I counsel a lot of people who are relying solely on others to feed them truth. What I mean by that is, they read devotionals, watch television preachers and services, listen to Christian radio and read wonderful Christian books. These are all good. They are all great resources; but they are all pre-processed truth. I tell people it is regurgitated truth.

I remember in elementary school seeing films of birds that fed their young that way. Mama or papa bird would go find food, “chew” it up and come back to the nest. The little tiny baby birds would peck at the parent’s beak to get some of the chewed up food. I remember thinking, Yuk! But you know, those baby birds grew up and started to go in search for food themselves. They did not rely on mama and papa forever.

I see devotions and preaching and Christians books much the same way. They are wonderful, but they cannot be your sole, steady diet. You need to go in search for food yourself to sustain your spirit. In addition to all those good things, you need to personally be in God’s word, seeking nourishment directly from the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 119 is one of my favorite Psalms. It is the longest Psalm with 176 verses, each a morsel to savor. I just picked two of the verses that are appropriate to our topic today, although there are many.

Psalm 119: 15-16, “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.”

Your challenge for today is to read Psalm 119, jot down any thoughts the Lord impresses upon you.

Diane

Are you excited today that God is at work in your life? If you are suffering or hurting today, God is at work. If you are joyful, happy and content today, God is at work. God is going to accomplish His purposes in your life.

God is in the process of sanctifying His children. We are sanctified (set apart), and we are being sanctified (conformed to His image). First Thessalonians 5:23, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”(NIV) God is changing you. God is changing you from what you were, what you are, to what He wants you to be. Do you want to know one of the tools He uses to do that? He uses His Word.

While praying to the Father as recorded in John 17:6-19, Jesus asked the Father to “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” God uses His word to sanctify you and me. God uses His word to change us. Knowing that increases my passion to be in His word. I want to be
changed. I want to be more and more like Jesus. How about you? Your challenge for the day is to spend at least 15 minutes intently reading the Scriptures, and to jot down any observation the Lord impresses upon you. Everyone can find 15 minutes in their day.

Diane

James 1:25, “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.”(NIV)

Yesterday, in our time together, we thought upon James 1:21. Today, we’re going to drop down just a few verses to James 1:25. It was a few years ago, as I was reading this verse for the umpteenth time when I was gripped by the fact that it said the perfect law (God’s Word) gives freedom. I was so excited by that promise. It is right there; God’s perfect law gives freedom!!! There is hope.

If you are in bondage of any kind, bondage to sin, bondage to your emotions or moods, bondage to your past, or bondage to anxiety, fear, or worry the perfect law gives freedom. Whatever, holds you bound, does not stand a chance against the perfect law because God tells us His
perfect law gives freedom. Isn’t that exciting? Doesn’t that give you a glimmer of hope that you can be free?

As I continued to meditate on that soothing, encouraging promise my eyes fell upon another part of the verse. The part that said, “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law…” Looks ‘intently’…Oh! Wow, did that ever convict me. My time in the Word is not about getting three chapters done or something I can check off my to-do list. It’s about looking intently into the perfect law that gives freedom. And of course, as the verse says, it’s not just reading it but
actually doing it. There is a three part action plan that brings results. 1) Look intently, 2) remember what you read, and 3) do it. The result will be that you will be blessed in what you do.

Your challenge for today is to take one chapter of Scripture (Any chapter of James would be great), read it intently looking for one thing you can implement through your obedience. Write it down. Do it.

Diane

“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21). Yesterday, we talked about the healing power of God’s Word. In our verse today, God tells us how that works.

Suffering is a very self-focusing experience. Take for instance, slamming your hand in a car door. While your hand is throbbing, your arthritis probably never crosses your mind once. Right? If you are hurting and suffering, that pain is probably central in your thinking, and if not central it’s looming large in your periphery all the time. Perhaps it is not pain and suffering that is consuming you, maybe it is sin that has its grips on you. You just can’t seem to shake it. As hard as you try, it’s right there demanding your attention.

The very beginning of our verse for today says, “lay aside”. Oh, sure that sounds easy. You and I both know from experience, that as often as we attempt to lay aside our suffering, our pain, our sin, it just keeps bouncing back. It’s like trying to get rid of statically charged fuzz. Every time you think you have shaken it free, there it is stuck on another part of your hand.

Let’s read on. We are told to “receive with meekness the implanted word” “Receive” is a verb. It’s an action word. It implies actively doing something. As you spend time reading God’s Word, allow yourself to be actively engaged. “Receive with meekness” implies that you recognize that God’s truth supercedes your experience. Come to God’s Word with a spirit that is ready to be engaged, ready to receive.

The only way you will be able to ‘lay aside’ is to ‘receive with meekness’ something to take its place. Lay aside your suffering and your sin, and receive God’s healing word.

Your challenge for today is to take one verse or one section of Scripture and to meditate on it, mull it over, consider it, think upon it for 10 minutes or more.

