Listening to God - Part 3 Meditation

Psalm 1:1–2 (ESV) " Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."




Joshua 1:8 (ESV) "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. "




Psalm 63:5–7 (ESV) "My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy." 


So!  You want me to meditate?  Okay, where can I get one of those ugly turbans and give me a couple of weeks to limber up.  I haven't tried to sit Indian style in years.  And what is it we are looking for, "Perfect nothingness?  Isn't that the place just north of the Red River?"......


Relax. I don't think, (okay, I KNOW) that is not what God has in mind.  What he does have in mind, however,  is for us to slow down and take some time to "encounter the Living God" (do not be intimidated by yet another cheap imitation of something God has called us to do).  


Richard Foster in his book Celebration of Discipline states this fact:

"In the Old Testament there are 2 main Hebrew words used that convey the message of meditation and they are used over 50 times.  These words have various meanings: listening to God’s word, reflecting on God’s works...ruminating on God’s law, and more."

Listening?  I can do that, sort of.  Reflecting?  I can do that too.  But ruminating? I think I did that back it college once, but you can't prove it.  But it really is that simple.


Webster's defines "Meditation" has follows "to focus one's thoughts on; to reflect on or ponder over"; therefore, in its simplest, purest form "Christian Meditation" is to: 1) focus one's thoughts on God; 2) to reflect on or ponder over God.  Pretty simple, and where better to start than the Bible.  As we learn to "Read the Bible for Life", I think we should also learn how to "Meditate on the Bible for Life".  The latter will assist us in Listening, Understanding, and Responding to God's Word.  


More to follow the next few days, but I wanted to leave you with this.  George Mueller is one of my spiritual heroes.  This is a man who truly knew how to live by faith.  "Give us this DAY our DAILY bread" was a reality for him.  He says this about why we should meditate on God's word:

Through reading of the word of God, and especially through meditation on the word of God, the believer becomes more and more acquainted with the nature and character of God, and thus sees more and more, besides His holiness and justice, what a kind, loving, gracious, merciful, mighty, wise, and faithful Being He is, and, therefore, in poverty, affliction of body, bereavement in his family, difficulty in his service, want of a situation or employment, he will repose upon the ability of God to help him, because he has not only learned from His word that He is of almighty power and infinite wisdom, but he has also seen instance upon instance in the Holy Scriptures in which His almighty power and infinite wisdom have been actually exercised in helping and delivering His people; and he will repose upon the willingness of God to help him, because he has not only learned from the Scriptures what a kind, good, merciful, gracious, and faithful being God is, but because he has also seen in the word of God how, in a great variety of instances He has proved Himself to be so. And the consideration of this, if God has become known to us through prayer and meditation on His own word, will lead us, general at least, with a measure of confidence to rely upon Him: and thus the reading of the word of God, together with meditation on it, will be one especial means to strengthen our faith."  -  Müller, George (2009-10-04). Answers to Prayer From George Müller's Narratives (Kindle Locations 332-341). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition. 

  Wag out.

Listening to God - Part 2 "Hey world! Would you shut up for just a minute."

"And I wish You still spoke through burning bushes
And I wish You still wrote on blocks of stone
'Cause the sound of this world's deafening
And I'm having a hard time listening
And I wish Your will was still written on the wall."


That is the chorus to a song written by Todd Agnew called Written on the Wall.  View YouTube here.  Love music, but I'm not a song writer (although my buddy, Larry and I once wrote a song about an old person breaking out of nursing home...to the tune of Mansion on a Hilltop), but Agnew always writes songs I can relate to.  Its like he is reading my email.  First time I heard this lyric I'm like "Yep!  That's me.  God, just write on a 2 X 4 and smack me in the head with it."  


1 Kings 19.11-13 tells us about Elijah.  He was hiding in fear of his life in a cave in Horeb.  During a conversation with God, God sends strong winds, an earthquake, and a fire, but Elijah waited until he heard  God's voice - "a soft  whisper" (HCSB) - to respond. 


I know me personally I'm not into "soft whispers", I'm more of a blocks of stones, writing on the wall, 2 X 4 to the forehead type of person.  Just too much going on in my little min...oh look, something shiny..little mind to stop, focus and listen.  So how do we sort through the noise to find the whisper?  


