My Heart His Temple

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Recently, I read about the details with which the craftsmen Bezalel built the Ark of the Covenant and the accompanying items in and around the Tabernacle. You can read about it in Exodus 36-39. Some of the preparations stood out in my mind, as I realized the Tabernacle and Ark were not built haphazardly nor in a quick moment.

They used specific materials that were of the utmost quality. They didn’t skimp, take shortcuts, use leftovers, or “value shop.” From the readily available acacia wood to the exquisite metals like gold and brass, the craftsmen used the BEST materials available to them.

Also, I noticed the time and attention to details he gave to the project. This was not a shade tree project or something he did on weekends or in their spare time. This was his primary task and to it he devoted his BEST time and attention. He didn’t take short cuts or gloss over even the slightest detail thinking no one would notice.

Additionally, I thought about the breadth of the sacrifice for the project. People from throughout the camp sacrificed items they owned that were made of the metals needed for the project. They didn’t bring God left overs, they didn’t donate used up, broken, or outgrown things; they brought God the BEST.

Then, lastly, I realized they meticulously carried out the plans God gave them. They gave God what He wanted in the way that He wanted it. They didn’t build it their way but His.

As I thought about this, I thought about what I give God each day. Do I set apart the best part of my day to hear from Him and talk to Him? Do I give my BEST effort to speak for Him, serve Him, and live for Him? After all, the Tabernacle of the wilderness and the Temple of the Old Testament are pictures of the heart of the New Testament believer. Is my heart as meticulously designed as those structures and the articles within them?

Let me suggest some BEST practices for letting our heart reflect the same holiness as the Tabernacle and the Ark.

  • I should give God the time of each day when my head and heart are at their most attentive. I should read His word and meditate on its meaning and application for my life.
  • I should reassess and rearrange my priorities and schedules to reflect His place in my life. All other things on my schedule should revolve around my heart being His Temple and my life being His testimony.
  • I should not take shortcuts in my thoughts, attitudes, or actions, but rather keep my head clear and heart clean. I should immerse my life in the truth of His Word so that I am shaped by it and empowered by His Spirit.
  • I should do what GOD wants me to do for HIM, not what I want to do for HIM. I should build my days, one moment at a time, according to His building plan for that day.

These are but a beginning. In the comments below, feel free to share some ways you prepare your heart to be God’s Temple.

 

 

Beware of Kilogram Christianity

scalesI have found a way to lose over 50% of my body weight immediately.  I don’t have to eat a special diet or engage in grueling exercise.  I don’t have to take pills, spend $500 on extremely small portioned meals mailed directly to my home, or spend hours in front of my TV working out to the latest exercise DVD.

All I have to do to reduce my body weight by 50% immediately is to stop weighing myself in pounds and instead weigh myself in kilograms.  There are 2.2 pounds in a kilogram.   A 200 lbs man weighs 90.7 kg.  No, I haven’t lost my mind, I know that 90.7 kg = 200 lbs, and I know that my weight in kg = my weight in lbs. Changing the standard of measurement does not change the reality of the weight.

How many times, however, do we think we are so much leaner spiritually because we measure ourselves with the wrong standard, when the reality is that we are spiritually out of shape?  We look around and see that we act better than most folks around us and think we are in good shape.  The problem with that measurement is that others are not the standard by which we are to measure ourselves, God’s Word is.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The devil has won a tremendous battle in believers’ lives by keeping us from the Bible.  Do you treat worship as though it is optional and escape the penetrating preaching of the Word.  Do you neglect small group Bible study and avoid the tenacious teaching of the Word.  Do you rarely pick up your Bible lest you stumble upon some convicting truth that forces you to deal with your unhealthy spiritual condition?

We are in desperate spiritual condition because we have grown comfortable with the comparison of ourselves to others who are not as “spiritual” as we think we are, when an honest look into God’s Word will perform spiritual surgery even in the heart of the best among us.  We easily and loudly lament our culture’s abandonment of the Biblical principles upon which our founders established our country, yet we are reluctant to let the Word of Christ pierce into the inner chambers of our heart.

What are you doing to measure yourself by God’s standard? Do you regularly read, study, and meditate on the Bible? Do you let God’s truth, revealed in the Bible provide both the framework and fabric for your life? All other standards of measurement leave us sorely lacking.

What Is Your Plan for a Better 2015?

A plan is a wonderful thing.  We plan events and trips.  Ball teams execute a game plan.  Builders meticulously follow a building plan.  If you want to lose weight, you follow a dietary plan and most likely an exercise plan.  We do not expect important things to happen by accident, so we develop and carry out what we believe to be an effective plan to reach our goals.  Why do we not apply the same fervor to our spiritual growth?  Why do we expect spiritual growth to happen by accident? The Bible definitely doesn’t.

