Starving? Intro to Empowering Children and Teens Today!

Hunger or Discipline?

     Reading the bible everyday seems like a daunting, difficult task taking precious time out of our already busy day.  On the surface, it appears as a discipline we will have to force into our daily routines. 

     Imagine this.  You wake up in the morning, shower, brush your teeth, comb your hair, go to work or school, come home, hang out with friends on the phone, watch TV, prepare for bed, and go to sleep.  You do this every day. 

     There is one thing you have forgotten, to eat.  Your stomach the first day grumbled trying to say, “feed me”.  You didn’t listen, and continued with your busy day.  The second day, you felt a little weak in the knees and nauseous, but your daily activities took priority.  On this path, it is only a matter of weeks before your body shuts down from starvation. 

    

The same is true with our spirit man.  In the beginning, right after you received Christ as your Lord and Savior, excitement fueled your desire to know more, to read the bible and go to church.  I bet it did not take long before distractions from your daily life began to take priority over reading God’s Word.  After a while, your spirit man began to starve from lack of spiritual food. 

     You are not alone.  Let me repeat, “YOU ARE NOT ALONE.”  Many believers find themselves in this same predicament.  The question is, “what are you going to do about it?”  Your spiritual man in starving.  You want to eat, but how and when?  You cannot add more hours into your day. 

     Reading God’s Word is essential to sustain and grow in your spiritual life.  Preachers in the pulpit speak of a wonderful, abundant, happy life in Christ. Yet, our own lives are stagnant, and complacent.  Start by reading the food God gave us to make our spirit man grow up healthy and strong, His Word.  

     Much like eating our vegetables as a child, the reading the Word can seem a bit daunting.  With time, we grow to love those vegetables, at least some of them.  Eating vegetables no longer becomes a chore (a discipline) to eat them, but a joy that we look forward to each meal.  Why?  Because as we grow to like our favorite vegetables, we develop a hunger for them on our plates. 

     I love asparagus (when it’s cooked right).  As a child I hated it.  My mom, however, loved asparagus.  We had a half-acre garden out back, and the first two rows in the garden were asparagus, because she loved it so much.  I ate the asparagus because I was told to eat it.  I loved vegetables, just not asparagus. 

     After I grew up, left home, and began to raise my own family, I discovered (without ever realizing it) that one of my favorite meals over the years became Mesquite Grilled Salmon with a side of asparagus.  Delicious (at least to me).  Now, while traveling or working overseas, I miss this meal, and it is one of the first I request when I am in the states. 

     Reading God’s Word is a spiritual discipline that requires patience, purpose, and determination in the beginning.  However, as we age spiritually, we develop a hunger for more of it, regularly, every day.

     “The Daily Read” is an outline, or a guide to help you develop and grow spiritually, every day.  If you miss a day, do not feel guilty.  Just catch up the next day, or over the weekend.  Each day’s reading only takes a few minutes. 

     The remainder of the day, take a moment here and a moment there, to purposefully think about what you read.  Ask yourself questions:  What does this passage tell me?  How does this passage apply to me and my family today?  What did I find particularly interesting in it?  Was there something in the passage that I just did not like?  Why?  And so on? 

     This is called “meditating” and “thinking” on God’s Word.  Meditating is murmuring (or speaking softly God’s Word).  Joshua 1:8 tells us that if we do this day and night (feeding our spirit man regularly) then we set ourselves up for success and prosperity.  Also, Philippians 4:8,9 says to think on whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute, these can lead to the God of peace being with you (paraphrased, I encourage you to read the verses in your favorite translation of the Bible).

      In time as you do this a hunger develops, a sign of spirit being fed and getting healthy.  I encourage you to journal in some form or fashion about your day’s reading.  One man I read about tweeted a message a day from His reading (only take a few minutes).  Others enjoying writing in a book.  I actually use drawings, paintings, and digital art as a form of journaling His Word.  Whatever method you choose, it should be one that you know will fit easily into your schedule, match your personality, and enable you to look back periodically seeing how far you’ve come. 

    

Reading God’s Word daily, feeding your spirit man daily is one of the greatest and most rewarding spiritual disciplines as it creates a hunger within you, and lays the foundation for successful daily living. 

     Let’s get started!