Revelation Within On the Go!

Beyond Routine: Using the Scripture Word Focus Tool

Heidi Bylsma-Epperson and Christina Motley Season 2 Episode 5

Send us a text

 Discover how to reignite your passion for Bible study and move beyond routine spiritual exercises with our latest episode, where we tackle the challenges many believers face when their practices become stale. We share personal stories and introduce a unique tool called "Scripture Word Focus" to guide our listeners in experiencing Scripture not just as words on a page but as a living encounter with God's peace and joy. We invite you on a spiritual journey of mind renewal through scripture meditation that points to truth that brings transformation. Let this episode be a starting place for breaking free from strongholds and reconnecting with the life-changing message of Jesus.

Support the show

Learn more about our Revelation Within Community: https://www.revelationwithin.org


Speaker 1:

Hi and welcome to Revelation Within On the Go.

Speaker 2:

I'm Heidi Bilesma-Efferson, one of your hosts and the owner and lead coach of the Revelation Within ministry, and I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a Revelation Within coach and Heidi's partner in all things Revelation Within, and we are so happy to invite you to join us for this episode of Revelation Within.

Speaker 1:

Oh, it's so good to have you with us. Well, one of the things we have learned is, of course, those who come to Revelation Within many, many of us have been Christians for a really long time and Bible study has been a part of our lives for years. Faithful church attendance has been a part of our lives. Maybe we've had real consistent quiet times on and off over the years maybe, but consistent quiet times. At times We've been devoted to prayer and retreats and to have fellowship and devotions and worship. We have probably become pretty good at filling in the blanks of our Bible study book.

Speaker 1:

But for many of us, has studying the bible kind of become an intellectual exercise.

Speaker 1:

Now, all of this has to do in a roundabout way, but it is definitely related to our tendency to go to counterfeit comforts or dealing with things that are challenging for us or a pain that we don't want to feel, whether it's emotionally or physically, and we are, of course, eager to equip people who love Jesus to have Christ-centered coping strategies.

Speaker 1:

And so, for those of us that have found that the Bible study or Bible reading you know the plan for the year type thing has become an intellectual exercise or something to check off your list every morning, we have some thoughts about that that we can want to share with you today. A particular tool that's helpful. We've got a number of tools that help the word of God come alive or return to, yes, vibrancy in my life. Has your love for the word waned at all lately? Or maybe you know God's word inside out, backwards, upside down, but your heart is unchanged. That is definitely an indicator that you want to renew your mind, and it's not just Bible reading we're talking about. It's engaging with God's word. We want to go deeper in the scriptures with a mind renewal tool that you're going to love.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, yes, okay. So I've got a few challenging questions here for you, but they're for Heidi and I too.

Speaker 1:

Yes definitely.

Speaker 2:

When was the last time that you engaged with the word in such a way that you felt truly excited, like you couldn't wait to tell somebody about it, like you just had to share it? You were excited, you know, just excited, as if the word really is active and alive, as if the truth of what you read might actually change your day, change your hours and minutes, change your season of life in some way. How about this one? When was the last time reading scripture brought tears to your eyes because you truly felt that what you read was relevant to your life now in the deepest way?

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, I know that there have been times, and not even that long ago.

Speaker 2:

It was probably December, it was yesterday, heidi, it was, it was in our call. You got all teary, did I? I'm nice, you did. You said I'm going to cry and you started reading this beautiful verse. It was yesterday.

Speaker 1:

Oh well, that's fun. But, yeah, there have been times when you know I might pour out my heart to God in prayer and then open his word and it is straight to the very thing I took to him in prayer. I just love, love, love that. I love it too. Oh cool. And you know, if you have never experienced that listener, it doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. It really doesn't, and I really hope that this tool and others that we will take deep dives into over the next weeks might help you reconnect with that.

