Inspiring Devotionals
"Get Into God's Word"

Get into God's Word (1)
"Let His words enrich your lives and make you wise." Colossians 3:16 TLB

How does the Spirit of God make us like the Son of God? Through the Word of God! That's why Satan fights to keep you from reading your Bible. Listen: "God whose gracious Word can make you into what He wants you to be and give you everything you could possibly need..." (Acts 20:32 TM). Did you get that? "Everything!" God's Word is seed. It's filled with potential. Jesus said, "The words that I have spoken to you... are life" (Jn 6:63 NAS). When we hear from God, things suddenly come to life in us!

Your Bible is more than just a doctrinal guidebook; it generates life, creates faith, produces change, frightens the devil, causes miracles, heals hurts, builds character, transforms circumstances, imparts joy, overcomes adversity, defeats temptation, infuses hope, releases power, cleanses our minds, brings things into being and guarantees our future forever.

You can't survive spiritually without God's Word. It's as essential to your life as food. Job said, "I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread" (Job 23:12 NIV). God's Word is the spiritual nourishment you need to fulfill your life's purpose. The Bible is called our milk, bread, solid food and sweet dessert (see 1Pe 2:2; Mt 4:4; 1Co 3:2; Ps 119:103). This 4-course meal is the Spirit's menu for daily strength and growth. Peter writes, "Crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up" (1Pe 2:2 NIV). So rearrange your priorities, sacrifice lesser things, discipline yourself and make a commitment to spend time each day in God's Word!

Get into God's Word (2)
"Let His words enrich your lives and make you wise." Colossians 3:16 TLB

Too many of us are suffering from spiritual malnutrition, and it shows up when a crisis hits us. For your soul to prosper, God's Word must become your first priority. Jesus said, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine" (Jn 8:31 NAS). But what does it mean to abide in God's Word? It means:

You must accept it as your highest authority! It must become the compass you rely on for direction, the counsel you listen to for making wise decisions, the benchmark you use for evaluating every relationship and action. In other words, it must be the first and last word in your life.

Most of our troubles occur because we base our choices on such unreliable authorities as: Culture - "Everybody's doing it." Tradition - "We've always done it this way." Reason - "It seems logical." Emotion - "It just feels right." All these are flawed because they come from us, not God. What we need is a perfect standard that will never lead us in the wrong direction and only God's Word rises to that standard. Solomon says, "Every word of God is flawless" (Pr 30:5 NIV).

So, when God tells you to do something, trust His Word and do it, whether or not it makes sense to you, or you feel like doing it. These words from the Apostle Paul should become your rule-of-life: "I believe everything that... is written" (Acts 24:14 NIV).

Get into God's Word (3)
"Let His words enrich your lives and make you wise." Colossians 3:16 TLB

It's not enough to believe the Bible; you must fill your mind with it so that the Holy Spirit can use it to transform you. The first two ways to do this are:

(1) Read it! If you've time to read your newspaper but not your Bible, you won't grow. You can't watch television for 3 hours then read your Bible for 3 minutes and expect growth. "But I believe the Bible from cover to cover." you say. Big deal! Have you read it from cover to cover? If you just read it 15 minutes a day, you can read completely through it once a year. If you cut out one 30-minute television programme a day, you could read it through twice a year. Daily Bible reading will keep you within range of God's voice. Listen: "[We] should keep it with [us] all the time and read from it every day" (Dt 17:19 NCV). Do you want to prosper? Get a daily Bible reading plan and stick with it!

(2) Receive it! In the parable of the sower Jesus identified three unreceptive attitudes: (a) a closed mind (hard soil); (b) a superficial mind (shallow soil); (c) a distracted mind (soil with weeds). Then He said: "Consider carefully how you listen" (Lk 8:18 NIV). Any time you're not learning, check your attitude, especially for pride, because God can speak through the most boring teacher if you're humble and receptive. Listen: "Humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you" (Jas 1:21 NIV). So, get into God's Word!

Get into God's Word (4)
"Let His words enrich your lives and make you wise." Colossians 3:16 TLB

Here are three more ways to help you get into God's Word:

(1) Research it! Studying the Bible involves - asking more of the text and writing down your thoughts. The key to learning is in asking the right questions. Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? In other words, study should lead to understanding!

(2) Remember it! You may think you've a poor memory, but actually you've millions of ideas, truths and facts memorised. We remember what's important to us, right? There are enormous benefits to memorising Scripture. It'll help you resist temptation, make wise decisions, reduce stress, build confidence, offer good advice and share your faith with others. Your memory is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it becomes. Start by writing down a verse that has helped you; then carry it with you on a small card. Review it aloud while you're working, exercising, driving, waiting or at bedtime. The key to memorising Scripture is - review, review, review!

(3) Reflect on it! No other habit will do more to transform you than reflecting daily on the Scriptures. As you do you're literally, "Transformed into His likeness" (2Co 3:18 NIV). David was called, "A man after My own heart" (Acts 13:22 NIV). Why? Because he loved to reflect on God's Word! Listen: "How I love Your teachings! I think about them all day long" (Ps 119:97 NCV). Do you want the key to answered prayer and the secret to successful Christian living? Get into God's Word!

Get into God's Word (5)
"Let His words enrich your lives and make you wise." Colossians 3:16 TLB

Reading, receiving, researching, remembering and reflecting on God's Word are useless - if we don't become "doers of the Word" (Jas 1:22). This is the hardest step of all because Satan fights it intensely. You can be so busy going to the next Bible conference that you forget to put into practice what you'd learned at the last one. Jesus said, "Everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Mt 7:24 NIV). Blessing comes from obeying the truth, not just knowing it! Listen: "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them" (Jn 13:17 NIV). Want to be blessed? Start doing what God says!

One of the reasons we avoid personal application is because it's difficult, even painful. The truth will set you free, but first it may make you miserable! God's Word reveals our motives, exposes our flaws, rebukes our sin and demands change. That's why you need to discuss your personal applications with others. We learn from others truths we would never learn on our own. Others help us to see and apply what we miss.

The best way to become a "doer of the Word" is to write out an action plan. Your plan should be personal (involving you); practical (something you can do); provable (with a deadline to do it). D.L. Moody said, "The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives." Think about it!