God's Word

  All right, so this still isn't the main post that I wanted to do, but its been a while so I wanted to post something. This is actually something I had been thinking about around a month and a half ago. I mentioned it a little bit in previous blogs. What is the difference between studying, reading, and meditating on the Bible, and do the differences matter? Are all three essential to a relationship with God?

First of all lets focus on something easy – reading. Reading is easy. We can all read; you and I are doing it now. But when it comes to the Bible most people (myself included) say that they don't read it enough or at all. I don't think that I have ever met someone who honestly said “I read my Bible enough everyday. I am in full devotion with God through His word.” Why is this? If God has given us the instructions to life in paper format, why are we constantly begging God to show us what to do in life? I feel like God is sometimes standing right in front of us just pointing at the Bible shouting “READ!” Other times I view Him as more laid back simply sighing with a point “It's right there . . . still.” I have no reasonable answer except that we are lazy and want more immediate results. Think about it. In this day and age anything we want to know is at a click of a button. Between Google and Wikipedia I do not think there is anything useful that we cannot learn in a matter of hours, minutes, seconds even! I don't even need a computer sometimes. I can text message 'Google' with “weather 12846” and get my local weather for 3 days in a split second. As a matter of fact, we can even find the Bible online (which is an amazing resource, and if you haven't used an online Bible to search for things you had better keep reading to my part about studying). Aside from wanting immediate results and not wanting to spend the time reading we also lack discipline. Reading God's word is more than just reading it to find what we want. God doesn't want us to just pick up the Bible and find immediate answers. He wants our time. Taking time to actually just read the Bible allows us to spend time in the presence of God. Perhaps this is even more important than finding our answers. I think the real important factor is that we somehow force ourselves to make a habit to read everyday – I'll let you know when I succeed at this myself. But I think that the three most important things of reading the Bible are consistency, learning/listening, and time spent with God.

  Next I'll talk about study. Some of you may be thinking is there really a difference between studying, reading, and meditating? Well, there is whether you've known it or not. The really close confusing ones for me were reading and meditating I think. Anyway, I would have to say that for me studying the Bible is my strong point. I love getting wrapped up in a single topic of the Bible. Something will get my attention and I'll have to search all over for it. I have an NIV study Bible. It's the most amazing Bible I have ever owned. I'm almost positive there is more non Bible than there is bible. Then, using online Bibles I can search for keywords and look up different translations. If you have never studied a topic using the Bible I suggest you try. It so cool to see how much time you can really spend when you get hooked on studying a topic in God's word. Be careful not to spread yourself too thin though. You don't want to become overwhelmed with topics and lose a focus. The book I read suggested that if you are already in a study group, its not a bad idea to focus on what you are studying there, digging deeper outside the group as opposed to searching for something completely different. Studying consists of focused passages,Biblical exploration and connection, whereas reading is more about time spent in God's word.

  Finally on to meditating. This was the newest and perhaps most interesting concept to me. Apparently, people are often turned off to the concept of meditation due to it's misrepresented mystical feel. People occasionally feel like meditating is a dark or pagan thing. This isn't the case as Psalms contains multiple references to meditation. Scripture tells us that there is nothing to fear as long as God and his word is the focus. Meditating on God does not consist of Yoga and breathing. As a matter of fact, it is defined as “continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature.” It's simply a series of thoughts deeply focused on God's word. Dallas Willard described it as: 

“We not only read, hear, and inquire, but we meditate on what comes before us; that is, we withdraw into silence where we can powerfully and steadily focus upon it. In this way, its meaning can emerge for us and from us as God works in the depths of our heart, mind and soul.”

It's not like I have never meditated before, it's just not something I have ever thought about consciously doing and adding to my spiritual life.  I remember one time specifically that my girlfriend and I took a few aways to be alone and just focus on God.  For me this meant that I locked myself in my closet (I put my desk in there) and spent some time in the complete silent dark.  I read some of God's word.  Prayed a lot.  Wrote a lot about my thoughts.  Read Ecclesiastes.  Then ended it all with some worship music. (I prefer Steve Fee and Chris Tomlin).  This really was an enlightening experience and one that I would certainly not mid revisiting or making into a habit.  Mike Hurt says:

 “Without meditating on the Word of God, my reading would become a contest in speed, and my study would become a purely intellectual exercise. Meditation forces me to slow down and to chew on ever morsel from the text.”  

