Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord, always, again I say, rejoice”. Philippians 2:14 says, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing”. Those verses are commands, not just good suggestions, but very few people keep them or even try.

In our culture most people grumble and complain just about everything, it is the basis and content of most discussions. If a person can be super positive and rejoice all the time and never complain, grumble or be negative about anything they will be very attractive, and everyone will notice them. To maintain that discipline of speaking and acting will be very difficult in light of everyone around us.

A very positive blessing that comes from faithfully reading the Bible, God’s Word, is that we will become more and more this kind of person. Being a person who rejoices always and never grumbles is more than a discipline, though it starts there, it is a character quality that we have become on the inside, that is who we are, that is how we think, and that is what we feel.

The molding and shaping of our soul, and becoming a genuine positive person is a process that takes some time as we follow the training regimen that is required to become this kind of person. A key discipline in the training is reading the Bible faithfully, and memorizing and meditating on the truths in it. The power of the living, active and supernatural Word of God moves and shapes us on the inside gradually, and it isn’t that long of a time until we begin to notice this change in our heart. It is so much more enjoyable being a positive person instead of a negative and critical person.

Psalms 119:7 I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments.

Psalms 119:14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches.

Psalms 119:62 At midnight I shall rise to give thanks to You Because of Your righteous ordinances.

I am preaching this weekend at JBC, Saturday night and both Sunday morning sermons, and I am so nervous. Preaching the Bible is way more than just giving a speech or a motivational talk. The Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God, and God’s will and plan is that it is taught. It is also His will and desire that it is taught well, and that the one doing the teaching has worked very hard in the preparation to speak to people about the truth revealed in His Word.

Colossians 1:25 and 28-29; Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, ….We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

1 Timothy 4:13 and 16, Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching……Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

James 3:1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.

The world, even believers tend to have a low view of preaching, but it is God’s will and method, it is what He uses to cause growth in those in His family. If we are the preacher/teacher we have a huge responsibility put on us by God, and if we are the one being preached to we need to humbly acknowledge that God is in charge, and that He has chosen to use the “foolishness of preaching” to grow people into the character of Christ.

God is sovereign, all wise, and He loves me. He has a plan for my life, and in fact has those plans written in His book for my life. I know that if I live my life in the center of His will things will go much better than if I don’t. I also realize that as a father, grandfather and as a pastor that what I do and how I live my life has an impact on others. I lead a church family, and God has a plan for our church. If as the leader, I make choices that are at the center of His will JBC will be a blessed church, but if I don’t things won’t go well.

I have often wished that knowing God’s will for my life was as simple as receiving an email each morning with clear instructions, then the challenge would be simply obeying or disobeying. But discovering what God’s will is for my life, my family, and my church is not easy, but obviously possible. A major key in knowing God’s plan is faithfully reading the Bible.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalms 25:4 Make me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths.

Psalms 25:9 He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way.

Psalms 27:11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a level path Because of my foes.

Psalms 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

Often people come to me for counsel and advice on a decision that they are faced with. My question to them is “Are you asking because you want to be where a God wants you, or simply so life goes well”? I then ask about their Bible Reading discipline, and encourage them to establish this discipline in their life because many more significant choices will come up in their life, and they will want to know what to do. When we are spending time with Him in His Word we will know what His perfect plan for our lives is.

I restored a 1949 Ford pickup, and recently sold it to a fellow in Indiana. It had a V8 Flathead in it which came stock at 100 hp. When I was rebuilding it I put a Mercury crank in it, which added a quarter inch to the stroke. I had it bored out .015 of an inch over so the cubic inches went from 239 to 285. I replaced the stock cam with an Isky high lift racing cam, I put in electronic ignition, and 2 Stromberg carburetors. The result of all that kid stuff and masterful mechanic work is that the horsepower doubled.

One of the truths of life is that some people’s prayer life is terrible, when they pray nothing happens. God doesn’t answer their prayers, and in fact, the Bible says that some people’s prayers He doesn’t even listen to, their prayer is an abomination to Him. There are reasons that our prayer power goes up or goes down. One of the key reasons is how we are doing in our Bible Reading time. John 15:7 says “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” That is an amazing promise, but the verse starts with “If” meaning there is a condition that we must meet before God does His part. “If my Words abide in you, I wonder how much I would be in the Word beforeI am considered by God to be abiding in His Word. More than most is my guess. I want to be a “high horsepower ” prayer. I put it this way in farmer lingo, in my journal, “If I listen to God, He listens to me, and the more I listen to Him, the more He listens to me”.

Shame is probably one the most feared experiences there is. We will do just about anything to protect ourselves from an experience where we feel shame. People today as they attempt to control others use words that shame others like knives. As we raised our 8 kids we tried hard not to say or do anything that would make them feel shame, but instead to give them a sense of worth and value. In psalms 119 the longest chapter in the Bible that has as it’s main topic the blessings of reading the Word of God mentions 10 times that those who read the Word will be protected from shame.

Psalms 119:22 Take away reproach and contempt from me, For I observe Your testimonies.

Psalms 119:31 I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame!

Psalms 119:39 Turn away my reproach which I dread, For Your ordinances are good.

I have thought about the “nuts and bolts” of how this works, but I think that as we honor God by abiding in His Words, He honors us by protecting us from hurtful words and embarrassing situations.

Psalms 119:23 Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your servant meditates on Your statutes.

Psalms 31:20 You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.

That last verse was a major point of meditation for me back in the early days of ministry when I did so many dumb things, and received a fair amount of verbal criticism for it.

This blessing is what gave me the confidence to try new things that had the potential to not go well, because I had this strong sense that God would guard me as I continued to serve Him and make His Word a high priority of my life.

