Recently, I've been preaching on the Beatitudes from Matthew 5:1-12. Rick Warren calls this passage 'Keys to a Blessed Life'. I've called it 'From Broken to Blessed'. This world throws away what is broken, but God knows not only how to fix it, but even make things better!
Last weekend I preached from the verse where Jesus said, 'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied.' (Matthew 5:6) To be sure, the satisfaction that comes from salvation in Jesus is without rival. As we walk with the Lord, we continue to feed our souls with the precious instruction manual He has left for us - the word of God.
I challenged people last week, and want to do this again through this blog, to simply begin feeding their souls by spending 7 minutes a day with God in prayer and Bible reading. 7 minutes is less than 1/2 of 1 percent of our day. Do it for 21 days and it will be a habit. Begin with the Gospel of John - there are 21 chapters - so here is the plan.
Begin with a prayer that expresses praise and thanksgiving to God. Take a moment to confess sin and thank Him for forgiveness. Express to Him your overwhelming gratitude for His mercy and grace. Pray that He speaks to you through His word - and take your burdens to Him. Then read a chapter in the gospel of John and maybe underline one verse in particular that spoke to you and reflect on why it impacts you. Then close with another minute of prayer that is a response to that time with the Lord and put the day in his hands (if in the morning) - or the night and coming day (if at night).
This plan stems back to my college days when I was on staff as youth director of a wonderful church in Penfield, NY on the east side of Rochester while a college student at Roberts Wesleyan. I wanted to encourage the young people in my youth group to connect with the Lord and keep it simple. I want to encourage you to do the same today.
To be sure there may be days that 7 minutes turns to 15 or 30 or an hour (which is still less than 5% of our day - we have 24 of them!). But know this - God's not watching the clock. Just like a loving Father loves to spend time with his children - so does our loving heavenly Father - and our lives will be so much richer for the time we spend with Him! Take the challenge! Go for it. The result? You will be satisfied.
