3 | Know. In your heart. By heart.

Devotional Overload!

Sometimes in my quest for quiet time with God, I create a whole new "To Do" list for myself.  It starts innocently, looking for new tools to reinvigorate my faith.  Before I know it I've got a pile of devotional books and a folder of faith based apps on my phone.  And my quiet time becomes fraught with foraging through the resources, instead of discovering the serenity of God, the true source of my peace and strength.  

Does this ever happen to you?

Today, let's unearth the simplest way to be still with our Lord — reading God's word.

Here, in the pages of the Bible, God has breathed the greatest love letter that ever existed.  Here are God's promises and preachings, guidance and grace.  Let us look to his work and write it on our hearts.

"Laying a life up against the chest of His Word, and hearing the steady beat of His heart, is the only soundtrack that strengthens the human heart."   Ann Voskamp

Some of us might be inspired to memorize a verse, others may prefer to slowly savor Scripture — as long as we are reading the Bible with heart and soul, and not just mind, we are creating a stillness for God to fill with his Spirit.  We are creating room for a conversation that allows God space for his grace.

Join me today in reading, praying, reflecting on, and loving this golden nugget of a verse.

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.  Psalm 119:11 

I have hidden your word

Lord, help me to absorb your word so it intertwines with the fabric of my being.  Help me to not only hear it and see it, but to embrace it and consider how it directs my daily path.  May my trust in your word be so deeply embedded in my soul that it cannot stay hidden, but shines in my love for the world.

in my heart

Lord, I recognize and learn your word with my mind.  Help me to not stop there.  Guide me to love your word with all my heart, so that I truly carry it in my heart.  On those days when my heart wants to break or skip a beat or overflow, I pray your word carries me, sustains me, and celebrates with me.

that I might not sin

Lord, one of the precious gifts of your word is your wise counsel for how I might live more fully in your peace, love, and joy.  When I am tempted to turn away from you, tug me back to your better way with your word.  

against you

Because when I neglect your word and ignore your will, Lord, I go against you.  I go against the relationship you desire to have with me.  I go into that place of busyness and distraction, of stress and dissatisfaction.  But in my heart, I crave your stillness.  Please bind my wandering heart to you, oh Lord.  Amen.

Bible photo credits: faithbecomeslove.tumblr.com, justinlowery.wordpress.com

Inspired to dig deeper into God's word?  Check out these blog posts.

Interior Fun

Why Memorize Scripture? from Ann Voskamp

Yelena Bosovik

Singing God's Word into our Souls

Have you seen the videos from Seeds Family Worship?  I am super psyched about this discovery.  So much so that I'm tempted to march right over to the kiddos' school with my laptop and show THEM right this VERY minute.  Would that be disruptive?  Just a little?

Fine.  Well, I'll show you instead.  Take a minute to view this.  Your toes will tap.  Your heart will sing.  Your brain will catch the lyrics and play them over and over again in the most delightful way.  And you will be singing God's words right into your very soul.  You'll be writing them right on your heart.

It gets even better.  There's not just ONE video, but oodles (37 on YouTube)!  Like this one, featuring one of my all time favorite verses.  And these aren't cheesy tunes.  It's good music.  I'm a fan.  Hook, line and sinker.  Good stuff.  Yipppeeeeeeee!  Enjoy!!

By the way, I found this via Tony Kummer at Ministry-To-Children.com.  He says "We watched the Psalm 55 video last week and all our kids loved it.  They call it 'Kinetic Typography' and it gets 100% attention from the kids when memorizing Bible verses."

So there you have it.  I'm not the only fan(atic).  There are at least two of us out there (113,327 views and counting on YouTube... so there could be a couple more unless Tony has watched it 113,325 times).  You can be the third or thousandth or something like that.

Go figure: God works through YouTube, too!