Speaker 1:

We are all probably listening to this podcast or, in our case, making the podcast because we want to be free. Yes, case, making the podcast because we want to be free of some kind of stronghold that is like hindering us from living the life God intends for us, and maybe it's a stronghold, something we can't shake on our own. We are all here probably because we believe, or want to believe, that God has the power to break this stronghold. He is the one who can make the change in our lives that we can't do on our own. We are probably all here because we need Jesus and we get it. We know we need him. We need him desperately.

Speaker 2:

Desperately, desperately, and that's a good place to be. It's hard, but it's a good place to be. So here at Revelation Within we have many, many, many, many, many tools and strategies, and we've talked about so many of those in our podcast episodes. These are tools that engage us in a personal and profound way with scripture. So we would love to introduce you to a simple yet powerful mind renewal tool that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, leads us into a deeper place with God's very own words. So this is a wonderful way to bring that valuable head knowledge, all that knowledge that's in our brains about the word of God, down to the heart where our emotions and God's gifts of peace and joy come into play. And you know, I mean we all go through different seasons of life with this, seasons with the Lord, seasons with the word. But maybe you're ready to kind of feel that excitement again, to get into that, to go a little deeper again with the Lord.

Speaker 1:

Yay, well, we call this tool scripture, word focus, and Christina asked me to tell a story of where it came from and all of that. I don't really remember where.

Speaker 2:

I learned this. You could have made up something really interesting. No, I'm just kidding. I climbed to the top of Mount Everest and at the top there was a scroll.

Speaker 1:

I wish. No, no, that's not it. I want to attribute this tool to my mentor, debbie Lynn. I love Debbie. If you're out there and you happen on this podcast, just know you are precious in my heart and in my life. It's such a game changer for me and my walk with God. I'm not sure anyway if that's who taught it to me. I do know it goes way back to even before I had the babies, which was over 32 years ago, wow.

Speaker 1:

But the blessing of this tool really came home to me when I was in the hospital in 1998. I had some mystery ailment that appeared suddenly and it's kind of strange because I was in really good physical condition. It wasn't something that I had brought on by not taking care of my body or something. The docs weren't sure what was going on and I was scared. In my memory of when I used this tool at the hospital, I was on a cold metal table. Oh, that's terrible. It might have been that. That's how my heart felt. Oh no, it was in the nuclear medicine department and I don't even know what that is Some sort of scan, and I so wanted to experience God's comfort when I was laying there wondering what is this. What are they going to find out? And am I going to live? And so the Holy Spirit reminded me of one of my favorite verses that I had learned in my scripture memory program with Debbie and Tom Lynn.

Speaker 2:

Isaiah 4110.

Speaker 1:

And it was perfect for my very fearful heart, and it says so do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. As I lay there on that table, all I had was my mind. I didn't have a Bible, of course, nothing to read or write with, but my mentor had taught me to be a student of the word of God.

Speaker 1:

And since I had memorized Isaiah 41.10, I was able to use this tool in the moment for an amazing time with God, a two-way communication with the God of the universe who met me in nuclear medicine. It was so awesome.

Speaker 2:

I'm so glad.

Speaker 1:

Heidi, me too. So you can take a verse that you choose. It could be one that you have in your mind or one that you've studied in your quiet time or in a Bible study. So I'm going to just share with you how I did this, and you can obviously try it out too.

Speaker 2:

All right.

Speaker 1:

So I'm just going to start with do not. The verse says so, do not fear, for I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God, so do not. You know, first of all, the word so is there, and it tells me that there's something that comes before it. Anytime you see the word therefore in the Bible, of course you're told okay, well, see what the therefore is. Therefore, I think of so, the same way. So, if it says so, then what is it therefore?

Speaker 1:

And I know that my fear was definitely rising as I lay there on that table before I started doing this, and then so do not on that table before I started doing this, and then so do not. So here is something where God is calling me to make a choice, and he's calling me to make a choice to do not. That tells me okay, what is it I want? This is a matter of obedience, and I want to do what he says and not do what he tells me not to do. And so I also know from other scriptures that he gives me the ability to obey him, which is really cool when you think about it. Yes, it is, and it's a lie when I tell myself I can't do what he tells me to do, so do not. And the next word is, of course, fear.

