Your mind quiet before him ...

“It is not that you will think about what you have read, but you will feed upon what you have read. Out of a love for the Lord you exert your will to hold your mind quiet before him. In this peaceful state, swallow what you have tasted…take in what is there as nourishment.”
Jeanne Guyon

Today we begin the next step on this journey into the disciplines. Study is a time where we can dive into the Word of God and allow it to change us. So many times we look at the Bible and our time with the Bible as a time where we feel like we have to read, but shouldn’t it be a time where we want to read? How often do we sit down and rush through our time just so we can mark off the page that states our daily bible reading.

I had a discussion just the other day about reading our Bible and memorizing scripture. A couple of our boys sat there and just kept telling me that there was no way they could ever memorize scripture. I argued that I knew without a doubt that they could and that they could do it very easily. In the end I helped them understand this by doing my own rap version of a passage of scripture from the Psalms. They laughed at me, but just in that one minute they remembered half of the passage of scripture. Isn’t this doable for all of us as well? We and our boys all know the words to so many songs and commercials. We devote our precious time to memorizing all of these things, but won’t devote the time to sit, stand, walk, and study God’s Word.

“Out of a love for the Lord you exert your will to hold your mind quiet before him.” I chose this quote purposefully. Out of our love for our God, we should feel an urge to spend time with our God in this way. As we sit and go through some of these devotionals, let’s make sure that we are putting our whole heart into this. If you are not giving your whole heart, what are you giving on a daily basis? What are you giving to your family? What are you giving to the boys to whom we minister? What are we giving to our God?

“Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways. You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees! Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands. I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me.”
Psalm 119:1-8

Jason