Words to Live By

But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. James 1:25 (NASB) Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge; for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, that they may be ready on your lips. So that your trust may be in the LORD, I have taught you today, even you. Have I not written to you excellent things of counsels and knowledge, to make you know the certainty of the words of truth that you may correctly answer him who sent you? Prov 22:17-21 (NASB) I know I have been inconsistent on here, but there has been a reason for it - although I'm only just now really articulating it. You see, I was falling into a bit of a bad habit. Instead of really studying and interacting with the Lord on these verses, when a verse stood out to me I began plotting in my mind how that would write up on the blog! It wasn't a daily battle, but it was more frequent than I cared to admit. It's not about writing on here. It's about conforming this selfish, hardened life of mine into something that looks more and more like Christ. So, I've been trying to refocus. Trying to just have my time with Him without a thought of the blog, and then go back through my notes to see if anything jumps out to post on here. And believe it or not, this all goes with the passages for today. The precious, amazing, incredible, personal Word of God is not just for me to spout to satisfy my love for writing. It is for me to read, learn, memorize, apply, carry with me, and live by. I must, without excuse, stay in the Word of God. It must be a part of me. It must be what I continually lean on and rely on. If I don't live what I write in my journal and type into these blog posts, then the words in the Bible are just words rather than being the living, breathing Word of God in me. I have so much growing left to do. The only way I can do it is to stay firmly in the Word, not just reading and learning, but applying and doing!