Life isn’t easy. In fact, it’s an ongoing battle. I don’t want to go to the moon. I want to stay here and finish the fight so that I can live in greater and greater freedom and joy. My moon shot is to win the earthly battle for inner peace.
On the battlefield of life persistently absorb the Word of God with “shameless audacity.” Live in the amazing power of ongoing Bible absorption and application. Keep the Bible central in your prayer life. The more you absorb, rely on, and apply the Bible in your everyday life, the greater your faith will grow. (Romans 10:17)
Ponder and absorb the Bible throughout each day. (Joshua 1:8) Simply hearing a single weekly analysis of it is self-deceptive and isn’t enough to make you a strong Christ-follower. (James 1:22)
Dare to believe the Bible courageously enough to daily trust in, depend on, and rely on it. Then it will begin to effectively work in your life day and night. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
Continually let words of the Bible — the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) — pierce and penetrate deeply within you, (Hebrews 4:12) cut you to the heart and causes you to ask, “What shall I do?” (Acts 2:37) Let the Bible consistently discern and judge the thoughts and intents of your heart. (Hebrews 4:12) Let the inspired, “God-breathed,” words of the Bible continually teach you, rebuke you, correct you, and train you in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16)
Hearing the Bible but not doing what it says is like looking into a mirror and quickly forgetting what you look like. However, those who continue to look intently into the Bible and do what it says will be blessed in what they do. (James 1:23-27)
Don’t just rely on human teachers. Let God the Holy Spirit, Himself, teach you the Bible. (1 Corinthians 2:13, John 14:26, and 1 John 2:27)
Physical food isn’t enough. Constantly devour the Word of God. (Matthew 4:4) Forcefully quote it. Declare “It is written!” and use it to defeat temptation. (Matthew 4:7-10) Courageously and continually rely on and depend on the Bible as the mighty weapon of spiritual warfare that it is. (2 Corinthians 10:4)
Here’s how absorbing the Bible recently spoke to me. I saw the first three chapters of the Gospel of John in a creative way. I saw God’s desire for people to open their heart and their life to Christ’s light and to contemplate and surrender to His glory day and night.
In chapter 1 Christ is defined as the light that shines in darkness. Then He begins to call His disciples to spend time learning to connect with Him heart-to-heart and training them to obey His promptings. To be effective Christians need to move into the following chapters and:
* Let Jesus turn our water of our religion into the wine of the Holy Spirit. (Chapter 2)
* Allow our tables of self-focus, pride, and human effort to be flipped over. (Chapter 2)
* Be truly and radically born again, this time by the Spirit, not by human action and two people’s sexual desire. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate and saturate our heart with the permanence of His regenerating, life-transforming presence. (Chapter 3)
Free Gas for Your Think Tank -- Fill Your Mind and Your Heart With Hope 