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness… – 1 Timothy 4:7

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. – Hebrews 5:12-14

“Train yourself.”  “Constant practice.”  These are not words that indicate something happening by accident.  Spiritual maturity takes place over time as a person intentionally seeks God in the pages of His Word, then faithfully practices the lessons learned.

What is your plan for Bible reading?  What verses are you planning to memorize? What topic are you planning to investigate?  What Bible character do you plan to analyze and whose example you plan to follow?

How much time do you plan to spend in prayer each day this week?  When will you pray?  Where?  How?

In what ways do you plan to stretch your faith and serve outside of your comfort zone this year?   What about a new ministry, mission trip or a service project?

How do you plan to grow in your financial stewardship?

If you want to grow, don’t expect it to happen automatically or accidentally.  Develop and follow a plan to grow.

Click here for some great Bible reading plans.

Sharpening My Blades

sharpening bladeA couple of weeks ago, on rare day of heavy rainfall in South Georgia, I was having a conversation with the gentleman who landscapes our church grounds. I asked him if he hated to see this rainy day since it meant he couldn’t get out and work. He told me that while he doesn’t want too many down days, one every now and then is beneficial. “Since it’s raining today, I’ll spend the day sharpening my blades.”

While most of us would view a down day as an obstacle, he saw it as an opportunity to prepare for the coming busy days. Intentional preparation. When he is faced with his task of mowing, he doesn’t have time to maintain and prepare his equipment…and he keeps quite the hectic schedule. Rather than wasting a day when he couldn’t mow, he spent time preparing for the next day he would mow.

Although sometimes I feel like there is not time that I am not “mowing” spiritually, I have to make the time to step aside and “sharpen my blade.” I need a regular dose of God’s Word to align my life with Him and His plan. I need the down time of prayer to focus my heart and mind on Him. I cannot sustain the regular pace of constantly spending myself without giving God the chance to replenish my soul. Several times in Jesus’ ministry, He withdrew to be alone with the Father. He often called His disciples away from the crowd to be alone with them so He could nurture them as well.

Today, I resolve to be more intentional about keeping my blade sharp. I will set aside more time in God’s Word and prayer. I will allow Him through His Word to prepare me for what He has in store.

What about you? When and how will you sharpen your blade?

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Helpful Tools for Bible Study

A Good Study Bible

Study Bibles contain notes along with the text that provide the reader with cross-references, translation helps, and explanations of historical and contextual situations. My recommendation: The ESV Study Bible

A Notebook or Three Ring Binder

This is for taking notes and recording insights that God gives you into the text and how it applies to you. It is also helpful to keep track of what you pray for so you can see God’s activity in your life.

An Appointed Time and Place

You will be surprised how much more consistent you will be if you treat your quiet time like other appointments. It is never wrong to pencil God into your daily schedule! It may be difficult at first, but with time, you will look forward to your time with Him.

Biblical Language Tools

Since the Old Testament was written in Hebrew (and a little Aramaic) and the New Testament was written in Greek, many words have shades of nuance that are lost in translation. Below are a few tools that will help you unlock some of the kernels of truth locked inside of language.

  The Hebrew/Greek Study Bible by Spiros Zodhiates -important words have a number superscripted that leads you to a fuller definition and explanation in the back of the Bible. This is an excellent help for the Bible student.

  Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words by W.E.   Vine, Merrill Unger, and William White. Look up an English word and  find it’s Hebrew and Greek counterparts, where they are used in Scripture and what they mean in context.

 Commentaries – while I am not necessarily a big fan of commentaries, sometimes they are helpful. Look for one-volume commentaries that provide background information on the text rather than commentaries that give the author’s opinion on the meaning and application of the text. My recommendations: IVP Background Commentary on the New Testament and IVP Background Commentary on the Old Testament

Your Most Important Help: The Holy Spirit

One of the works of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to lead us into all truth. God alone is able to reveal Himself to us.

Online Tools

Bible Gateway

My Study Bible (Holman Christian Standard)

You Version.  You Version also has a very good app for your smart phone and/or tablet.

Biblia.Com

 

Seven Ways to Approach a Bible Passage:

1 .PICTURE IT!  Visualize the scene in your mind.

2 .PRONOUNCE IT!  Say the verse aloud, each time emphasizing a different word.

