Years ago during seminary I attended a church that memorized scripture together over the course of one year. Of all the excellent content I received in seminary, that year of memorizing scripture was one of the things that most rooted me in the Faith.
Consider what has helped you to grow most as a Christian. What would you attribute to your endurance in following Jesus?
No doubt if you traced those lines of help and influencers down to the source you would see again and again God’s Word has been your lifeline.
Over the course of the next couple of weeks I will be writing a new devotional series called “Counsel for the Heart.” Each weekday I will focus on a common area of heart need that is commonly coming up in biblical counseling during Covid19. Fear, anxiety and worry, depression, anger, addictions, feelings of abandonment by God, and so much more comes up as people have reached out to me and others. As much as we tire of hearing about Covid19, it has provided many opportunities for us to renew our faith and come back to confidence in God by His Word.
In addition to my devotion series you will see accompanying articles written by the biblical counselors of our church. They want all of us to see that life is blessed as we submit to the Lord Jesus and live in obedience to Him.
Above all we know that God’s Word is life-giving! And as I conclude this brief introduction of the series I invite you to memorize a passage with me this week. Work on these verses, meditating on them, asking the Holy Spirit to help you internalize the message. You and I will need this passage always, but especially for times of fear that come up out of seemingly nowhere. I will write more about fear tomorrow and the rest of this week.
Hebrews 13:5–6
[5] Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” [6] So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?” (ESV)
Getting to the Heart:
In this section each day I will ask a question or two or offer a reflection of my own for you to meditate on. For today, consider what this verse says: we can put our confidence in either money or God. One of the draws of money is that if we just get enough of it we can potentially live without fear. The Bible says that is a false assurance. Why?
- Why is trusting in what money can provide a dangerous hope?
- According to these verses, how do we know we can trust the Lord?
Prayer:
Holy Lord, Maker of every human heart, we seek Your blessing on your Word in our lives. Your Word leads to life! To whom else can we go but You? Please use this series on Counsel for the Heart to bring about good in our lives. Please change us to be like our beloved Lord Jesus. Help us by Your Holy Spirit to walk in Your Word with faith. Lift up those who are struggling and tempted by sin. Lead none of us into temptation. You are worthy of our undivided hearts, Father, and we give ourselves again to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Worship in Song:
I’ve had this song on repeat recently. It has gospel-rich truths in it, and these lines stick in my head:
“Our rest is in heaven, our rest is not here
Then why should we tremble when trials draw near?
Be still and remember the worst that can come
But shortens our journey and hastens us home”
