Learning to Eat Daily
When I neglect being one on one with God for a season, life is more overwhelming, depressing and the daily chores become all that I can manage (and sometimes more than I can). But when I am continually aiming to be saturated by God's character, by His life in me, by reading His word, memorizing important scriptures, and just sitting and listening to Him. I have never regretted one second of my time.
When I do this I am also so much more likely to be tuned to what is being said in Church as well- I don't sit there thinking of my To Do lists or of who we will get together with afterwards. Because I am more united to his moving I can feel it all and hear it all so much more clearly when I am accustomed to how He sounds. If Christ needed daily communion with His father, why do we expect to wander through life on so much less than that. We so often get busy and put it off, or never had a plan to spend a second with Him at all in the first place. But then we forgo the daily bread that God gives our soul to feast on. Those days are much more fleshly focoused, and need oriented- because we haven't taken the time to feed our spiritual man.
If you don't even know where to start, or feel just so dried out spiritually where nothing can reach you- ease in one little toe at a time, don't lay pressures on yourself that God hasn't placed there. Take it easy, but don't stay there, move closer and closer at every chance you get. I enjoy reading a daily devotional book after I've read the Bible, or sometimes before. I can't recommend My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers enough. It should never take the place of you reading the bible for yourself, but when read along with the Word of God it is life changing. I love reading it. I enjoy reading the short little segments even throughout the day to get me re- focused on what is actually important in life.
There is much to be gleaned from the men of God that have walked before us. I am humbled by what I have read, revived, and refreshed-when we neglect to spend time with Him daily we miss His utmost in our lives, and are settling for much less than we can imagine. I challenge you to take up your Bible daily and read for yourself what God means to speak to you- you will not want to, your flesh will fight it, but in a daily devotion time with Christ you will be filled and even better, you will begin to look more like Him.
Spending that time with God daily was never meant to be a burden on us, but it can feel that way. It is not an obligation, or a duty but a reward- a deep time of heaven on earth time with the Creator. A time where He can lay His burdens on your heart, put your perspectives in order, and challenge you to see and do new things.
Today is a mighty fine time to start!!
I'll leave you with a little tidbit from My Utmost for His Highest:
Keep your life so constant in its contact with God tht His suprising power may break out on the right hand and on the left. Always be in a state of expectancy, ad see that you leave room for God to com in as He likes (p.25).
Our ordinary wits never worship God unless they are transfigured by the indwelling Son of God. We have to see that this mortal flesh is kept in perfect subjection to Him and that He works through it moment by moment. Are we living in such human dependence upon Jesus Christ that His life is being manifested moment by moment? (p. 222).
I'd love to hear what you do in your daily devotional time! Some people read one proverb a day in addition to their reading, others read a certain number of chapters from the Bible. What has worked best for you? Do you have a devotional book that you enjoy reading as well?
A Celebration of Harvest
This is a time of excitement for those who grow their own food because in September and October it is time to reap in the produce that was seeded in the Spring, and cared for through the hot Summer. A pumpkin has come to signify the end of the harvesting, and right now the fields are ripe with bright orange sunsets all day long. It is a huge sense of relief now because all that could be done has been done and it is time to celebrate!
I love that we can see the food being grown all around us, it reminds us to be getting ready for the next holiday, the holiday in which we give thanks for that years blessings, for God's provision and for the health of our families. God has most certainly been good this year, but really he is good every year.
Because we have been in harvest mode for the last several months, this verse from the Bible has been worn into the blisters in my hands. The rush to store, and can all that the vines and bushes produce before the nights get too cold and ruin the fruit. It all just speaks to me in a real way now. And yes, more hands always lighten the load and make the work much less tedious.
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Matthew 9:37
Is there a verse or quote that life helped you understand better? Do tell.
A Book Many Died For. (Banned Books Week)
This is my second post for Banned Books Week, A week that I see as a celebration of the freedoms we currently have to read what we choose and choose what we read.
My favourite banned book is the Bible, so I chose to talk about it today. It actually hasn't been banned officially in the US, (that is a debate of its own), however since challenged books can be considered "banned" for the sake of the celebration of Banned Books Week, the Bible takes the prize since throughout its history governments since the Roman Empire to the Holy Catholic Church and on down have tried to censor who can translate, it, and if it can be read or owned at all.
Martin Luther burning the Papal Bull, his warning from the Roman Emperor Leo X informing Luther of his excomunication from the Catholic church.
I have two most love translators of the Bible, William Tyndale and Martin Luther.
Martin Luther first published the German translation of the New Testament in 1522, bu 1534 the whole translated Bible was published. He intended his vigorous, direct language to make the Bible accessible to everyday Germans, "for we are removing impediments and difficulties so that other people may read it without hindrance." (Mullett, 149; Wilson, 302.) I love Martin Luther not only for bringing the word of God to the common German, but also for the revolution of faith that he inspired.
Through the influence of Martin Luther, William Tyndale introduced new words into the English language through his translation. He wanted a more accurate portrayal of the Bible for the people. However, his translations did not conform to the catholic church of that day. He was not worried with offending, and "some of the new words and phrases introduced by Tyndale did not sit well with the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, using words like 'Overseer' rather than 'Bishop' and 'Elder' rather than 'Priest', and (very controversially), 'congregation' rather than 'Church' and 'love' rather than 'charity'. Tyndale contended (citing Erasmus) that the Greek New Testament did not support the traditional Roman Catholic readings. (Wikipedia William Tyndale, Legacy)
What happens when you translated a banned book back in that day? Well, it wasn't a pretty sight, " He was tried on a charge of heresy in 1536 and condemned to death, despite Thomas Cromwell's intercession on his behalf. He "was strangled to death while tied at the stake, and then his dead body was burned". (Wikipedia Tyndale) What most speaks to me is that, " Tyndale's final words, spoken "at the stake with a fervent zeal, and a loud voice", were reported as "Lord! Open the King of England's eyes."[10]
While being put to death by strangulation, Tyndale utters his famous last words, "Lord open the King of England's eyes".
Four years after his death there were four translations of the English Bible, all based on William Tyndale's work, they were published in England and one became the official English Bible.
Now I've shared my favourite banned book, which is yours?
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