Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just like taking me back. I think that
Speaker 1: was probably one of my first exposures to like reform theology.
Speaker 2: So anyway, well, I know that you're you've got so
Speaker 2: much going on and you're literally going to speak at
Speaker 2: this conference at some point, and you somehow made time
Speaker 2: to come back in here to the hotel room and
Speaker 2: and do this podcast. So thank you, man, bro.
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you man, thank you for yeah making a slot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I have a question for you. Yeah, how
Speaker 2: could I hear God's voice?
Speaker 1: Oh? Wow?
Speaker 2: All right, we're diving in, We're getting right into it.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's the beauty of the Bible, like we we
Speaker 1: have like I got to wake up this morning and
Speaker 1: open a book and know that I'm hearing the voice
Speaker 1: of God. That how amazing. And I don't have to
Speaker 1: like I look for some mystical sense like yes, I
Speaker 1: want to be really careful even in saying that, because
Speaker 1: it's it's a spiritual, spirit led activity opening the Bible
Speaker 1: in a saw one nineteen kind of way open my
Speaker 1: eyes that I may see wonderful things happen and wonderful
Speaker 1: things in your law. So it's it's definitely it's spiritual,
Speaker 1: but it is objective truth on a page. Every word
Speaker 1: I'm reading here is inspired by God himself to draw
Speaker 1: me closer to him. Like that's so I don't I
Speaker 1: don't I get to do that every morning and all
Speaker 1: day long, anytime I want hear the voice of God
Speaker 1: and in a relationship with God. That's not just a
Speaker 1: mechanical thing. I'm reading words on a page, but this
Speaker 1: is That's why in this book I try to like
Speaker 1: put reading the Bible in the context of love relationship,
Speaker 1: like this is intimacy with God through his word. So anyway,
Speaker 1: that's the privilege any one of us has who has
Speaker 1: the word of God, that is to say, in our language.
Speaker 1: So yeah, everybody, every single person watching listen to this
Speaker 1: right now? Can hear the voice of God by opening
Speaker 1: up that book and saying, God speak to me.
Speaker 2: Why is that such a revolutionary idea? I mean, why
Speaker 2: why can you answer that quickly? When I say how
Speaker 2: do you hear the voice of God? I mean that
Speaker 2: sounds like a huge, crazy question. That's that's unanswerable. And
Speaker 2: why could how could you sit there and just quickly
Speaker 2: go oh with the Bible?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well, I mean that's the it's the beauty
Speaker 1: of the Bible. I mean, it's unlike any other book
Speaker 1: in the world. And uh, and we could talk about
Speaker 1: all the reasons why we know this is not just
Speaker 1: I mean, how do we know. I mean, there's tons
Speaker 1: of religious rights in the world, right, so how do
Speaker 1: you know this is God's word? And I mean my
Speaker 1: short answer to that would be the Bible testifies itself
Speaker 1: to its supernatural authenticity. Like forty plus human authors, written
Speaker 1: over the course of centuries, in different language, from different perspectives,
Speaker 1: all telling one consistent story, the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: and nobody nothing in the whole book contradicting that story.
Speaker 1: I mean, if I were to put forty people together
Speaker 1: friends of mine, to say, give me a story about
Speaker 1: how we got here, what's wrong in the world, how
Speaker 1: it can be made right, those people couldn't all agree
Speaker 1: on that. And they're all speaking the same language at
Speaker 1: the same time. In history, like all the pictures of
Speaker 1: Prophecy fulfilled the historical verifiability of the Bible, the fact
Speaker 1: that the more researchers dive into the details, like the
Speaker 1: facts the history. This isn't just like thoughts put down
Speaker 1: on paper about the world. It's it's history with facts
Speaker 1: that you can determine see are they true or not?
Speaker 1: And the more you dive into you see they're all true.
Speaker 1: Like so you put all that together, you realize, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is a supernatural book. So I got off on
Speaker 1: a little bit of a tangent there, But I mean,
Speaker 1: I think it's important. I don't want to just like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't want to bank my life on
Speaker 1: just what some person said, Like, I want to know
Speaker 1: this is actually the word of God. But that that's
Speaker 1: where I do think now, especially for followers of Jesus.
Speaker 1: But this is where even I should say, for not
Speaker 1: those who are not followers of Jesus. It is the
Speaker 1: most like published read book in the history of the world.
Speaker 1: So I think it's that we're at least worth diving
Speaker 1: into and read one time, just to see what it's
Speaker 1: all about and why so many people have embraced this book.
Speaker 1: And for those who do believe the Bible is the
Speaker 1: word of God to realize. So second tivity three would
Speaker 1: be what is driving my thoughts here? All scripture God
Speaker 1: breathes useful for teaching, correct and rebuking, training and righteousness,
Speaker 1: so that the person of God, so that we might
Speaker 1: be fully equipped for every good work God has for us,
Speaker 1: Like this book is unlike any other book. There's so
Speaker 1: many good things we could read. I mean, I just
Speaker 1: wrote a book on how to read the Bible. So
Speaker 1: there's all kinds of books we could read, but there's
Speaker 1: only one that is supernaturally inspired by God to help
Speaker 1: us know Him, know who he is, know who we are,
Speaker 1: and how to experience life in this world. And so man,
Speaker 1: that's infinitely more important than that hours of things that
Speaker 1: we might scroll through on our phones today. And so
Speaker 1: why I think that comes back to your question, why
Speaker 1: do we not just like soaking this thing all the time?
Speaker 1: And I think that's that's what I want to say, Yeah,
Speaker 1: this thing.
Speaker 2: Amen, Amen, And I want to I want to get
Speaker 2: to that, and I want to I want to comment
Speaker 2: briefly on contradictions in the Bible. You went quickly, you know,
Speaker 2: how could these forty different authors not contradict each other?
Speaker 2: But what you're not saying is you're not saying they
Speaker 2: all wrote the same story because in co authorship, which
Speaker 2: which once again is something the Bible testifies of itself,
Speaker 2: human authors under divine inspiration leaves room for the human
Speaker 2: authors to give their version of what they're seeing. So
Speaker 2: that that's why it would not be a contradiction to
Speaker 2: have four different gospels that some have sometimes have a
Speaker 2: story with a nuance in it because of the human authorship.
Speaker 2: So you're not saying, and no one is saying that
Speaker 2: the Bible is everyone is writing the exact same thing
Speaker 2: like mechanical robots.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's that's so good. I'm so glad you point
Speaker 1: that out. I just did like an intensive teaching like
Speaker 1: one night, like six hours through Matthew and that was
Speaker 1: one of the which is one of the four Gospels
Speaker 1: accounts of Jesus life and death and resurrection. And yeah,
Speaker 1: that was It was so good to see because he
Speaker 1: he arranges things even in a particular order, and he's
Speaker 1: communicating to a particular audience, and everything that he writes
Speaker 1: is true, and at the same time, he arranges it
Speaker 1: different than than Mark or Luke or John. Like Mark's
Speaker 1: writing to a predominantly Gentile audience, Matthew is writing to
Speaker 1: a predominantly Jewish audience. So Matthew does all this background
Speaker 1: with a lot of Jewish history that Mark doesn't do
Speaker 1: as much. And and so that's that's the beauty though,
Speaker 1: is how and then you you kind of expand that
Speaker 1: out to all these people in the Old Testament, Like
Speaker 1: I'm reading Isaiah this morning, and like where I'm at
Speaker 1: in Isaiah right now, it's talking about promises Isaiah chapter
Speaker 1: nine of Jesus to come. Now, Isaiah had no idea
Speaker 1: the full grasp of what Matthew would have realized. But
Speaker 1: they don't contraed it like they totally align with each other.