Wow. That's a cool way to look at it. I can definitely see how in my life (where my best attribute was study) studying can become purely intellectual. I also know that if I did have a reading schedule, like I did when I read the one year Bible in a year, it almost became more of a task. I lost my desire to really read God's word and instead was doing it to get it done. This is important to remember. Never should any of these things be done because we have to. We can't let them become a chore that we do just because we know we should. Perhaps it may start as a chore, but I believe that it should soon become something that we desire and cause us to wonder how we ever lived any other way. We should read to know God's word, study to understand it, and meditate to ingest and apply. These three things will certainly help us to find God's will in our life.

Well, I know where I need to go and I know where I need to start. My challenge for you is to figure out where you are. What are you doing best and what are you doing worst? What can you do to change the way you deal with God's Word? My even bigger more important challenge, is for you to pray for me in getting started and stay on track. :)

Your friend, brother, and companion in Christ,

-Zachary Haas

P.S. I have no idea if/when you are supposed to capitalize Word when referring to God's word? If someone lets me know if there is a proper way then I can edit the post and fix it all :)

God's Plan for My Life. Wait... it was always that simple and in front of me?

This is a post that I have been itching to write for about 3-4 weeks now.  It was really a combination of this one and the one about God being a friend that really started the idea to make a blog.  SO IF YOU NOTICE THIS POST, I URGE YOU TO READ IT.  IT HAS MORE IMPORTANT MEANING TO ME THAN SOME OF THE OTHERS.  I hope you enjoy and find something to learn too.

I have mentioned before that I have struggled to find God's will for my life.  After the message that I talked about from Steve DeNeff, I learned that God was always with us no matter what.  It caused me to believe that that is a part of the free will God gives us.  God wants us to make choices on our own, but he wants us to make our choices with a faith assurance that He's not going anywhere.  There are at least 4 places in the Bible that talk about how God will never leave us or forsake us.  For right now I like it best in Deuteronomy.

"And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”-Deuteronomy 31:8 (NKJV)

However, sometimes it is very hard to live by this kind of faith.  It is not always easy to try and say well I am going to do this and have faith that God is with me.  Though at the time I felt assured thats what God wanted me to hear, but as my life went on I realized  that there is more to God's will and plans than just having faith that he is with us.  He is always with us, even when we are sinning and running down the path of God rejection -- look at Jonah.  But then, 2.5 years later I have found what I think to be the answer to so questions revolving around God's will for our lives.  And you are not going to believe how easy and simple it is.  I didn't.

Perhaps I am the only one who has overlooked this a thousand times.  Perhaps I am the only one who has been blind to God's obvious call to arms.  Maybe everyone has already known this and I am the only one who missed it.  For some reason I honestly feel like I can't be alone.  How many times have you heard the phrase if you want to know God's will for your life read the Bible.  WAIT!  Stay with me now.  Those of you that just read that line thinking that I just said something incredibly clichéd will know EXACTLY what I am talking about.  We have all heard a million times that if we want to hear God we need to be reading the Bible daily, but how many of us honestly do that.  Theres more, but let me put it in the words of Mike Hurt who caused me to come to this realization.

"Don't become your own urban legend by thinking that God's will is like your personal autopilot.  When you discover what God wants for you to do, it will take energy and effort on your part to live it out.
Many of us have the delusion that if we knew with certainty what God wanted us to do, then we would do it without question, no matter the cost.  Not true -- our personal history bears witness to it.  There are commands in Scripture that you and I disobey every day.... Each of us can remember a time when we knew God wanted us to do something and we refused.  His Spirit whispered to us, we knew it was God, and yet, we did not take action.  Maybe it was a prompt to share your faith with a new friend or shut your mouth when everyone else was bashing your boss.  Whatever the instance, you ignored the prompting. You and I have proven it: Knowledge of God's will is no guarantee for obedience to God's will." (Mike Hurt, Connect the Dots pg. 18)  