Speaker 2:

So do not fear.

Speaker 1:

And what we do with this tool is we kind of, for each word or phrase, we look at okay, what is my relationship with fear? Have I been fearful in my life? How am I feeling right now? Am I feeling fearful? What are the things I'm fearful of and what is God's position on this? And so we kind of just pick it apart, we dissect it a little bit. Do not fear. I've been told that this is one of the most common commands in the Bible to not be afraid, or to not fear, and I think that's kind of cool because God wants us to be able to rest in his presence. So, anyway, looking at fear a little bit more in depth and I can do this, writing it down to really have a more in-depth Bible study time, but laying there on that table in the hospital, I didn't need to write anything down in order for.

Speaker 1:

God to reach me.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I just love that you were doing that. Well, I don't love that you were in that situation, but I love that. This is what your mind was occupied with your mind and your heart when you were in the middle of that awful situation. I just love that you know.

Speaker 1:

It's so cool because God tells us, fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. What is seen is temporary, and what I saw was doctors kind of being concerned and nothing passed orally. I was on a no drink, no eat, you know, hooked up on IV type thing, and so it's like that is what I could see, and I'm not supposed to fix my eyes or my mind on that, but on what is unseen, because what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal, and so that's what I was able to do. We can choose. We can choose in any moment what we unseen is eternal, and so that's what I was able to do. We can choose. We can choose in any moment what we will think on.

Speaker 1:

And that boy, that just really. I'm so thankful that God has given us agency, agency with our thoughts, to be able to choose. And he goes on to say so do not fear for and that's another word that tells me, okay, there's a reason coming.

Speaker 2:

And then get this.

Speaker 1:

This is so cool. Do not fear, for I am with you. I am with you. So, if you'll recall, in Exodus, god reveals himself to Moses. His name is I am, and that was a very revered way of referring to God, his name, because it basically means he has always been, he will always be, and it is like the holiest of holiest of names for God it's. It just takes into account his omnipotence, his sovereignty, his everything about God is like spoken of sort of in those simple words I am yes, that is the one, that's the next word. I am with you. I am with you. Oh, I just love that God, as we just celebrated Christmas not that long ago. Emmanuel, god with us. It's so cool that God is with us. So do not fear, for I am with you.

Speaker 1:

And then I'm going to stop there so that we have time to get to the rest of the podcast. But not only did the time pass in this wonderful scripture meditation time, because that's what it is it's meditating on scripture. There's nothing scary or Eastern mysticism about it. It completely encouraged my heart. I knew this little time that I was on that metal table waiting for somebody to tell me something that God had called it to my mind because he knew it would speak to my fear directly.

Speaker 1:

He did and he gave me the real reason not to fear, not because somebody knew the diagnosis or the prognosis or the recommendations for this or that, but because the great I am is with me.

Speaker 2:

That's good stuff. That's so, so good, something we can really grab a hold of. Yes, definitely, I love it. I love it. You know what? Let's go to the word and see what's written about spending time in his truth. I love these verses. I was so excited to find these. Hebrews 4.12, for the word of God is alive and powerful. Hebrews 4.12, for the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Wow, isn't that the most amazing description of the word of God? It is. I just love it. It makes me want to put on a suit of armor and pull out a sword and start running in an unknown direction. No, I don't know. I love these words. It's beautiful. So the Word of God, it's not merely ink on paper, it's alive and powerful. It actually penetrates our hearts and discerns our thoughts and desires, and it also brings about conviction and change. Absolutely amazing it is.