Speaker 1: But it's prophecy seven centuries before words that God was
Speaker 1: speaking through Isaiah that came about in Matthew's day that
Speaker 1: he's now writing about, and he's able to point back
Speaker 1: to what he said is right here. And it's not
Speaker 1: like he organized the events of jesus life to make
Speaker 1: it fit it, just as showing this is what Isaiah
Speaker 1: was talking about.
Speaker 2: Incredible. So what the book you referenced earlier, It's called
Speaker 2: How to Read the Bible, and this is actually this
Speaker 2: is a fantastic book for all reading levels. Really, I mean,
Speaker 2: you could be a seminary scholar, you could be a
Speaker 2: brand new believer. This book is under one hundred pages.
Speaker 1: It is.
Speaker 2: Super easy to read, yet yet theologically rich. And I
Speaker 2: know you did that on purpose, But I have found
Speaker 2: so many things helpful. This is you kind of mentioned
Speaker 2: this a little bit earlier. But when thinking about should
Speaker 2: we read our Bibles every day? Like should I engage
Speaker 2: with my Bible every day? I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 2: right off the top of my head. I think I'm
Speaker 2: just really busy. I don't know if I could actually
Speaker 2: look at something like that and think about it every day.
Speaker 2: I could do it on Sundays. Sure. But you say
Speaker 2: something interesting, you say, we can hardly fathom this picture
Speaker 2: amid everything going on in our lives today. We can't
Speaker 2: imagine from the moment we rise to the moment we
Speaker 2: go to bed, and in moments throughout the day spending
Speaker 2: so much time looking at well, wait a minute, we
Speaker 2: can imagine this, can't we? Is this not what we
Speaker 2: do with our phones? That's what we do with our
Speaker 2: cell phones?
Speaker 1: Yes, bro, and you we fill our mind with so much.
Speaker 1: And that's one of the things. I can't remember what
Speaker 1: all I talked about. You mentioned it being short, because yes,
Speaker 1: I did that really intentionally. I wanted to make accessible.
Speaker 1: I remember when I showed it to my wife, I
Speaker 1: was like, man, it's just not as much I had
Speaker 1: so much more I wanted to say. She was like,
Speaker 1: I love books this side, thank you for a book
Speaker 1: this side. I want books the size. So but I
Speaker 1: don't think we should be surprised that many, even professing Christians,
Speaker 1: don't have like hunger to be in God's word because
Speaker 1: our stomachs are so full on the stuff, the drivel
Speaker 1: that we take in all day long. I use an
Speaker 1: illustration oftentimes, and again I can't remember exactly if it's
Speaker 1: in the book, but when when my wife and I
Speaker 1: were first dating. I grew up in a family where
Speaker 1: we my dad didn't like seafood, so we never eat seafood.
Speaker 1: So but my first time I went over to Heather's
Speaker 1: house for dinner, her family is making seafood and its
Speaker 1: smell like horrible, Like I just hated seafood because my
Speaker 1: dad did, and so but I faked it and I
Speaker 1: and just just like, oh, this is amazing, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for this meal. The problem is they bought it,
Speaker 1: and so then they were like, oh, next time I
Speaker 1: came over, They're like, ah, David's coming over, We're gonna
Speaker 1: have seafood. He loves seafood. So I started every time
Speaker 1: i'd go on vacation with our family. They were like, Hey,
Speaker 1: let's go to the best seafood restaurants. Like, oh, that's awesome. Well,
Speaker 1: the end of that story is like, now I love
Speaker 1: seafood today because I had to love it to get
Speaker 1: a wife. But the whole picture is my taste budgs changed.
Speaker 1: That's the point. My taste budgs changed. And if we're
Speaker 1: just drinking in like literally hours of DRIVELL on our
Speaker 1: phones all day, then of course our taste buds are
Speaker 1: going to be for that. But once we taste something
Speaker 1: that is and I don't mean this to sound dramatic
Speaker 1: or overstated, but I don't think I can overstated it,
Speaker 1: it's infinitely better. It is infinitely better. Then our taste
Speaker 1: buds will change and we'll realize we make time for
Speaker 1: what's valuable, what we love, what's important, and we need
Speaker 1: new taste buds so that we value the importance and
Speaker 1: we love God's word.
Speaker 2: Now, anyone could understand that argument. An atheists could understand
Speaker 2: what you're saying. And if they're thinking about changing their
Speaker 2: diet and they think, man, I've even eaten fast food
Speaker 2: for so long, I've been eating candy for so long,
Speaker 2: and then you get off of it and you start
Speaker 2: eating steak and potatoes and you have an apple in
Speaker 2: the apple now tastes sweeter than any candy bar did
Speaker 2: because your tasteboats have adapted to what real food is.
Speaker 2: And what you're saying is we have gotten so used
Speaker 2: to appetizers. Devotionals are appetizers, by the way, Yeah, which
Speaker 2: is great thing.
Speaker 1: There are imitation. I mean it's like my kids when
Speaker 1: especially my younger kids, some of our older kids are
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out now. But when we're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: it's your birthday, you can go anywhere you want to eat,
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh, McDonald's, and it's like really, like
Speaker 1: I would take you anywhere. Yeah, they want like a
Speaker 1: processed patty. It's like that it's because they don't know
Speaker 1: there's something better. And so yes, I think even devotionals
Speaker 1: or and it's not that they're all bad, but it
Speaker 1: is are are we missing out? Like on the wonder
Speaker 1: like Saw one nineteen verse one sixty two, I rejoice
Speaker 1: at your word, like one who finds great spoil like treasure.
Speaker 1: Now you don't get the treasure, but I just kind
Speaker 1: of dipping into a little bit of the ground like
Speaker 1: you dig some like you spend some time and there's
Speaker 1: something there that is so valuable that is worth the
Speaker 1: time to get there.
Speaker 2: And uh.
Speaker 1: And so that's that's the question, Like are we willing
Speaker 1: to take the time again for our good not because
Speaker 1: we have to, not because we got to check off
Speaker 1: a box because we're supposed to, but because we want life.
Speaker 1: This word is designed for our life and uh. And
Speaker 1: it's a picture of His love for us, and it's
Speaker 1: how we grow. And I love relationship with God. I
Speaker 1: think that one of the challenges greature is I think
Speaker 1: many Christians whin even when they try to read the Bible,
Speaker 1: they still are They're like, Okay, I'm not getting it,
Speaker 1: Like I don't. I'm not experiencing treasure like you're talking about.