For me its journaling.  I know, I know, something else to do.  "But what if someone else see its.  I'm not a writer."   And the list goes on and on and on, but I think journalling is valuable on several fronts, with one of those being "listening".  I know the doesn't make a lot sense but hear me out.  


For me it's a thought filter.  Before I write something down, I have to stop [I'm slowing down..ding ding], and think about [focus...ding ding ding] what I'm writing down.  First thought is down so I start thinking about subsequent stuff to write down (meditating...ding ding ding).  So I'm now listening to my mind and my heart...and so on...and so on.


Found this on the web and though I don't do it exactly like this, this may work for you or at least get you started...copied from http://www.gentle-stress-relief.com/support-files/how-to-listen-to-god.pdf

Write!

Here is the important key to the whole process. Write down everything that comes into your mind.   

Everything. Writing is simply a means of recording so that you can remember later. Don’t sort out or edit your thoughts at this point.

Don't say to yourself:

• This thought isn't important; This is just an ordinary thought; 
• This can't be guidance; This isn't nice; This can't be from God; 
• This is just me thinking..., etc.

Write down everything that passes through your mind: 

• Names of people; 
• Things to do; 
• Things to say; 
• Things that are wrong and need to be made right.

Write down everything:

• Good thoughts - bad thoughts;
• Comfortable thoughts - uncomfortable thoughts; 
• "Holy" thoughts - "unholy" thoughts; 
• Sensible thoughts - "crazy" thoughts.

Obviously things could get a little personal using this technique (which is good in some ways when dealing between your and God), and I realize some of the stuff you don't want in the wrong hands.  So write it down.  Copy the good stuff and file the other stuff in the 86 folder.  But I promise you this technique works (at least for me it does).


There are a couple of other reasons for journaling that I will not get into for now.  But give this a try for help in listening.


Wag out.

Listening to God - Part 1 of somewhere between 2 and infinity

We talked quite a bit about listening to God this evening, and some very pertinent questions were asked. As usual, most I did not have a good answer for, so I will try to get you guys some answers this week.  I found this, and though it does not answers your questions directly, I thought it was some good instruction nonetheless.  This comes from June Hunt, a well-known Christian counselor.

LISTENING TO GOD

      •      Listening to God requires a belief that God loves me and desires to communicate with me.

     “The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.’ ” (Jeremiah 31:3) 

      •      Listening to God requires consistent reading, studying and meditating on His living Word, the Bible.

      “My word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)

      •      Listening to God means regularly getting alone and giving Him my undivided attention.

      “He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.” (Matthew 14:23)

      •      Listening to God is opening my heart and letting God point His finger of truth on the real me.

      “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23–24)

      •      Listening to God is listening carefully to others, realizing that God may be using them to communicate His personal message to me.

      “Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.” (Proverbs 13:10)

      •      Listening to God is recognizing the presence of the Holy Spirit within me and responding to His guidance for communicating with others.

      “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26)

June Hunt, Biblical Counseling Keys on Communication: The Heart of the Matter (Dallas, TX: Hope For The Heart, 2008), 13.

Week 1 - Day 5 Be a Doer of the Word James 1.22-25 and Matthew 5 (various).

WOW!  The verses in Matthew 5 hit home with me this evening.  I personally am dealing with some issues that those verses struck a chord as they say.  Nothing new as far as insight goes, but just a gentle reminder on how to handle certain situations.  But on to the project at at hand:



James 1:22–25 (HCSB)

²² But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵ But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but one who does _⌊good_⌋ works—this person will be blessed in what he does.  

How does James say the Word affects us when we hear and act on it?

v. 25 - "...this person will be blessed in what he does."  Sound familiar.  Psalm 1.3 - "...his leaf will not wither and everything he does will prosper.".  I know all of the "Prosperity Gospel" will jump all over these two verses, but I'm quite sure the prosperity James is talking about is not necessarily earthly prosperity.  I'm sure all of the Apostles who were martyred did not feel very "prosperous".  But I digress.

How often do you apply the Word of God in a concrete way in your life?

- Somewhere between occasionally and somewhat consistent

  

Describe a situation where you applied a specific Scripture in your life.  How did God's truth affect the outcome?