Speaker 1:

Psalm 119.11 says I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. I love this. This was another one of those verses in that Bible memory plan that I was in with Tom and Debbie, and it's so true. It's so true. When I give God something to work with by memorizing his word, then he can bring it up as I need it. So I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Memorizing his word, internalizing the word of God, helps me, helps you, to resist temptation and actually avoid sin. It can become that source of strength that we desperately need, and even guidance in helping us make right choices that will honor and exalt God 1 Peter 1.25, but the word of the Lord remains forever, and that word is the good news that was preached to you.

Speaker 2:

I mean, this is everlasting truth, that we're talking about. This is forever. This is never changing. This is the same. We can count on it. We can stand on it. The enduring nature of the word of God ensures that its message of good news continues to transform lives. That's amazing to me. It remains relevant and life changing across generations. It is the same, it does not change. It was what it was yesterday, today, tomorrow. Everlasting truth. That's so comforting, and so it gives me a sense of security. I love that. I can count on that.

Speaker 1:

It's so cool because, while it is unchanging and it is solid through all generations, it is also living and active. So I read it 2, hundred times, and God is going to show me how to apply it in a new way each and every time. Sometimes, a verse will pop out like it never has before.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

Usually is a good indication that God has something for me there. Yes, Romans 10, 17 says so. Faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the good news about Christ. I love that, that as I hear, as I engage with the word of God, my faith is strengthened. It's like doing a workout, but instead of for my arms, my biceps, my triceps, deltoids, et cetera, it is for my faith. So I mean, if any of you have ever done that sort of workout, you know it can be hard work, but there are wonderful ramifications of it. You can actually get stronger and it feels good to be stronger, to be able to pick up something that you couldn't before, because you're stronger. Well, our faith is strengthened by engaging and hearing the word of God. I just love that, and it's through the proclamation of the good news that my heart is touched and my faith not only is strengthened but it's deepened as well.

Speaker 2:

Wow, Okay. Second Timothy, 3, 16 and 17. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we're wrong and teaches us to do what's right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. I mean wow, it causes. Reading these scriptures makes me think I'm just not in the word enough. I think I would think that, no matter how much I was in the word, which that's a good place to be. So the entirety of scripture is divinely inspired and serves all kinds of purposes in our lives. So it instructs, it convicts and that's a loving conviction. That's not condemnation. It corrects again a loving correction. It equips us and enables us to live according to God's will. It gives us so much. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Speaker 1:

I love that there are thousands of verses in the Bible you could choose from to use scripture, word focus, to kind of go deeper with the scripture, and we suggest start with something small and simple, maybe just to get your feet wet. Once you get the hang of it, sort of, you're going to be able to choose longer and more complex passages to work with. You can do it on the fly in your mind, like I did that day in the hospital, or you can journal it out if you want to, or you can just talk to God as you sit with your Bible open and engage with that. The thing that is so cool about this and I'm getting ahead of myself, I think is that it does train us to resist counterfeit comforts, because we know that the real deal is elsewhere. We know that Christ-centered coping mechanisms are the way to go, and he shows us how to do that as we engage with his word, that we are doing that.

Speaker 1:

As we engage with his word, there is a God-shaped hole in every one of us. Ecclesiastes I don't remember the exact reference, but Solomon said that God has placed eternity in the heart of man, and I tend to think of that as though it is a hole made just for the Lord, and without the Lord flooding that hole, I'm likely to throw all kinds of stuff into it to try to find satisfaction, and those are counterfeit comforts. I might end up throwing extra food than what I need in that hole I might throw. I mean, some people might throw pornography in there. I mean, yeah, and drugs and all of that. People might throw shopping in there. There's got to be a satisfying place to stop. But those things aren't what our hearts and that hole were made for.

Speaker 1:

It was made for eternity, it was made for the Lord, and so as we go to his word this way and engage with it and engage with the living word Jesus, we find that that satisfaction does come. So yeah, do it today.