Speaker 1: So that's art of why I wanted to write this book,
Speaker 1: is just a simple practical way to say, Hey, here's
Speaker 1: a way that I hope would be helpful for you
Speaker 1: to experience that treasure on a daily basis.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Amen, And there are a lot of people listening
Speaker 2: right now that that think. Amen, Brothers, I read my
Speaker 2: Bible every day, and I've talked to these guys and
Speaker 2: and I say, They say, I read my Bible every day,
Speaker 2: but but nothing really changes. And I say, can I
Speaker 2: ask you how you're reading it? And they'll say, uh,
Speaker 2: it's it's I read it on my phone. Can you
Speaker 2: show me? Can you show me what? And they'll pull
Speaker 2: up a Bible app and it's a it's a suggested verse.
Speaker 2: I said, brother, that's that's not reading your Bible. And
Speaker 2: you have now written a book to answer that exact question.
Speaker 2: This is I know, this is true, that this reading
Speaker 2: your Bible is the most foundational, fundamental spiritual discipline that
Speaker 2: without it, no other spiritual discipline works. They all crumble
Speaker 2: if you're not engaged with reading your Bible.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, one hundred percent. And in fact, I would say, yeah,
Speaker 1: we cannot experience, we can't experience like faith in God
Speaker 1: apart from the us, Like this is, faith comes by hearing,
Speaker 1: hearing by the Word of Christ Romans ten. Like this is,
Speaker 1: I mean, I love being in creation. I love seeing
Speaker 1: the glory of God in creation. This part of what
Speaker 1: I love about Psalm nineteen is the picture we have
Speaker 1: of God the heavens revealing the glory of God. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think just trekking through the mountains and seeing the
Speaker 1: glory of God, the grandeur in a sunset or a sunrise. Yes,
Speaker 1: all of that, but then Psalm nineteen says even more
Speaker 1: than that is what you see about God on the
Speaker 1: pages of this book, Like it's more grander and wonder
Speaker 1: and majesty than even what the Grand Canyon can show
Speaker 1: you or anything else in creation. Like, that's what we
Speaker 1: have here two experience. And that's why part of what
Speaker 1: I try to emphasize in this book is even more
Speaker 1: than like commands to read the Bible that we see
Speaker 1: in scripture, it's meditate, like it's really let it soak in,
Speaker 1: like linger with it. So instead of kind of going
Speaker 1: back to what we were talking about earlier, instead of
Speaker 1: like a fast food restaurant view Bible reading like fine dining,
Speaker 1: like this is a meal to be savored and enjoyed,
Speaker 1: not just to get your quick verse for the day,
Speaker 1: because that's that's not gonna it's not gonna satisfy your
Speaker 1: soul the way your soul is designed to be satisfied.
Speaker 2: So let's go over you mentioned meditate. Let's go over
Speaker 2: some of the things that you're that you laid out
Speaker 2: in this book, because like you said earlier. If we
Speaker 2: are to believe that the Bible testifies to itself that
Speaker 2: all scriptures breed that by God improfitable for teaching or
Speaker 2: proof and correction, for training and righteousness, that the man
Speaker 2: or woman of God may be complete, equipped for every
Speaker 2: good work. If that's what we believe, and that's what
Speaker 2: it says, then why in the world would we not
Speaker 2: be in it every single day? Right? That is that
Speaker 2: is the most practical reasonable statement I could possibly make.
Speaker 1: That that is the question, Like well, and it just shows,
Speaker 1: I mean, this is our our sinful nature. We're prone
Speaker 1: to do that which is not good for us. And
Speaker 1: so this is I mean, when you just mentioned second
Speaker 1: Timothy three sixteen seventy like to be complete? Who doesn't
Speaker 1: want to be fulfilled? Who doesn't want to be complete?
Speaker 1: To experience life to the full? And obviously I want
Speaker 1: to be really careful not to say that means everything
Speaker 1: is going perfect in this fallen world, Like that's that's
Speaker 1: not a reality in it.
Speaker 2: That word doesn't mean flawless. It means mature.
Speaker 1: Yes, right, who doesn't want that? Like we certainly we
Speaker 1: want that. This is where it's where I even go
Speaker 1: back to old one of my favorite CS. Lewis quotes like,
Speaker 1: we're half hearted creatures, fulling about drink and sex and
Speaker 1: ambition when infinite joy has offered us, Like ignorant children
Speaker 1: who go on making mud pies in Islam because they
Speaker 1: cannot imagine what's meant by the offer of a holiday
Speaker 1: at the sea. We're far too easily pleased. So when
Speaker 1: we just scroll through stuff on our phones and we
Speaker 1: ignore the Bible, it's not because our desires are too strong.
Speaker 1: It's because our desires are too weak. It takes so
Speaker 1: little to satisfy us like we there's so much more
Speaker 1: that God is offering us, holding out for us for
Speaker 1: our good again, completion, knowledge of God, relationship with God,
Speaker 1: life to the full, the way that God has designed
Speaker 1: us to experience life like this book is guaranteed, guaranteed
Speaker 1: to bring us those things if we'll walk through it,
Speaker 1: if we'll read it correctly, meditate on it, walk through
Speaker 1: these the kind of things that I talked about in
Speaker 1: this week. If we'll do that, it's guaranteed to lead
Speaker 1: us to that. So, yes, for the joy set before us,
Speaker 1: Let's do this.
Speaker 2: Yes, Yes, I'm gonna, I'm gonna. I want to keep
Speaker 2: on wanting to get to meditate because you said that,
Speaker 2: But I want to first lay out that what what
Speaker 2: you've done here, You've You've created a system maps is
Speaker 2: is the is the system here? Meditate and memorize, apply, pray,
Speaker 2: and share. Super easy to remember this, Like I said,
Speaker 2: this book is is easy to remember. But let's start
Speaker 2: with meditate. That's the that's the meditate and memorized. We're
Speaker 2: not We're not talking about sitting with your your needs,
Speaker 2: you know, crossed and your watching the sunset. That's not
Speaker 2: what you mean by meditate. So what do you mean
Speaker 2: by this?
Speaker 1: So what I mean by meditate is like linger over
Speaker 1: a passage and just let it, like soaking it. The
Speaker 1: illustration I used is when uh, my wife, she's the
Speaker 1: first girl I ever dated, uh and uh she which
Speaker 1: may sound noble, but I was just super socially awkward.
Speaker 1: He provided someone who's attracting my social awkwardness. But she
Speaker 1: started writing me letters. This is before like texting or
Speaker 1: anything else. So she would write me a lot. And
Speaker 1: I remember the first letter I would get, first letters
Speaker 1: I would get from her, I was like, this is amazing,
Speaker 1: and I would read like dear David, I go dear,
Speaker 1: that's a good start. And I'd read and she'd write,
Speaker 1: I'm praying for you, and I'd be like, I wonder
Speaker 1: what she means by that, Like she prays for me,
Speaker 1: like is for anybody, or like when she's praying for
Speaker 1: her future husband, maybe she thinks of me, like she
Speaker 1: put a smiley face, and be like, why smiley face?
