Category: Devotional Blog

Profound thoughts, often challenging the Christian.

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10) Bible Memorization.

I am “for” bible chewing.

So many Christians claim that they want to know God more, yet they have not read His Word! So many people claim that they want to hear God’s voice but they haven’t even looked in the Word — the very place where His Voice has been recorded! The Bible is a valuable treasure that we need to hang onto. Here’s some tips –

Read Hunks. In Richard Foster’s book, Streams of Living Water, he wrote, “The popular devotional practice of a brief Bible reading each morning is a little like trying to take a shower one drop at a time. Just as we simply cannot get a shower that way, we simply cannot become a biblically saturated person that way. So read entire sections of books of the Bible in one sitting.” He went on to say that it is far better to read hunks of scripture once a week than it is to read little portions of it each day. This makes a lot of sense if you’d think about it. We can misunderstand scripture without understanding the context by which it was written.

Memorize Hunks. A lot of people memorize individual verses such as Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Although this isn’t all bad, I don’t think its most effective. If we memorize in hunks, then we’ll really digest the thought process of the author. If you would memorize and chew on the entire book of Philipians you would see that in Phil. 4:13, Paul clearly was not speaking of being able to do anything — but rather being able to stand firm in the midst of all adversity and persecution. See — chewing on hunks of scripture can even help you see the true meaning of a verse.

Bottom Line? We need to hide God’s word in our hearts! (Ps. 119:11) Knowing verses “word for word” isn’t the issue – but I don’t think JUST reading the Bible does the trick either. Chew on it — “memorize” it. I’m using the term “memorize” loosely because I think it can be a very prideful thing, but the important thing is that we chew on it — get everything you can out of the scriptures.

I’m not concerned with what I’m against. I am for Bible Memorization.

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Top 10 Things That I Am For.

I hate it when Christians spend so much time telling everyone what they are against that its unclear what they are actually for. When sharing the message of salvation with someone, topics of evolution and abortion are completely irrelevant to the discussion — yet I’ve seen Christians try to evangelize by arguing about abortion.

I hate it when individual Christians do the same thing — usually its in the form of negative talk. Let’s pick our battles carefully. Yesterday I threw together a funny list of stuff I’m against; I intentionally didn’t spend a lot of time on it. Here’s todays list of the top ten things I am for:

10) Bible memorization.

9) Tithes and offerings.

8 ) Expressive Worship.

7) Budgets.

6) Honesty.

5) Church growth.

4) Attitude and Motive.

3) The Ministry of the Holy Spirit.

2) Mentoring through relationship.

1) Salvation.

I will discuss each of these ten things in more detail in the next ten blog posts.

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Words.

I just received an email from a person that I really think highly of. They said, “You’re one of my favorite guys, Adam!” Do you have any idea how awesome that made me feel? I smiled hugely when I read that. And I’m still smiling. Wow. Talk about an ego boost – it wasn’t just somebody saying, “You’re cool” — it was coming from someone I really think highly of. His words contained so much power.

For somebody, YOU ARE the person that they really think highly of. You are the best in the world at something; and you can reach and connect with certain people better than anyone else in the world. Negative speakers say things that discourage others (can anyone say GOSSIP). Let’s try to be positive speakers and say things to people that will encourage others.

If you’re a negative speaker, KNOCK IT OFF!

If you’re listening to discouraging talk or gossip, let it stop with you!

By the way, covering up gossip as a prayer request is still gossip, “We need to pray for Susie, do you know what Susie did? I just can’t believe it . . .” That’s religionized gossip, but its still gossip.

Words contain power. Use with caution!

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How To Be Good at Everything.

Everyone stinks at something. Some people stink at a lot of things. Take Louis the Weatherman, for example (that’s a HILARIOUS video – go watch it). Louis is just a very bad weather guy, but I doubt he’s bad at everything. Maybe he’s very gifted at fixing a car or something.

If you stink at being a weatherman, DO SOMETHING ELSE! The secret to being good at everything is to only do the stuff you’re good at (that’s not an absolute statement but a good guideline). Pick out the stuff you do well, and do more of that!