Speaker 2:

Well, heidi, I just love what you just shared. I love it. I love it. I didn't want you to stop. One of the things that I think about when God made the world and he knew what would happen and he knew all of us would be here and he knew how hard things would be, that there'd be so much pain and disappointment and sorrow also joys and celebrations, but lots of hard stuff and I feel like being God. This is just in my imagination. I feel like he looked ahead into what the world was going to be like and said, oh my gosh, like I need to set some things up for these people. You know, I need to set some things up so we can be in relationship and so that they can survive this and not only survive but thrive and thrive in a relationship with me.

Speaker 2:

And I just think about that, I think, wow. And this is one of those things. He set up the word of God in such an amazing, beautiful, kind of mind blowing way as something we can go to again and again and again and be filled, like you said, that void in us that longs for eternity, and we can be filled with His words. And it might be different every time depending on our circumstance. Of course, the Holy Spirit, you know he set that up as well and that's awesome that he did. Well, yes, and then, of course, you know God with us, jesus coming.

Speaker 2:

I mean, he had a lot of amazing plans. You know, I was a teacher for many, many years almost 30, I think and at the beginning of each day, well, really the day before and days before, as a teacher and you were a teacher too, heidi you plan, you look ahead and you plan and you put things together. And you, you think you know I'm going to prepare things in such a way for my students that things are going to go as well as they can, but you also prepare for things to go sideways and for things to go wrong.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and you love those students and you know that things are going to go wonky in some different ways, but you're ready for it. You're ready for them to need you, for them to ask you, for them to struggle with these things. God is ready. He set it all up. He set it up so that we would have the peace that passes understanding, so that we would have joy in the midst of sorrow or frustration or whatever. He set it up so that we would have healing where it didn't seem like there would be any way.

Speaker 2:

I mean, he set things up supernaturally, in a way that we can't understand, because we're not God and he has no limits. His resources are completely unlimited. No limits, his resources are completely unlimited. So, looking at scripture this way, it just it's like it gives us a little idea of what he was thinking as he prepared. You know, it gives us a glimpse, even a deeper glimpse, of who he really is and how much he loves us, and we've talked about this before. But the fact that the Bible is really a big, beautiful love letter to each one of us personally, that's really what it is. So anyway, scripture word focus it's just one way to really get deeper with the Lord, with his own words.

Speaker 1:

And that's how he designed it.

Speaker 2:

He designed for us to go deeper with him, so that we would be filled. That's beautiful. Anyway, I get excited. I just get really excited, and I get excited when you get excited.

Speaker 1:

Well, let's try it out, let's do it with the listeners.

Speaker 2:

All right, let's get started. So we've got Lamentations 3, 22 and 23 here. The faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness.

Speaker 1:

His mercies begin afresh every morning and if you're like most of us, then you probably had a song or two pop into your head as Christina was reading this.

Speaker 1:

Many of us have heard these words and sung them over the years, many, many times in our lives. And to many this is even a favorite passage. And, to be honest with you, one of my favorite things about this passage is its context, because guess what? Jeremiah is renewing his mind and when you back up into the earlier verses of Lamentations, chapter three, he's like, oh, I remember the to mind and so I have hope. And that's where the verse starts the faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness. His mercies begin afresh each morning.

Speaker 2:

I love that. I love it too, Wait. So how is that mind renewal, Heidi?

Speaker 1:

Well, because he was going someplace down the spiral of darkness, which is understandable in his circumstances, but he chose to stop those thoughts from taking him. I mean, I call it when my thoughts take me captive, it's time to take my thoughts captive instead. It's going to happen one way or the other. I'm either going to take them captive or they're going to take me captive. And he stopped them from taking him captive and he chose. I'm going to choose what I'm going to think about, and I know that God's mercies are new each morning. The faithful love of God never ends. I just love that. So that answered the question.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that answers the question.

Speaker 1:

Well, we're going to try this out, and then we're going to give you an assignment listener, and then you can try it out on your own after the episode is over.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that sounds good.