Speaker 1: Right there? So that's what I would say is meditation.
Speaker 1: It's like why this what? Because if every word is
Speaker 1: breathed out by God, then what are these words? Like
Speaker 1: how do they fit together? And so that's where I
Speaker 1: try to talk in the book, just about just questions
Speaker 1: to ask to really meditate, let it soak in, even
Speaker 1: even this morning, like I think about and this leads
Speaker 1: to memorize, like I was in Psalm one twelve this
Speaker 1: morning and there's I think it's the first seven. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's around there, but he said it's talking about just
Speaker 1: the security we have in God. And it says he
Speaker 1: is not afraid of bad news. His heart is firm,
Speaker 1: trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady, like I
Speaker 1: just so I'm stopping at that point and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: like I just had a nightmare last night that just
Speaker 1: related to something in my family, and it was like
Speaker 1: it just revealed like a deep fear me and and
Speaker 1: it was so good just this morning read that and
Speaker 1: God just saying you have no need to be afraid
Speaker 1: of bad news, like your your heart can be firm
Speaker 1: through trust in me. You can have a steady heart.
Speaker 1: Just trust in Me. And so instead of just reading
Speaker 1: that and moving on and checking off a box, I'm
Speaker 1: reading that and like soaking it in. Okay, how what's
Speaker 1: bad news that I'm I'm afraid of? And how do
Speaker 1: you a fear of bad news? Fear, worry, anxiety? How
Speaker 1: do you count that the heart that's firm? Oh? I
Speaker 1: want that? How is that possible? Trust in the Lord? Okay, God,
Speaker 1: I want this kind of faith. Got to help me
Speaker 1: to trust in You and then delay that specific even
Speaker 1: fear before him, so that that would be an example
Speaker 1: of meditation. Now that's getting into some of the other
Speaker 1: things that we're talking about with apply and pray, but
Speaker 1: the key is not just reading it but really soaking
Speaker 1: it in.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So let me pause right here because you said
Speaker 2: earlier that you were in Isaiah this morning, and then
Speaker 2: you just now minished you mentioned you're in psalms this morning. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but I know that you read the McShane Plan because
Speaker 2: you say in this book, and I've heard you say
Speaker 2: that before. I'm also a huge advocate for McShane plan.
Speaker 2: I wish I had started it twenty years ago. I'm
Speaker 2: on my fifth year and love it. My wife's on
Speaker 2: it as well, and we have great discussions. I'm I'm
Speaker 2: always amazed at how some of these chapters will line
Speaker 2: up so beautifully and speak to each other in a
Speaker 2: way that I didn't see last year or the year
Speaker 2: before that. So I know that people listening have heard
Speaker 2: me say this before, but what a beautiful, what a
Speaker 2: beautiful way to read through the Bible every morning. That's
Speaker 2: apart from whatever you're going to speak at at the
Speaker 2: conference today. It's apart from whatever you're going to preach
Speaker 2: your your senior pastor. It's it's apart from that. But
Speaker 2: this is your own David's own nourishing time.
Speaker 1: Yes, and what I love about. And it's one of
Speaker 1: the things that Yeah talk about in there, whether whatever
Speaker 1: plan like, have some kind of intentional way through which
Speaker 1: you're reading through the Bible. And uh, and I'm I
Speaker 1: definitely want to give off the impression to anybody that
Speaker 1: every morning is like revival, Like oh that was like
Speaker 1: there's some texts where you're like, okay, but that that's
Speaker 1: the beauty again. That's the beauty of God's word is
Speaker 1: that it's all inspired by God. So even if I'm
Speaker 1: reading through Leviticus or this story in the Old Testament
Speaker 1: that it's like, I don't even know how this applies
Speaker 1: to me. I'm reading inspired. I'm reading words inspired by
Speaker 1: God that show me who he is, like they give
Speaker 1: me opportunities to reflect on It's part of what meditation is,
Speaker 1: like all right, what is this passage? Yeah, teaching me
Speaker 1: about who God is, which is important. Sometimes we just
Speaker 1: jump into the Bible like okay, what can I get
Speaker 1: out of this from my life today?
Speaker 2: Which is what you cover. You cover that in chapter
Speaker 2: number two how not to read the Bible, And every
Speaker 2: time you mentioned a point in chapter number two it
Speaker 2: ended with me something something for me, it's.
Speaker 1: All of us, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and and and
Speaker 1: it's and that's so important. That's part of why I
Speaker 1: started with that, because yeah, there are actually ways to
Speaker 1: read the Bible that are unhelpful for yeah, and uh uh,
Speaker 1: and so to be careful to avoid those. But even
Speaker 1: there two uh to even if I read something, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't even know what how this would apply or
Speaker 1: anything like, there's still value in this, like you're hearing
Speaker 1: to go back to the very first question you asked,
Speaker 1: the voice of God? Which is our greatest need? To
Speaker 1: be in tune with his voice in every fast in
Speaker 1: my life? Like I think about my life as a dad,
Speaker 1: as a parent, as a dad of six kids, as
Speaker 1: a husband, as a pastor, and just a job, or
Speaker 1: as a friend, whatever, Like my greatest need in all
Speaker 1: those facets of my life is to be walking in
Speaker 1: step with God and his spirit according to his voice. Now,
Speaker 1: Leviticus may not have given me instructions for a parenting today,
Speaker 1: but what it did is it made me more in
Speaker 1: tune with his voice. So that illustration I often use
Speaker 1: is like if I were to get a call right
Speaker 1: now on my phone, and if I didn't look down
Speaker 1: to see who it is, and I just picked it
Speaker 1: up and said hello, and the other voice on the
Speaker 1: line said hey, babe, Like I wouldn't be like, who's
Speaker 1: this like, and she'd be like Heather, Heather, who And
Speaker 1: she'd be like, you know your wife five years and
Speaker 1: other of your kids. Oh yes, of course, of course
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say that. Why because I know how she speaks.
Speaker 1: I recognize your voice. Part of reading and meditating on
Speaker 1: the Bible is being familiar with the voice of God
Speaker 1: so that when you're in whatever situation today and you
Speaker 1: don't necessarily have it. There's so many things we walk
Speaker 1: through in this world that are not specifically addressed in
Speaker 1: God's work. But the more we know his voice and
Speaker 1: are in tune with His spirit, the better equipped we
Speaker 1: are for a million situations that are not specifically dressed
Speaker 1: in God's word because we've been in His word that morning.
Speaker 2: Ay Man John Tan Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice,
Speaker 2: and I know them. They follow me. If you need
Speaker 2: to get a hold of me for any reason, go
Speaker 2: to cameo dot com slash Granger Smith. In fact, I
Speaker 2: just literally got a message from Cameo that says a
Speaker 2: guy named Ian now has a request for me. So
Speaker 2: what I do is I open this up and I
Speaker 2: go check out what Ian wants me to say for him.
