“.. their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water which yield its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.”  (Psalm 1)

“Blessed are those who trust in the Lord. They will be like trees planted by the water. They do not fear when heat comes; their leaves are always green. They have no worries in a year of drought and never fail to bear fruit.”  (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

I live at an altitude of approximately 6,000 feet (over 1800 meters). The flower box on my small porch sits in full sun most of the daylight hours and during the hot days of summer, it only takes one or two days without fresh water for the plants to begin drooping and eventually wither.

The writer of the psalms says that we will likewise lose vitality if we neglect the practice of consistently meditating on God’s word to us in the Bible. Jeremiah, a Hebrew prophet, pictures the individual who confidently trust in the Lord as one who not only survives a drought but even bears fruit during those dry seasons.

What a contrast! We can actually choose to be people with ‘withered leaves’ obviously those who are unappealing and without benefit to passersby, or fruit bearers’ people who nourish others even during difficult days. Advice from our Master Gardener: meditate on God’s word and trust in him.

Lord, drooping plants add no color to the flower-box and without attention, they need to be removed. I don’t want to wither but it’s so easy to forget to drink of the water you provide in your Word. Thank you for providing all I need to have life, but to share that life with others.

By Marilyn Ehle
used by permission

FURTHER READING

• Lessons from Life: the Garden
• The Careful Gardener
• My Unfruitful Garden

The post Master Gardener Advice appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words.” Proverbs 4:20

We are bombarded with so many distractions every day. It takes a conscious effort on our part to remain focused and do the things in life that are truly needed.

Think of the story of Martha receiving Jesus into her home. Her sister Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, paying attention to Him and taking in every word. But Martha was busy in the kitchen, preparing everything so it was perfect for her guests. Naturally, she became frustrated with her sister, who wasn’t doing anything to help out:

“[Martha] came to [Jesus] and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’

‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed — or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her’” (Luke 10:38).

Like Martha, we tend to be worried and distracted, giving attention to the challenges around us instead of the Word of God. But the only thing that’s needed is to be like Mary, to sit at the feet of Jesus, soaking in His presence and His Word.

Are you giving attention to the Word? Are you hearing from Him? Or have you allowed the distractions of the world keep you from listening to Jesus? Instead of fixating on life’s challenges, meditate on the Word so that you can hear from Him.

Lord, give me the wisdom to deal with the distractions in my life that are keeping me from attending to Your Word. Amen.

By Folasade Oladapo
used by permission

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FURTHER READING

Spiritual Distractions

How Distractions May Lead Us to a Slow Fade

When Silence is More Than Being Quiet

The post Only One Thing is Needed appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9) and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.”  Ephesians 3:8-9

Our God has riches beyond the count of arithmetic, the measurement of reason, the dream of imagination, or the eloquence of words. They are unsearchable! You may look, and study, and weigh, but Jesus is a greater Savior than you imagine Him to be even on your best day!

Our Lord is more ready to forgive your sin than you are able to transgress.

Our Master is more willing to supply your wants than you are to confess them.

Our Master has riches of happiness to give you now. He can make you to lie down in green pastures, and lead you beside still waters. There is no music like His music. He is the Shepherd and you are the sheep when you lie down at His feet. There is no love like His, and neither Earth nor Heaven can match it. To know Christ and to be found in Him, oh what a life, what a joy! This is everything that is good and wonderful in life.

Never tolerate low thoughts of our Lord Jesus. If you do, you will end up only crowning Him with a silver crown when He deserves the finest gold.

Our Lord does not treat His servants ungraciously; He gives to them as a king gives to a king. He gives them two heavens: A heaven below where we may serve Him, and a heaven above where we may delight in Him forever. His unsearchable riches will be best known in eternity. He will give you on the way to heaven all you need. Your place of defense will be the ammunition of rocks, and your bread and water will be provided; but it is there, THERE in His presence, where you will hear the song of His people that triumph, the shout of the feast, and shall have a face-to-face view of the glorious and beloved One.

