Truth and Joy

Psalm 1

This is my life passage. It’s where I got the title of this blog and you’ll recognize the quote at the top of the page. My name, Phyllis, means green leaf in Greek, so I have naturally clung to verse 3. I want to be a tree that never withers, that bears fruit. I want to prosper in all l do. To do that, I have to follow verse 2. I have to delight in God’s law and meditate on it all the time.

So it’s fitting that when a friend told me she picks one word to focus on each year, I immediately knew that my word for this year is truth. God’s law. God’s Word.

There’s only one problem. Even though the year is barely begun, the truth of my sinfulness has become very apparent to me. I’m more like the worthless chaff than I am like the fruitful tree.

Instead of relying on God’s Word for direction, I sometimes look to secular sources. I take the advice of the wicked.

When it comes to hot cultural issues, too often my attitude lines up people who aren’t concerned with what God thinks about things. I stand around with sinners.

And here’s the worst. I often speak without thinking and end up hurting people with my words. I join in with mockers.

These are truths about me that grieve me because they grieve my Lord. They are not pleasing to Him and they rob me of the joy He wants to give me. I’ve spent the last few days grieving over a specific circumstance in which I acted like a sinner. I’ve repented and done what I could to make amends, but the joy is still missing.

So what can I do?

Delight in the law of the Lord. Spend more time reading it. Pray using the words of the scripture. Claim the promises. And ask God to use His words to transform me into His image.

I’m only godly because of Jesus, but I can rest in that assurance. And because of that I know that He  watches over my path. So I can walk forward this year with His eye on me. And I know that as I meditate on His Word, my leaves will turn green and I’ll bear fruit.

And my joy will return.

Give Your Father Joy

Proverbs 23:22-25

I’m blessed that my father is still in this world. I don’t get to see him often, but it’s such a comfort to know he’s here loving and praying for me and available when I need his wisdom. But sometimes I forget that I’m here to love him as well. Children are a blessing from God. That’s me, God’s blessing to my father.

So naturally, I should do whatever I can to bring him joy. The wisdom of Proverbs tells me how to do that.

Listen to him. 

Daddy has lived a long life of serving God and he has great stories about his experiences and about the people he’s known. I like his stories, but like many older people, he tends to repeat them. That shouldn’t matter. It brings him joy to share his walk with God. It brings me pleasure to hear about it. 

Get the truth and never sell it.

I learned God’s truth from my parents, but as I began to grow up I encountered different interpretations of the Bible and I explored new ideas. Because I was grounded in the truth I didn’t stray and I have realized that the more I read the Word, the more my father’s understanding of it is confirmed. When Daddy and I talk about the Bible, I can tell this brings him joy.

Get wisdom.

My father is a wise man. I’ve come to him for advice many times and I’m always impressed with his knowledge of scripture and his ability to apply it to my circumstances. I love that I’m the one who’s blessed when I listen to him.

Get discipline.

I remember coming into the dining room when I was a very young child. The breakfast dishes hadn’t been cleared yet but the room was empty. I got caught licking the jam off a piece of leftover toast. My punishment was not being allowed another treat with the rest of my siblings because I had already had mine. I’d like to say I learned from the experience, but I’m afraid I’m sometimes still that little girl indulging herself when no one is looking. But God is at work transforming me through discipline and I know that Daddy is pleased when he sees the evidence.

Get good judgment.

Daddy drives all his kids crazy when he has to make a decision like buying a car. He researches all the options and then talks them over with each one of us many times, telling us what everyone else thinks. His decision making can be agonizing, but in the end he makes good decisions. I’ve learned to slow down and think through my own decisions because of his example.

Be godly.

After walking with God for 75 years, my father is as close to being a godly man as anyone I know. It makes me proud to be his daughter and I hope that he can take joy in watching me grow towards godliness as he has. 

I love Daddy and I hope that these things in me make him happy. As I bring my earthly father joy, I know that my Heavenly Father is also pleased.

God Speaks Bible

One of the most important training tools I learned to use when I was teaching workshops to college students was a box of scented markers. I would divide the students into small groups and give them an assignment. I gave each group an easel with newsprint and a box of the markers. The markers turned them into kids again, as they uncapped each color and waved them under their noses to see if the smells were authentic . . . purple grape, green apple, brown cinnamon, blue blueberry, cherry red and lemon yellow. When they were ready to focus on the task, I explained that they were to write their ideas and thoughts on the newsprint, using different colors for different parts of it. Although they thought this was for fun, it was critical to the communication process. Writing their words on the newsprint made the conversation visible.

God has made His conversation with us visible.

