Timeless Wisdom
After being rescued from Egyptian slavery and wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years, the Hebrew people finally stood at the edge of the land God had promised.
Though their long-time leader, Moses, had just died, God appointed Joshua to take his place. During this transition of authority, God gave Joshua some wise advice:
“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
Joshua 1:8 NIVGod gave the Law to Israel through Moses. These instructions reveal God’s intentions, character, and heart.
And even though God was speaking directly to Joshua at that time, His advice holds timeless wisdom for us today…
Reading, listening to, and thinking deeply about God’s story informs and shapes us.
When we meditate on His Word, study its contents, and understand its core message—everything changes.
Category: YouVersion App
Hope
The You Version Bible App is looking at hope for the next week. I pray you will join in this study.
Building Discipline
Perseverance Brings Harvest
Have you ever started something new and gave up after a few tries? Maybe you tried to create a new morning routine or Bible reading habit, only to give up after a few weeks? It can be hard to build enough discipline to start something new.
It is also hard to receive discipline from someone. Maybe you remember being disciplined as a kid by your parent. Or maybe you’ve been disciplined at work for a mistake you made.
In either case, discipline is hard and takes a lot of work.
Scripture says that for those who endure discipline and persevere, there is a harvest of righteousness and peace waiting for them. However, it doesn’t happen easily and often makes us uncomfortable. We have to be trained through discipline to create godly habits that will then produce righteousness and peace in our lives.
Take some time today to consider: Where can you allow the Holy Spirit to build discipline in your life? What daily habits should you begin working on today?
It’s always worth building discipline because the result is peace and righteous living.
I have generally always considered myself fairly well self-disciplined. The habits I have formed stem from a mother who was a strict disciplinarian and never wanted me to embarrass her. Now that I am older, the discipline I face comes from within me, and the choices I make are guided by my conscience and the Holy Spirit. I don’t like the strict diet that I have to follow because of my health problems, but I watch others enjoy potatoes and tomatoes and know that they could harm me irrevocably. I would like to partake of toasty breads but I know that they are off limits for me. On the other hand, God has gifted me with extra years of life, so I am thankful and continue to discipline myself. An area in which I faced difficulty in self-discipline is expressing my thoughts about what is happening in the world, the foolishness of our leaders and the godlessness of many in our nation. But I know that my spouting off my opinion will not lead others to agree with me, but it more likely to push them away so that they avoid me or don’t listen to me at all. Thus, I am learning the discipline of not saying everything that I am thinking. Just think if we were in error and God started spouting off His opinions about our actions. Would we be more or less likely to comply with His advice? As an adult, discipline is built from within but we have to be willing to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow His advice. He wants what is best for us and for others.
What Matters Most
You really find out what matters and what you can live without when all changes quickly in an unexpected way. That was me in the hospital. I could not go to the bathroom without calling a nurse to shut off the bed alarm. Even then, she stayed with me the entire time to make sure I did not fall and was okay. I could not rest well because there were constant disruptions to sleep, lie labs to be done and vitals to be taken. I was so thankful to get home yesterday, not just because it’s my place of rest and comfort, but I could take a shower, sit comfortably in my chair, talk to my husband face to face, eat the food that he had lovingly prepared for me (some of my favorites) and go to bed when I got tired instead of when I was told that it was time. There is so much that we take for granted. What matters most is Jesus and His love for us and then the love we show to others. I’m not sure if I succeeded in being a good witness in the hospital but I have to say that I consciously tried to be cheerful and agreeable and pleasant in spite of my circumstances. One nurse said that it was a pleasure to be with me. That’s what I like to hear, even as I am struggling to understand the situation, I want to keep my eyes on Jesus and realize that I always represent Him.
How Do You Know that God Loves You?
What I am sharing today is from my devotional on the YouVersion Bible App. It made me ponder and I hope it does the same for you and also brings you to the place of realization that God truly loves you.
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 