★ “Back to the Basics” – Pursuit #2 – What Are You Feeding On? ★

I am a firm believer that in life and in any relationship you get whatever you put in.  You’ve heard the old adage, “garbage in, garbage out” right?  Well just like in your diet, if all you consume is fast food your body will resemble what you take in.  And if all you do is perpetually sit on the coach in front of the boob tube, your health will certainly deteriorate.  What you feed on will result in what you will become.  We are currently in a trilogy of posts examining these 3 Worthy Pursuits in order to be successful in life through…Prayer – Word – Worship.  In part 1 of our series called ★ “Back to the Basics” – Pursuit #1 – Opening the Pipeline ★, we saw how critical prayer is for our life through the Prayer of Jabez from 1 Chronicles 4:10.  God desires a relationship with us.  Just like in our human relationships, this is only accomplished through dialogue…which in regards to God, is through prayer.

Today’s Pursuit is equally pivotal for our walk with God…and that is through reading God’s Word, the Holy Bible.  If your response in hearing this was to groan or think something like “oh no, not this again, why do I need to read this archaic book, it has no relevance to me today?”  Well you’re not alone.  Many people struggle with reading the Bible either because they “do not see the value,” or “do not have the time,” or “that they know that they should, but don’t.”  My prayer is that by the end of this post, God will reveal to you the importance of knowing what is in the Bible and that He will move you to action…So let’s demystify each one of these viewpoints.

The Bible HAS Value for Today!

The Bible is the inherent Word of God.  Every word in the bible is inspired by God through the Holy Spirit.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) says:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man [or woman] of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

“All Scripture is breathed out by God” and is intended to be a road map…an instruction manual for life that will point our lives in the right direction.  It is also intended to be our best offense to fight our enemy.  Do you know that to be true?  A friend of mine in my lifegroup was given this “challenge coin” by his police chief the day he was sworn in as an officer in 2010.

The inscriptions are from Ephesians 6:10-17 which describes what the Armor of God is.  In Ephesians 6:13 (ESV) we are instructed,

“Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.”

In the next 4 versus the Apostle Paul lists the various pieces – the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes for your feet, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, (see Ephesians 6:14-17.)  He finishes with weapons of our warfare in verse 17b…

“and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,”

You see the Bible has value because is our only offensive weapon, all the rest are defensive in design.  If you don’t have a Bible, then I highly urge you to purchase one or download it to your smart device…but we will talk about that later…

In an older post called ★ Thought for the Day – All About the Big Ten ★, we first looked at the significance of not only reading the Bible but also knowing the WHOLE Bible.  There is so much wisdom and practical advice that is covered in the bible that speak to any issue you have in your life today.  2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NLT) says…

“For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.  They will reject the truth and chase after myths.”    

Doesn’t this sound like our culture today?  People will follow anything that is new and trending on Twitter.  But the counsel in the Bible is timeless and relevant for today.  We need to read and study the Bible daily so that we understand the character of God and receive the encouragement and instruction it will bring!

You DO HAVE TIME for The Bible

Many people say that they don’t have time to read because life is too hectic…whether as a result of homework from school, demands of the job, or the kid’s schedule…but we all have the same 24 hours in a day!  I have found in my life that I will always make time for what I deem important…or another way to say it is that WE WILL PRIORITIZE that which WE VALUE.

Do you value the Bible? 

I would assert that if you DON’T MAKE THE TIME, you are DISARMING YOURSELF from the weapon that God has PROVIDED to sustain you through the storms of life.  Charles Stanley made this commentary:

“The Bible is in an immovable anchor in times of storm and through it, God can give us the strength and hope to endure.”

Don’t wait until you are in the middle of a storm or situation to start reading the Bible, you need to have the truth in you BEFORE you face the adversity.  In the Book of Genesis there was a man named Noah who did spend time with God and received the instruction to build an Ark (or another way say it, a big boat,) in preparation for a flood that would cover the whole earth.  As a result, Noah was ready to face the floodwaters as he and his family were the only survivors.  (You can read the whole story about Noah in Genesis 6:9-8:22.)  But if He hadn’t spent time with God, he would not have been ready which leads us into the final misconception…

The Bible is CRITICAL to Read 

It is so important that we are careful what we put into our minds.  There are so many things competing for our attention, and if we are not careful we can get derailed along the way with our walk with God.  If we truly want to grow in our faith, then dusting off that Bible on the nightstand and opening is up is a necessity!  I shared this quote in a post called ★ Thought for the Day – The Unfathomable Payoff of Faith ★, that Steven Furtick made in his book “Crash the Chatterbox”…that

“we must intentionally feed the faith we already possess by fanning into flame the gift that is in us.  We must eat what God has already cooked up.”

I love that imagery…“we must intentionally feed the faith we already possess!”  We need to be reading and meditating on the Bible daily so that our faith can increase and the lies of the enemy (a.k.a. the Chatterbox) can be silenced!  When our faith is strong we can withstand the storms that come against us…Proverbs 10:25 (NLT) says,If you want to grow in your faith, reading your Bible is essential in that Pursuit…you need to make steps to do things differently…see Colossians 2:6-7.  Nothing changes if nothing changes.  The question is, do you want to change?  If you want to then I suggest that you get yourself a Bible or download it on your smart device.

I first shared about the YouVersion Bible App in the ★ Thought for the Day – All About the Big Ten ★ and I highly recommend you download the App today!  My nephew who is a senior in high school had this to say about it after a week of using the app…

“The app is amazing I love it, it’s always with me since I always have my phone and it even has these “plans” where I go and read specific chapters relating to a topic I pick!”

I completely agree.  I use it every single day!  To Download YouVersion Bible App, you can go to www.youversion.com, or you can download by clicking the buttons below…

Here are a couple of suggestions that I have for you as you start to read the Bible:

• I recommend getting the Bible Translation called the “New Living Translation (NLT)” which is an easy to read format that is a great start to your journey

• I would suggest start by reading the Gospel of John that is all about the ministry Jesus to understand the heart of God. And I would recommend the book of James who was Jesus’ brother.  As Jesus’ “little brother,” James had a unique perspective which is why there is so much wisdom in the book.

• Finally I would do what the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 6:10-17 that you would put on the Full Armor of God!

Here is a simple prayer that I pray for God to give me the armor of God.  There is nothing special about the prayer, just an example of a way to “put on” the armor.

Father, please give me the full armor of God,

The Helmet of Salvation, that I would think like Jesus,
The Breastplate of Righteousness, that you would guard my heart from sinning,
The Belt of Truth, so that I would walk in integrity,
The Shoes of Your Good News, that I would be a peacemaker wherever I go,
The Sword of the Spirit, that I would be able to fight against the lies of the enemy and
The Shield of Faith, to protect me from the enemy’s attacks!

In Jesus Name, Amen!

I will close with this final word of encouragement from Psalms 37:3-5 (NKJV):

“Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.” 

So we come back to the original question…What Are You Feeding On?  Is it what the enemy is serving, worry, anxiety, fear, _____ (fill in the blank) OR are you ready to start feeding on God’s faithfulness, love and peace?  I challenge you to use the YouVersion App for one week, and I you read the Bible, pray that God will make it easy to understand and will activate your faith in Him!  And then come back and comment here what your experience was!  God Bless you as you begin this journey!

Or if you missed any in the series, you can go back to the introductory post to get caught up…★ “Back to the Basics” – Never-Ending Pursuit ★

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