Make It Your Own

08/17/2004

There are so many good books to read, and I love to read! I especially like to read books on faith and prayer and hope and anything else that can be an encouragement in my life. We all need encouragement, and when we read of how someone has gotten through an especially difficult time with the help of God, it surely helps our faith to grow, knowing what is possible.

I love authors like Charles Stanley, Max Lucado, Joyce Meyer, Beth Moore...great people of faith who share their lives and their stories with all of us. There was a time when I seemed to get more out of reading their accounts than the accounts of those in the Bible. I didn’t understand much of what I read in the Bible without some further explanation, something or someone that could put it in terms I could understand.

I still usually have a book I’m reading besides the Bible. Right now I’m reading "Enjoying Where You Are on the way to Where You are Going" by Joyce Meyer. Kind of appropriate living in an RV, since where we are is usually just a stop on the way to where we are going. She writes:

"We absolutely must realize the importance of each phase. Each phase is vital to the next one. For instance, a child cannot be two years old until he has lived each of the days between the ages of one and two. Wherever it is we are headed, we are not going to get there any faster than God takes us. We must learn to do our part and trust God to help us enjoy the journey." (pg. 9)

Good stuff! Important lessons being taught by a person who has lived through some tough things in life and has learned from them. We can take many of the things she has learned and apply it to our own lives. Sometimes, it can be that easy. Watch and learn...read and learn...use someone else’s life experiences to keep us on the narrow path, not veering off into the wilderness for forty years.

Isn’t that what God’s Word is trying to teach us? Isn’t that why we read of the Israelites and their forty-year journey that should have taken only eleven days? The Bible is full of people who have struggled much harder than what should have been necessary--if they only would have applied God’s teaching to their own lives, maybe they would have been spared the longer journey?

The difference between what we read in these Bible stories and the stories we read by Max Lucado and Beth Moore is not so different, and yet it is. The Bible is the inspired Word of God. Every verse and chapter is there because God placed it there. He has a purpose for it, and it all ties together perfectly. It starts with Creation, it ends with Come, Lord Jesus, Come. It is our instruction manual for life, and if we will follow it, it could keep us out of a whole lot of unnecessary trouble and heartache.

The other books we read can be good, very good. They can be inspiring, enlightening, and very encouraging, but they are unintentionally flawed, just like this message I am writing is flawed. The flaws come because we are not God, and what we share are our own personal experiences with God as we see them. We are on this journey just like everyone else. We don’t have any more answers than anyone else does, we just share a "phase" of the journey with you before moving onto the next phase--human being to human being. So when you read what we have written, you only read what we have lived through and what God has taught us, and there can be errors in it that might mislead you if you are not in the Word of God daily, soaking up the Absolute Truth of the Almighty.

"Is my knowledge of Jesus born of internal spiritual perception, or is it only what I have learned by listening to others?" (My Utmost For His Highest—O. Chambers Aug. 15th)

Everything should be tested against Scripture, everything! I don’t care how much you trust the Pastor, the teacher, or the writer. Even the songs we listen to and the words we sing over and over should be held up against Scripture. Sometimes we have sung the words so many times, we believe them to be the truth, when they are not, they just happen to rhyme well, so they were used. We can be misled.

The best, the safest and the surest way to stay on the narrow path is to find it for yourself, to make it your own. In the beginning, sure, we all need help. We are inexperienced travelers, we’re not quite sure where to get the ticket, and once we have it, we’re not quite sure what to do with it.

It reminds me of watching "Amish in the City." A new series that is on, about five Amish people experiencing life in L.A. for the first time. They went to take a city bus to a certain location, and did not know where to even place their money for the journey. Did they slip it into a slot in the box by the bus stop, or hand it to the driver??? One of the young men kept pulling on the thin rope that hung above the windows during the ride, I think he thought he was on a trolley or something, and it was to be rung for fun! These people are not dumb, they are "ignorant" of things they have never experienced before. One had never seen a parking meter, and wondered how it worked. A couple had never been to the beach, and one almost drowned in the ocean waves. He got in "way above his head!"

Now, they could have read books about coming to L.A., and all that they would experience there, written by someone who had been there before. It probably would have helped, but it would not have been the same as coming and making the experience their own. When they leave the city at the end of the eight weeks or so that they are there, they will "know" things that they never could have learned without experiencing it personally. To tell you the truth, some of what they’ve experienced would probably have been better left unknown, but that’s another discussion.