- A few months ago (pre-Thanksgiving) I had reached a place where I had little to no hope.  Trials, struggles, just kept hitting one after another.  They came in all shapes and sizes. Honestly at that time I had spent very little time in the Word.  But I did decide to get back into the Word and was led to 1 Peter 1.3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has caused us to be born again unto a living hope..."; and  v. 7 "so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;".  That passage helped my put things back into perspective and renewed my strength.

Read the following teachings of Jesus and write a specific way you can put each one into action:

• Matthew 5.16 - "“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
• I think maybe this is more than just "good works".   What about integrity?  As believers and followers of Christ we need to do things bigger, better, and faster than everyone else.  
• Ephesians 6.5-8 talks about being a good slave and working with a good attitude, etc.  What type of employee are you?  Yes, you stand for Christ, but do you work hard, do things the right way, with the right attitude?  If not, are you really glorifying God?
• I taught about kindness this morning in Children's ministry.  Does it glorify God if you don't do all the "Thou shall nots", but aren't kind to your neighbor?
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• Matthew 5.23,24 - "So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift."
• This is so me.  On both sides.  "I know I hurt their feelings, but that is their problem, not mine."  "But they hurt me first."  Personally I could give your a number of instances of this in my own life,but I will refrain from doing so in a public format.  Will be happy to talk about them in person or via email.  Let me know.  I'm almost an expert on this one.
• Matthew 5:39 - " But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also." 
• By no means do I think that God wants us to continuously put our self in a position to be taken advantage of over and over, but its like mom always used to say "Kill 'em with kindness".
• While I was reading James 1.22-25 I went back a few verses and found this.  I think this fits right in with this verse:  James 1:19–20 " My dearly loved brothers, understand this: Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger,  for man’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. "
• Matthew 5.44 - see the previous two. 

Listen:  (List one thing that you have learned that will help you listen to God's Word)

The thing that has stuck out the most to me this week is this:  Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, the perfect environment "ain't" happening.  Regardless how hard you try, there are going to be distractions.  Several times this week I have tried to sneak into my office, but my beautiful daughter always manages to find me.  Worse yet, one or all of my three dogs manages to find me and all wanting attention.  The Basset Hound ("Smelley Belly") has figured out that if she flops herself on my Bible there isn't really much I can do.  I just have to re-group and move forwarded.  But it always works itself out.

Understand

- Not sure if it "grown in understanding", but I was reminded this week (through some other resources) that I can have all the knowledge and understanding there is to have, but if it does not cause me to grow spiritually and/or closer to Christ it means nothing.

- Also I have come to realize another benefit of reading systematically in your Quiet Time.  I previously believed this was important because "if you did not have something to read, you wouldn't read anything"; however, there is another reason.  Reading systematically for your Quiet Time helps you keep things in context, thus, making it easier to understand.  If it is easier to understand, it is easier to apply and respond accordingly.

Response:  The verses from Matthew took a huge chunk out of my "spiritual backside" this evening.  Dealing with some issues that I can't write about on this forum, but I will be happy to talk about in person or via email.    So I definitely have some responding to do this week. 

Forgive any grammar and/or spelling errors.  Its late and I am writing this without my glasses because I'm too lazy to get up and get them.

Wag out.

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Week 1 - Day 4 Benefits of Reading God's Word Part 2 Psalm 119.1-64

Not sure why but I couldn't quite get into the feel of this one today.  I love Psalm 119, but my heart was not in it today.  Strange, the Wagner women were out running errands so the place was quite (except for the canines).  Days like today are when we have to remind ourselves that not everyday in the Word in going to be a mountain top experience.  It is a discipline and sometimes we have to do it just because we know it is the right thing to do.

So for our session today we were to identify three things about the Psalmist and his feeling towards the Word; Benefits of Reading the Word, his Attitudes Towards the Word, and his Appeals to God regarding God's Word.  I will not list all that I found - some just became repetitive - but I will hit a few highlights.

Benefits
The one that stuck out the most for me was v. 7: "I will praise You with a sincere heart when I learn Your righteous judgments."  I know, for me, the more I grow in my walk with God and the more I learn of His ways the intensity in my praise and worship grows as well because it is based on truth not just emotion (please do not misinterpret me here...nothing wrong with emotion in praise and worship but truth just takes that emotion to a higher level).

