I like to think of myself as being a pretty 'down with it' person - I've got swag, I like to rap nursery rhymes, I even use the peace sign to say hi to my friends. All in all, I'm pretty gangster...at least according to me. And since I'm so gangster, I have it on good authority that my title for this post is, quite simply, epic. Why? because it has two meanings.
Firstly - it sounds super gangster! 'word.' (I'm imagining a super g'd up from the feet up guy saying it right now...and now I'm picturing my good friends, Mark and Jeremy, laughing at me for even trying to be gangster at all. Come on guys, work with me here!!)...word.
Secondly (and more to the point) - it is, in fact, a part of my life that I cannot survive without.
The Word. The Bible. Literally God-breathed words that challenge my will, change my mind, and settle my heart. I haven't performed the study, but I can tell you that based on observation alone, there is a strong correlation between my sanity and emotional stability and the amount of emphasis I put on the word of God in my life from day to day.
I'll be the first to admit, sometimes I don't feel like the words on the page are anything more than just words. Jeremiah wasn't the only one lamenting a few days ago, when my daily Bible reading plan told me to flip open to Lamentations! There are other times, too, when life seems so busy or overwhelming, that reading the Bible is no more than a chore. There are two things I remember in those moments - spoken by two very wise people in my life.
I remember the analogy of my heart as a woven basket and God's word as pure water. In the midst of situations that leave my heart marked with bitterness, fear, anxiety, mistrust, or impurity, I can pour that water into it. Though it may seem to hold nothing of the content being poured over it - the water strains through the holes instead - that purifying stream washes my basket clean. By the end of any number of days or weeks or months of pouring into my porous basket, it will show no sign of the filth that once marred it, and it will be a pure and holy vessel that can be poured through onto others who need to taste the waters.
And then I remember a time when I didn't think I could hear the voice of God. I felt I was the only one who just could not get direction or affirmation from God for myself. Synchronously, I felt oppressed by a lingering doubt about whether God even loved me. After all, I'd never heard Him say it. Distraught, I went to my pastor, and this is what he told me - the Bible is literally God's words, and those words are God's love story to me. Don't I want to read it? This truth changed my life - if I want to hear God speak, I just have to open my Bible. If I don't know what to do, direction is in those pages. When I need to hear Him say He loves me...let me count the ways He does, as evidenced in the very words He spoke and the very deeds He's done.
So now I have this living stream that pours liberally over my heart as often as I'll let it. And while it cleanses me, it directs, affirms me, and sustains me. And furthermore, it causes me to dream...
My friend, let me encourage you with the words that run through my mind whenever I have faith enough to let them: take God at His word.
Elijah took God at His word, and he ordered the heavens. What are you meant to order?
Moses took God at His word, and he freed a nation. Who are you meant to free?
Peter took God at His word, and he overcame fear and cowardice. What are you meant to overcome?
When Jesus said that greater things would be done than these, He was referencing His own miracles - the lives he touched, the illnesses He healed, the brokenness He restored. When I imagine even a handful of people who are word-lovers and who take God at His word for that statement alone...I see the world change. How much more if we were to take Him at ALL His word?
Firstly - it sounds super gangster! 'word.' (I'm imagining a super g'd up from the feet up guy saying it right now...and now I'm picturing my good friends, Mark and Jeremy, laughing at me for even trying to be gangster at all. Come on guys, work with me here!!)...word.
Secondly (and more to the point) - it is, in fact, a part of my life that I cannot survive without.
The Word. The Bible. Literally God-breathed words that challenge my will, change my mind, and settle my heart. I haven't performed the study, but I can tell you that based on observation alone, there is a strong correlation between my sanity and emotional stability and the amount of emphasis I put on the word of God in my life from day to day.
I'll be the first to admit, sometimes I don't feel like the words on the page are anything more than just words. Jeremiah wasn't the only one lamenting a few days ago, when my daily Bible reading plan told me to flip open to Lamentations! There are other times, too, when life seems so busy or overwhelming, that reading the Bible is no more than a chore. There are two things I remember in those moments - spoken by two very wise people in my life.
I remember the analogy of my heart as a woven basket and God's word as pure water. In the midst of situations that leave my heart marked with bitterness, fear, anxiety, mistrust, or impurity, I can pour that water into it. Though it may seem to hold nothing of the content being poured over it - the water strains through the holes instead - that purifying stream washes my basket clean. By the end of any number of days or weeks or months of pouring into my porous basket, it will show no sign of the filth that once marred it, and it will be a pure and holy vessel that can be poured through onto others who need to taste the waters.
And then I remember a time when I didn't think I could hear the voice of God. I felt I was the only one who just could not get direction or affirmation from God for myself. Synchronously, I felt oppressed by a lingering doubt about whether God even loved me. After all, I'd never heard Him say it. Distraught, I went to my pastor, and this is what he told me - the Bible is literally God's words, and those words are God's love story to me. Don't I want to read it? This truth changed my life - if I want to hear God speak, I just have to open my Bible. If I don't know what to do, direction is in those pages. When I need to hear Him say He loves me...let me count the ways He does, as evidenced in the very words He spoke and the very deeds He's done.
So now I have this living stream that pours liberally over my heart as often as I'll let it. And while it cleanses me, it directs, affirms me, and sustains me. And furthermore, it causes me to dream...
My friend, let me encourage you with the words that run through my mind whenever I have faith enough to let them: take God at His word.
Elijah took God at His word, and he ordered the heavens. What are you meant to order?
Moses took God at His word, and he freed a nation. Who are you meant to free?
Peter took God at His word, and he overcame fear and cowardice. What are you meant to overcome?
When Jesus said that greater things would be done than these, He was referencing His own miracles - the lives he touched, the illnesses He healed, the brokenness He restored. When I imagine even a handful of people who are word-lovers and who take God at His word for that statement alone...I see the world change. How much more if we were to take Him at ALL His word?
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