The point I’m trying to make here is that we all have our own personal journey through life with God. We can learn certain things from others and gain from their wisdom and their faith, but if it is ever to become real to us, we must make it our own. There comes a time to put other books aside and read the Word. It speaks to us as nothing else can. The Bible is not boring, but the most exciting Book ever, if we will simply give it a chance. It will bring us comfort like no other book will.

When our son, Phil, was getting closer to going "home," I started to read a book to him containing letters from heaven. It was a fictional account of people in a Bible study who would write letters to heaven asking questions, and then the answers would come back from heaven as to what it was going to be like i.e.: what we would eat, what our new bodies would be like, what we would do during the day etc... This book fulfilled a purpose in Phil’s life because he had these questions and he needed some comfort as to what he could expect should he be leaving this earth. But, it was someone else’s ideas, albeit based on Scripture, as to what we can expect when we get to heaven. It helped to satisfy a need and I was thankful for it. It opened up communication between Phil and I and we enjoyed it together.

But as the time drew new, it was time to put this book aside. It no longer interested Phil, it no longer brought him comfort because what he really needed was Absolute Truth, and this could only be found in God’s Word. It was an amazing thing to see the comfort it brought to him. He would ask me to read the Bible to him when he became unsettled and fearful. It visibly calmed him down. God’s peace was evident. The Word of God became his own...the words I read came to life because God was speaking to him through the words. When they spoke of hope it filled him with hope. When they spoke of eternal life, he sought it. As I read Philippians 1:21-24 to him, the words were his very thoughts. He was not alone:

For to me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better.
Yet if I live, that means fruitful service for Christ. I
really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between
two desires: Sometimes I want to live, and sometimes
I long to go and be with Christ. That would be far
better for me, but it is better for you that I live. (NLT)

He didn’t want to die, because he knew we didn’t want to lose him, but he longed to be finished and go on home. He was torn between those two desires, and it comforted him to know that others had felt the exact same way. Doesn’t it comfort all of us to know we are not alone in our distress?

God knows that! He knows we need to be able to relate to others who have hurt, to others who have made mistakes and need forgiveness, and to learn of the unconditional love that is offered to us in the Bible. We will look for these answers elsewhere, and they can be found, or they come seemingly close to being found, but there is only one place that true help is always found, the Bible. When we learn that for ourselves, it will change the excitement and the yearning we have for the Word. It will be ours, and we will never want to be without it again. It will become very real, and very accessible, and even though we will still enjoy what others have to say about their walk with God, we will not be satisfied with their journey, we will want our very own.

When someone sends you a picture they have taken of a certain place like Venice, or Alaska, or anywhere U.S.A. for instance, it’s great to share in that with them. You can see what they saw through the camera lens, but there is so much missing from the picture. There is no sound, no smell, no feel for the place. You have no idea what’s behind the person who took the picture, and you can’t say you’ve been there just because you saw a picture of it. It’s not your picture. It’s theirs.

When I see a picture of the landscape of Germany, or see people at a fest, I can hear the music, I can sense what is going on, I know what the food tastes like having lived there, and I know what it’s like to hike in the mountains outside of that picture and watch the snow falling in the Alps. Just one picture can bring on many memories and make me homesick for what I am missing not being there anymore.

To simply read of another’s journey or see the pictures doesn’t contain all it should for your own personal journey and your own personal relationship with God. You have to "go there" yourself. You have to have climbed the mountains with Him, and walked through the darkened valleys following His light.

As I read in Luke 17 this morning about the ten lepers being healed and only one returning to thank Jesus, I understood when it said:

One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back
to Jesus, shouting, "Praise God, I’m healed!" He fell
face down on the ground at Jesus’ feet thanking him
for what he had done. Luke 17:15-16 (NLT)

This leper’s story was my story, I have been healed by Jesus too. My heart no longer bleeds every day, it is no longer completely broken, and I "Praise God" and thank Him for what he has done. I can read what He has done for Max Lucado, or Charles Stanley, and I can be glad for them, but it is not my story, it is theirs. Through what I write I can share with you what God has done in my life, even if you don’t know me personally, but will you care? Will it really make that much difference to you, or will you need to experience God for yourself before He becomes all-important? I believe so!