Did you catch that?  I pointed out the exact line that did it for me.  "The answer is so obvious!  God's will for our life is to follow Him.  But what does this mean? "Read the Bible to hear God" NO! Really read it, it's right there, all the answers." Is a comment I wrote in the book right next to that phrase.  If God has already given us His will and we are not following it, why are we still asking for it?  The Bible is absolutely filled with God's will for our life.  It is everywhere.  Jesus even specifically said in John 14 that if we love him we will follow his commands.  If we are not following the commands that God has already given us why would he give us more?  I am sure by now there should be a list in your head of broken commands and places of inadequacies in your life.  I could think of a despicable plenty.  Honestly I couldn't believe that I had never seen this or realized this before.  I had always thought about it in a different way.  The idea that seeing isn't believing kind of thing.  People say that if Jesus appeared to them they would believe on spot.  This isn't true because the people who could see Jesus killed him.  Clearly seeing him wasn't enough.  However, I was making this same mistake that I was aware in a different context.  I know what God's wants me to do (or should read the Bible more to remind myself) yet I still choose to not care and do what I want at times.  Really, what got to me was that God's plans for our lives are literally right in front of our faces, in the very word of God.  If we want to hear God's plan for our lives, read the Bible.  Seriously really read it.  He has written it down for us.

Obviously, the Bible isn't going to direct say "Zachary, I want you to move to Arizona after college to do this that and something else."  But my, what a great place to start.  If we start following God's general plan for our lives on a day to day basis, we will already be living out his will!  When we are living in His will I am sure that other parts of his plan for our life will be revealed.  So, start reading the Bible and obey all the commands that God has laid out for you.  My goal is every time I see a command in the Bible I am going to write it down.  These commands are how God wants me to live my life every day.  We need to start with these so that we can get the rest.  How are we supposed to hear God and know his word if we aren't reading his word?  I just can't believe that I have heard it a million times that we need to read our Bibles.  Even more so, I can't believe that the answers were always so close I just missed it.  I hope that you see what I mean.  This concept was really eye opening to me and I hope that I have explained it well enough to my readers.  Just think, we CAN know God's will for our lives.  All we have to do is blow the dust off that old book and start reading it.

"One of the reasons certainty does not necessarily result in obedience is because God is not looking for certainty -- He is looking for faith.  While we want to know more, God wants to trust us more.  While we want assurances concerning the future, God wants us to place our future in His hands.  While we want our doubts and fears to go away, God wants to turn them into a strengthened faith in Him.  It is our faith in the middle of every circumstance that pleases God -- not our certainty of our next step." -page 19

Of course this is how God wants it.  But for me this is incredibly hard to do.  Being uncertain about something is one of my biggest pet peeves ever.  I can not stand not knowing.  Whether it be how to do homework, or how to do something else, not knowing how to do something frustrates and depresses me.  I absolutely despise it.  This is why it is hard for me to just pick up the Bible and find God's commands so that I can follow them.  I know that it is what I am supposed to do, and honestly it is what I want to do, but why is it so hard to make time and actually do it.  I confess, that even though I have found this realization about 3 weeks ago, the amount of time I have spent inside my Bible beyond these posts should be enough to weep (not in a good way).  So wait, I'm saying that I have found God's will for my life yet I haven't grabbed hold of it and been consumed in the Bible for three weeks?  Ding Ding Ding! Winner.  I have proved the author correct.  However, as I think about it right now I find this encouraging.  Wait... encouraging that I have failed to do what I know is right? YES! ABSOLUTELY!  I am even MORE sure that it is what I am supposed to be doing.  What better place for Satan to attack than what I know is right?  If it had been easy for me to start searching God's word right away and truly studying it and meditating on it I would have doubted my recent epiphany.  The fact that I have barely started confirms any doubt that I had that God's will for my life is written plain as day thousands of years ago.  I just need to grab hold and find it.  And it might be a good idea to hold on for the ride.

My challenge today for you is to try it yourself.  If you are looking for a different place to start than the obvious 10 commandments, I recommend 1 Thessalonians.   There are many commands about God's will there that are literally written as God's will.  This is where I am going to start.  It still shocks me that I have missed such an obvious gift from god, His written will, for so long.  I mean really, when you think about it.  God's will... ITS RIGHT THERE! We've had it our whole lives.  Why did I not here it all those times I shrugged off people saying, "Well, did you read your Bible?"  At least I have heard it now.  And I hope that you have learned something too.

Your friend, brother, and companion in Christ,
Zachary Haas