Merciful God, shower mercy and blessings to this your child today. In Jesus' Name, amen.
It is said that some music has the power to take you immediately back to where you were when you first heard a particular song; you find yourself surrounded by the sights, sounds, smells, and people who were right there just as that song is playing. I have many of those but "Last Train to London" brings me always back to Highway 83 from Rio Grande City to Penitas, TX, on the night my wife went into labor with our first child, Nellie. It's funny because the chorus says, "I really want this night to last forever," and I know that was the last thing my wife wanted! It turned out it almost did - twenty-two hours of labor and a decision to deliver our baby through C-section.
The letter of James in chapter one, verses 21-24, the author speaks of "the implanted word" and the power that word has to "save our souls." That begs the question, does The Bible play a part of our life's "soundtrack?" Have we allowed sermons, or books on the Bible have a place in our lives. Have we allowed God's Word to play a part in helping us make the right choices and live in the right way as the first part of that verse says? Is the Word of God truly "implanted" in us? Is it at least like a contact lense that helps us better see life?
We are a blessed people to have ready and easy access to God's Holy Word. We can walk into any bookstore, at any time, and buy a new Bible. Not all people on the face of this earth do. Some are hungry for the Word and cannot obtain a copy for themselves. We leave ours unattended and unread, and we panic as we face some of life's hard challenges because we have not rooted and grounded ourselves in the Word, in other words, we have not allowed the word to be implanted in our souls. And that puts our very soul in peril of being lost.
Below this devotion appears the text for today. Your reading that will allow you to have at least a few verses to fuel up for this day. And on days this devotion doesn't appear, use your own Bible. Let the Word truly be implanted in you today.
PRAYER: Loving God of the Word, implant Your love in my heart today. Let me love myself in the right way and let me love others in the same way. Above all, let me love You as I should. May Your Word be implanted in my soul so that as I face today and the surprises, blessings, and challenges come, I will know just what to say. I ask this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
Here is that text: "Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing .
STUDY GUIDE: James 1:21-23 speaks of what should happen as we hear the Word of God. Please find, read, and allow that passage to sink into your heart.