Speaker 2: And for this it is a happy birthday to Melinda.
Speaker 2: So I will reach out to Melinda. I say happy Birthday.
Speaker 2: It's Granger Smith here. I hope you have an amazing day.
Speaker 2: And I'm gonna tell her what else that I have
Speaker 2: here on the little list that Ian has given me,
Speaker 2: and then I send it back to him and then
Speaker 2: he has a video message from me that then goes
Speaker 2: out to Melinda. It's really cool. It's super easy. I've
Speaker 2: been doing this for about six years now. So if
Speaker 2: you want to find me and get a special video
Speaker 2: message of any kind, go to cameo dot com slash
Speaker 2: Granger Smith. Yeah, this is beautiful stuff. What not to
Speaker 2: do is the emotional approach. This is one example on
Speaker 2: the chapter of what not to do, the emotional approach.
Speaker 2: What feels good to me. So let's let the Bible
Speaker 2: dictate and tewod Timothy three to sixteen doesn't say so
Speaker 2: that the Man of God may be almost mature or
Speaker 2: almost complete in addition to what he gets from the
Speaker 2: world or what he gets from other things. It's we
Speaker 2: have everything we need right here. Let's go to memorize.
Speaker 2: This is the the next m.
Speaker 1: The reason I'm meditate and memorize together on that M
Speaker 1: and this acrostic is because well, one I think memorization
Speaker 1: is probably the most practical way that we can meditate
Speaker 1: on scripture, like to make it so internal to us
Speaker 1: that it's just a part of us. Like to memorize
Speaker 1: a verse so that it just flows out of you,
Speaker 1: like it's hidden in a saw A one nineteen kind
Speaker 1: of way in your mind and in your heart at
Speaker 1: that point. And so I I mean this is without question.
Speaker 1: I mean we've talked about how just reading, meditating on
Speaker 1: the Bible is like a core discipline that drives everything
Speaker 1: in the Christian life. I would say memorization of scripture
Speaker 1: has had more of a formative influence in my life
Speaker 1: as a spiritual discipline than just about any other because
Speaker 1: I don't want.
Speaker 2: To disconnect that from prayer.
Speaker 1: But it's just for God's word to literally fill your
Speaker 1: mind and your heart in such a way that it
Speaker 1: is a part of you. It just flows out of you.
Speaker 1: It transforms your prayer life, it transforms your relationships to
Speaker 1: be able to encourage others with the Word because it's
Speaker 1: hidden in you and it just flows out of you.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's one of the things when when Deuteronomy
Speaker 1: four and six talk about like when you walk along
Speaker 1: the road and when you sit by the way and
Speaker 1: when you lie down, when you wake up, let's be
Speaker 1: talking about the word. Well, how can you do that
Speaker 1: if you don't have the word in you, Like, it's
Speaker 1: not just when you're carrying the word around you. It
Speaker 1: transforms your prayer life. You get into the heart of
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit and a passage when you memorize it.
Speaker 1: So I just I definitely want to encourage as we
Speaker 1: meditate on scripture. One way too meditate on it is
Speaker 1: to memorize and to have an intentional plan for memorizing scripture.
Speaker 1: And many people will say, oh, I'm just not very
Speaker 1: good at memorization. And that's one of the things I
Speaker 1: try to walk through in the book, like you can
Speaker 1: memorize Someone nineteen talks about how God's word is more
Speaker 1: valuable than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Like if
Speaker 1: I gave you a thousand for every verse you can
Speaker 1: memorize over the next twenty four hours, I'm guessing anybody
Speaker 1: can learn to memorize pretty quick. Because so that's the question,
Speaker 1: what's more important us, money or God's word?
Speaker 2: So you make the argument work. You start this this argument.
Speaker 2: What you're saying right now, children in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Speaker 2: today are attending Muslim schools and memorizing the entire Quran
Speaker 2: by the time they're thirteen years old. Many of these
Speaker 2: children speak different languages Pashto, Urdu, but they are memorizing
Speaker 2: the Koran in its original language, Arabic, and they have
Speaker 2: the full collective support of their parents and their communities,
Speaker 2: and they learn these words of their so called God.
Speaker 2: And then you make the argument, can you imagine a
Speaker 2: children's ministry in church today teaching children to memorize the
Speaker 2: entire New Testament in Greek and then they move on
Speaker 2: to the Old Testament in Hebrew. We might say that's impossible,
Speaker 2: we can't even do this in English.
Speaker 1: Such a.
Speaker 2: That's such a good quote.
Speaker 1: Yes, and it is possible for like us too. Yeah
Speaker 1: to Now I'm sitting here, what's going through my mind?
Speaker 1: Like I was just with a brother last night who's
Speaker 1: memorized the whole New Testament, like he the whole thing,
Speaker 1: and and and various books in the Old Testament. And
Speaker 1: this brother, he's so humble, loves the Lord, just walks
Speaker 1: with God. I'm not saying everybody is going to do that,
Speaker 1: but the beauty is everybody, with the rare exceptions, the
Speaker 1: rare exceptions can hide God's word in our heart in
Speaker 1: some way, in a way that I promise will transform
Speaker 1: your life when you do. So. That's that's why I
Speaker 1: think memorization is really important.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you start, you send the book just one verse,
Speaker 2: Start with one verse. You're not saying memorize fifty Start
Speaker 2: with one verse.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I tell I use the illiteration. I think. I
Speaker 1: always think about this one brother in our church, we
Speaker 1: were we were walking through we were I was preaching
Speaker 1: through First John, and so we challenged the church to
Speaker 1: memorize the first chapter First John. And this brother, I
Speaker 1: don't think he'd really ever memorize scripture at all, and
Speaker 1: he was like, I mean a whole chapter. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: try it. So he started doing it with his son,
Speaker 1: and his teenage son. They would work on it on
Speaker 1: the drive to school in the morning, and so they
Speaker 1: did it. They memorized the whole first chapter of First
Speaker 1: John together, and they were and the dad was like,
Speaker 1: this is amazing. I cannot believe this. I just did this.
Speaker 1: I did this with my son. And his son was like,
Speaker 1: we're not stopping here, are we. And so they ended
Speaker 1: up memorizing the whole book. They just kept going every morning,
Speaker 1: and I mean this yeah, and this is just average
Speaker 1: ordinary dude who just his taste buds started changing, and
Speaker 1: not just his his teenage son's taste buds started changing. Like,
Speaker 1: there's no question they do not regret memorizing the Book
Speaker 1: of First John. They went on a journey together that
Speaker 1: was transformative in their lives.
Speaker 2: Credible man. So how about apply chapter five? Apply?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So this is another way if like, what does
Speaker 1: James one say, everyone who hears these words, oh, well,
Speaker 1: well that's Matthew seven. Everyone who hears these words of
Speaker 1: mind it does not put them in practice. Is like
Speaker 1: a man who built his house on with no foundation.
Speaker 1: It's going to crash when the storm comes. And then
Speaker 1: James one says, don't deceive yourselves by just reading the
Speaker 1: word and not doing what it says. So you realize,
Speaker 1: wait a second, just to hear Jesus' words it can
Speaker 1: actually be deceptive and can lead to your life crashing.
