Finish the line...
Rudolph the red nose reindeer....
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks....
I can't get no....
Hit me baby....
Jingle bells, batman smells....
Melts in your mouth....
Like a good neighbor....
Help I've fallen....
Thy word have I hidden in my heart....
Good maybe you got that one
Sanctify them by the truth....
Maybe that one was harder
Think about all those songs and jingles that you know all the words to, you have them memorized because we hear them over and over again. We spend time listening to them and looking at them and dwelling on them so that we have these statements in our head that we can spit out. What if we could do that with scripture, if we meditated on it so that someone could start a verse and we could finish it. All of this came from a Francis Chan sermon (part of a series he was doing on Intimacy With God). Psalm 119:11 says I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. So much of Psalm 119 talks about that, the idea of meditating on Gods word so that you can remain pure like in vs. 9. Thats great if you could finish those verses above but think about all of your friends or people you know in the church that can't finish those verses. I am sure we all want to live a more pure life and not sin against God as much as we do and I think we often over complicate things. Psalm 119 says that if we need to know Gods word and hide it in our hearts.
We also see the word of God as a sword in Ephesians, Hebrews, and Revelation. This is our offensive weapon against Satan. We see Jesus use this when He was being tempted in the desert, he responded with the word of God. This has been on my mind this past week and I hope it can be an encouragement to you too.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks....
I can't get no....
Hit me baby....
Jingle bells, batman smells....
Melts in your mouth....
Like a good neighbor....
Help I've fallen....
Thy word have I hidden in my heart....
Good maybe you got that one
Sanctify them by the truth....
Maybe that one was harder
Think about all those songs and jingles that you know all the words to, you have them memorized because we hear them over and over again. We spend time listening to them and looking at them and dwelling on them so that we have these statements in our head that we can spit out. What if we could do that with scripture, if we meditated on it so that someone could start a verse and we could finish it. All of this came from a Francis Chan sermon (part of a series he was doing on Intimacy With God). Psalm 119:11 says I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. So much of Psalm 119 talks about that, the idea of meditating on Gods word so that you can remain pure like in vs. 9. Thats great if you could finish those verses above but think about all of your friends or people you know in the church that can't finish those verses. I am sure we all want to live a more pure life and not sin against God as much as we do and I think we often over complicate things. Psalm 119 says that if we need to know Gods word and hide it in our hearts.
We also see the word of God as a sword in Ephesians, Hebrews, and Revelation. This is our offensive weapon against Satan. We see Jesus use this when He was being tempted in the desert, he responded with the word of God. This has been on my mind this past week and I hope it can be an encouragement to you too.
Comments
I like the analogy of the Bible being like a owner's manual for the human life (shared by Dad, though not praticed all that well). John 10:10 Jesus said "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." For me the Bible is not just an offensive/defensive weapon, but an instruction manual filled w/ so much practical stuff for living. I think non-believers or believers that neglect the Word (myself included at times) are at a disadvantage for not having absorbed/applied the truth therein. In fact, sometimes when I "witness" by sharing wisdom from God's Word - life changing stuff.
I can relate to what Terry said about being sharper when you teach. Teaching always forces me back into the Word, to ensure that the lesson is true and substantial. Someone said it well: "To teach is to learn twice."