Speaker 1:

We're just going to do the first verse of these two. The faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So the first thing that we want to do, before we try anything like this at all, is invite God in. We want his thoughts, not ours. We want his wisdom. I'll go ahead and invite him in, lord Jesus, we want to invite you into this time of mind renewal. We're going to do scripture, word focus. We want you here with us. We are looking for your wisdom, your truth, your insight. Today Will you give us your thoughts, and we pray that we would be blessed and that you would be blessed as well. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Okay, step two is to choose a verse or passage, and we already did that. We chose Lamentations 3, 22 and 23.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and so then, beginning with the first word or phrase, so I'm going to focus on the faithful you can choose to. You know, specifically, go each word by words, like the and sometimes that's really been meaningful for me but, for the sake of time, I'm going to just do the faithful.

Speaker 1:

So then you begin to consider with the Lord and consider it like a prayer. What does this mean to me, god? How have I seen this? What does faithful mean to me? What experience have I had with faithfulness? And then you know things like what are synonyms of the word faithful? And then how about antonyms? When have I experienced a lack of faithfulness?

Speaker 1:

in my life, what thoughts come to mind, and taking notes as you go can be an awesome thing to do. Or you can just again, like I've said, do it in your mind. Awesome thing to do. Or you can just again, like I've said, do it in your mind. So for me, the word faithful has a lot of connotations. It means I can trust whoever it is that's faithful. I can lean on them, I can know they're in my corner, I can know they have my back. I can hear them saying I got you, I got you, and so that's pretty special. And then, likewise you, I got you, and so that's pretty special. And then, likewise, the antithesis of faithfulness. I also have experience with that.

Speaker 2:

And, sad to say, I think we probably all do.

Speaker 1:

That is not who our God is. He is the very epitome, the very definition of faithful. I love that.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I love it too. When I think of faithful, I think of solid as a rock, unmoving, unchanging. He's there no matter what. There's no question about it. I don't have to wonder is he going to show? Is he going to be there? Faithful means always, and faithful means 100%, and faithful means secure. I love that word actually steadfast as well. I love those words.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so we're going to move on to the next word, but we're going to be sure to take the first couple of words with us, so kind of bring them along, and then we're going to go through step three again. Okay, so let's go back to that verse the faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. So we just did the faithful and now we're going to do love. We're going to talk about the word love, but we're going to be sure to bring along the faithful. So we've got the faithful love, and then we're going to ask those same questions what does it mean to you? What experience have you had with faithful love? What are synonyms of the words faithful love? How about antonyms? What thoughts come to mind? And then take notes if you need to.

Speaker 2:

So when I think of love, I think of people in my life that have loved me well, because that's the experience that I have. I think about people that have come alongside me in my life, who have cared for me, who have been there for me, who have helped me, who have picked me up when I've fallen over. I think about people like that. I think about friends that I grew up with. I think about friends that I have now. I think about people like that. I think about friends that I grew up with. I think about friends that I have now. I think about family members, and when I put them all together, that's perfect love. God's love is perfect. It never disappoints, it's never late, you know, it's never distracted or busy with anything else. Perfect love is God's love. So it helps me to think about all the people in my life that have loved me well, because that's my example. That's an experience. But then to go the next step God's love is perfect. It's perfect and that's amazing.

Speaker 1:

That's mind blowing for me, that is what fills that God shaped hole in my heart. My heart has eternity in it and I believe that's what he intends to go right there in that hole.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it feels so good. It feels so good to know that we can count on his love and that everything he does is driven by that. That feels good.

Speaker 1:

One of the things, too, that I didn't say when we were talking about faithful and really faithful love has got so many other aspects to it as well. You know, I don't have to earn it, right, I don't have to worry about losing it. It's faithful. Oh, that's so good, all right. So I just want to mention this the faithful love of the Lord. This word Lord, it's in all caps, in most Bibles, and I think that's significant enough to mention. When I was using Isaiah 41, 10 earlier, and I made a big deal out of I am and God's name being, I am this little capitalization when you have all capital letters for Lord, it means Yahweh or I am, and so I love, love, love, love, love. That you and I put together this information for this podcast and came out with the Lord, the great I am, is the subject of both of the verses we chose, and his love for us, his faithful love for us, never ends, never, no, not ever, ever, ever. What can we say about that?

