“To love God with all your mind, you must put God’s words into your mind…Left to itself, your mind will drift toward anxious or selfish thoughts. The truth of God’s Word has the power to change the channel of your thinking.” (58)

Holladay goes on to say that one of the most powerful verses for turning our thoughts toward God is Philippians 4:8. It says: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

Memorize Philippians 4:8 and begin to “think about such things” as described. You will grow in your capacity to love God with ALL your mind.

I hope you’re keeping up with the readings every day. If not, catch up. Be challenged and blessed!

How can we “meditate” on the Word of God “day and night” if we don’t have it memorized and in our hearts? Below is another quote from Dallas Willard’s book The Great Omission.

“The primary freedom we have is always the choice of where we will place our minds. That freedom is enhanced by the practice of solitude, silence, and fasting. We can then effectively fill our minds with the Word of God, preserved in the scriptures. To that end, memorization is vital. It is astonishing how little of the Bible is known by heart by people who profess to honor it. If we do not know it, how can it help us? It cannot.” (p. 155)

What is filling your mind today? Scripture? If not, you have the choice to change.

What verse and/or passage will you choose to fill your mind with today?

I’m going to do a few posts on the importance of memorizing Scripture. Check out the new poll to the right.

I took a class called “Spiritual Formation” at Cincinnati Bible Seminary a couple years ago. One of the books we read for that class was The Great Omission by Dallas Willard. Below is a quote from the book:

“Our concentration on Jesus will be strengthened by memorization of great passages (not just verses) from scripture. Passages such as Matthew 5-7, John 14-17, 1 Corinthians 13, and Colossians 3 are terrific soul-growing selections. This practice of memorizing scripture is more important than a daily quiet time, for as we fill our minds with these great passages and have them available for our meditation, quiet time takes over the entirety of our lives.” (p. 126)

Wow! How are you doing? What verse or passage can you begin to memorize today? The four mentioned above would be a great place to start!

More later…

I’m currently reading Faith’s Fundamentals by Jack Cottrell. The third fundamental (out of seven total) is “The Bible is God’s Word.” In this chapter, Cottrell states: “every statement in the Bible has a specific, intended meaning. When first spoken by their authors, the statements of Scripture were not just words or sounds. They meant something” (p. 42, emphasis mine).

One of my “pet peeves” is a denial of this fact. I’ve been in Sunday school classes and small groups where everyone will share what a particular verse means to them. However, the “specific, intended meaning” is never taught! Everyone goes home feeling good about their interpretation, but their interpretation has little or nothing to do with what the author (ultimately God) originally intended.

The first goal in Bible study is to discover the original meaning of the text. What did it mean to the original hearers? That takes work! Don’t kid yourself. After we find out what it meant, then we can begin to ask what that means for our own context today.

Cottrell continues: “If we approach the Bible assuming that it can have various meanings for different people, then each person is free to use the Bible just to reinforce his own ideas” (p. 42).

You see, what I think doesn’t matter. What ultimately matters is what God thinks and what He originally intended a particular Scripture to mean. So let’s submit to His authority and allow His thoughts to shape ours, not the other way around.

What do you think?

I’m a big fan of the Blue Letter Bible website. There’s rarely a week that goes by in which I do not visit this site. I use it for personal study and sermon preparation. The feature I use most is learning the meaning of the Hebrew/Greek words in a text. Here’s how you can do this.

First, click here to go to the Blue Letter Bible website.

Second, type in a chapter or verse of Scripture you want to study. This is in the “New Bible Search” box at the top of the home page.

Third, click the “Search” icon and it will take you to another page where the verse or chapter appears.

Fourth, to access the Hebrew/Greek feature, click on the blue “C” icon to the left of the verse. There are five or six different blue icons you can click. Explore those later too.

Fifth, after clicking on the “C” icon, the verse will appear in Hebrew or Greek and below that there will be a breakdown of the verse with English translation on the left and the Hebrew/Greek on the right with English transliteration.

Sixth, click on the “Strong’s” reference number and that will take you to another screen that gives you the various definitions of the word and other cool info like how many other times that word appears in Scripture. This is great for word studies!

I could go on and on. Browse the site on your own and discover the wonderful tools at your fingertips. Best of all – IT’S FREE! We should be the most biblically literate people in the history of civilization because of the resources at our disposal. Let’s leverage these resources to God’s glory!

After visiting Blue Letter Bible, shoot me your thoughts. What do you think?

The Chronological Bible Reading Plan I’m using this year has me in the book of Job right now. Job’s three friends, if you can really call them that, are saying things to Job that aren’t very encouraging or true. They claim that all the bad things that have happened to Job are the result of his wickedness. There must be something wrong with him! Here’s one verse of Job’s response: “If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom” (13:5).  That verse stopped me in my tracks this morning! Sometimes (probably most of the time) the wisest thing to do is just be quiet.

Other verses came to mind as I meditated on Job’s response.

Proverbs 17:28 – “Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.”

James 1:19 – “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak…”

James 1:26 – “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”

After reading Job and these verses, I continued reading “Winning with People” by John Maxwell, which is the leadership book I’m reading this month. Maxwell quotes Lady Dorothy Nevill. She said, “The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment” (p. 39).

I love it when things align like that. God must be trying to tell me something!

What about you?

Earlier this year I preached a message on Proverbs 22:6. In that message I quoted from How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. I highly recommend this book. Below is my favorite paragraph from the chapter “Wisdom: Then and Now.” Keep this in mind as you read Proverbs today.

1. Proverbs Are Not Legal Guarantees from God

Proverbs state a wise way to approach certain selected practical goals but do so in terms that cannot be treated like a divine warranty of success. The particular blessings, rewards, and opportunities mentioned in Proverbs are likely to follow if one will choose the wise courses of action outlined in the poetic, figurative language of the book. But nowhere does Proverbs teach automatic success. Remember that inspired Scripture also includes both Ecclesiastes and Job, which remind us that there is very little that is automatic about the good or bad events that may take place in our lives. (Fee & Stuart, p. 235)

For example, one of the 10 commandments is: “You shall not commit adultery.” Don’t do this “that it may go well with you.” Does it “go well” for those who commit adultery? There’s obviously grace and forgiveness available, but does life “go well” when adultery is committed? I think King David would say, “No.”

How about the Sabbath? Does life “go well” when we fail to observe a weekly Sabbath rest?

I don’t know how your life is going, but I do know that life works best when we obey God. It’s just that simple. That doesn’t mean you’ll never get sick or have a bad day. It just means things will “go well.” Do you trust that?

Ask yourself: In what areas am I being disobedient to God? Identify those areas. Repent. Confess it to God. Start obeying God so “that it may go well with you.”

I would love to hear what God is teaching you during the 4 Week Bible Challenge. Shoot me an email or post a comment.

“Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.” Psalm 119:111-112

DJ Bible Reading Plan