Attitudes
"Then I can answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in Your word.  Never take the word of truth from my mouth, for I hope in Your judgments."  (vs. 42, 43).  We are constantly taunted by that "roaring lion" who is seeking whom he can devour.  He is no gentlemen and therefore he plays very dirty.  He knows what buttons to push to knock you on your backside and he will not hesitate to push them.  The Bible is one of weapons in our arsenal (Heb. 4.12 - "two-edged sword").  It reminds us of God's faithful love (Hebrew word is hesed - awesome word.  Google it sometime), it also reminds us that we are God's people, and I could go on and on but I think you get the idea.

"Your statues are the theme of my song during my earthly life." (v. 54).  Makes me think of a verse from my favorite hymn - There is a Fountain.  "Redeeming love shall be theme and shall be till I die" (side note:  Prestonwood Baptist Choir has a CD on hymns (Hymns) that have been modernized and their version of this one just might be my favorite).

Appeals
"Teach me, Lord, the meaning of Your statues, and I will keep them.  Help me understand Your instruction, and I will obey it and follow it with all my heart." (vs. 33,34).  All throughout this series (all of 1 week of it, HINT: and week 2), Dr. Guthrie talks about getting a good set of tools (Bible dictionary, Study Bible, etc), and trust me I share his opinion.  I have 3 different sets of Bible software, various Study Bibles in various translations, and the value of those can never be under estimated.  But eventually the meaning and understanding must come from God.  That is one of the reasons he sent us the Holy Spirit.  Praying and asking God for understanding and meaning and application is probably the most important part of reading the Bible.

Ask God for Understanding
And I did choose the verse before I saw the next question:  "Do you yearn and ask God for understanding as you read the Bible?"  My answer is probably about 25% of the time.          


Verse to memorize:
"I will praise You with a sincere heart when I learn Your righteous judgments." 

Preferred Translation:
Devotional Time: HCSB
Study: ESV and NASB

Off to make burgers for the Wagner Women

Week 1 - Day 3 Benefits of Reading God's Word Part I

Deuteronomy 6:1–12 (HCSB)

The Greatest Commandment

6 “This is the command—the statutes and ordinances—the Lord your God has instructed _⌊me_⌋ to teach you, so that you may follow _⌊them_⌋ in the land you are about to enter and possess. ² _⌊Do this_⌋ so that you may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life by keeping all His statutes and commands I am giving you, your son, and your grandson, and so that you may have a long life. ³ Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow _⌊them_⌋, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴ “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. ⁶ These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. ⁷ Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. ⁹ Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Remembering God through Obedience

¹⁰ “When the Lord your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would give you—a _⌊land with_⌋ large and beautiful cities that you did not build, ¹¹ houses full of every good thing that you did not fill _⌊them with_⌋, wells dug that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant —and when you eat and are satisfied, ¹² be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.   

So why do we read the Word? Dr. Guthrie offer these 9 reasons:

1. To know the truth (and it will set you free...sorry had to throw that in);
2. To know God in a personal relationship;
3. To live well for God.  Living out His will express our love for Him;
4. To experience God's freedom, grace, peace, and hope;
5. It gives us joy;
6. To grow spiritually.  To help renew our minds (Romans 12.1-2);
7. To guard ourselves against sin and error;
8. To be built up as a Christian community;
9. To be able to minister to others (Christian and the lost).

If had to pick just 3, it would be, in this order, 2,1, and 9 (although I think if we concentrated on 2, the others would take care of themselves, but another blog for another day).

Which brings us to Deut. 6.1-12.  If you have been a church for any extended time you have definitely heard this one before, but we can not afford to overlook the significance of Moses' words.  Our workbook asks the following questions about this passage:

1) What is the relationship between loving God and living according to His ways?  The answer is fear (v. 2).  We do them out of reverence for our God.  The Bible definitely contains teaching about conditional promises, but our ultimate reason for obedience is love and reverence.

