Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
June 30, 2002 - W0226

Daily, we are surrounded and bombarded by so many voices giving us so many different directions. These come from our radios, TVs, ads, peer pressure at work and schoolóa ton of voices all jumbled together to influence who we are and what we do.

In the midst of so many contradicting messages, itís important to recalibrate according to one truthóGodís Word. Itís important to spend time with God every single day, listening to His voice so readily available through reading the Bible, a.k.a. ìThe Word of God.î This gives us stability in the midst of lifeís storms. The Bible says ìthese things are written for our instructions upon whom the ends of ages come, that through perseverance and the scriptures, we may have hope.î

Question 1: Do you have a Bible available to you? What is your favorite translation to learn and understand guiding life principles from?

Thereís an old clichÈ that tells us, ìYou are what you eat.î Now, imagine if you ate just one meal every week. How would you look? Pretty bad, right? Yet many of us eat spiritual food by going to church just once a week and then snack on tidbits the rest of the time. Studies actually show that 80% of Christians read the Bible once a week or less. Realizing this, we need to take heed of what and how much we eat spiritually!

This is why when things happen, we have no spiritual strength to draw upon. The American Journal of Medicine says, ìThe health of America will not be determined by what people can get doctors to do for them, but what the doctors can get the people to do for themselves.î The same is true spiritually, we need to come to a point where are able to feed ourselves, because the health of the church is founded upon this. We should add to what preachers teach us with our own, self-feeding program mentored by no other than the Holy Spirit.

Question 2: Have you been getting your daily serving of spiritual food? If you were to describe your spiritual state which would you choose: anorexic, skinny or fit? Why?

I remember going to church when I first became a Christian. I was trying to follow the pastor, but just couldnít keep up. I cried out to God, ìI canít understand anything this pastor is saying! He jumps from one subject to anotherÖ and I canít find the scriptures he keeps talking about!î I was starving to death spiritually because I wasnít feeding on the Word of God.

It was as if the Lord spoke to me and said, ìI will teach you. I will meet with you every morning and mentor you personallyÖ weíll call it ëUniversity of the Spirit.íî Imagine being mentored by the Master, in the University of the Spirit, every single day!

Question 3: In a 24-hour day, when are you at your best? How do you spend this time? Would this be the best time for you to devote some time with God on a daily basis?

The Bible represents life lessons from 400 leaders, Godís ìbest of the best.î It includes the greatest lessons learned throughout history, including painful mistakes learned the really hard way. Amazingly, the Bible is not just one book, but 66 books written by 40 authors over a period of 400 years and every thing in it synchs together perfectly. In every case, these leaders went through a painful experience, but they leave for us a legacy with a gem of wisdom, and itís ours for the taking. The only thing is that we need to go into the book to get it. If we are willing, the Bible will give us wisdom beyond our years.

Doing Daily DevotionsÖ

1. GIVES WISDOM BEYOND YEARS.

ìI understand more than the aged, because I have observed Thy precepts.î (Ps. 119:100)

Reading the Bible helps us to grow deep and to understand the things that we wouldnít have been able to understand before. These include not just the acts of God, but the ways of God. By reading, we begin to see and understand Godís heart behind His actions.

Weíll learn and understand that sometimes God hides His blessings from us because our character is not ready to receive it. Heíll hide His promises until our maturity is greater and until we can hear, understand and accept it. It could be that weíre filled with pride or, even worse, be filled with fear so that we forfeit our God-given assignment. All in all, we have a loving Father who is faithful, patient and loves us so much that He looks out for us.

The result of learning His heart is true wisdom, a wisdom that will go far beyond our years. Itís then that we get to say, ìLord, I trust you!î The second benefit that doing daily devotions give us is that itÖ

2. GIVES YOU MATURITY.

ìGreat peace have they which love Thy Law: and nothing shall offend them.î (Ps. 119:165 KJV)

If we read and love Godís Word, there comes a deeper maturity that results in a emboldened character, one that wonít be vulnerable to being offended. Daily devotions gives us an undeniable sense of a sureness and confidence even through an onslaught of heavy duty circumstances. Why? Because the Word of God grows us deep. And the deeper the root of a tree becomes, the better off we are. For when the wind blows, thereís no way itíll be destroyed or uprooted thanks to that deep root system.

Sometime ago, a staff member came and said he was discouraged and was ready to quit. Well, Dan Shima (our church administrator) and I asked him if he was doing his devotions. He told us that he was too busy to do devotions. This could not be an excuse, so we told him for the next two weeks he should take two hours (twice the normal daily serving) to do his devotions. We emphasized the importance for him to take his time and just enjoy them everyday, for two straight weeks. Then, if he still wanted to quit, to come see us and we would even give him severance pay. Iím glad to say that two weeks later, this man experienced a radical transformation and is doing fine. The difference was zeroing back to daily devotions.

