Are You Hungry?

Love God Wholly, Live with God daily, Obey God Fully.  (Our focus for 2012)

This past Sunday I taught more than a sermon, I provided a reminder to some and a new life skill to others as I taught on the value of daily devotions, bible reading and SOAP. I am getting tons of great feedback. One mom started her three kids on SOAP just this week. She writes; “It was great to see my kids making the scriptures come alive in their own lives!” She writes further; “My four year-old son wrote this in his journal: ‘God gives me tools to be his soldier. He protects me.’ Although he is young, he is getting the idea of scripture observation and application in his life! I am very excited to be adding this to our devotion time as a family!’   

This really excites me. Early yesterday morning, I noticed three ladies sitting together journaling over coffee. This really excites me too.  The following verse was what I shared on Sunday.

 Amos 8: 11 & 12
The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it. (NIV)

I believe we are experiencing a great famine these days. If we remain oblivious to it, how many of us will be victim to this famine?  Its time to begin taking our spiritual nutrition into our own hands.  We are the only ones that can be responsible for our growth and daily spiritual well being.  As your pastor, I do all I can to teach you on Sunday’s and to inspire and teach more via this blog. We have classes at our church as well for growth and LIFE GROUPS and more. But with all that, you still need to realize  the value of self-feeding and time with God. He will show you things through His word that He may not show me. He will reveal things to you at times in your life when you need it most – but you must be reading, praying, listening and open. It is terrible to think that we will all remember to feed ourselves food today and that we will remember to drink water when we are thirsty, and we will remember to take care of meaningless tasks much more quickly than we will our souls for eternity’s purpose.  I pray that today, everyone reading this will join me in with this challenge.  FEED YOURSELVES!

The only way to break the spiritual famine is to not sit around and wait for others to feed you, it is to make sure that you have daily time with the Master. Now journaling is not something new around LFC.  Many of us have been doing it for more than a decade. I first learned the principles of SOAP journaling over 15 years ago, when my friend Pastor Wayne Cordeiro taught me. It have become a valuable tool for my life to connect with the bible and with the God of the bible.

The bible is filled with great mentors to teach us. Some who walked with God closely and others who ran from Him. Some that succeeded and others who failed. We can learn from their experiences and gain wisdom.

Proverbs 22:17

Listen to the words of the wise; apply your heart to my instruction. (NIV)

If you find yourself grumpy or whiny, it may be that you have overlooked your true nourishment. You could be feeding on things that will never nourish your soul. Make sure that you are filling your time with the right stuff. Dust off your Bibles. Grab a daily reading tab or grab a journal from our Welcome / Resource room and get some SOAP going. It will change your heart.  Take a new  translation of the Bible and give it a read.  Find some partners to journal with once a week and to help keep you on track. And get ready. Feed yourself on the Word of God it will change your life and fill you with the right things.

Grace to you,

Pastor Bernie