Read it. Meditate on it. Live it out.

Okay. Here’s the deal. For some reason, I find writing on a blog a little intimidating. BUT if we all could just come here to share what was on our hearts, this wouldn’t be so intimidating; it would be an awesome way to encourage each other! I really want to learn from you guys. So I’m just going to share with you what I have been reading and maybe you (yes, you) can now share what you have been reading! :)

I know a while back we talked about Psalm 119 and how awesome and convicting it is to see how the word of God was the author’s greatest joy! His worth, delight, treasure, hope, and happiness was found in pouring his life out for God and obeying his every word. With that in mind, something I was reading tonight really stuck out to me…

These are some inserts from Mark Batterson’s book called Primal (with my commentary, of course):

“Not unlike radio waves, the Spirit of God is always broadcasting. But we’ve got to tune in to his frequency. The Holy Spirit has multiple channels of communication, but His primary channel of communication is Scripture. When we open the Bible, it’s like God opens His mouth. That’s how we get on His frequency. That’s how we tune in to His voice.

When you open the Bible and really hear the voice of God-His Loving voice, His graceful voice, His powerful voice, His convicting voice, His affirming voice, His authoritative voice- your life begins to echo God’s. Your life becomes a joyful noise. Your life begins to harmonize with the Holy Spirit.

When you love someone, you love the sound of his or her voice. If you’ve ever had a long distance relationship, you know whereof I write. A relationship with God is a lot like that. To love God is to love his voice. Or to put it another way, to love God is to love his word.”

((I thought this was cool, because when you start thinking about the bible as God’s voice-- Him speaking to you, it makes it really personal. Really special. It really is a joy to hear from him!))

“If you are relying on a preacher to be fed, I fear for you. Listening to a sermon is acquiring secondhand knowledge. It is learning based on someone else’s experiences. A sermon is no replacement for firsthand knowledge. I’d rather have people hear one word from the Lord rather than a thousand of my sermons. And that is what happens when you read the Word for yourself.

Start reading the bible and you’ll discover that the more you read, the more you crave. It’s an acquired taste.

But here’s the secret: you can’t just read the Bible; you have to meditate on it. Reading gives breadth to our understanding but meditation gives depth. If all we do is read scripture, then our understanding is one-dimensional. Reading without meditating is like taking one look through a kaleidoscope without turning it. So many colorful and beautiful patterns of truth remain undiscovered simply because we think we’ve seen everything there is to see when we haven’t seen anything yet.”

((The word meditation is used eight times in Psalm 119.))

“The best translation of the bible is your life. God doesn’t just want to speak to you through Scripture, he wants to speak through you. He wants to write His-story through your life. And Scripture is the script.”

You guys are smart and probably already know all of this, but I know sometimes I can get so caught up in podcasts and Christian books that I forget about the most important thing. So I encourage you all to take the time to dig into the Word that God has spoken to you. Not for the sake of knowing the Bible, but for the sake of knowing God! And displaying him to the world.

-CD :)