2) Why do you think it was so important for the people to be immersed in God's teaching as they entered the land?  I think the answer is in verse 12 "Be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt".  God was giving them a land full of milk and honey (flowing, that is where I'm going, Canaan land is just in sight...squirrel!) and things they had not worked for (wells the didn't dig, etc.).  During this time of prosperity it was going to be easy for them to forget who this land came from.  We see this pattern - God blesses Israel, Israel gets content and forgets God, God warns and ultimately removes His blessing from them causing various degrees of trials, Israel repents, and we start over.

3) How can Christians today keep the Word at the forefront of our lives as we interact with the world?  We have to find Heart Space for God and for His Word.  v. 6 - "These words I'm giving you today to be in your heart."  vs. 7-9 go on to talk about how passionately God wanted them to be towards His teachings.  Teach them to your children. Talk about them as you go out.  We HAVE TO, HAVE TO, HAVE TO make time.  Not just 5 minutes here or there, but dedicated, focused, heart felt time.

Quiet Times
If you have ever been to any time of new believers class you have been introduced to the Quiet Time.  The 5 things every Christian should do every morning at the crack of dawn.  Said an opening prayer?  Check!  Read   my chapter for the day?  Check!  Write it down?  Check!  Go over my prayer list?  Check!  Do it again tomorrow?  Maybe!

I do not mean to be disrespectful but a few years ago having a Quiet Time became like eating your vegetables  .  I know I should but are Brussell Sprouts really created by God?  I understood it was good for me, but it became like a religious duty and nothing else.  So I created what I call an "Encounter Time" - A deliberate time of solitude where you intentionally seek the presence of God through reading of Scripture, meditation, and/or prayer.


Okay, call it what you want, but the key is finding time to find God on a regular basis.  My prayer is that you MAKE time to do just that.  

Week 1 - Day 2 Parable of the Sower (Mark 4.1-20)

Mark 4:2–9 (HCSB)

² He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said to them: ³ “Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow. ⁴ As he sowed, this occurred: Some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it sprang up right away, since it didn’t have deep soil. ⁶ When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it didn’t have a root, it withered. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce a crop. ⁸ Still others fell on good ground and produced a crop that increased 30, 60, and 100 times _⌊what was sown_⌋.” ⁹ Then He said, “Anyone who has ears to hear should listen!”

Mark 4:14–20 (HCSB)

¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones along the path where the word is sown: when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word sown in them. ¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy. ¹⁷ But they have no root in themselves; they are short-lived. When pressure or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately stumble. ¹⁸ Others are sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of this age, the seduction of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ But the ones sown on good ground are those who hear the word, welcome it, and produce a crop: 30, 60, and 100 times _⌊what was sown_⌋.”

How fertile is the soil of your heart?

A very popular parable taught by Jesus which speaks of the condition of man's heart towards God's Word (remember yesterday, the Psalmist talks about a happy man as one who delights in God's Word).  So in the infancy of this series let me re-emphasize the importance of determining what condition our hearts are in towards God's Word.  So which one are you:

1. Are you like the soil on the path?  A heart so hard and cold the Word never even has the least bit of chance; or,
2. Rocky Soil? Okay, this sounds good.  I'll give it a try.  But you no roots.  I tend to see this like youth coming home from camp who are really pumped up after camp - very zealous.  Two weeks later the emotion has died down so that zeal eventually dies; or, 
3. Thorny Soil?  I have a deep suspicion that is where most of us are.  Between jobs, kids, church responsibilities, money, etc.  Its easy to get distracted, worried, stressed, and "freaked out" and next thing you know the "Seed" has been choked out; or, 
4. Good Soil?  The one who Listens, Understands, and Responds to God's Word in his/her life.  The soil like the one by the tree near the river.  Bearing lots of fruit and never withering.

Honestly right now I feel like I'm personally somewhere between 3 and 4.  Sure my first reaction during a crisis is to have a meltdown, but I eventually come around and am able to kill the weeds and thorns and get back to the business.

Life Space and Heart Space.

Dr. Guthrie talks about these two issues quite a bit.  Life Space is simply making space in your life for God's Word.  Taking that 5, 10, 20 or so minutes and focusing on God and His Word.  Face it unless you live in a monastery, that is not easy to do. I guess life space could be seen as soils 2,3, & 4 above.