Speaker 1: So not just reading, we must obey the word, do
Speaker 1: what it says. Everyone who hears on these words of
Speaker 1: mine and puts them into practice. So that's where apply is.
Speaker 1: I just kind of use a framework to think through
Speaker 1: how does God's word change the way we think, the
Speaker 1: way we feel, the way we act, the way we
Speaker 1: relate to the people around us, and then just the
Speaker 1: way we view our whole purpose in the world. And
Speaker 1: it's so good to yeah, whenever we are meditating on
Speaker 1: scripture then to say, okay, how does this how does
Speaker 1: this change me? Like not just read it? If that's
Speaker 1: all we do and we kind of turn off the
Speaker 1: phone or you know, put the devo aside, then we
Speaker 1: were actually deceiving ourselves. We've got to do what it says.
Speaker 1: So how does this change me? From the inside out?
Speaker 1: And so that's that's the whole purpose of diving into
Speaker 1: that a apply.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so good man. That gets us to pray,
Speaker 2: which is you mentioned earlier you said, I don't want
Speaker 2: to disconnect prayer, and I could. I but you we
Speaker 2: could also make the argument that without these these without
Speaker 2: meditate and memorize and even apply prayer, life is very difficult.
Speaker 2: We almost have nothing to pray at that.
Speaker 1: Point, yes, yeah, and well, and Jesus says this, this
Speaker 1: is John fifteen. He says, if you abide in me
Speaker 1: and my words abide in you, then ask whatever you
Speaker 1: wish will be given to you. So so actually, our
Speaker 1: prayer life asking is supposed to be based on His
Speaker 1: words and that are abiding in us. So and this
Speaker 1: is where I that's what I love about. And I
Speaker 1: walked to a whole another acrosstic with pray, just praise, repent,
Speaker 1: and ask ill based on what we've heard in the Word.
Speaker 1: But when you think about there's so many things that
Speaker 1: we pray for that we we don't know how God's
Speaker 1: going to answer like we ask. Like I just think
Speaker 1: about somebody I was praying for this morning for healing,
Speaker 1: Like I don't know for sure if God is gonna
Speaker 1: heal this person in this particular way at this particular time.
Speaker 1: I don't know that. But I have in God's Word
Speaker 1: that I'm reading every day scores of things that I
Speaker 1: know if I pray for this, that I'm praying according
Speaker 1: to the will of God and particularly for my own life.
Speaker 1: Like I mean, yeah, I go back to some one
Speaker 1: twelve what we were talking about earlier. As I'm praying, God,
Speaker 1: I pray that you would free me from fear of
Speaker 1: bad news. That I pray for a heart that is
Speaker 1: firm and trusting in You. I know that's a prayer
Speaker 1: God desires to answer, will answer as I ask him
Speaker 1: for because I'm asking according to His word in that
Speaker 1: way in my life. And then to pray that for
Speaker 1: others lives. God, I pray for this person or that person,
Speaker 1: my family or whoever else, they would not be afraid
Speaker 1: about it. I know I'm praying according to God's will
Speaker 1: what God wants for that person. And so yeah, I
Speaker 1: think this is where to your point, our prayer life
Speaker 1: devoid of the Word, really misses the whole point of prayer.
Speaker 1: Prayer is dependent on God's revealed word to us. It
Speaker 1: leads us to praise Him for who he is, to
Speaker 1: repent of different things as we're reading through God's Word,
Speaker 1: to repent of sin as we're convicted by it, and
Speaker 1: then to ask him all kinds of things. That's where
Speaker 1: even started a while back, just a little five minute
Speaker 1: podcast called Pray the Word, because it's all based on
Speaker 1: it's really just the overflow of my quiet time. But
Speaker 1: it's just what I'm doing each day as I'm reading
Speaker 1: through Isaiah and Salms today, just praying based on what's
Speaker 1: in the Word, and then to yield and say, God,
Speaker 1: help me to obey your word today.
Speaker 2: And all these ways that I looked at and apply
Speaker 2: and then, man, that's so helpful. It also really helps
Speaker 2: if your prayer life is feeling stagnant or you're kind
Speaker 2: of you feel like you're being too repetitive and you
Speaker 2: and and you're you're losing the depth of it. You
Speaker 2: could pray from your morning reading. One of my favorite
Speaker 2: seminary professors, Don Whitney, you know, wrote the book Praying
Speaker 2: the Bible and it's he wrote an entire book just
Speaker 2: on this idea to pray what you're reading. You could
Speaker 2: find passages, which is what's what's so helpful to move
Speaker 2: forward in the Bible every single day and you have
Speaker 2: a fresh word to take and say, you know what,
Speaker 2: I've been stuck. What I'm praying for my mom and
Speaker 2: I'm kind of stuck and what to pray because it's
Speaker 2: the same situation. She's getting the same result and I'm
Speaker 2: praying the same thing. But I just read today and
Speaker 2: and in the Psalms that there's this and I can
Speaker 2: I can pray this and over and it transforms your
Speaker 2: prayer life.
Speaker 1: So good man, that's so good, because yeah, I think
Speaker 1: about it, and that's where I even as we talk
Speaker 1: about these kind of different steps that I walk through
Speaker 1: in the book. It really becomes it's it's not like
Speaker 1: it's mechanical, Okay, do this and this and this, because
Speaker 1: like I think about reading Isaiah this morning, and I'm
Speaker 1: getting the verses that are talking about like this was
Speaker 1: God's judgment on the nations uh and and their sin
Speaker 1: and his own people and their sin both and and
Speaker 1: it was talking at one point just about the pride
Speaker 1: of men and God bringing the pride full low and
Speaker 1: God exalting the humble, and so just to read that
Speaker 1: and just pause, and God, please remove pride from me. God,
Speaker 1: I pray for humility. I want humility. I need humility.
Speaker 1: I need forgiveness for my pride. I want deliverance from
Speaker 1: my pride. Again, you're praying according to God's Well, this
Speaker 1: is absolutely what God wants for you. But it's just
Speaker 1: a couple verses that if you're not careful you just
Speaker 1: kind of skip over. But let it soaka and just
Speaker 1: pray according to it. And then, like you said, I'm
Speaker 1: praying for your mom or whoever it might be. You
Speaker 1: come to some one twelve seven, which I keep going
Speaker 1: back to today. That's I mean, how many people do
Speaker 1: you know who are worried or afraid or anxious about
Speaker 1: any number of things. And so just to spend some
Speaker 1: time praying over people in your life who you know
Speaker 1: might be worried or if you're afraid or anxious about
Speaker 1: other things, like it just leads to all kinds of
Speaker 1: intercession for others based on Gun's work.
