Getting Real with God

OBJECT: PLATTER OF DELICIOUS MORSELS

Scriptural Reference: Jeremiah 15:16

When your words came, I ate them;  they were my joy and my heart’s delight.

1.  Pass a platter of DELICIOUS MORSELS (cookies? fudge? canapés?) and have someone(s) read Jeremiah 15:16 from various translations. 

2.  Introduce the notion of the Word as Faith Food -- daily bread -- manna each day or it went bad.  I must personally feed the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Spirit in me languishes -- it’s as though the Holy Spirit in me actually hungers for the bread of life.  Matthew 4:4 Jesus answered, “It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

What I Shared

I only look for the zingers -- the parts that really zing the strings of my heart.  How many feel there’s a lot they don’t exactly “get” in the Bible?  Well, me too, especially at first.  I remember understanding absolutely NOTHING when I started reading the New Testament in Matthew.  Some kind soul told me “just underline the parts that jump out at you.”  I felt I was in an impossible situation with a chronically unemployed husband, so it jumped out at me when Jesus says, in Matthew  19:26, that “With God all things are possible.” [Ask everyone to look it up and read from various translations].

My reaction to that scripture was, “Wow, wouldn’t that be wonderful if that were really true.”  I was new in the Word, but I knew that God doesn’t break His promises, so I prayed that this promise might come true in my home -- a home where momma was working and Daddy wasn’t.

You know how they say be careful what you pray for -- well, when you pray these DELICIOUS MORSELS, you’d better watch out because (the Word says) God’s eyes roam the whole earth watching for where His word is spoken, believing (Jeremiah 1:12 and 2 Chronicles 16:9).  Eventually, God proved it by engineering the circumstances so that I crashed and burned from adrenal exhaustion.  I was a puddle!  At which point, my husband stepped up to the plate and took the bat -- and swung hard -- and hit a home run.  Now he is the main breadwinner, not me, and he’s had so many raises and promotions that I’ve lost count.

I’ve found out (the hard way) that that feeding on the Word of God actually transforms things.   I’ve also found out (the hard way) that if I’m too busy to start my day in the Word, I’m too busy.

So for twelve years now, I’ve been starting my day in the Word, and I have found that’s how He actually feeds me, grows my faith and changes me. For me,  I AM WHAT I EAT.   Today I know that I need to EAT his word like daily if my life is to be victorious.  Because the BIBLE is an acronym, standing for Basic Information Before Leaving Earth.  I would like you to think about YOUR favorite scriptures -- and why they are your favorite scriptures.   Don’t worry if you can’t think of one -- just listen and let the Lord minister to your Spirit.  So -- what  are some of YOUR favorite scriptures -- and why? 

Conversation Starters

My recent experience with MS diagnosis and Isaiah 53:4, saying it over and over and over, soaking myself in it like a good pickle.  It takes time.  Result: song.  A new way of eating the Word.   He told me to do this so that He could KNEAD it into me like yeast into bread dough.

Another illumination: He brought scripture to mind about what’s lawful and what is not -- it is lawful (for a little longer) for the enemy to hurl horrible stuff at us (sickness, sarcasm, etc.) BUT it is NOT lawful for those lies to stick. 

Image that came to mind:  measuring peanut butter with an oily spoon for a recipe.  In Jesus, it’s like I’m covered in oil.  It’s as though He’s changed this skin of mine -- my earthsuit -- so that the enemy’s slime just slides off.  I’m covered with the Holy Spirit like oil.  The enemy’s lies -- even they be facts -- cannot stick.  (No sticking = no hurting.)

So -- there is no shame in having this stuff hurled at me.  The shame is if I bow to it -- allow it any credence in my life.  It would be like saying to an apple that is ripe and ready to fall from the tree, “Fall UP instead of dropping to the ground.”  The law of gravity says that’s impossible -- it just can’t happen.  God says we’re like that.