I believe that every Christian is the best person in the world for at least one thing. For example, you might be the best person in the world to share Christ with “Jim” today. You might be the best person in the world to speak into a group of people’s lives. God has set up his Church with gifts and relationships in such a way that every Christian is the best person in the world at something.

Find it. Then do it.

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Top Ten.

David Letterman is famous for his Top Ten lists that he does every night on CBS’s “Late Show.” Usually the lists are complex and interesting, like “Top Ten ways you know its too hot in New York” or “Top Ten reasons to watch Jay Leno” or “Top Ten reasons my Mom is great.”

But tonight the list was the “Top Ten Things.”

Things. It was a list of the top ten THINGS: popcorn shrimp, shark week, balm, snake bite antidote, Tommy Lasorda, Telemundo, Cole Slaw, Season 1 of Magnum P.I. on DVD, Fudge, and Jessica Biel.

This has to be my favorite top ten list David Letterman has ever done. It’s hilarious. Its a top ten list of THINGS.

This simplification made me think of a great saying: “simplify, intensify.” The idea here is that we should do fewer things, but intensify our passion in those things. For example, if I played the tuba, piano, clarinet, drums, violin, cello, flute, and acordian, I will only be decent at all of them. But if I simplify the number of instruments and intensify all of my efforts on just the piano – I can be incredible at the piano. Simplify, intensify. I think this is a continual effort we all need to work towards. Examine your life in terms of the simplify, intensify idea. Every once in a while I think we all need to “clean up” the extra stuff and intensify our focus towards our goals.

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Do it in Hell, Baby!

Let me share with you a few of my favorite song lyrics from an Aaron Jeoffrey song called “Leave a Legacy”:
“I want to leave a legacy
of a servant who believed
that the world could be changed by just one life.
I want to leave a legacy —
for years from now they’ll see
that I lived only for the cause of Christ.”

For years I’ve been inspired by this challenge. For several years I have lived my life so that when I died, people would remember me and my testimony for Christ. I wanted to live my life so loudly for Christ that my testimony changed lives even after mine was over.

I’m ready to step it up a notch.

When I leave this earth, what do I want to be remembered for? Nothing. I don’t want to be remembered on earth at all.

I want to leave my legacy in Hell!

If there is a man struggling with sinful bondage and I walk into the same room as him, I want the demons to fear what I might ask God to do.

When I sit behind a piano and worship, I want the devil to run.

When I get on my knees, I want there to be red alerts in Hell. I want them to reinforce the gate because of me.

I want to live so that when I leave this earth, Hell remembers me.

Don’t be a wuss. Kill the devil.

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The Greatest Calling of All.

What is your calling? I believe God has a calling (“gifting”) for every Christian. Are you called as an evangelist? missionary? pastor? teacher? mentor? worship leader? Are you called to share Christ at your factory job? What’s your calling?

Is one calling greater than others? I believe the answer is yes. Not all callings are equal. Keep reading . . .

The callings I listed above are the “DO” part of a calling. I think the “DO” part is about 5%. the greatest calling isn’t about the “DO THING.”

I love that Switchfoot song from a few years ago: “Are you who you want to be?” That’s a great question. Are you who you want to be in Christ? This is the greatest calling. We are called to be Christ-like.

So often we get focused on the “DO THING” of our calling and focus so little on knowing God. Really it should be the other way around.

*This post was inspired by a podcast I just listened to by David Perkins.

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A Great Man.

A great man passed away this week. Please re-visit the blog I wrote about him last December.

One thing I’ll never forget about this man is the way I felt when I left his room. I was always encouraged, but at the same time I was stunned by the presence of God that emitted from that man. I want to be that way. God, I want to be that way!

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Rosa Parks and Fighting Sin.

“I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for. It was just time… there was opportunity for me to take a stand to express the way I felt about being treated in that manner. I had not planned to get arrested. I had plenty to do without having to end up in jail. But when I had to face that decision, I didn’t hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long. The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became.”

-Rosa Parks (emphasis mine)