“Fire goes out without wood, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops. A quarrelsome person starts fights as easily as hot embers light charcoal or fire lights wood.”

1. October 2014
Dear Fellow Servants,
In this season of harvest and Thanksgiving, there are so many blessings that the Lord has brought into our lives that it would be good to pause and acknowledge this fact. I would like you to consider just one of those blessings today, the blessing of… the Word of God. That’s right, the Bible, our manual for life and God’s special and inspired message to each one of us. We take it for granted because it is so common in our country, but it is the one thing believers worldwide in the Persecuted Church covet the most, more so than even their freedom. They crave this message, as it says in Job 23:12:
“I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth more than
My portion of food.”
It is a constant prayer that I make for both myself and all of you: that we would hunger and thirst for the Word of God continually. It is the reason I have had us delving into various Scripture reading plans church wide for this past year (which will continue). I want us to be in the Word of God daily, with no exceptions.
If you are one of those who struggle with reading the Bible because you can’t understand so much of it, please take heart. You do not need a seminary education to gain insight from God’s Word. You need only to be faithful to read and study it. There is a key, however, to unlocking its message. You must allow the Holy Spirit, the author of the Bible, to be your teacher. Something I do every single morning as I open the Scriptures to start my devotions is to pray a prayer from Psalm 119:18:
“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous
things out of Your Law.”
I would also recommend taking up the promise God made to Jeremiah and applying it to you. That promise is found in Jeremiah 33:3:
“Call to Me and I will answer you, and will tell you
great and hidden things that you have not known.”
Lastly, I would say that getting more of the Word of God into your life is primarily a shift in attitude. If your desire for it is there, God will certainly deliver. If desire on your part is lacking, why not go to the Lord in prayer and simply ask Him to create hunger for the Scriptures. I believe that is where Job was and why he could say what he said in Job 23:12 in the midst of all his suffering.
So, give thanks this season for all of God’s wonderful blessings, but especially for the blessing of His matchless Word!
Your fellow servant,
Pastor Brian