Words to Live By

“Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees…. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.” – Psalm 119:12-14

My parents bought me my first study Bible about 35 years ago. I still use it to this day when I’m preparing sermons. And as I turned to Psalm 119 this past week, I saw a lot of notes in the margins from at least 10, possibly 20 years ago. Next to verses 12 -14, I wrote this question: “Do I ask God to teach me His laws, and do I rejoice and delight in following them?”

 

Good question. I wish I could tell you that in the years since I wrote this question in the margin, I have done this without fail. But I haven’t. Like you, I have read God’s Word many times without first praying, “God, please teach me what You want to teach me.” And so many times after I’ve finished reading from the Bible, listening to a sermon or attending a Bible study, I have forgotten to rejoice in what God has taught me, and I haven’t delighted in doing what He has taught me to do.

 

I don’t know about you, but I want that to change this year. And I invite you to join me. Late January may seem a little late for resolutions … but it’s NOT too late to begin making God’s teaching a priority in our lives.

 

The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, “As it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him’—but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.” So, how does the Holy Spirit reveal to us what God has prepared for those who love Him? He reveals it in His Word. If you prayerfully seek God with your whole heart and walk in His ways this year, I promise you: You will see what most people can’t see; you will hear what most people can’t hear; and you will understand what most people can’t understand.

 

I’d like to share with you 3 important steps for keeping God’s Word a top priority in 2025:

 

Step #1: Prayerfully read God’s Word every day. Many Christians across our nation are reading the whole Bible in 2025. If you’d like to set this as a goal for yourself or, better yet, your family, I highly recommend it! If you’re short on time for reading, the YouVersion Bible app offers audio versions of the whole Bible in multiple translations.

 

Step #2: Prayerfully memorize one Bible verse every week. If you go online, you can find several lists of the best 52 Bible verses to memorize in a year. Although we’re halfway through January, I encourage you to begin doing this today. Fifty verses are far better than zero!

 

Step #3: Prayerfully study God’s Word with your church family every week. In Acts 2:42, we’re told what the top four priorities were for the first Christian Church in Jerusalem. Guess what was at the top of the list? “Teaching.” At Impact, we keep it at the top of our list as well. I encourage you to study God’s Word with your church family every Sunday this year.

 

Would you join me in prayerfully reading God’s Word every day, prayerfully memorizing God’s Word every week, and prayerfully studying God’s Word with your church family every week? I hope and pray that you will.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church in Victorville. Join us at Impact for Sunday services: in person at 9 a.m., or online at 10 a.m. on YouTube or Facebook. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

Spiritual U-Turns in Prayer

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” – Isaiah 55:8-9

David thought he’d really had it this time. He was running for his life from his own son, Absalom, who was leading a coup to overthrow David. So what did he do? He turned to God–but not, at first, in the way we might expect.

In the first two verses of Psalm 3, David writes, “Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him.’” David sounds overwhelmed and scared. He feels surrounded by his enemies, he hears his critics saying, “God will not deliver him”—and David seems to be thinking that maybe they’re right. Maybe God won’t save him this time.

Sounds like a strange prayer from a man after God’s own heart, doesn’t it? So tell me: Is David sinning in these first two verses? Is it a sin for him to be afraid, to wonder if the pessimists around him are right? I don’t think so. But his perspective needs to turn. His faith in God needs to be strengthened. You could even say David needs to repent.

That may seem like an odd choice of words. But you see, most of us have a very narrow understanding of repentance. We may tend to toss up a prayer that sounds something like this: “Lord, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Forgive me! Forgive me! Forgive me! In Jesus’ name, amen!” Well, nice try … but that’s not repentance.

The word “repent” means to change your mind, and it always leads to a change in your behavior. So, whenever you think of the word “repent,” immediately think, “change.” True repentance involves a change in your thinking. A change in your priorities. A change in your decision-making. And that adds up to a change in your behavior. To say it another way, repentance is a turning. When we repent, our thoughts turn from something old to something new. As a result, our behavior turns from one course of action to another. That’s why I like to describe repentance as a spiritual U-turn. Repentance is a 180 – a spiritual U-turn that always includes a turning FROM and a turning TO.

Now, let’s get back to David. As he prays in Psalm 3, notice the change that happens in verses 3 and 4: “But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain.”

Do you see how prayer changes David? He goes to God with his finite thoughts and his finite ways, then takes hold of God’s higher thoughts and God’s higher ways, and it’s absolutely transformational. In the words given to us through the prophet Isaiah: “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” 

You see, true repentance arises from a deep-seated conviction that God’s thoughts are always higher than our thoughts, and His ways are always higher than our ways. So, from a broader perspective, repentance is not just for the times when we sin and turn to God for forgiveness. As we go to God in prayer, whether or not there is unconfessed sin in our lives, repentance is a re-aligning of our priorities with God’s priorities, a re-aligning of our ways with God’s ways. And isn’t this, in a very real sense, the heart of prayer?

There are certain things God will not do unless we pray for Him to do them. So our prayers do move God, and prayers do change God’s actions. But even more so, prayer changes US. We go into prayer thinking one way, and we should leave prayer thinking another. Effective prayer changes our thoughts. We go into prayer behaving a certain way, and we should leave prayer behaving differently. Effective prayer changes our behavior.

Prayer changed David. And it will change you, too, if you are absolutely convinced the God’s thoughts are higher than your thoughts, and His ways are higher than yours. So, go to Him humbly in prayer. Confess your sins to him. Grieve over your sin, and turn. If you are ready for God to change you, He will change you … for the better. That’s a promise.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.