Wisdom - Feed Yourself

Continuing yesterday's thoughts from the book "The Divine Mentor" by Wayne Cordeiro

FEED YOURSELF WITH WISDOM – Daily Devotions – 40 minutes (“…give us this day our daily bread…”)
Needed: Bible, pen, journal, a Bible-reading plan and a daily planner. (The planner for jotting down intrusive thoughts that happen during devotions; i.e. “buy bread and milk today.”)

One suggested format: SOAP. Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
Scripture: as you read your planned portion ask the Holy Spirit to bring to your heart one text in particular.
Observation: Think about to whom the passage was written and why. Ponder its tone, its meaning, its purpose. Write in your journal what you have observed.
Application: “How does this passage apply to me?” Application makes the difference between hearing His will and doing His will. It sets apart a disciple from a dabbler. Application states how you will live differently because of what you’ve just read.
Prayer: recording your prayer in the journal is a wonderful way to cement everything that’s just happened in mind and heart. At the top of the page, title and date it.
Make a table of contents with the title, Scripture reference, the date and the journal page where it is to be found.

Meet with God at the time of the day that your mind is the sharpest.
Why is knowing God so important? Why does He want us to love Him with ever increasing devotion? For creative affinity – we become increasingly more like that which we love the most. We take on the characteristis of whom or what we cherish most deeply.

The world won’t be changed by those who take a weekly class (church). It will be changed by men and women who sit daily at the feet of Jesus, listening to His words. These people will be recognized by the world because of the tone of the Father’s words.

Question: are we going to be spoon-fed once a week or will we enter the University of the Holy Spirit where He can personally mentor us daily?

The highest form of prayer is not me talking to God.
It is Him talking to me through Scripture.

We'll be back in a week!

Wisdom: a Value of Pain

Charles Swindoll writes: I had lunch recently with a businessman who runs his own company. As we talked, the subject of wisdom kept popping up in our conversation. So I asked, “How does a person get wisdom? I realize we are to be men of wisdom, but few people ever talk about how it is acquired.”

His answer was quick and to the point: “Pain.”

I paused and looked deeply into his eyes. Without knowing the specifics, I knew his one-word answer was not theoretical. He and pain had gotten to know each other rather well.

It was then I quoted from the first chapter of James: “When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character, men of integrity with no weak spots” (James 1:2-4,Phillips).

There is no shortcut, no such thing as instant endurance. The pain brought on by interruptions and disappointments, by loss and failure, by accidents and disease, is the long and arduous road to maturity. There is no other road.

But where does wisdom come in? James explains in the next verse: “And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem he has only to ask God—who gives generously to all men without making them feel guilty—and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given him” (1:5).

As I see it, it is a domino effect. One thing bumps up against another, which, in turn, bumps another, and in the long haul, endurance helps us mature. Periodically, however, we will find ourselves at a loss to know what to do or how to respond. It’s then we ask for help, and God delivers more than intelligence and ideas and good old common sense. He dips into His well of wisdom and allows us to drink from His bucket, whose refreshment provides abilities and insights that are of another world. Perhaps it might best be stated as having a small portion of “the mind of Christ.”

When we have responded as we should to life’s blows, enduring them rather than escaping them, we are given more maturity that stays with us and new measures of wisdom, which we are able to draw upon for the balance of our lives. By accepting life’s tests and temptations as friends, we become men and women of mature character.