Last Tuesday, I said I would share with you the things I did to help create in me a heart prepared for kingdom living. I talked about how I had hit rock bottom spiritually and had a choice to make. Sin had taken over my life so much. Insecurity and a feeling of worthlessness had been my daily refrain, and it wasn’t as easy as flipping a switch to get to where I wanted to be spiritually.
After reading what I wrote last Tuesday, you may have been expecting some deep revelation that has been hidden from the masses for eons. I mean, this one seems like a no-brainer, right? Of course, we need to read the Bible. But I can tell you that there were years when I spent very little time reading His Word. I would nibble at it, maybe reading a few words at a time, or a few verses here and there. But listen to how God has always revered His Word and instructed man to imbibe it.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105 ESV).
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8 ESV).
“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation--” (1 Peter 2:2 ESV).
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17 ESV).
“but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2 ESV).
So, why spend so much time in the Word? (And yes, I strongly suggest daily). Because everything comes from the living Word of God. From Matthew through Revelation, they are all the words of Christ. In it, we learn who Jesus is, what He did for us, and why He needed to do it. Through it, we learn everything we need to live in the presence of God and how to live with our fellow man. And it is the means by which God can begin to create in us a new heart.
It is in the Word that we draw near to God. It instructs and comforts. It showers us with wisdom, and it shows us the way in a dark and crooked world. It is breathed by the Spirit of God Himself, and because of that, it has the strength to do what no other words can do. And don’t stop at the New Testament. The Old Testament teaches us about God. In it, we learn of Him and see His finger on all things. We see His power, His mercy, His grace, and His promises.
Doesn’t it stand to reason that if we want to have a heart that is tender toward God and trained to hear His voice, then we need to spend time listening to what He is speaking to us? And there are so many ways to drink in the Word of God.
We can open a physical Bible and read it in the quiet of our day.
We can listen to an audio reading of the Scriptures. In fact, that’s how it was done in the 1st century while the Spirit was working on writing it down for the ages- Christians listening to it being read to them.
I combine reading and hearing, and my comprehension and the quantity of what I read daily have skyrocketed. I open a YouTube video of the ESV dramatized Bible being read while following along in the free Blue Letter Bible online.
And I am very intentional in my reading of God’s Word. I schedule it so that I always have time. 7 days a week, I am up between 4 or 5 am, and I read Scripture for about an hour a day. I choose my own personal reading schedule and go through the Bible from cover to cover over and over. After prayer, it is the way I must start each day if I am to prepare my heart for the day to come.
I can tell you from experience that when I start my day in God’s Word, it helps set the tone for the rest of my day. And as the carnal man in me looks for every opportunity to sin, having the day start with a reading of God’s Word gives my spiritual man a boost and sets him up for success throughout the day.
Is it no wonder that in resisting Satan in the wilderness, Jesus responds by saying:
“It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’“ (Matthew 4:4 ESV).
If it is by every word that comes from the mouth of God that we live, shouldn’t we spend time daily in His word?
If you do not have a significant commitment to daily Bible reading, can I suggest that there will be few things that will better help you establish your heart and move you toward becoming the spiritual man or woman that I’m confident you want to be? Let reading His Word become so ingrained in you that it becomes second nature.
And here’s the great thing. If you are committed to this, you will start seeing an amazing change in your life. You can’t spend this much time with God and it not have an amazing effect on you.
If you are like me, you may find a time in your life when you have to do so much to prepare your heart for kingdom living that it may seem overwhelming. It’s okay. I took things one day at a time and focused on making one change at a time in my life. Daily Bible reading is something we all can do no matter how lost we have become or no matter how worthless or insecure we feel. Do this until the habit is set and you begin to draw strength from His words. Then consider the next thing I did to prepare my heart for kingdom living, which we will discuss next Tuesday.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12 ESV).
“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11 ESV).
God has extended His longsuffering today. Perhaps we will see Him in the clouds today, or perhaps He will bless us with another day of stewardship to Him. Whatever His sovereign choice may be, to Him be glory and honor today.
When Israel made the golden calf idol, it wasn’t just that that turned from God to another god. Israel fashioned the calf to represent Yahweh. In their minds, this golden calf represented their God.
“And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:4 ESV).
Whenever we fashion God after our minds, we do the same thing the people of Israel did. We may not make a representation of God with gold, but if we fashion Him in our image, then we are idolaters.
Let us approach God in His holiness and see Him as He is. A god fashioned after our image is not the God we shall stand before in judgment.
In my daily Bible reading, I came across an interesting verse that shows us that if we put our faith in the Lord, He will have our back.
“For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year.” (Exodus 34:24 ESV).
God told the people that when they all traveled to Jerusalem three times a year to serve Him, making them vulnerable to attack from their neighbors, God would protect them.
What a wonderful trust to put in God. He will be our security when we obey Him. While God never promises that we will never see persecution, God does promise that He will take care of us when we are persecuted for doing what He asks us to do. He will always have our back.
We should never wonder if it’s worth it to serve the Lord. It is always worth it. He will not allow our enemies to triumph over us when we lay down our lives to Him in service and obedience.
I am in the book of Leviticus in my daily Bible reading. When you see all the sacrifices in this book, you see just how far above man God is.
You have a system of blood sacrifices to cleanse people of their uncleannesses. Some were unclean because of sin, and some were ceremonial uncleanness that had nothing to do with personal sins.