Speaker 2: So beautiful. You know, I find myself my prayers. It's
Speaker 2: pretty tough for me to pray. I'll say it this
Speaker 2: way before I read in the morning, because I just
Speaker 2: wake up. My heart's cold as ice, and I just
Speaker 2: you know, I get my cup of coffee and put
Speaker 2: on my glasses and I start my reading. And then
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, my heart starts warming and that
Speaker 2: ice melts, and then and then and I'm ready then
Speaker 2: to pray. I'm in a position to pray after the
Speaker 2: Lord has spoken to me first. Sometimes we mix it up,
Speaker 2: and it's hard. It's hard to do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that, man, that's so true. I can
Speaker 1: totally identify with that. And and it makes sense, like, well,
Speaker 1: I what I love about what you just shared. And
Speaker 1: I hope that the sense of what people are hearing
Speaker 1: in this whole conversation is that That's what this is.
Speaker 1: It is. It is a conversation with God like and
Speaker 1: basically what you just said is I find it my
Speaker 1: heart warmed and more easier too, and more engaged in
Speaker 1: speaking to God when I've listened to Him speak to me.
Speaker 1: So this is not this is.
Speaker 3: And that's where the wonder, the wonder of this grangeer
Speaker 3: that like we're talking about communion with God, God who
Speaker 3: spoke in the world, came into being that this morning
Speaker 3: I I was talking to him and he was listening
Speaker 3: to me, and not just listening to me.
Speaker 1: He was talking to me like speaking to my heart,
Speaker 1: and he was he was listening to what I was saying.
Speaker 1: I'm pouring out my arm before him and and He's
Speaker 1: promising to answer according to his word and his power
Speaker 1: and his wisdom. Like communion with God. And obviously it's
Speaker 1: not just being, it's anybody, and it's you, it's anybody
Speaker 1: who trusts in Jesus to restore us to relationship with
Speaker 1: God through it's what Jesus died to make possible for
Speaker 1: us to live in every day. So again it just
Speaker 1: goes back to over your time earlier, why would we
Speaker 1: not like make time for this for communion with God,
Speaker 1: and why would we rush through it, Like, let's set
Speaker 1: aside to the extent that we can just some concentrated
Speaker 1: time to be with Him.
Speaker 2: Amen. So that this would not be an appropriate David
Speaker 2: Platt book if we didn't finish with the es the
Speaker 2: share Yeah, tell me about share.
Speaker 1: Yeah? That this word, I mean everything we're talking about, bro,
Speaker 1: Like it's too good to keep to ourselves like this,
Speaker 1: this word. You find treasure somewhere, Like you don't keep
Speaker 1: that to yourself, you, I mean unless you're like you're
Speaker 1: super selfish, like you share that with others. You spread
Speaker 1: it to others because then that's the beauty. Uh there's
Speaker 1: enough treasure to go around. Uh, so so you spread
Speaker 1: it others. So to be really intentional. That's why like
Speaker 1: this this across it. It's like, okay, really we need
Speaker 1: to emphasize, like the word is not intended to stop
Speaker 1: with us, It's intended to spread through us. So I
Speaker 1: just think about it. I mean, obviously we're having this
Speaker 1: conversation about how to read the Bible, and so my
Speaker 1: Bible reading this morning has come up, but I can
Speaker 1: I think about yesterday there was something else I'd read
Speaker 1: and saw one eleven greater your work, so God studied
Speaker 1: by all those who delight in them. And uh. And
Speaker 1: then I was just about an hour after my time
Speaker 1: in the Lord, I'm talking with this brother and sister in
Speaker 1: Christ and she started talking about something she'd seen in
Speaker 1: creation that just was just had owed her. And I
Speaker 1: was like, this is totally so on lefl first too,
Speaker 1: like it's de lightful to see the work of God creation.
Speaker 1: So all that to say, like, look for opportunities all
Speaker 1: throughout the day to encourage others with the Word and
Speaker 1: not you're like you got to prepare a sermon or something.
Speaker 1: This is just for every day. That's the beauty of
Speaker 1: Deuteronomy six. It's just as you walk as you live,
Speaker 1: talk about the word yes with other brothers and sisters
Speaker 1: in Christ, encourage them and your family, your friendships and
Speaker 1: church relationships whoever might be. And then obviously with unbelievers
Speaker 1: to look for opportunities. Again. And this is where I
Speaker 1: would say should be happening in our lives in a
Speaker 1: natural way, not like we have to force it, but
Speaker 1: just to talk about, Yeah, things we are learning about
Speaker 1: life and relationship with God should just flow from us.
Speaker 1: So to be really intentional on the s to share,
Speaker 1: to spread the word with others.
Speaker 2: That's so good. So I want to finish with this.
Speaker 2: You you are, You're always busy. You're you're always a
Speaker 2: busy guy. You have a lot of stuff going on,
Speaker 2: but today in particular, let's let's look at today. You're
Speaker 2: you're at a conference TGC. You're in Indianapolis. My wife
Speaker 2: is there too, but you are in a hotel room.
Speaker 2: You just came in from from here in Piper Preach.
Speaker 2: Tell me, tell me how your Bible reading was this morning,
Speaker 2: because this is the kind of morning Practically someone listening
Speaker 2: would think, well, this is the morning he skipped reading,
Speaker 2: but you didn't. So tell me what was that like?
Speaker 2: Walk me through your morning today.
Speaker 1: I So I'm about to say again, I don't mean
Speaker 1: to sound like over dramatic or just it's like I
Speaker 1: cannot I can't live without bread alone.
Speaker 2: That you can't live on bread alone.
Speaker 1: I can't live and I and I say that so
Speaker 1: real quick background, Like I there have been times in
Speaker 1: my life where I've I've tried to live like that
Speaker 1: without that, and times as a pastor like so it's
Speaker 1: not just because I'm a pastor, Like I can point
Speaker 1: to a long season in my life as a pastor where, yeah,
Speaker 1: the church I pastor was growing. I'd read in a
Speaker 1: book that a lot of people were reading. I was
Speaker 1: getting invited to travel to places like this and preach
Speaker 1: all the time. And my I didn't have that time
Speaker 1: of the Lord in the morning. Like I would study
Speaker 1: just to like prepare a sermon, but I wouldn't like
Speaker 1: read the Bible just to know God. And I could
Speaker 1: turn on a public prayer like that, but I just
Speaker 1: I never got alone in a room just to be
Speaker 1: with God. And that's that's frightening to me. Like, how
Speaker 1: so it's don't I wouldn't want anybody just assume, Okay,
Speaker 1: yeah you're a pastor of course, Like no, I've actually experienced,
Speaker 1: like in a really dangerous way, what it's like the
Speaker 1: pastor without walking into the sea with God. And yeah,
Speaker 1: so all that to say, the Lord did some things
Speaker 1: in my life to wake me up big time years
Speaker 1: ago from that that season in my life, and uh
Speaker 1: and ever since then, I can just say, and I'm
Speaker 1: not saying I never ever missed the morning like occasionally,
Speaker 1: but I can't. I can't live with that so yeah,
Speaker 1: this morning, first thing I did woke up. I one
Speaker 1: of the things I talked about in the book. I'm
Speaker 1: big on journaling. I'm just a I can't point to
Speaker 1: a verse that would say you should journal, but it's
Speaker 1: helpful for me to not my mind, keep my mind
Speaker 1: from wandering, to be less distracted. So I just start
Speaker 1: and I don't have like an elaborate system. I just
Speaker 1: have like a running word file for twenty twenty five yep.
