January 01, 2025
I don’t know exactly when it happened, but in my earliest days as a seriously committed Christian (around age 17), I was challenged to read the Bible daily and record what God was showing me. My parents had told me this all my life, but during these “Jesus Movement” days in the late 60’s, there was a wind blowing that carried millions of us along. My older brother, Jim, was a good discipler too.
I had a hardback New American Standard Bible (still the most accurate, in my opinion), and when it began to wear out, my girlfriend, Holly, covered it with suede leather. I don’t know how she did it, but it complemented the large homemade wooden cross hanging on a leather string around my neck and my bell-bottom jeans.
I remember being frustrated at my college inconsistency as I often missed days reading my Bible. I’m sure the Lord smiled, for He knew what was ahead. I kept coming back for I kept tasting something that I could find nowhere else.
It is not for the sake of pride, but testimony that, over the last 55+ years, I’ve read the Bible at least once a year and often more than once. My only regret is that I have not read it more and prayed more. Over the years, communing with the Father through His Word and prayer has become the cornerstone of my life. I have found Him there thousands of times, on every page.
PSALM 1
… was one of the first chapters I memorized in those early days. It has challenged and thrilled me now for decades. I have found its predictions 100% accurate. The men around me who listened to foolish voices have crashed and burned. But I can see the faces of the faithful band of brothers and sisters I have joined with along the way—doctors and lawyers, plumbers and sheet metal workers—who’ve “delighted in the law of the Lord and in His law meditated day and night.” (One of my early friends had only an 8th grade education, but before long had memorized the first three chapters of Ephesians. It changed his life).
We have found His promises for those who meet God daily in His Word astoundingly true.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:3)
The serious Bible men and women who are reading this are nodding their heads right now with a warm, knowing smile in their hearts. For we all know that there is simply no way to express the delight, joy, and treasure of meeting with God every day. Once recently, my wife (who knew I needed a little more sleep) encouraged me to “sleep in” a little longer in the mornings. My response was immediate. “Everything in my life comes from my mornings with Him in His Word and prayer. Without that, I have nothing.”
So this morning, January 1, 2025, I rise early once again. I will enter into the throne room before the Father, because the Son has made a way for me to come into this “grace in which I now stand.” I will open the Word God has written and preserved for me so I could have it in my hands. I will ask the precious Holy Spirit to teach me, showing me things which “eye has not seen and ear has not heard” that have been prepared for me. And I will have the glorious privilege, once again, of communing with God.
December 30, 2024
December 20, 2024
