Monday, February 12, 2018

From Discipline to Delight

eDevotion
Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Are you looking for something that will REALLY transform your life? I’m serious. Are you tired of merely going through the motions? Do you want to make a change so that this will not be just another year, month, or day in your life?

I hope you’re ready for this: Spend time with God in His Word! Get to know the Sovereign of the universe. Time in the Bible is not like reading a book from Oprah’s approved list. This is a book filled with the very words of God to you. 

If you want to “delight yourself in the Lord,” you have to spend time in the Word. It may not be easy at first, especially if you seldom open your Bible. But I can tell you from personal experience that if you accept this challenge to read the Word daily, even if just for just 30 days, you will begin to see a transformation in your life.

Here’s how it works.

Discipline: Start with a set amount of time each day to spend in the Word — 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, it doesn’t matter at first, just make the commitment. Try to do it before you do anything else. Say this, “I will not do anything else until I get my XX number of  minutes with the Lord in His Word.”

It may be challenging and grueling at first, but over time, it gets easier. It may even become addictive!

Desire: Over time, you will begin to desire God’s Word. You no longer think of it as discipline, but you actually start looking forward to it. You develop a hunger for more of the Word. You begin to see God’s Word as food for your famished soul. In other words, it no longer feels like a burden or obligation.

Delight: Over a period of time, your desire turns to delight, like the blessed man who “delights in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates day and night” [Psalm 1.2]. The Psalmist didn’t tolerate God’s Word like we do broccoli. No. His heart’s cry was, Oh how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day” [Psalms 119.97].

When the Word is your delight, reading it becomes your favorite part of the day, the best part of your week, and the most treasured moments of your life. The effects of which will transform your life .  

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. Psalms 42.1

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