He’s written it down in the Bible. All of it, of course, is His Word, but in some places we read the words He spoke to a particular person or group. Those parts could be put in quotation marks. Red letter Bibles use color instead of quotation marks for the words of Jesus. How exciting to turn to the Gospels and see Jesus’ conversations jump out at you. But what if you could see lots of colors on the pages; would it turn you into a kid again?

Now there’s a <a href="http://www.godspeaksbible.com/">Bible</a> that might just do that. The <a href="http://www.godspeaksbible.com/">God Speaks Bible</a> highlights <a href="http://www.godspeaksbible.com/">God speaking,</a> in both the Old and the New Testaments. Jesus’ words are still in red, but God speaking is in purple. And to make it even clearer, when men speak God’s words in the third person their words are brown and passages about God speaking are in green. To round out the palette, God’s messages through angels, visions or dreams are in blue and God’s miracles are in gold.

Reading this Bible could turn you into a kid again, as if you were reading God’s Word for the first time. Like my students you could uncap each color to smell the sweet message from your Creator, then focus on the work of making it visible in your own life. The God Speaks Bible could become one of the most important spiritual training tools on your bookshelf.

Want to help promote the reading of God's Word and encourage people to learn how to hear God's voice? Imagine a color coded study Bible and multi-media application highlighting when God speaks to you. Operation Light Force (OLF) is a ministry devoted to equipping people to do what Jesus did, setting captives free, healing and preaching. Richard Mull is the President and Founder of OLF and the General Editor of the God Speaks Bible and many other books and was featured on TV and media. Help us spread the word.

Carefully Determine

Ephesians5:8-10

For the last few years, when I read the Bible I’ve been asking myself what the scripture tells me about what pleases God. 

That’s exactly what Paul tells the Ephesians to do. They must carefully determine what pleases Him. This instruction follows the reminder that they have moved from the darkness to the light.

At one time, we Christians were full of darkness, but now we have light and must live as people of light.

I believe living in the light is another way of saying that we are being sanctified. Having been forgiven of our sins and justified before the Lord, we are now being transformed into the image of Christ.

Living in the light produces only what is good, right and true. It’s encouraging to know that as I walk in the light that Christ sheds on my way, I will do good things. Or, if you don’t mind the mixed metaphor, I will bear good fruit.

This verse brought to mind Micah 6:8. There’s no doubt about how to walk as people of the light because God has told us what is good. To walk in the light is to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.

And how do we know what is right? We carefully determine what pleases the Lord. There’s a beautiful symmetry in the way God speaks to us in the Bible. It’s full of God’s commands, starting with the Royal Law  to love the Lord with all my heart, soul and mind. That law is expanded on in the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Bible. All we need to know about living in the light is in the Bible.

Jesus is the Light, but His word lights our way. This year, I commit to read the Bible more, and to more carefully look in it for what pleases Him.

My First Love

Revelation 2:1-7

I’ve always sort of dismissed verse 4 because I was five when I was saved. Although I remember the event clearly, I don’t remember a passionate excitement about it. I’ve always loved God so I can’t look back and point to a “first” love. But recently Pastor Tim preached from this passage, encouraging us to return to our first love. At the same time, I’ve been spending a lot of time listening to lectures and reading books about doctrine. I love it and it’s intellectually satisfying, but I’ve felt a little something missing.

So I’ve looked back to see what I loved about God when I was young. As a child, I loved the Bible stories. David and Goliath, Daniel and the lions den, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the fiery furnace, Jonah and the whale . . . So my very first love was the story of God’s interactions with His people.

When I was in high school I made a commitment to read the Bible every day. I had already read it all the way through once (unfortunately so I could boast about it), but now I read a chapter a day and tried to learn from it. It was during this time that I fell in love with the words. As a kid I had memorized all the well known passages: the beatitudes, Psalm 23, the Lord’s prayer, the love chapter, the fruit of the Spirit. So the rhythms and poetry of the words were familiar and comforting. I discovered more passages to love: Psalm 1, Romans 8, Romans 12, Philippians 4, all of I John.

I started reading these passages for comfort and inspiration, but I also picked up my Bible when I had free time and read them for the sheer pleasure the words brought. In college I got a Harper Study Bible in the Revised Standard Version. I went through my old King James to find my favorite passages and underlined them in my new Bible. And as I read it, I used the cross references to find more amazing passages. I really was in love.

So I do have a first love to return to. I still love the Bible and study it every day, but I want to go back to the days when I just read it for pleasure, for joy.

Today I’m reading in the King James version – and you are too if you’re following my links - because those were the words I fell in love with. Here is one of those beloved passages from Psalm 19.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise

the simple.

8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.