It wasnít his ministry that made him unhappy, but simply his own capacity had gotten weak and then destroyed from the enemyís attacks. The discouragement came and he wasnít able to sustain his buoyancy during the storm because he had not been in the Word of God on a daily basis.

Many times as parents or in our work we falter and become weary in our own sense of confidence and assurance. This is not physical weariness as we may think, but our souls that have gotten weary. Sometimes we start to lose heart for our marriage or our families, maybe even our devotion to Christ. Often itís because we wear the worldís yoke or our own expectations. Jesus said, ìCome to me all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart and you shall find rest for your soul.î As soon as we get into the Word of God, we start to see the transfer of our overwhelming burdens for Jesusí yoke. And in that process a spiritual maturity takes place.

The first two eternal benefits of daily devotions is that it will give you wisdom beyond your years and it will also give you spiritual maturity. The final benefit has to do with prayer. What is prayer? Do you think that a holy person is one who is able to pray the hardest by talking the loudest? Of course not! Itís actually hearing from God, not just hearing myself complain or talk the whole time. I would much rather hear from Him and in doing my devotions, I get to hear God speak right into my life. Itís at this point, where He does all the talking, that daily devotions becomes theÖ

3. HIGHEST FORM OF PRAYER.

ìAll Scripture is inspired [God-breathed] and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.î (Tim. 3:16-17 NIV)

Catch this...when we are reading the Bible it is called reading the Word of God. Itís where He is able to teach us how to deal with problems and situations. When I listen to His Word (by reading), what happens is that my heart and thinking are changed. I become transformed from my own way of thinking to His way of thinking. Especially when Iíve read and reread it twice or four times. Then my way of life changes according to His Word. After awhile I begin to renew the spirit of my mind by allowing and repeating His Word over and over. Itís then that the Bible says I develop the mind of Christ. Before you know it, youíll begin to speak the way He would speak, respond the way He would respond and solve problems the way He would solve problems.

It is said that by the time children graduate from high school they would have watched over 16,000 hours of television. That means that Hollywood and the world has been influencing their minds for most of their lives. By the time they get out on their own, their hearts and minds will be of the world. Then, when push comes to shove, they react just like the world. If we take time, however, every single day to run Godís Word through our minds and hearts we will develop the mind of Christ, and shine as lights in the midst of a darken world.

ÿ      Learn to journal

ìThis is what the Lord, the God of Israel, say: ëWrite in a book all the words I have spoken to you.íî (Jer. 30:2)

God tells you to write down, or journal, what He is telling you. This will help you more than I can ever say. Just remember that your journal is not a diary; it is God is speaking to you when you put aside an hour a day for devotions. One of the best things I ever did with my son Aaron when he was in junior high was taking him to breakfast and doing devotions together. We would read the same passage and Aaron would pick something out that God had highlighted for him and write it down. I would do the same, and then we would share what God was working in each of us with one another. Itís a great way to develop relationships and pray for each other.

We used an acrostic, SOAP:

Scripture - finding a scripture out of passages we read for that day and writing it down.

Observation - taking a couple of paragraphs and observing just what it says.

Application ñ writing about how we may apply what weíve just learned (the revealed truth) to our lives.

Prayer - writing out a prayer asking the Lord to help us apply it to our lives. We also write how thankful we are for the power of His Word.

The last thing that I would do is flip to the table of contents and title the entry of the scripture with the date and the page. Manuscript notation (writing out full sentences) is preferred rather than heading notation because a year from now when I go back and read it, everything God taught me will come flooding back, including the very heart of the lessonÖ even the prayer.

When doing devotions you are hearing Godís Word, writing it down and applying it to your life. Even if you miss a day, keep coming back to it because thereís victory when youíve filled out an entire Bible bookmark. By journaling everyday youíll have fertile soil in your heart and when God plants a seed, a tree starts to grown and fruit beings to be born.

ìDo not let the Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.î (Joshua 1:8 NIV)

Question 5: Is there a daily activity you can either cut down or eliminate to have time to do devotions? Are you willing to give this up to grow spiritually? (For those who do daily devotions: share what part of the day you do devotions, and how itís helped you.)

Question 6: How will you be different because what youíve learned today?

Thanks to a beginning writer who gives her WHOLE heart, Ms. Doreen Rabaino!