"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:" Ephesians 6:17
The sword of the spirit. It sounds like a powerful weapon, and it is. Although, it is the Holy Spirit who give us the grace to obey the Word of God and to understand it, it is hard to understand or obey something that you haven't even read.
I am one of the worst offenders in this area. My bible is not well marked because I would often rather read a book about the Bible or the Christian life than to actually open the source myself and soak it in.
I try to quote verses when counseling with people, and way too often, end up with some off-the-wall paraphrase. I know what I meant, but do the people I am talking to get it?
The word of God is powerful though, and we need to know it to be able to partake of its power. Knowing God's word helps us to stay encouraged when times are tough, it helps us to believe the best about our children when they disappoint us, and it helps us to agape love our husbands when we would rather leave.
Some of the ways that we do put a priority on the Word of God in our home is by assigning monthly chapters to read as a family, memorizing key verses, and reading the Bible aloud as part of our schooling. We also assign Bible copy work with the children, I just need to get more consistent than my kids in this area!
It is a blessing to feel close to God, to go to a church service and be moved by His presence. What, though will keep us faithful during the dry times of our Christian walk? What will keep us pressing in to the pleasure of God that we have experienced in the past? When our feelings fail us, we can stand on the truth of God's word, and use the truth as a powerful weapon against unbelief and discouragement.
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I recently started reading through the gospels with a friend. We read 2 chapters per day, and then if we have time to connect online we discuss what we read. if we don't have time there is at least still the accountability to read. This has been such a HUGE blessing in my life, and I have been blown away to hear God speak to me through His word.
ReplyDeleteI love accountability groups! It is so helpful for staying on track. I am doing an online book study based on 7 by Jen Hatmaker and that has been also helpful in getting me studying God's word so I have something to offer the group.
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