What are you doing? In His Word 8-17-18
Are you reading for
enjoyment, or working on a study?
Sometimes it’s just a
pleasure read, you know the are of scripture and that it will be encouraging to
your heart and mind; that is just what you are looking for! You crave the good
words and the push to do more at the same time as the flavor of ‘good job’ you
feel knowing you are able to do all things through Christ!
Maybe you are digging in
with both feet and planting yourself in the depth of a study that will bring
you through a trial that is so hard that you search the scriptures to find
other people who have gone through the similar type of challenge you found
yourself walking into. You study out the meanings of every verse and try hard
to understand the words you read. As you gain knowledge you gain strength for
the battle!
Do you start your day to graze or to gobble
the Word of God?
As I look through the Word
of God I find delights and sweetness some days and other days I feel as if its
all meat; solid to chew on and slow to swallow!
Then Jesus said to them, “You cleverly ignore the commands of God
so you can follow your own teachings. Moses said,
‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Anyone who says cruel things to
his father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say a person can tell
his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but it is
Corban—a gift to God.’ You no longer let that person use that money for his
father or his mother. By your own rules, which you
teach people, you are rejecting what God said. And you do many things like
that.” After Jesus called the crowd to him
again, he said, “Every person should listen to me and understand what I am
saying. There is nothing people put into their bodies that makes them
unclean. People are made unclean by the things that come out of them. Let
those with ears use them and listen. ”When Jesus left the people and went into
the house, his followers asked him about this story. Jesus
said, “Do you still not understand? Surely you know that nothing that
enters someone from the outside can make that person unclean. It
does not go into the mind, but into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When
Jesus said this, he meant that no longer was any food unclean for people to eat).
Mark 7:9-19
Sometimes it is hard to
understand, its hard to swallow the fact we have been living a life not
pleasing to God. The Pharisee people thought they were doing the right things;
in fact they were so prideful about it that it was the opposite! They thought
their way was the best and yet God had another plan. Sometimes we think out
ward appearance is everything but when reality hits it is all about the inside.
When I met my husband years
ago I was attracted first to his voice, and his song, and at the same time I
thought he was gorgeous, it was a package deal! My point being I saw and heard
at the same time what my heart wanted to see and hear. When we read the Bible
it can be the same way, or it can be something entirely different; we can find
it hard to adjust our own idea of what God wants from us.
The Pharisees came to Jesus and began to ask him questions. Hoping
to trap him, they asked Jesus for a miracle from God. Jesus sighed
deeply and said, “Why do you people ask for a miracle as a sign? I tell you
the truth, no sign will be given to you.” Then Jesus left
the Pharisees and went in the boat to the other side of the lake. Mark 8:11-13
God knows our heart, even
better than we do He knows what we really desire to receive, do and be. He has
a way of bringing us around to what He wants us to desire, when we put our
trust and our hope in Him. The problem is we want what we want; we seek for
what we think we need; which often is fast food and stuffing our faces. God
desires to feed our heart with healthy stuff; the Word that not only fills our
need but strengthens us for the battles ahead. Think about the fly by daily
reading, you get today’s verse and run on to the next occasion you have to do.
It’s like grabbing a burger from a fast food place; it fills your desire to eat
but the nutrients are not always there. It is inevitable that you will need to
eat again before long and the wisest choice would be to take a good full meal
at home.
So if you start your day off
with fast food in the Word, be sure and grab a good meal to continue your day
with. Study a word, read a full chapter and write your observations, do
something that takes more than fifteen minutes in the Word. That is where you
will find the strength to endure hardship and sorrow, and find strength to get
through tomorrow!
Don’t get me wrong, I have a
short read daily devotion published and waiting to be purchased for a quick
read in the morning and thoughts to think on for your day. I even added in a
short prayer to get you started! Even
though I wrote it I know that it is for a quick start for the day and not meant
to be the sole read for your days.
My other books give you a
little more to feed on in His Word. I know we need more than just a verse a day
but it’s a good place to start! Sometimes we need the baby steps.
Sooner or later we need to
walk the walk and talk the talk that Christ has put before us but we will never
know what that is unless we feed on the Word daily that we may grow closer and
stronger in knowledge and in Spirit.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You
for giving us Your Word to study and to learn from and to grow strong with.
Thank you for drawing us into Your story, Your Word and Your direction for us
to become the person You need, want and desire for us to be. Help us to
continue ‘doing the Word’ with You. In Jesus name, amen
Suggested reading 1
Corinthians 15:1-58, Mark 7:1-37, Mark 8:1-38 and Joshua 1:1-18