Diane

This week our theme is going to be the Word of God. If you have ever heard me speak at a Women’s retreat, etc. you have probably heard me say, “I am passionate about two things. The first thing I am passionate about is the Word of God. The second thing I am passionate about is
Jesus Christ, my Heavenly Husband.” You see one of the benefits of being a speaker is the opportunity to spend a lot of dedicated time researching and studying a particular topic. Also, as a counselor, I am always looking for ways to maximize the value and impact of counseling for an individual or couple. For sure, being in the Word of God is vital for genuine, long-lasting, godly change.

About 9 years ago, I went through a season of depression and anxiety. It was an extremely difficult time in my life. During that time, God drew my eye to Psalm 107:10-16. That is fodder for another devotional. Following those verses, I read verses 19 and 20. “Then they cried out
to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses, He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” He sent His word and healed them… Do you need healing in your life? Are you broken, hurting, depressed, angry, bitter, or desperate? Go to God’s Word for healing. Are you happy, content, joyful, strong and whole? Go to God’s Word to maintain your “health”.

Regular, intentional, focused times in God’s Word are vital for the healing of a hurting heart. God’s Word is as important to your soul and spirit as food is to your body. Isaiah 55:2, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.”

Your challenge for today is to spend at least 15 minutes (more if possible) reading in one section to Scripture. Ask God to give you insight into Himself.

Diane

I have noticed that many of us are willing to try doing the right thing. I can’t tell you how many times I have given a counseling assignment, only to have the person return the following week to tell me, “Yeah, I tried that, it didn’t work.” My typical response is, “We are not called to try obedience, and we are called to obey. It is always right to do right.”

The “I’ll try it” attitude towards obedience is rooted in the false understanding that obedience is optional and based on whether the person gets what s/he wants or not. We want the blessings of obedience without obedience. We wonder why we don’t see more change in our lives, or why our prayers seem to hit the ceiling, or why our Scripture reading seems dry. Are you holding out in any area of your life? Is there one area of your life that you can point to that is that besetting sin, the one that seems impossible to break free from? You can be free!! You can change!! You can live in victory!!

Here’s how: choose obedience. Obedience is a choice. As you choose obedience, you are demonstrating your love for God in a tangible way, and as you choose it moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, it turns into weeks, months, years, and eventually a lifetime of loving
obedience.

John 14:21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Do you want to see Jesus manifested in your life? Choose obedience.

Your challenge for today is to read John 14 and 15.

In my preparation for Higher Ground (our Monday night women’s support group) I came across the following paragraph in Kay Arthur’s Bible Study, “LORD, I Want to Know You.”

“People often come to us at Precept Ministries seeking our counsel. Before they contact us, many of them have already been under counseling, but to no avail. Sometimes the counseling has been ineffective because the counselee simply would not walk in obedience to godly counsel.” (pg. 87)

As a Biblical counselor, I periodically have people come and thank me for making a difference in their life. I don’t say that to boast, because honestly, I don’t believe it’s me, I believe it’s them that makes the difference. I tell everyone basically the same things. It is my intention that my counsel not stray from God’s truth. I think the difference is evident in those that choose to obey, not me but God and His word. Change is possible through obedience to God and by the power
of the Holy Spirit. Frankly, I’m excited about that. Change is possible since Jesus came. I don’t know about you, but I am still in need of change.

Ephesians 4:22-24, “…that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Your challenge for today is to consider that God will bless your obedience through change in your life. All day, remember….change is possible.

Diane

It’s finally here!!! We have waited a while now, to kick off this new email devotional for women. It was a few months back that Bill approached me and asked me to consider writing a daily devotional for women similar to his daily men’s devotional “Freedom Fighters”. So after much planning here we are. There will be several women writing for our Victory Call email. I hope and pray you will be challenged and blessed by each one.

I want to start this week with an illustration I often use in my speaking. I share how I religiously make time in my day to sit and watch my exercise videos. I have a whole collection of them. The odd thing is I haven’t lost a pound yet! I am kidding of course, but isn’t that what we often do with Scripture? We read it as if that in and of itself is enough. Yet we fail to get up and do it. This devotional can fall into the same category. If you faithfully read it but fail to implement what God reveals to you, then you are only deceiving yourself. James 1:22-25, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will
be blessed in what he does.”

Your challenge for today, should you chose to accept it, is to consider how seriously you want to live victoriously, and if you will commit to actively engage yourself in the process of change through being a doer not just a hearer.

Diane

Welcome, friends. We are anxiously awaiting the kickoff, Wednesday June
1st , of our new women’s email devotional, Victory Call. We have a
number staff and staff wives writing encouraging and challenging devotions for our Monday – Friday format. We would welcome your prayers for us as we prepare the materials that they will be solidly Biblical and life-changing. Stay tuned, we’ll see you next week. Invite your friends to join us by visiting our website at www.americaskeswick.org or by replying to this email.
Thanks and we’ll see you soon.