Your Daily Bread

By: Jenifer Metzger

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 NIV

If you are following along with the W2W Bible reading plan, today we started the book of Joshua. I love this book! I love reading how Joshua took over for Moses and led the Israelites to the Promised Land. I love how the Lord tells him to be strong and courageous. But most of all, I love verse 8.

In verse 8, the Lord is charging Joshua to keep the Book of the Law, the Bible. He tells Joshua to mediate on it and to do all it commands. He promises prosperity and success if Joshua first follows this command.

Too often we think of our Bible as our Sunday morning church accessory. We carry our big book to church or tap open our Bible app for service. Then we go home and place our Bible on the shelf or close our app and that is it, until next week.

Joshua 1:8 tells us to keep the Bible always on our lips. We need to be reading the Bible regularly. I love the quote that says, "The Bible is our daily bread, not cake for special occasions." The Bible is something we should be consuming each day. Just like we need food and water every single day for our physical being, we need the Bible every single day for our spiritual being.

The verse then tells us to meditate on it day and night. Not only should we be reading the Bible daily but we need to think on it, study it, pray over it. We should be seeking God on what we read and what it means. We need to ask God how He wants us to apply what we are reading to our daily life.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so
deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone
who listens to the word but does not do what
it says is like someone who looks at his face in
a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes
away and immediately forgets what he looks
like. But whoever looks intently into the
perfect law that gives freedom, and continues
in it—not forgetting what they have heard,
but doing it—they will be blessed in what they
do. And finally the verse tells us to carefully
do all it commands.

James 1:22-25

And finally, Joshua 1:8 tells us to be careful to do everything written in the Word. James 1 tells us that we should be doers, not just hearers. Reading the Word alone is not enough. We must obey the Bible. Think of leaving a note of instruction for your child. If they read it but don't do what you said, they have disobeyed and there are consequences. The same is with the Bible, we cannot just read, we must also obey.

I know we are all busy women. We could sit and compare daily planners but we don't have the time! Sister, let me ask you this, are you willing to disobey this command of God's? Are you willing to be lackadaisical with something this important?

The Bible should be an intentional part of your day. It should be the part you look forward to the most. Maybe you don't have time to sit with a lit candle and steaming mug of coffee for an hour in the morning. But could you open your Bible for two or three verses while you eat breakfast? Could you leave your Bible open and read a few more verses while you wait for the sink to fill with sudsy water? Could you meditate on the verses while you fold a load of laundry? Could you pray over the verses as you drive to work? Could you return to the open Bible for a couple more verses as you stir the pot of spaghetti? Could you listen to the Bible audio through your ear buds as you walk the dog? And could you finish the day with yet a couple more verses?

There is time in the day. We just have to be intentional. We have to look for those pockets of time. We have to remember that God is the Author of Time and when we give back what already belongs to Him, He will honor that. When we fill our soul with the food it so desperately longs for, we are filled up to a beautiful satisfaction, yet left yearning for more of this savory food. The Bible is your Daily Bread. Feed your spirit what it hungers for.

It's time for Share A Link Wednesday! Each Wednesday we invite you to leave a link to your latest blog post in the comments. We still desire to connect women of God with one another and encourage each other in Christ. So grab a cup of coffee or glass of sweet tea, sit back and visit a few blogs. Be encouraged and share your own stories.