But where the tabernacle was, so was the presence of God. It was holy ground. And God went to great lengths to show the Israelites that our uncleanness cannot exist in the presence of a holy God.
So, God made a way for impure man to exist in the presence of a holy God. This is what the sacrifices did for the people.
What we read in Leviticus also teaches us who live under Jesus how necessary His sacrifice is for us. His blood cleanses us and makes us pure before God. Jesus makes it possible for unclean sinners to approach His Father, Who is holy and pure.
Without His blood sacrifice for us, we cannot approach the Father. Jesus knew this. And this is why...
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 ESV).
In my daily Bible reading, I came across this passage about the aid that God would give His people:
“You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.” (Leviticus 26:7-8 ESV).
Isn’t that amazing? God would fight for His people and send ten thousand fleeing when a hundred Israelites would chase them. That got me thinking about what Jesus said about the church He would build:
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18 ESV).
Our traditional interpretation of this verse often goes something like this: When the gates of hell, the forces of darkness and evil, when the principalities strike out against the church, they will not be able to conquer the church. The church will survive the attacks.
One of the reasons that we think this way is because of the word “against” in this passage. But this word is not in the original text. The translators added it to help us better understand the meaning of the text. But I wonder if they may have watered down the true strength of what Jesus is saying.
Literally, the text says that the gates of hades will not prevail it. So, one way we can translate it is the way we talked about it- that the church will be able to survive against the powers sent against it.
But another way that we can read this when we remove the added word “against” is that the gates of hell will not prevail it; will not withstand it. This changes the thrust of what Jesus is saying.
Instead of the church surviving the attacks of the forces of evil and death, Jesus is saying that the forces of evil and death will not endure the onslaught that Jesus is about to unleash upon it through the victory He makes possible on the cross.
His church will lead a charge into the evil powers that reign in death, but no matter how hard they fight, no matter how viciously they fight back to defend themselves against the armies of Jesus, they will not prevail it; they will not withstand it. His church will lead an offensive battle that they will not be able to survive.
Jesus will lead His people and take the battle to His enemies. He will give us the ability to send 10,000 fleeing with 100 in His army. Our strength is in Him, and He tells Peter the church He will build will be such a force in the spiritual realm that His enemies will not prevail it; will not withstand it.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” (Ephesians 6:12-13 ESV).
God has always given His people a supernatural ability to take the battle to His enemies. As members of the church He built, we are part of an invading army that brings light to darkness and sends His enemies fleeing on a death march that will lead to utter victory through Jesus.
This is the power of the God we serve.
Have you ever wondered what it was like for someone who heard Jesus teach in person to accept Him as the Messiah?
He or she would have to go against the religious leaders of their days. They would have to choose between following their beliefs and possibly being put out of the synagogue.
Everything in their life was on the line with the decision they would have to make. As it became increasingly clear that Jesus claimed to be more than a man, they would have to decide if the Messiah they believed in was truly God or a blasphemer, especially after His death and resurrection, as that claim became crystal clear.
We take this decision for granted because we are surrounded by people who, for the most part, either believe Jesus is God or don’t have a problem with someone believing this.
My point is this... if you came to an understanding from Scripture that your church or traditions were inaccurate, would you stand for the Truth you uncovered, or would you be more concerned about being put out of your church or your denomination?
Would you fear the words of the religious leaders in your life or the Lord more?
Standing on the Truth is not easy to do when everyone important in your life believes something else and threatens to excommunicate you if you do not conform to their way of thinking.
It is the same decision the people in the first century faced. It is not an easy one. But would you be willing to walk away from everything you were brought up to believe, knowing that everyone you love and respect would excommunicate you from a relationship with them?
When the man who was born blind was healed by Jesus and refused to condemn Jesus as a sinner before the religious leaders, he had to pay the ultimate social price:
“Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.
If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.” (John 9:32-34 ESV).
Even his parents refused to stand by him because they feared being put out of the synagogue:
“(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.)” (John 9:22 ESV).
What about us? Are we willing to be excommunicated for standing on the Truth we uncover from Scripture? It’s a real decision that people have always had to face. What is the payoff if we do? It is the same payoff for the man born blind who refused to walk away from the Messiah:
“Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”
Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”
He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.” (John 9:35-38 ESV).
In my daily Bible reading, I am in Numbers. In one sense, it is a sad book in that the people constantly rebel against God, and God brings judgment on them. They seem never to learn their lesson.
In chapter 15, God instructs the people to put tassels on the corner of their garments and explains why He wants them to do this:
“And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after.
So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.” (Numbers 15:39-40 ESV).
The problem that kept getting the Israelites into trouble is, at its root, the same problem that often gets us into trouble. We take our eyes off the commandments of the Lord and follow after our own hearts and eyes.
We are blessed when we seek God’s Word with our hearts, but when we start to replace His Word with what is good in our own eyes, we start to walk a dangerous walk.
When we usurp God’s Word with our own reasoning and desires and follow those, we kindle the Lord’s wrath against us.
Israel was told to make tassels as a visible reminder to revere God’s Word above all and not start down the path of teaching as doctrine the commandments of men. This is vain worship to God. He did not put up with it in the days of Moses, and He will not put up with it today.
Quoting from Isaiah, Jesus says,
“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:8-9 ESV).
Let us all approach God’s Word with reverence and resist following after our own eyes, which we are inclined to whore after.
A question to meditate on today: Do we seek glory cloaked in garments of humility?