The unsearchable riches of Christ! This is the tune for the musicians of Earth, and the song for the harpers of Heaven. Lord, teach us more and more of Jesus, and we will tell the good news to others.

Question: How has God revealed the riches of Christ in your life lately?

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon.  Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2008

FURTHER READING

• Depth and Riches
• In Wisdom You Made Them All
• The Riches of God’s Grace

The post The Unsearchable Riches of Christ appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’” Matthew 13:7-9

How would you describe your worship experience? In today’s modern church context, many believers describe worship as a contemporary musical liturgy that precedes the traditional Sunday sermon. For many congregants, including me, modern and traditional worship songs captivate and arouse our souls — evoking an emotional euphoria that manifests as a physical and verbal expression of exultation. This experience is common, but is authentic worship more than just our emotional response to creative compositions that glorify God?

In Matthew 15, Jesus reminds us that true worship is more than just lip service. He reprimands the Pharisees and teachers of the law, calling them hypocrites because their pretentious posturing prioritized tradition over the non-negotiable truth of God’s word. To emphasize their error, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 — clearly and unapologetically exposing their hypocrisy. Jesus’ observation reiterates that authentic worship transcends emotional expression and the superficial veneer of outward worship. Sincere worship is a matter of a heart obedient to God’s will and word — reflecting submission, sacrifice, and service.

Are you just going through the motions when you worship the Lord? Are you honoring God with your lips and not your heart? Worship without obedience is vanity. Worship is for God’s pleasure. Let us humbly and reverently come before Him and embrace the true heart of worship.

Dear Heavenly Father, Lord I don’t want to go through the motions when I come before you in worship. May my faith walk, inwardly and outwardly, reflect a sincere heart obedient to your will and word. May I always offer you sweet worship that honors and glorifies your name. Amen.

By Allan Mitchell
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

Pure and Unadulterated Worship

Who or What Do You Worship?

Some Thoughts on Worship

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“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11

When God’s Word is hidden in your heart, it doesn’t lie dormant like a buried seed. It’s alive—growing, reaching, reshaping who you are from the inside out. It’s not about memorizing verses or collecting knowledge; it’s about internalizing truth until it begins to think and move through you.

Hebrews 4:12 reminds us that, “the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.” Once planted in your heart, it becomes a living force, powered by the Holy Spirit to guide, convict, and compel you into action.

The Compulsion to Act
When God’s Word takes root deep within, it does not stay still. The Spirit animates it—pressing you to speak truth, show mercy, and step forward when it would be easier to stand back. This is not about performance or religious effort; it’s about cooperation with the Spirit who turns His Word into action.

When the Word is alive, you begin to feel divine tension: moments when silence feels like disobedience, when compassion feels urgent, and when love becomes the only reasonable response.

Stepping Out of Yourself
The Word in your heart calls you beyond yourself—past fear, ego, or self-protection. It stretches your comfort zone, asking you to trust what you cannot yet see. The Spirit uses Scripture to reframe your instincts until obedience flows naturally and courage becomes your new normal.

This is what it means to live by faith: not calculating outcomes but trusting the One who spoke the Word that now lives in you.

Present-Tense Readiness
“I have hidden your word in my heart” is not a past achievement—it’s a present reality. The Word you’ve stored there shapes the moment you live in now. When temptation comes, truth rises up as a shield. When opportunity calls, obedience is already in motion. When the need is great, our response is greater.

The hidden Word creates readiness: readiness to forgive, to serve, to love. You are prepared because the truth within you has already written your response.

The Holy Spirit’s Role
The Holy Spirit turns the Word from words on a page into the voice of God.

• Empowerment: You act not by willpower but by partnership.
• Conviction: The Spirit presses truth on your heart until it becomes impossible to ignore.
• Sensitivity: You become tuned to divine timing—when to act, when to wait, when to speak.

Breakthrough Reflection
Hiding God’s Word in your heart is not about holding truth—it’s about being held by it. It prepares you for every temptation, every opportunity, every act of love.

