Month: September 2023

Those who know me know that I have always read the Bible from cover to cover each and every year. I have done so for many years. However, at the beginning of 2021 the Lord began to move me to make some changes – at least for that year, or so I thought. I knew I was to make a change, so OK I would only read three chapers instead of five. I would read a Psalm, a chapter in Proverbs, and a New Testament chapter. Well, that did not work, as I was seeing so much in each passage, I simply did not have sufficient time to finish it all. So I cut that down to a Psalm and the New Testament chapter. That was also too much, so I have spent that entire year reading, pondering, listening, and wrapping in the Psalms – twice. 

It is now late September 2023 and He h as continually, year by year and season by season, continued to adjust my reading for our time together each morning. At the present time, I read in the New Testament, sometimes a chapter, sometimes a section, and sometimes as this morning when I read most of Colossians in another translation. In the evening, before bed time, my portion is a Psalm. Our time together continues to be rich in content as well as appointment. He continually enlarges the Word in my heart to see and know things about Him, His Word, and myself, that I did not know before. 

What an absolutely tender and loving Lord He is! The changes that He is working in me are so intimate and loving. How deeply He knows our very fiber of being and how precious it is when He makes some change (we could call it transformation and we would be correct) deep within. 

Faith is built and life is realized and exploded. 

His Word is truly alive and vibrant – like living water flowing into my Spirit and through my soul and body. (Hebrews 4:12) 

The Word is so alive in me that I immediately am drawn into study and thought far beyond the passage – and it happens in every passage. So often I find I can only do a few verses at a time. 

I am delighted in this change in me that He has done and wouldn’t trade our time together each morning for anything. His movement pours over me like warm oil and my spirit, soul, and body find healing in Him. So the day is for the two of us to spend together – regardless of my calendars appointments. Oh I do try to make them, but a constant awareness of Him is with, in, and through me. 

What joy – unbounded joy! He truly is our Emmanuel (God with us). “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.” Colossians 1:26-29.

The Lord Jesus arrested me the other day. He stopped me in my tracks as I was going about my day. I had been on social media often between naps on my resting day, and my mind was swirling with the events of the past week and the past few days. It was all awful. In helplessness, my mind was trying to find ways to help and to make a difference. Needless to say, I was not peaceful, and I continued to be burdened in my soul. He is so amazing! Suddenly, there was this, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. …and the God of peace shall be with you.” Philippians 4:8 and the last phrase of 9. The entire passage is worth taking the time to read. Bottom line – if we want peace, we must think the way He tells us. If we want to make a difference, we must be willing to leave all our striving and desires in His very capable arms. Otherwise, we are lost in a swirl of helplessness and fear. We become adrift in a sea of pain and darkness. It is only when we choose to receive His rebuke and begin to build our thinking blocks from His supply of goodness and peace that our days and years are blessed with His peace. 

Thank you, Lord, for that rebuke. Now, Holy Spirit, lead me into thoughts you inspire. Thank you for always being with us in those struggles and questions. Thank you for relieving us from the burdens of our minutes, hours, and days. 

This grand exchange is always worth the effort it takes to take my wayward mind and submit it to His mind. Thinking the thoughts of God is a gift to us, but it does take our participation in the action to activate the benefits of that gift. This is true of all He gives to us. He gives freely — “all things for life and godliness.” 2 Peter 1:3. Our part is to believe that is true and to participate by allowing His truth to be our reality. 

I pray you have a day of interaction with this awesome Lord of ours!