I understand the Bible now, as never before. I may not know the complete history behind the writings in Jeremiah, or the culture of the times like a Bible Scholar would, but God can still speak to me through His Word. I may not know how to interpret dreams like Daniel could, or even what all his interpretations are supposed to mean in my life today, but God can still teach me many things by what Daniel has written. Whether I understand it completely or not, I can pray my way through as God touches my heart and fills me with an understanding for what I need on any given day.

God is the Greatest Teacher, and He can vary each "lesson" and make it fun! Just the other day I was reading Matthew 15:21-28 about the faith of a Gentile woman, and I did not get it. I have always had trouble when I read that Jesus "gave her no reply—not even a word." I didn’t understand when Jesus said, "It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs." Was Jesus calling her a dog? That seemed so out of character for Him. I read and I prayed and I asked God to explain these verses to me. I desired to understand them more fully. Now, He’s not going to ask all of you to learn Scripture like this, but to me I could sense God saying, write a song about it and I’ll explain it to you...please bear with me here, it’s the way my personal relationship with God works sometimes. Yours will be unique to you, as individual as our personalities are.

So, I began to write and read and pray and write and this is part of the song that was written on that day in helping me understand this story:

She came and worshiped, she bowed down to the King
She came and worshiped, though He would not say a thing
She would not be discouraged, He was her one true hope
So she came and worshiped, until her Master spoke

Woman, Jesus said to her, your faith, it is so great
You would have settled for the crumbs, falling from the children’s plates
You agree the Master’s table, is reserved for God’s lost sheep
And yet you come to ask Me, if I’ll help, how can I keep
From granting your request, when your heart is humbled so
Your daughter, she is healed, now you are free to go

We wonder if our lives will change, if we come before the King
If we bow down and worship Him, though we do not hear a thing
But if we will acknowledge that Jesus is our Lord
If we will only come to Him, we will not be ignored
In all the earth He looks for those, most willing to take crumbs
And when He finds those chosen few, His healing surely comes

When she came and worshiped and bowed down to her King
She discovered that He loved her more than any other thing
When she would not be discouraged, by those who said please leave
She found her one true hope, and we all can now believe...

That’s the song, for the most part, with a few other things added in. Does this help you understand this Scripture? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t, but I got out of it what I needed on that day after writing these words, because the words became mine in that last line, "we all can now believe." God was using this woman’s life as an example of those that will come and worship Him, even when He is silent sometimes. She would not be discouraged, she stayed and bowed down and worshiped Jesus until her Master spoke, and speak He did! If this worked for her, this will work for me! I will bow down and worship until my Master speaks! I will not get discouraged! Jesus is my one true hope!

I e-mailed these words off to my brother and it wasn’t long before he was calling me to share the music God had given him to put with it. It was awesome, but what was most awesome was the way God works when we will come to Him and ask Him for help. There are many ways He teaches me His Word, this was just one way, and one He knew I would greatly enjoy. I know He loves it when I spend time with Him, and make these stories mine. That’s why He put them there, to draw us closer to Him and His people.

Other books can do this for us, but not the way the Bible can. Do you know why? Because the next time I read this passage of Scripture, it might speak to me in a totally different way. I will be in a different place in my life and I will need a different word from God, and He will provide it in a different way. That is why Scripture is so alive, because it is ever changing. The words don’t change, we do, and God uses the same words to speak to us in a thousand different ways. That’s why we can never be sure what will happen when we open our Bibles. Each time we do, it is an adventure unto itself. What other book on earth can claim that? I don’t like re-reading books. I’ve "been there" before, I’m looking for something new! But I read the Bible every day, and it is new every day!! Day after day after day!

I write all this to encourage you to make the Word your own! Don’t rely on anyone else to provide a relationship with God that is uniquely yours. Enjoy other books! I do, and I hope some day that I will have books in stores that can encourage others along the way, but I pray they will never be used in lieu of the Bible. It is never meant to be that!

All Scripture is inspired by God, and is useful to teach us
what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.
It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is
God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for
every good thing God wants us to do.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT)

Don’t miss out on the greatest adventure ever--your life, found in the pages of the Bible!

Happy reading!

Diane