When the Word lives deep enough, it moves through you like breath—effortless, powerful, alive. The Spirit does not ask you to try harder; He invites you to yield more deeply. The more you trust the Word within you, the more your life begins to echo it.

Let God’s Word shape your heart, and you will find yourself stepping out of yourself—acting, loving, forgiving—not by your strength, but by His.

by John Fischer
used by permission

RELATED READING

• The Power of the Book
• His Word
• The Broken Bible

The post The Dynamics of God’s Word in Your Heart appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

 Thoughts on today’s verse

How often do you let God do major surgery on your spirit as his Spirit uses the Word to encourage, judge, motivate, convict, instruct, and inspire? With such a great tool so readily at hand for most of us, let’s not let a day go by that we don’t let God use his word on hearts.

Prayer:

Almighty God, your will is my heart’s desire. But I realize that I need to be fed more consistently by your Word revealed in Scripture. Give me strength and consistency in my walk with you through your Word. Through your Spirit, inspire me to change what needs to be changed and to be blessed and encouraged in the areas that I need it most. I turn to you and trust in your Word to point me in the way of life. Through Jesus I pray. Amen.’

by Phil Ware from https://www.heartlight.org
used by permission.

FURTHER READING

• You Have a Bible?
• The Power of the Book
• Scripture Smorgasbord

The post His Word appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“…and the people stood in their place. And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading. Nehemiah 8:7-8

As we decorated the front yard with Christmas lights one recent night, it was handy to have the headlights of the car to see what we were doing. After finishing our decorating, we realized that while the Christmas lights operate off of household current, the car depends on a battery and it is only good for so long and hence the need for jumper cables to the rescue.

I eased one car grill to grill to the other, opened the trunk, got out the jumper cables and then could not figure out how to pop open the hood. I looked and looked but could not figure it out, so I removed the owner’s manual from its original wrapping and found out how to proceed.

My friend Pastor Bob Record claims that the automobile owner’s manual is the least read book, even though most households own more than one. Is there a spiritual parallel here?

How often do we try to tackle the challenges of life and ignore the greatest book of advice …… God’s Word? Maybe the car manual is the least read, but the Bible isn’t far behind for many people, even though most own one or more. We struggle with life and leave the greatest advice book on life and living unopened.

Studying and reading is important in understanding God’s word and learning how to apply it in our lives. As Christians, it’s a major way that we draw closer to God.

Jesus realized the importance of people knowing Scripture, because He would teach from it when He was traveling from town to town. Not only that, but Jesus also used Scripture to battle Satan during his 40 days in the wilderness. Jesus said that the truth sanctifies us and that the word is this truth.

In Hebrews 4:12, the Word says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Is God’s Word living and active in your life today? Read it daily and it will change your life.

by John Grant
used by permission

John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

FURTHER READING

• Where to Start Reading the Bible
• The Christian and the Bible
• You Have a Bible?
• Open Bible, Open Heart, Open Ears

The post Read the Manual appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“The Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right. It is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point, fully equipped to do good to everyone” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Two months after we were married, we left our home and all that was familiar to us and drove halfway across the country where my husband would attend Bible College. We (and our parents) thought we would get a thorough grounding in the Bible and our Christian faith would be stronger.

However, the opposite happened. Some of the professors’ teachings put serious doubts in our minds regarding the authenticity of the Bible. We doubted the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. We doubted God parting the Red Sea. We doubted the story of Jonah and the whale. And, as a result, we also doubted parts of the Bible that didn’t condone our attitudes and lifestyle.

Because of doubting some of the Word of God, something serious happened to us. We no longer had an absolute standard to measure all of life against. We would pick and chose what we wanted to believe and disregard what we didn’t like – especially if it demanded a life or attitude change. I became unstable and unhappy. I had lost my bearings.

Fortunately friends and relatives noticed that our faith was wavering and encouraged us to attend a Christian conference. It was a life-changing experience because it was here that we both yielded the control of our lives to Jesus Christ.

