Tag Archives: Spiritual Growth

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Memorize Scripture: Psalm 119:5-8

Hiding God’s Word In Our Hearts

In the second half of the first strophe of Psalm 119, the writer describes his longing for God’s Word, and ends with a commitment of obedience. Take a look at this passage for yourself in Psalm 119:5-8.

Psalm 119:5-8

Most of the time, when you read something, you expect the author to build his case and then, at the end, present his conclusion. But Psalm does just the opposite. In this first strophe, we see the introduction to the entire passage in the first three verses, but we also see the crux of the entire thing in verse 8, where the writer, likely David (although Hezekiah, Ezra and Daniel are also possibilities), states his commitment to obedience to God’s commands.

Since the first three verses are the introduction, the rest of this stanza is directly connected to it. God has set the standard for obedience to his decrees, and the psalmist expresses his desire to comply. In order to do so, he realizes that there must be a strong will to obey. In verse 5, he wished his ways to be “steadfast” or “established,” which means to be prepared, to make firm, to be resolved to stand firm upon God’s commands.

Because of his integrity in this matter, the writer knows that no shame will result. And this is true: standing firm upon God’s Word, and holding tightly to his values will never result in shame, but praise and joy will be the result, just as we see in verse 7.

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Book Review – Unimaginable by Jeremiah J. Johnston

UnimaginableI have long been a history buff. And one of the genres I enjoy within the category of history is the “what if” idea, such as, “What if this had happened instead of that?” That is kind of the take on history that Jeremiah Johnston uses in his book Unimaginable.

First of all, I expected something a bit different than what Johnston presents here. I’m not sure what I really expected, maybe something more imaginative, more fictional, but that’s not the purpose of this book. Instead, what Johnston has done is look at history and show what it would look like if Christianity did not exist. What I did not expect, perhaps blindly on my part, is that he would draw from history those things which already point to what it would look like in such a world.

That sounds a bit confusing, and I’m not sure how to articulate it very clearly. Maybe an example would help. Without Christianity in our world, there would be no value to the human life. And if life holds no value, then things such as slavery, abortion, euthanasia, communism, fascism, and more would run unhindered. But we have already seen in history how those kinds of things have affected the lives of millions. Slavery is an institution we have fought for ages, around the world in various forms. Abortions occur in epidemic proportions. Communism and fascism have cost the lives of countless millions of people. And the list could go on.

It’s kind of depressing. Johnston shows what a world without Christianity would look like, and we see that it is our world.

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Memorize Scripture: Psalm 119:1-4

Hiding God’s Word In Our Hearts

With a new year comes a new memorization goal. For this year, I want to memorize all of Psalm 119. This week, we will begin with an overview, and the first four verses. Take a look at them for yourself.

Psalm 119:1-4

Psalm 119 is the longest of all the psalms, at 176 verses long. It is also the most complex of all the psalms, being written as an acrostic, with eight verses for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. There are twenty-two strophes to this psalm, corresponding to each letter, with eight verses in each, possibly as a connection to the eight different words used to convey God’s Word that are used within.

If you memorized the letters that break up the sections of this psalm, you would have the entire Hebrew alphabet memorized, and this could have been a literary device to help teach the written language in Old Testament times.

The key concept to Psalm 119 is God’s Word. There are eight different terms used to communicate this found in these verses. Let’s look at each briefly. Many of them overlap in English, and so it may be a bit confusing. But each term stands on its own in the original language.

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Reading The Bible In 2018

Developing A Daily Habit Of Bible Reading

One of the most critical disciples that you can develop for your spiritual growth is the discipline of daily Bible reading. This isn’t the only habit that will facilitate spiritual growth, but it is one of the most foundational. And it’s not as difficult as most people imagine.

Reading the Bible in 2018

As a minister, I spent a lot of years reading the Bible as I was studying for lessons or messages, and assuming that was enough to fill me personally as well. It wasn’t. But I wasn’t mature enough to realize it at the time. And then, I joined in with a couple of other guys to read the Bible daily, and complete it within a year. A whole new level of spiritual growth opened up to me during that year.

I was blown away! I had no idea that I was missing out on some significant growth by not spending time daily with God’s Word, just for my own personal relationship with him. That year opened up my eyes to the realization that I needed to make sure this habit was a non-negotiable part of my life. And while it took some time to get it rooted that deeply, it was well worth every bit of the effort.

