Job 23:12b, "....I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my
necessary food."
Would you say you treasure God's Word more than daily bread? I woke this
morning thinking about how much I really need my quiet time with the Lord.
What a difference
this makes in my day when I consume spiritual bread! What a difference
it makes in my heart too.... Those of you who have established a quiet
time with God know exactly what I mean, amen? We play a Patch the Pirate
song at our house titled "My Quiet Time" that I enjoy hearing my daughter
sing over and over again. The words go like this:
Before I start each day, there is a special place
I love to go alone, and seek my Savior's face:
I find wisdom in His Word, to instruct me in His will
And I hear His gentle voice say, "My child, be still."
My quiet time alone gives me power to obey,
My quiet time alone with God each day.
I talk to Him in prayer, every day He meets me there;
My quiet time alone with God....
He's with me all the time, wherever I may go;
Each moment of the day, He's always there I know.
But I need that special time when I bow before His throne,
Just to read His Word and talk with my Lord alone.
My quiet time alone gives me power to obey,
My quiet time alone with God each day.
I talk to Him in prayer, every day He meets me there;
My quiet time alone with God....
The reason I like this song so much is because it explains exactly how
I feel about needing that daily time with my Lord. It really does give
me power to obey God! Many Christians regularly sing the hymn "Trust and
Obey" never
considering obedience is H- A- R- D apart from spending time with the
Lord. Our ignorance of the scriptures is perilous to our Christian life...
Mt. 22:29, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing
the scriptures, nor the power of God."
Isaiah 34:16, "Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read....."
John 5:39, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal
life: and they are they which testify of me."
Ladies, we are so good at spending time getting to know the WORD of God,
but how well do we know the GOD of the Word?? The scriptures reveal the
person of God - "they are they which testify of ME." You see, the Lord
wants you and I to come away from His Word with more than just scriptural
information, He wants us to come away with an intimate knowledge of Him!
What have you been getting out of your quiet time lately? If we're not
careful, we can be guilty of studying the scriptures for eternal life
and all that pertains to it, yet come away with never having known the
Lord Jesus.... If you tire of the scriptures, you tire of Christ! How
many times have you sat down to read the Bible only to look ahead and
measure how the long the chapter might be? How many times have you then
dreaded reading because there were a great many words for your eyes to
take in? God help us for such laziness in our souls! The Bible is dull
only when you are dull.... May we come to the place of finding pleasure
in that chapter which is longest and reveals us the most about our Lord!
We must make our quiet time Christ-centered
rather than self-centered, amen?
I have a very familiar story to share below that relates to our quiet
time with the Lord, perhaps you've heard it before....
He was looking forward to this moment all day long, after 6 days of labor
and it finally arrived--Visiting Day! The man with the keys arrived to
swing open the large, heavy doors.
The cold gray hall springs to life in the warm glow of light. He
could hardly control his emotions. The families began to arrive. He peers
from the corner of the room, longing for the first glimpse of his loved
one.
He lives for the weekends. He lives for these visits. As the cars arrive,
he watches intently. Then, finally, she arrives - his bride, for whom
he would do anything.
They embrace, eat a light lunch and reminisce how things used to be. At
one point, they break into singing, with interruptions of laughter and
applause. But all too soon it is over. A tear comes to his eyes as his
bride departs.
Then the man with the keys closes the heavy doors. He hears the key turn
in the lock marking the end of a special day. There he stands, alone again.
He knows that most of his visitors will not contact him again until next
week.
As the last car pulls away from the parking lot, Jesus retreats
into loneliness as He waits until next Sunday -- Visiting Day....
So ladies, is the time that we spend with Jesus an every day thing, or
do we just visit Him on Sundays?? Let me ask you this question: How long
have you had a Bible? I had my first one for 10 years before it finally
fell apart to where I could not use it anymore. Now I am working on my
second one that I have had for several years. Pay attention now, because
I want you to really think about this question found in John 14:9 which
Jesus puts before Philip:
"...Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me?"
That question smote my heart because when you think about how long we've
had a Bible in our possession, in reality we have had Jesus with us, and
yet, do we really know HIM?! A man who loves his wife will love her letters
and her photographs because they speak to him of her. Ladies, are you
not astounded that God should have written to us?! Then if we truly love
the Lord Jesus, we shall love the Bible because it speaks to us of Him!
We think it's terribly sad when couples that have been married for 15,
20, or 25 years don't know one another after being together so long. But
how grieving to realize that we have had Jesus so long with us and not
taken the proper time to get to know HIM. He IS the Word!
John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God."
For some Christians, heaven will be the first time they really begin to
know the Lord because they never placed any emphasis on consistent time
alone with Him while living on this earth. They did not esteem His words
more than their necessary food and consequently only visited Him on Sundays...
A Bible that's falling apart probably belongs to somebody who isn't, amen?
Remember ladies, it's not just a book we are forsaking when we don't pick
up the Bible and read it, it is God Himself we are ignoring, a living
being!! His Word is not a cake just for special occasions or a Sunday
treat, but bread for daily use... Treasure God's Word today - establish
and then strive to remain faithful to your quiet time alone with Him.
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 1999 Pamela A. Iannello