But what happens to the "seed" depends upon our "Heart Space".  We have to find room in our hearts to let the Word penetrate (Heb. 4.12) our heart and change us/mold us.  Let the seed produce 30, 60, and 100 fold. 

My prayer is that we can ask God what rocks and thorns are in our lives that need to cleaned out and thrown away.  This parable has always reminded my of a very popular Christian song from the 70's.  The Secret Place by Steve and Annie Chapman (always hated that song because I thought it was extremely corny).  The basis for the song is about letting God visits all of the rooms in our heart - except one.  The one that no one goes into - the SECRET PLACE.  Let me give you a little hint - that is where all the thorns are grown and where all the rocks hang out.......

Six Months from Now

Six months from now I would like to be so sensitive to the Bible that I hear God's Heart and not just His Word.  The best example I can think of is when your parents would always tell you "No"when it came time to do certain stuff.  You thought that their whole purpose in life was to keep you from having fun.  As you got older you began to understand why - they loved you and were attempting to keep you from getting hurt and//or in trouble.  You begin to see the "Heart" behind the "Words".  That's where I want to be.

Wag is out

Week 1 - Day 1 Psalm 1:1-3

"1 How happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path of sinners or join a group mockers!
2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers."  (HCSB - copied from http://www.mystudybible.com)

So much stuff he to digest but we will stick to the plan for now:

1. Benefits
• Blessed - happy, joyful, etc.
• We will be like a tree with constant irrigation.  Which bears a lot of fruit ("spiritual growth")
• Whatever we do will prosper and our leaf will not wither.
• Does that mean we will all have tons of $$$ and be successful?
• Something to ponder - How does Biblical Prosperity different from worldly prosperity?
2. What is this man's attitude to God's instruction?
• He delights in it
• What does that look like?
• Obviously he "meditates" in it day and night
• But when you take delight in something you can't stop talking about it. You want to be around people who delight in that (golfers want to be around other golfers; hunters, fishermen, etc.)
• You share experiences
• I am reminded of a car commercial where a guy is reading the owner's manual to his new car. He obviously finds some new feature, so he grabs his wife who is doing her nails and hair and drags her outside to show her this new feature..she was less than impressed. But there was new disguising his "delight".
• Reading the Word should be a delight and not a drudgery. 
3. How can be active in Word.
• Meditate on it day and night 
• If you literally translate the Hebrew word for delight it means to murmur over and over.  Sometimes we have to read/hear something over and over before we finally get it.

My prayer for this passage is that I would become that tree that bears fruit. 

Week 1 - Introduction

So our 1st of 9 sessions is out of they way.  There was so much more I wanted to talk about last night, but I know we needed to get home and get kiddos (and adults) to bed.  Plus, at least for me, there is only so much info my little brain can take in at one time.  But I do want to take the chance to reiterate a couple of things from last night:

Listen, Understand, and Respond:

1. LISTEN:  Well, that takes the one thing I don't have - TIME.  
• Dr. Guthrie suggests 20 - 30 minutes a day, but I want to encourage you to start out slower if you have to. 5 - 10 minutes a day is a great place to start.  I completed Week 1, Day 1 lesson last night and it took about 10 minutes.
• Needs to be a place of solitude.  I like to thing of solitude as more than being alone.  It is being alone for a purpose.  In this case your purpose should be to focus on God and His Word (I have a sermon/lesson on that as well, but another day, another time perhaps).
2. UNDERSTANDING:  This issue is addressed in future weeks, so I won't jump the gun, but I a good set of study tools will assist you in this.
• Good Translation - sounds like we are okay there, but if anyone is interested all references in this series are HCSB.
• Good Study Bible - these provide tons of information including footnotes, backgrounds, etc.
• My personal favorites right now are the HCSB Study Bible and the ESV Study Bible.   They are a little pricey and their size is not very church friendly (but great for a workout).  An online HCSB Study Bible is available at http://mystudybible.com.
• Life Application Study Bible is very popular and available in a couple of translations.  Not familar with it, but I know they are everywhere
• Same with the NIV Study Bible
• Good Tool sets.
• Good Bible Dictionary and a Bible Commentary - many good ones are available online and are free - mystudybible.com and http://www.biblestudytools.com/ have several
3. Respond: will address later.

In Him,

WW