Speaker 1: And so this morning it was like April whatever, and
Speaker 1: so it's and I just start just just thanking God
Speaker 1: for grace, for new mercy this morning, and I'm writing
Speaker 1: out a lot of these prayers. Not everything I'm praying
Speaker 1: I'm writing out, but a lot of it. And so
Speaker 1: I'm writing out prayers, and then I start reflecting on
Speaker 1: the day before, just thanking God for different things from
Speaker 1: the day before, praying for people that I interacted with
Speaker 1: the day before, just kind of reflecting on what God
Speaker 1: taught me from the day before, writing out some of
Speaker 1: those things. And then much like you talked about, I
Speaker 1: just dive into the word. And so that's when I
Speaker 1: walk through these verses of these chapters in Isaiah and
Speaker 1: psalms and all on the way, I'm doing what we've
Speaker 1: been talking about, and I in the journal, I'm oftentimes,
Speaker 1: not oftentimes and most all the time. I'm so I'm
Speaker 1: doing a lot of this on my either iPad or
Speaker 1: computer my laptop. So I'm I'm like cutting and pasting,
Speaker 1: copying and pasting from the word into my journals. So
Speaker 1: day eleven one says this about this branch to come
Speaker 1: talking about prophecy of Jesus. So I'm pasting that in
Speaker 1: here and uh and then writing out a prayer based
Speaker 1: on that or writing out how this applies my life.
Speaker 1: So I'm doing this. It's just helpful for me to
Speaker 1: be really intentional to write it down. Not saying everybody
Speaker 1: has to do that, but it's helpful for me. So
Speaker 1: I'm doing that all through and so that's leading to prayer,
Speaker 1: and that's leading to and I would add I do
Speaker 1: it oftentimes with just I've got a playlist that's like
Speaker 1: my quiet time playlist that has just worship songs, and
Speaker 1: it's I love it when whatever song is going on
Speaker 1: just coincides with what I'm reading. Again, it's not over time,
Speaker 1: but there are times when it's like, oh, this is,
Speaker 1: and I just I love I love when I press
Speaker 1: the shuffle button and it just I'm like, Lord, you
Speaker 1: take it wherever you want. And uh and sometimes the
Speaker 1: song comes on it's like I need to go past
Speaker 1: that one. It doesn't. But oftentimes it's just like and
Speaker 1: that it happened this morning. And so anyway, have you
Speaker 1: shared that?
Speaker 2: By the way, have you shared that? What's that? That playlist?
Speaker 2: Have you ever shared?
Speaker 1: Oh no, I'm not I show. Yeah, that's a good idea. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean that's I was. Yeah, that's a good idea at.
Speaker 2: Least at least text it to me.
Speaker 1: It's just like the challenge funny side note one time.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's really the only playlist I have. And
Speaker 1: so I was running like ten K and I wanted
Speaker 1: to listen to some music. But it's the only playoffs.
Speaker 1: And I'll just say, like my Shane and Shane like
Speaker 1: quiet time, it's not what you need to be listening
Speaker 1: to when you're trying to run it down. Ok, it
Speaker 1: doesn't the same way, but anyway, uh yeah, so then
Speaker 1: and then uh so that is my time in the
Speaker 1: Lord this morning, and and and then I I do
Speaker 1: have some intentional things I try to pray for on
Speaker 1: a daily basis, just from my family and church and
Speaker 1: the world and that sort of thing that's kind of
Speaker 1: tacked on to the Bible reading part. So but yeah,
Speaker 1: that was my time of Lord this morning.
Speaker 2: And how long do you plan to do that in
Speaker 2: your life?
Speaker 1: You mean, like how long per day? Or like how
Speaker 1: long like the rest.
Speaker 2: Of the rest of your life? How long? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I man, I oh like bro. I sat at the
Speaker 1: bedside of a spiritual father of mine in life and ministry,
Speaker 1: just a guy who's had a huge impact from my life,
Speaker 1: Jim Shattocks, And he went to be the Lord a
Speaker 1: couple of months ago after I actually dedicated this book
Speaker 1: to him after a year battle with brain cancer. And
Speaker 1: he's he he more than anybody else in my life,
Speaker 1: taught me to love God's word and teach it with
Speaker 1: fear of it. And anyway, I sat by his bed
Speaker 1: like he's hospice. He's hardly able to speak, like just whisper,
Speaker 1: and I'm just reading verses over him. He's like under
Speaker 1: his breath, he's like finishing the verses. It's just like
Speaker 1: he his his mind, I mean, totally ravaged by brain cancer.
Speaker 1: But the word was hidden so deep and it was
Speaker 1: just flown out of him like he could hardly breathe,
Speaker 1: and the words what's coming out? And I was like God, maybe,
Speaker 1: so like I want to live so that when I've
Speaker 1: gotten hardly even have breath left, your word is is
Speaker 1: still just flowing in me through me. So maybe it's
Speaker 1: like I want I want to live for that day.
Speaker 2: So ah, So your answer to that is every single
Speaker 2: day you have left in this fleeting vapor of a life.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's some one, bro, it's it's blessed like happy
Speaker 1: is the one who whose delight is in the law
Speaker 1: of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day
Speaker 1: and night like he will be like a tree planted
Speaker 1: by streams of water. They yield it's fruit in season,
Speaker 1: and all that leaf will not wither, and all that
Speaker 1: he does, he prospers. Like who doesn't want that? Who
Speaker 1: doesn't want like true prosperity, not worldly prosperity. Who doesn't
Speaker 1: want true happiness, not fleeting happiness? Who doesn't want like
Speaker 1: your leaf not to wither like fruit from your life? Forever?
Speaker 1: We all want that?
Speaker 2: Everyone?
Speaker 1: So what how do you do it? Meditate on this
Speaker 1: word day and night, every day, every night like meditate.
Speaker 2: It no better way to end this podcast than that,
Speaker 2: right there, Bro, Thank you.
Speaker 1: Bro, it's been delightful and tell you about this all
Speaker 1: day long and just and so grateful for you and
Speaker 1: the fruit of your life towards this end, and a
Speaker 1: lot of other people's lives who I know are yeah,
Speaker 1: pursuing God, walking with Him through his word as a
Speaker 1: result of the fruit of His word in your life.
Speaker 1: So praise God for sharing and that's how that's happening
Speaker 1: in and through you.
Speaker 2: Praise the Lord. Well, thank you brother, And how fun
Speaker 2: at that conference. Yeah, thanks for joining me on the
Speaker 2: Grangersmith podcast. I appreciate all of you guys. You could
Speaker 2: help me out by rating this podcast on iTunes. If
Speaker 2: you're on YouTube, subscribe to this channel, hit that little
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Speaker 2: anytime I upload a video.
Speaker 1: Yigi