Those first years after that realization hit, I managed to read daily most of the time, but not really consistently. So I decided to develop a plan. The Bible Reading Plans that I offer to subscribers here is the culmination of that plan. I created a booklet that contains three different plans to successfully read the entire Bible in a year’s time. Why three? Because I wanted to share this with the teens in my youth ministry, and I knew that not all of them would want to read the Bible the same way I would, or that someone else would. So I incorporated three different plans.

One was simply straightforward, from Genesis to Revelation, throughout the year. The second was a mix, some Old Testament, some New, some of the Gospels, and some from Psalms. The third was more coordinated. It placed passages together that needed to be understood together, or at specific times of the year. For example, when you read of David’s sin with Bathsheba, you would also read Psalm 51 that week, because that is David’s repentance of that sin. Or you would read the Resurrection passages around Easter. And for several years, I renewed this booklet, dating it for that specific year.

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Book Review – Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald

Ordering Your Private WorldOne of the first books I was assigned to read during my freshman year at Bible college was Ordering Your Private World, by Gordon MacDonald. Being a green, new student, fresh out of high school and into the big world for the first time, I had no idea what to expect, or any indication of just how much this book would impact my world.

It was phenomenal! I think I read it multiple times that year, and a few times after that as well. The impact that it had on my personal life was indescribable. After college, I kept that copy of the book, but didn’t read it much, although its principles continued to form a solid base for much of my personal life structure. And it has always been one of the most impactful books on my life.

Last fall, I decided to pull it out and add it to my list to read over the winter, and then I found that it had been updated and revised, so I grabbed a new copy to read instead. And once again, it holds a tremendous influence on my life and how I seek to order my inner world.

Gordon MacDonald presents some of the most practical input and advice into how to order the private world within, so that the public world can remain as effective as it can be. Looking at such topics as rest and leisure, time management, and reading, MacDonald presents several excellent principles to help make the inner life as stable as it can be. Is this exhaustive? Of course not. There are other things one can do to help maintain balance and order in the inner life. But this is an excellent place to start.

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Memorize Scripture: 1 Peter 5:13-14

Hiding God’s Word In Our Hearts

This week marks the final passage of 1 Peter, where Peter gives a few final greetings and closes. You can find it in 1 Peter 5:13-14.

1 Peter 5:13-14

This final passage can be broken into four easy portions for discussion. Each of them provides valuable insight into the early church and those who served as leaders.

She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings

The first phrase is the most ambiguous of them all. There are a couple of different possibilities as to what Peter is referring to here. It is worth noting that Peter’s choice of words is almost identical to that of John’s in his final words of 2 John, “The children of your chosen sister send their greetings.” Both John and Peter focus on the fact that we have been chosen by God as a central focus in much of their writings, as Peter did in 1:1-2. This provides a nice set of bookends for Peter’s letter.

One other item in this phrase bears some scrutiny. Peter refers to Babylon. There are a couple of possibilities. It could be the major city that existed in Mesopotamia, the literal Babylon. It could also be a reference to a less well known town of the same name in Egypt. Most likely, Peter uses it like John does in Revelation, as a veiled reference to Rome. With Peter’s historical connection to Rome, this seems the most plausible.

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Memorize Scripture: 1 Peter 5:12

Hiding God’s Word In Our Hearts

The last few verses of 1 Peter are the final greetings that Peter gives to his readers. He begins by giving credit to Silas for his help. Take a look at 1 Peter 5:12.

1 Peter 5:12

Just who is this guy that Peter is talking about, and how was he such a help to Peter?

In the original language, Peter uses the name Silvanus. Many of the modern translations, such as the NIV, use Silas, and they do so based on a couple of specific thoughts. First of all, that this Silvanus was the same one mentioned in the letter of 2 Corinthians, as a coworker of Paul and Timothy. Second, that Silvanus is the man named Silas in Acts, who was sent to Antioch by the Jerusalem church leaders, and then joined Paul on his second missionary journey.

Silas is a Greek name, while Silvanus is Latin, and in the case of Paul’s mention of Silvanus, and Luke’s person named Silas, it is possible that they are the same person. If so, then it is also likely that this is the same person to which Peter is referring to as well. Based on what we know of Silas/Silvanus, his efforts with Paul and now possibly with Peter make him a “faithful brother,” and a great help in ministry to Peter.