A few weeks later I was listening to a message by psychologist Dr. Henry Brandt. He made a statement that would change my thinking. He told us that he had to make a choice to believe the Bible was his ultimate authority, not worldly wisdom, but God’s Word. Right then, in my kitchen, I told God that from that moment on I would choose the Bible to be my authority. Anything that didn’t line up with God’s word, I would reject.

As I began applying to my life what God taught me when I read the Bible, I regained stability, peace, joy, guidance, wisdom and much, much more.

There are many things in the Bible I still don’t understand and probably never will, but it is because God is so great and I am finite, not because it is not true.

I urge you to take time to read the Bible every day. Ask God to show you what He wants to teach you that day. You will be surprised how often it is exactly what you need.

Father, thank You for your Holy Word. Thank You for the Holy Spirit who opens our minds to what You want to teach us each time we read it. Give us a hunger and thirst for the Bible. Amen.

by Katherine Kehler
used by permission

FURTHER READING

• Grounded in Truth
• Truth
• Speak the Truth

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The post The Christian and the Bible appeared first on Thoughts About God.

Do you have a Bible?  Read it!

Has any other book ever been described like it?  Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the Word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

The words of the Bible have life. Life-giving words! Nouns with pulse rates. The Bible is to God what a surgical glove is to the surgeon. He reaches through them to touch deep within you. Haven’t you felt His touch? In a late, lonely hour you read, “I will never leave you.  I will never forsake you.” The sentences comfort like a hand on your shoulder.

Don’t make a decision without sitting before God with open Bible, open heart, open ears. Let the words of Christ live in your heart and make you wise.

You have a Bible?  Read it.

by Max Lucado
used by permission
From:  Facing Your Giants

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about/

FURTHER READING

• The Bible
• Open Bible, Open Heart, Open Ears
• The Bible as Fiction?
• The Broken Bible

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The post You Have a Bible? appeared first on Thoughts About God.

One of the prerequisites for being a servant of God is to think like a servant.

This would be fine if it wasn’t so impossible. We are all naturally wired to think only of ourselves.

Learning to give preference to others is one of the true marks of a Christian because it is so contrary to human nature. That’s why desiring it comes from God, and doing it comes through the Holy Spirit.

Paul said of Timothy: “I have no one else like Timothy, who genuinely cares for your welfare. All the others care only for themselves and not for what matters to Jesus Christ” (Philippians 2:20-21, NLT).

Hidden in these verses is the secret to making an attitude of servanthood become a part of your thinking. It starts with Jesus. When you fall in love with Jesus, you focus on Him and worship Him. As you do this, you find out about Him – you get to know Him as you would a friend – and soon you come to know what matters to Him, until finally, you start to realize that what matters to Him, matters to you. This is not just a factor of familiarity, either. There is a supernatural element at work here as well. What matters to Jesus connects with the Holy Spirit in you, and the Spirit answers from deep inside you to the call of truth.

Other people mattered deeply to Jesus. He could read their hurt and pain. Scripture says He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Well where did that grief and sorrow come from if it didn’t come from the suffering of people around Him? In other words, He was carrying their grief. He was empathizing with their sorrow. Once a woman touched him in a desperate need to be healed, and He could feel the compassionate power go from Him even though He didn’t see who touched Him in the press of the crowd. He was that sensitive to the needs of those around Him.

Now truly, thinking like a servant doesn’t automatically make you one, but it goes a long way toward getting you there. If you are thinking like a servant, you are noticing others; and the more you are aware of others, the more the Holy Spirit can use you in reaching out to them. All this increases the opportunity for the gospel. People are simply not used to being served.

Take it from me, a guy who is not by any stretch servant material, it’s actually a relief to get off my most popular subject “me” and on to someone else. Ask God to help you think like a servant today, and I’m certain you’ll get a chance to be one.

Question: Where are there opportunities in your life (at home, work, church, or elsewhere) to “think like a servant”?

by John Fischer
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

When Inadequacy Slips In

The Other Side of Me

God’s Plan or My Plan?

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“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”  Romans 15:4

I love the Bible. It’s God’s Word, our ultimate source of truth. It contains not only the grand story of the beginning of time and space and our Earth, but also the intimate story of God’s people, and the glorious coming of God’s Son Jesus Christ for our salvation.

