I just can’t state strongly enough how important it is for you to read God’s Word every day. To expose yourself to the Word. Every Day. To make every attempt to put your eyes … yes … your eyes … where they will see Scripture promises … God’s Word … where you will see it … every day.
I have written often of how critical … yes-I’ll say it … even life or death important … especially when you are facing a trial or tribulation … to write down specific Scripture verses to read, often, throughout the day … every day. How important it is, when personal trial strikes, to have … in places that you’ll see it … read it … verses that “speak” directly to what you are going through. I know … there are times that the pain, the agony is so deep, that the only thing you have to “cling to,” to “hold to,” are the promises of God. Directly from God’s Word. Not from your friends, not from your neighbor, not from the television, not from the newspaper, but words which “proceed from the mouth of God.” You know that I am not speaking against “Godly counsel;” I’m just stating how important it is to put God’s Word where you will see it … read it … speak it … repeat it … pray over it … constantly, throughout the day.
Wow! This paragraph just “took off” …
This writing is really not about “emergency” reading … but, the lesson is still there … What I am writing about is exposing yourself to God’s Word … when there is not an “issue” you are going through … there is no tragedy or painful circumstance you are facing at the moment … just day-to-day life. Which can be tough enough. I encourage you, plead with you, and implore you to make Bible reading/study and prayer a part of every day of your life. Every day. Don’t wait until something “strikes” all-of-a-sudden, to realize how valuable this encouragement is. We need God’s Word every day, and to pray every day, to keep the most important relationship in our lives going strong. I believe that the best time to read God’s Word, and to pray is first thing in the morning. Often, and I try to do this every morning, as the clock goes off, and I get up and hit the snooze button for the first (of maybe 3 times?) time, I lay there and pray … first thing … before I even get up … I dedicate this day … I dedicate my thoughts, my actions, and my words, to Him … When the second snooze goes off, I ask for His help in my thoughts, actions, and words … the first thing I think of, in the morning, even before I get up, is how to serve Him today … and, the realization that I have no chance of serving Him without His direct help and intervention … See, I need Him every moment, of every day, in every way … or, I’m just not going to make it. Keep in mind this is without having a major “issue” that has kept me awake most of the night … How much more do I need His help and guidance when I am really “going through something?”
I am going into this lengthy explanation because I know people, as you do, who are going through major issues in their life, and they’ve come to you for answers. I don’t have the answers … but, I know, personally, the One who does. I just know that I need to read God’s Word every day, and pray every day. Period. How God uses me is up to Him. But … I have to be ready for any situation … and, the only way that I can do that is to be “in the Word, and in prayer.” Period. I don’t want to wait until I am “in a foxhole” to cry out to Him. I cry out to Him now, even before “something happens.” That is the key. God’s Word and prayer-before something happens.
You need to write down verses that will encourage you, and place them where you will see them often … every day. We all know people who have verses posted on their refrigerators, on their bathroom mirrors, etc. Great! The key is to put these verses-those that mean the most to you-where you will see them … even when you are “not looking.” The refrigerator and mirror is such a great place because you go to these often … every day.
For several months, there was something that I was believing God for. I put a postcard/note card on my car visor with the promise I was believing in … I saw the promise every time I drove the car … I would see the card, then read it … meaning that I was speaking the promise. Of course, the promise came true. It had to! Why? Because I believed in the One who had promised! It was a promise He made … so, it had to come true. It had to!
At some point here, I must get to the “bureau” or “dresser.” My parents called it a bureau. I call it a dresser. It is the … well, you know what it is … and, it is the most important “standing” piece of furniture in your bedroom. It is where all your … well, you know … clothes and accessories are … the important point is that I, and most of us, have no choice but to spend a certain amount of time there, every day, to prepare to go to work, or, before we go anywhere. Whether we are getting dressed, seeing how we look after we are dressed, or anywhere in-between, it is a major focal point of our existence. The point is, that, regardless of how rushed we are, how big a hurry we are in … we always have to “stop” while we are there … I don’t remember much about a lot of details in our home, but I can tell you-exactly-what is on my dresser. And, what is on Carol’s. I can’t remember what I wore to work yesterday, but I can tell you-in detail-what is on our dressers/bureaus. I can also tell you exactly what is, in detail, on our bathroom counter and mirror. And, our dining room table. And, on my truck visor.
Here is the point: For some reason, I really like the idea of the bureau/dresser … it’s because my Bible is there, and I always have note cards, standing up, which I read every time I am there … which is concentrated time, at least a few times a day. And … if, I don’t read them, I always know they are there. I always have a stack, with specific verses to address just exactly what I am going through now, and I just rotate the cards on a daily basis … the cards are always there … they are just as much a part of my furniture as the clock radio … and the Bible …
On Carol’s dresser, it is a little different, as far as the cards are concerned … she is so awesome … they are laid out, individually, covering a large part of the top of the dresser. So, you can read all of the cards at once, or just concentrate on one card. On my dresser, I have the one-card-at-a- time, carefully rotated.
Here is the real point, and please allow me to be used to express this, in the manner intended:
While writing this, I have realized that, in the true “team” concept, I have just been given what is really happening here. On Carol’s dresser, there are verses for the “day-to-day” living … what we strive for every day, as part of our daily dependence on God and His Word.
On my dresser, there are cards, standing up to display one card at a time, which address a specific promise for something that we are going through, what we are “believing for” right now.
But, do I only see my dresser cards?
Well … my dresser doesn’t have a mirror … and, Carol’s dresser does … That’s ok, because my dresser was my Father-in-Law’s, and Carol has her Mother’s dresser … I never want another one … So, what this means is that, often, in order to dress properly … I must stand in front of “Carol’s” dresser, the one with the mirror … which has all of those verses on display … Even as I write this, I can quote the Scriptures on her dresser … I see the note cards almost every day …
I offer this as encouragement to those of you who have a spouse which you are trying to … encourage … even trying to lead to the faith …
Think about it … please … Your spouse knows what is on your dresser … just as much as you do … Let’s say you start leaving “note cards” around where “someone else” may see them …
I can’t tell you how many times I have read, and read again, the note cards with Scripture, which are on Carol’s dresser … Does she know this? I would say that a large percentage of the time, she is not aware that I am reading the note cards … she may be asleep, or out of the room while I read, again and again, the Words written on them … but I read them … often … and it changes me …
I know people who have these note cards posted “everywhere,” and some who have them posted in certain “high traffic” spots … but, I can assure you, both wives and husbands, there is no place where you can post them, where it will be noticed, more personally, than on the bureau or dresser …
Blessings,
Ted
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