FOLLOW HIS DIRECTIONS

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

God never intended you to be broken and lost. He has specific directions for your life, and if you live according to those directions, life works and you experience life the way it was meant to be lived.

If we ignore or reject His directions, we do so to our own detriment, and we experience much less than He intended. As the psalmist wrote, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart.” (Psalm 119:2 NKJV)

God’s Word is like the markings on a highway. If we and other drivers drove within the proper lines and lanes, we are more likely to travel safely to our destination. If we go outside the lines, we do so at our own peril.

God did not just create you and me and plop us down here and say, “Happy birthday. Now guess your way through life.” He has given us roadway markings, directions that help to keep us safe on our journey through life.

Open your Bible and follow His directions!   

-- Anne Graham Lotz in “Fixing My Eyes on Jesus”

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BREAKING OUT

“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”  (1 Peter 2:2-3 NIV)

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will.”  (Romans 12:2 NIV)

We must try to break out of our culture’s mindset and seek to discover “that good and perfect will of God.” In short, we must somehow get hold of “the pure spiritual milk” of the Word, as opposed to the diluted baby formula that has become the diet prescribed by society. We must escape the tendency to conform to society – even within our most crucial spiritual disciplines.

It seems to me that only a strong doctrine of the Holy Spirit offers us any hope of reading Scripture without being influenced by our culture. There has to be something of a miracle involved in true revelatory Bible reading. And the good news is that such miracles happen. As I read the Scriptures, without the help of commentaries or interpreter’s notes, more times than not, I am conscious of the Spirit’s presence. There is revelation, and in it the Spirit applies what I read to my life. I sense I am “breaking out” of culturally controlled modes of interpretation, even as I sense the “breaking in” of God. 

-- Adapted from an article by Tony Campolo (1935-2924) entitled “Getting Out of the World Alive” in Discipleship Journal, No. 86

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ACTING ON GOD’S WORD

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."  (James 1:22 ESV)

It’s easy to nod along in agreement when we hear a powerful sermon or read a moving devotional. But James reminds us: agreement is not obedience. God's Word is meant to be lived.

C.S. Lewis said, “Obedience is the key that opens every door.” There are many everyday doorways to obedience. The Grocery-Line Test: You’re behind someone struggling to count coins. You’re in a hurry. The Word says, “Be patient.” Do we live it -- or just know it? The Inbox Moment: You get an email from someone hurting. You think, “I’ll pray for them.” James nudges: Don’t just say it -- do it. Pause. Pray. Reach out. The Family-Room Challenge: Tension simmers. You recall “be quick to listen, slow to speak.” Do you speak gently -- or do you just remember the verse?

Faith isn’t a theory, it’s traction. The difference between hearer and doer is the footprint left behind. One fades like breath on glass. The other leaves indelible marks of grace and love.

To paraphrase a familiar quote, “The world does not need more outstanding sermons. It needs more obedient servants.” This quote underscores James 1:22’s challenge: not just to hear truth, but to embody it. It’s a call to let our lives preach louder than our lips. What’s one truth you’ve recently heard that you haven’t yet acted on? It could be forgiveness, generosity, humility, or compassion. Choose one. Live it today. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™, compiled from a variety of sources 

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GOD’S HEALING WORD FOR TODAY

“Cause me to understand the way of Your precepts, that I may meditate on Your wonderful deeds. My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to Your Word.”  (Psalm 119:27,28 NIV)

The Word of God is not a word to apply in our daily lives at some later date; it is a word to heal us through, and in, our listening here and now.

The questions therefore are: How does God come to me as I listen to the Word? Where do I discern the healing hand of God touching me through the Word? How are my sadness, my grief, and my mourning being transformed at this very moment? Do I sense the fire of God’s love purifying my heart and giving me new life? These questions lead me to the sacrament of the Word, the sacred place of God’s real presence. 

-- Henri J. M. Nouwen in “With Burning Hearts”

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