Make it a point!

Joshua 1:7-9
7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

It has been so many years now that I began to pray that God would give me a hunger and thirst for His word. He is so faithful to honor that prayer. No matter the season or the sin He has drawn me in through His word and He continues to teach me every day. I have often thought about what makes a person turn away from the Word. I don't have all the answers but I think we sometimes think we have out sinned God's ability to forgive us so we hang our head in shame and settle for lesser things. If we really knew the God of the Bible we would see that He is loving, just, merciful, ABLE, and righteous. He deals with sin but He does not pay us as our sins deserve (Psalm 130, Isa 55). It is the enemy, the liar and deceiver, that wants us to believe that God can't forgive us. We may experience consequences to our sin, but if we come seeking forgiveness and repentance God will forgive...He longs for us to be right with Him and He longs to show us compassion. I purchased a copy of Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem about three years ago and I read through a lot of it a few years ago. God has since had me come back to this book and I have been staying up WAY TO LATE to read it. Last night I was reading about His know ability and the fact that we will never stop learning about God for all eternity. We are not God and we can know Him but we will never cease to learn and be satisfied when we are in a state of no longer sinning (in heaven...but we should be continually growing and learning here as well. That will make the difference between someone who is a disciple of Jesus and someone who merely goes to church yet professes Christ). There aren't many books that I have read thus far that have truly wowed me (besides the bible) and challenged me to focus on His greatness like this one. I just wanted to give a shout out and urge you to get a copy and read through it. Or even get a group to go through it as a reading group. Let me say I don't agree with everything but it is one of the best books on systematic theology that I have read.

Another thing that I have urged other believers to do is to STAY IN THE WORD. No matter the circumstance...stay in the Word. There are so many great Bible studies out there that can help you along the way but keep sowing in the word. I literally asked the Lord to keep me in His word day and night and He has been so faithful to that prayer for years now. When we aren't lining ourselves up with truth we face the temptation to lessen God and walk away due to adversity or circumstances. Our hearts are truly deceitful and we constantly need to come back to truth. I had a situation the other night that I was so sick of. I began to think things out in my head and how I was going to cut this person off in my heart and life. Since I have made it a point (and I say that in all humility...I need the word constantly because I am extremely prone to get off track) to be in the word in the morning and night I did what I always do before I went to bed and spent time with God. People, as soon as I got in the word I realized that the premeditating that was going on in my head was not in line with Gods word of will. I told Him I was sorry and wrong and I made things right with that person the next day. When we constantly come to Him to drink we see where we have erred and we can get our hearts back in line with God's word.


Psalm 1
BOOK I : Psalms 1-41 1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.