So far the blessings that we experience from God because we honor Him, seek Him, and seek His will by reading the Word of God each day is Wisdom, Success, Righteousness, Inner Strength, a growing Intimacy with God, and joy. Those 6 alone would motivate me to read faithfully every day, but we are going to add 19 more blessings, and hopefully by the time we get to the end you won’t ever want to miss reading again.

When Jesus was tempted by the devil while in the wilderness fasting He resisted him by quoting scripture. The devil tempted Him by talking to Him, and He tempts us in the same way, he talks to us and we hear him in our thoughts. Those thoughts that he initiates if not captured will grow in our mind and have babies and begin to establish some strongholds which begin to control our attitude, and then our behavior.

1 Timothy 4:1 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,”. “PAYING ATTENTION TO”, his words begin to influence and control. Those who read the Bible a lot, memorize a lot, and meditate on the supernatural Word of God quickly recognize false statements and thoughts and replace them with Gods Word .

1 John 2:14 I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

What exactly is joy? It is obviously an emotion. Probably most would think of an event or experience that would prompt or cause a very positive emotion of feeling happy. This joy is controlled by the events in a person’s life, most of which they have little to no control over.

The joy that I desire for myself is a mostly constant feeling of contentment, an up or positive sense that “life is good”, a freedom from anxiety, a positive anticipation of the future, and a strong feeling of security based on an abiding trust in God’s love for me and in His constant control of the details of my life. This joy has no connection to the events or circumstances in my life. The joy that I seek is listed as a fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5, meaning that the joy I have is put in my heart by God, it is called “the joy of the Lord”. This supernatural joy is not put in us by God arbitrarily, there are conditions that He has made that we must meet in order to be recipients of this great blessing.

One of these conditions is that we abide in His Word. God’s Word is living, supernatural, powerful, and active. The Word of God is the sword of the Holy Spirit. When we faithfully, daily read, memorize, study, and meditate on His Word the joy of the Lord becomes more and more a constant state of being in us. The joy of the Lord becomes our strength against the attacks of the devil, the temptations of the world, and the negativity of our own flesh. One of the questions that I am asked is “how much should I read”? My guideline is, “I read until I am filled with joy”. Often when life is tough, and joy stealers abound I read and meditate on God’s Word for a long time. It is incredibly freeing to know that I can determine my joy level in spite of life, I don’t have to be a victim.

Psalms 119:111 I have inherited Your testimonies forever, For they are the joy of my heart.

Infinite, almighty, God created me for a purpose, and that purpose is best expressed in some of the words of Jesus to His disciples when He was about to depart this earth. John 14:3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also”. RECEIVE YOU TO MYSELF, THAT WHERE I AM, THERE YOU MAY BE ALSO. That is an amazing statement that I believe is meant for me as well as His disciples. God desires my fellowship, He wants to spend time with me. One of the commands given with a blessing many, many times in the Bible is to seek the Lord. “Those who seek the Lord will not be in want of any good thing”. I grow close to a person that I spend time with, and talk to, and listen to. The Bible is the living Word of God, and as I faithfully, daily read it, one of the major blessings is that I grow closer and closer to, and more intimate with my God and Savior.

Psalms 119:2 How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart.

Psalms 119:10 With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments.

Psalms 119:38 Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.

Psalms 119:176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, For I do not forget Your commandments.

When I choose to pick up my Bible and read it, I am choosing to seek God, and He is honored by that choice, and He will honor me for it. “Those who honor Me, I will honor”.

I blogged about a week ago that I have a list of 25 blessings that come into my life as I faithfully read God’s Word, and I read it periodically to maintain my motivation to read daily.

The 4th blessing is especially important to me because of my job and ministry as a Pastor, which has a high level of pressure, potential stress, emotional energy loss, and potential for burnout because of all the people issues that I deal with.

A huge blessing that comes into my life from the supernatural power of God’s Word is energy, inner strength, and peace to deal with pressures, responsibility, disappointments, crisis, failure, and unrealized goals that drain me and have a strong tendency to make me depressed, weary, and unmotivated. Putting this blessing in a positive way, “faithfully reading the Bible, abiding in His Word fills me with passion, vision, fire, and a strong desire to do more and to bear much fruit for Him”.

When I start feeling flat I read more and spend more time memorizing and meditating on what I have memorized. It is sort of like taking a nap when I am sleepy, or eating when I am hungry.

Psalms 119:25 My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.

Psalms 119:28 My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your word.

Psalms 119:88 Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.

Psalms 119:92 If Your law had not been my delight, Then I would have perished in my affliction.

Psalms 119:93 I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have revived me.

Psalms 119:107 I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your word.

Psalms 119:159 Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.

My favorite verse that I have memorized and meditate on is Psalms 119:165 Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble.

The third blessing that comes into my life when I faithfully read, memorize, and meditate on God’s Word is that I will grow in my level of righteousness, I will have growing victory over the power of sin in my life. Psalms 119:9 says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.” Psalms 119:11, continues the theme, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You”, and Psalms 119:101 “I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word.”

One of the basic principles of my life as I pursue righteousness is that I don’t get better by trying harder, I get better by training faithfully. Just as a basketball player, a runner, a boxer improves by practice, so I become more like Christ by practice. Hebrews 5:13-14 says, “For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

When I was struggling with anger I memorized and daily meditated on a dozen Bible verses on anger. When I was struggling with watching to much TV I looked up and memorized verses on Self-Control, a then went over them daily in my mind. The Word of God is living, supernatural, and when we honor God by reading His Word He works in us, changing us from the inside out.

It really does work.