3. PARAPHRASE IT!  Rewrite the verse in your own words.

4. PERSONALIZE IT!  Replace the pronouns or people in the verse with your own name.

5. PRAY IT!  Turn the verse into a prayer and say it back to God.

6. PROBE IT!  Ask the following five questions :

S.P.E.C.K.  QUESTIONS

 Is there a SIN to forsake?

 Is there a PROMISE to claim?

 Is there an ENCOURAGEMENT to hear?

 Is there a COMMAND to obey?

 Is there some KNOWLEDGE to be gained?

7. PRACTICE IT! Find ways to immediately put what God has told you into action.

 

Some Practical Ideas for Bible Study

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One of the reasons many people do not engage the Bible regularly and intentionally is that they have no plan for doing so. Where to start? How to proceed? Today, I want to share a few ways I have found helpful in my Bible intake.

I like to read the Bible regularly in 3 different ways. First, I like to read large passages of Scripture to help me get a broader view of God’s Word. You might consider reading the Bible through in a year or even reading the New Testament through in a year. You can find several Bible reading plans online to help guide you in this process. Several good plans are available here.

I also like to read regularly through Psalms and Proverbs. I often alternate months reading one or the other in addition to my other Bible reading. In months with 30 days, you can read through Psalms by reading 5 a day, and in months with 31 days you can read through Proverbs by reading 1 a day, either easily doable during a lunch hour.

The most important reading, I believe, is Bible reading for devotional purposes – gaining immediately applicable truth and wisdom for daily living. This is best done in smaller sections. For this type of reading, I usually like to read through the Gospels or New Testament letters. I read a paragraph at the time – sometimes only one verse, and occasionally one verse over several days. During this time, I want to learn the truth of the text, in its context, and determine specific ways God wants to apply it to my life.

Often people use devotional books and materials to aid in this process. These are OK, but I find it more beneficial to allow God to speak directly to me through His Word without an intermediary source. I approach a text by asking and answering some questions to discover its truth.

One way to do this is called the SPECK method and asks 5 questions of the text. The keyword in each of the questions begin with a letter than when placed in succession spell the word SPECK.

    • Is there a SIN I need to forsake?
    • Is there a PROMISE I can claim?
    • Is there an ENCOURAGEMENT I need to hear?
    • Is there a COMMAND I need to obey?
    • Is there KNOWLEDGE I need to gain?

 

I also like to write what God reveals to me in my study. Often I even write prayers in response to what I learned. On a regular basis, I look back over my notes to review what God has shown me.

Hopefully these tips will get you on your way to intentional Bible study and unleash the power of God’s Word in transforming your life.

Tomorrow, I plan to share with you some tools I believe can help you unlock the truth of God’s Word, but until then what are some practices that you have found helpful in your Bible study? Click the comment button below and share with us.

How Seriously Do You Take God’s Word?

TheBibleWillChangeYourLifeI want to start off this week with a challenge to my readers to regularly and intentionally read and study God’s Word with the goal of allowing it to transform us into Jesus’ image. Consider the following verse fragment and its implications for our Bible study practice.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly… Colossians 3:16a

“Let” – meaningful Biblical engagement must be an INTENTIONAL activity. For God’s Word to affect our lives, we must have a plan to regularly expose ourselves to Biblical teaching. The verb tense of this sentence is an imperative, a command. To be obedient children of our heavenly Father, we will read His Word. To neglect His Word is disobedience.

“word of Christ” – ALL Scripture, Old and New Testaments, is inspired by God, but for today’s believer, I recommend a steady diet of reading in the Gospels where we find the body of Jesus’ teaching and the lessons from His earthly ministry. I see an alarming number of Old Testament passages taken out of their original context and “claimed” by people to who they were not given as “promises” they were never intended to make. The Old Testament stands as a contextual background to help us understand the New Testament, but the New Testament embodies the instructions for believers in this age.

“dwell in you” – All to often, when we do read God’s Word, we read it, close our Bible, then move on without stopping to consider its meaning and its specific application for our life. Remember, Hebrews 4:12 teaches us that the Bible is alive. To all it to “dwell” in us is to allow it to remain in our thoughts, consideration, and ultimately in intour behavior. We call this meditation. We spend thoughtful time considering what God is saying through His Word and what He is saying particularly to us. The Word then continues to dwell in us when we obey it and make what we learn from it a part of the regular practice of our lives.

So…will you make an intentional plan to feed on God’s Word on a daily basis? Will you intentionally seek the truth of God’s Word, ponder it deeply, and apply it courageously? Will you get serious about God’s Word and let it DWELL in your life?

Accountability or Legalism?

