every mountain picture I had ever seen, every mountain I drove by became less beautiful if it did not line up.
This morning, as I drove I saw my
picture before me. I thought to ask God why it of all mountains was
exactly like the one I had drawn. I felt in my heart a peace about
the trip I was on more than ever I felt, no I knew that I was exactly
where I needed to be.
I was attuned to God because I was
connected, I was quick to ask Him about it because I had read the
words that told me He was ever present in my life, I had contained
the words that told me my God would direct my path, and I knew I was
getting the answer I had sought earlier about the trip.
Sometimes we question God 's plan, His
timing, or His direction; His guidance unlike some GPS machines will
not lead us astray. The weather is beautiful today, the time with my
family is precious, the quality of time with God today was priceless!
My prayer is that each day we will
submit to His call to pray, to connect with Him. That we would seek
His presence, His direction and His guidance for each day, not just
what we do but where we go in the Word. I say where we go because we
really can wander in the Word and when we have collected the friends
in there we can travel with them as they speak to kings and princes
as well as normal folk. Its all about getting in the Word, not just
reading it.
Dear Heavenly Father, help us to walk
according to Your Word by getting in Your face as we get into Your
Word each day/ Help us to get rid of the distractions and focus on
Your will, not our selfish desires. Help us to see the big picture
today and follow your directions. In Jesus name, Amen.
Suggested reading Colossians 1:1-,
Psalm 119:1-11, Romans 12:1-21 and James 2:1-26