Speaker 2:

Well, we can say that never means never, it's kind of like always, and really we can only use those words when we're talking about God, because he's the only 100%, he's the only one. So I love that and I was just going to jump into and say when I read the Lord in this verse, I immediately think of all the words that we use for praise fest. When we praise God, when we renew our minds by praising him for who he is and what he does for people, so I see the word the Lord and I think redeemer, and I think provider, and I think the lover of my soul, and I think my refuge, my strength, that all those words just kind of flood into my mind, because I love doing the praise fest and I do one every day. At some point in the day I'm doing one and so those words just come right into my mind. That's so incredibly comforting and powerful.

Speaker 2:

So what truth is God impressing on your heart through this verse today? That's what we want to ask ourselves. We get to the end of the verse and we're asking what's God saying to me and how might that truth that I have discovered connect in some way with my life right now? What is he speaking to my heart right now, today, in the circumstance that I'm in, and tomorrow it might be different, and it might've been different yesterday or a year ago or 10 years ago. This is what we're doing, is relevant for us right now, today. God is speaking to us right now, today.

Speaker 1:

And it's because his word is living and active, like we read in Hebrews 4.12. So I think that's awesome. Yes, so your assignment whether you choose to accept it, oh, listener is to take Lamentations 3.23 and do scripture word focus with it. You just continue the same process that we've been doing. But you know what? Wait a minute, is this mind renewal?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you know what? This is the best, best, best kind of mind renewal. Because what is mind renewal? It's thinking God's thoughts after him. It's asking him to fill our mind with his thoughts. And that's what it is. That's what happens. Our minds are basically washed. Sometimes we use the word wallpaper. You know we're going to wallpaper our minds with God's truth wallpaper. You know we're going to wallpaper our minds with God's truth. And that way, when those lies come in, when those messages come in into our minds from the world, from the enemy, from our own selves, we can then replace them with God's truth. And that's where we want to live. That's where we want to live with God's truth in our minds. And so here we are, meditating on God's very words from his beautiful love story book that he prepared for us ahead of time, knowing that we would need it so desperately. This is the best kind of mind renewal, and in Romans 12, 2, we read that mind renewal brings about transformation.

Speaker 1:

And who doesn't want that? You know, what I love is this takes God's word and instead of just reading with my eyes or even my mind, it gets to my soul, it gets to my heart, really down deep into it. It's my way of like eating God's word, it's like ingesting it. It really is. And Psalm 107, 19 and 20 says then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them from their distress. How did he do that? He sent out his word and healed them. He rescued them from the grave.

Speaker 1:

So if you are in distress, if you are feeling like you're just one foot in the grave because of the things you keep doing to yourself, the strongholds you keep giving into, this is one way of addressing that concern. And it's not just a bandaid. It really isn't, because while the world may say that you have an addiction or you have a bad habit, god says there's a stronghold. Let me heal you. I want my word to go forth into your life, into your heart, beyond just the thoughts of your mind, and deep down into you and heal you and rescue you from the grave.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that sounds amazing. Heidi shared that. Oh, and it's true that the faithful love of the Lord never ends. No, his mercies are new Every morning, new every morning, new every morning. They never, ever cease. 100% faithful love of God. That's how we want to end our podcast today. Yes, thank you Lord. Yes, thank you Lord, and we're so grateful that you've been here with us for this wonderful discussion and we hope that you'll visit us again for our next podcast of Revelation Within On the Go.

Speaker 2:

That was really sad sounding on the go, on, the go, on the go, on the go. Let's go.

Speaker 1:

We'll see you next time. Yes, have a great week and we will see you next time. Thanks for being here.

Speaker 2:

Bye for now.

People on this episode