SS Attendence cardA recent conversation with a friend brought back a childhood church memory that I had all but forgotten – the Sunday school attendance card.  Each Sunday, we recorded how “faithful” we had been during the week in such matters as daily Bible reading, lesson study, giving an offering, and church worship attendance. Individuals and classes received grades related to the accomplishment of those activities.

My guess is the demise is due to at least two somewhat opposite conditions.  On the one hand, such a practice could lead to a legalistic and empty pride.  One might simply go through the motions of “accomplishing” all the activities indicated on the card and feel good about themselves for merely doing them, all the while receiving no real lasting spiritual benefit from them at all. On the other hand the practice may have disappeared due to our great aversion to accountability.  We didn’t want to read our Bible daily, bring an offering, stay for church, or study our Sunday school lesson, and we didn’t want anyone else to KNOW we didn’t do it, so we removed the evidence.

While those activities may have become someone’s legalistic benchmark, they were at least initially deemed to be disciplines of spiritual value.  Studying one’s lesson, reading one’s Bible, contributing financially, and attending church are all ways that God uses to help us become more Christlike.  I am not advocating a return to the Sunday school attendance card, but I do think we need to discipline ourselves to godliness (1 Timothy 4:7).  When we removed the accountability, we stopped developing disciples.  When we stopped developing disciples, we fell sorely behind in impacting our world for Jesus.

I strongly encourage you to find an accountability partner or group who will spur you on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24-25) and challenge you to INTENTIONALLY engage those activities that will help you grow to be more like Jesus.

Prosperity the BIBLE Way

 

The so-called “Prosperity Gospel” is all the rage these days.  A plethora of preachers on TV will tell you that God wants you to be rich, healthy, and popular.  They promise that all you have to do is declare what you want, and God will make sure it happens.  This preaching is neither biblical nor practical.

The Bible does contain, however, a condition for a successful and prosperous life.  Joshua 1:8 contains that simple, two-part formula:

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. 

The first condition of God’s version of prosperity is to meditate  on God’s Word.  The “book of the Law” mentioned was the Torah, or first five books of the Old Testament.  The Torah constituted the complete “bible” of Joshua’s day.  The meditation to which God calls us is not empty, repetitious monosyllabic incantations associated with meditation to most in our cuture today.  To meditate is to think about something, consider its meaning, and apply its practical teaching to life.

To meditate on a Scripture passage, you might read the verse several times, emphasizing a different word each time, and noting the nuances of meaning in each word.  You might also rephrase the verse in your own words, personalizing it by placing your name in the verse in place of pronouns.  You can also ask questions of the verse to glean its truth.  One such helpful tool for me is to use the word SPECK as a guide.  Is there
         a Sin to avoid,
         a Promise to claim,
       an Encouragement to hear,
         a Command to obey,
       or Knowledge to gain.

Develop the habit of reading and pondering on Scripture daily.

Then the second condition is simply to obey God’s Word.  Be careful to DO all that is written in it.  When God reveals something to you from your meditation, immediately put it into practice.

Notice the observation of the verse is that those who meditate and obey will make their way prosperous and enjoy good success.  Prosperity the Bible way will always work.

 

How to Get What You Want from God…EVERY TIME

What if I told you there was a guaranteed way you could make sure God gave you everything you asked for?  What if you could know that when you prayed, God would surely answer in the way that you prayed He would answer?

You think I’m kidding?  I’m not.  There is a way.  Jesus said it Himself.

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. – John 15:4

There is a catch (you knew it, right), another one of those big little words “if.”  The desired result, getting what you ask for, is conditioned upon abiding in Jesus and His words abiding in us.  The last part of that verse is less a promise and more of an observation.

All to often, we view that verse as effort and reward.  If we do our duty of spending enough hours in Bible study, God will reward us by answering one of our prayers in the way we want Him to answer.  That view has two problems: first, it’s just dead wrong, and second, it totally leaves grace out of the equation.  Grace is God’s benefits extended to us without our need to earn  or deserve them.  God does not give us good things as a reward for our good behavior, He gives us good things because He is good.  Period.

Our challenge is to immerse our lives in His word, to have His word in our heart and mind all day long, to allow His word to shape our thoughts, attitudes, and actions.  God’s Word transforms our hearts and conforms us to the image of Christ, and as a result, we pray for the same things that God desires to give us – for our good and His glory.

It’s never too late to begin to dive into the Bible.

  • Read it every day. 
  • Believe its teachings. 
  • Meditate on its meaning.   
  • Apply its truth. 

What are you waiting on?  Change is on the way.  Change from who you are into who God wants you to be.  Let’s get serious about God’s word.