But even so, I find that there are times in my life when my daily Bible reading becomes merely routine, if I happen to do it at all. In fact, sometimes I wonder about the Bible: Couldn’t God have given us a more efficient manual? What I mean is, it sometimes seems so complicated. Did you know that the Bible has 66 books, containing 1,189 chapters and 31,170 verses? Instead of 17 major and minor prophets, for example, maybe we could have been given a list of the top 10 marriage tips instead?

Then I think: God didn’t want to give us the kind of book that you read once and put on the shelf. He wasn’t interested in giving us a pamphlet. God wanted to give us something that would engage us and continue to challenge us for a lifetime. He, in His infinite wisdom, gave us a book that was so deep that we could read it every hour of every day of our entire lives and still not exhaust its wisdom.

If you’ve spent any serious amount of time reading the Bible you can probably attest to how you’ve read a passage a dozen or more times before, but somehow this time, it hits you in a totally new way as God illuminates your mind to deeper meaning and fuller understanding. “How did I not see it before?” you think. And it’s so amazing how deep this book is!

God Himself is like that: Our great God isn’t someone of whom you could say, “Oh, God? Yeah, I met him once, I think.” God is so amazingly great that it’s a lifelong process to know Him. He wants us not to just know ABOUT Him, but to KNOW Him intimately. And for that, a simple pamphlet won’t do.

God, we thank you for your Word, the wisdom of which can never be exhausted!

Question: How has your Bible reading been lately? Is it time to begin to re-read it with “new eyes?”

by Darren Hewer
used by permission

FURTHER READING

God Peels Back the Layers until the Real You is Revealed  by John Walker

Hearing God’s Voice – by Charles Stanley

When Answers Aren’t Enough – There is Jesus! by Helen Lesheid

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“You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like?  For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes.”   James 4:14

Recently, as I walked along the streets of Seattle, I became intrigued with the golden inserts in the sidewalks. As I stopped at one intersection, one in particular caught my attention. It said:

“I always knew that someday I would travel this road but yesterday I did not know it would be today.”

It reminded me of how casually I live my life, not considering that tomorrow could be totally different than anything I could have ever expected or for that matter, for me, tomorrow might not even exist.  James tells us that my life is like a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes. John Wesley said that life is like an arrow shot from a bow and passing swiftly over the sea of time.

Life is short and fragile and everyday is a gift. No one has ever gotten out of this world alive. We indeed all know that someday we will travel that road, but as the plaque in the sidewalk inferred, we know not when.

As an attorney, I have written hundreds of wills for clients and their focus is usually on what will happen with their estate when they die. I remind them that estate planning does focus on death, but it also ought to focus on life planning as well.. what you will do and how you will use your resources for your remaining days, however many that may be.

So, it is a reminder to live our lives more focused on the limitation of time we have on earth and how we can best use it for good and for God. Here are some thoughts and suggestions:

• Live each day as if it were going to be our last. Never go to bed without resolving internal turmoil of external relationships that need to be resolved with others.

• Be prepared to meet God face to face at any time by making sure you have made the right decisions about your relationship with Jesus and your salvation is secure. After all, the next life will be a lot longer and more important than this one.

• Make sure that each day you live and love life the way God would want you to.

• Live, laugh and experience each day to the fullest, so that when you die, you will have no regrets, no reservations and that you will be prepared to receive the greatest revelation of your life.

• Take your eyes off your circumstances and focus on your relationship with God.

And, above all else make sure that you live each day with praise on your lips, love in your heart and worship in your soul and make sure that when the roll is called up yonder you will be there.

(a thought on life from John Grant )

by John Grant
used by permission

John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

FURTHER READING

Waiting God’s Way –   by Kathy Cheek

The Ugly Truth about Self-Reflection

Show Me Your Ways – by Phil Ware

Prayer for God to Make a Way –  by Roy Lessin

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The post Living Life God’s Way and Enjoying it Too appeared first on Thoughts About God.