Impress the Word

These past few days have been fantastic. It has been an opportunity to meet and share with others, have great quality time with Erin, eat some great food but even more importantly get some spiritual food.

Dave Patty, the JV CEO, has been walking us through a series on Roots: The Fatherhood of God. The focus has been on parenting kids and spiritual kids, which has application for everyone here since it is Family Conference and everyone here works with youth and young adults.

The other day, the topic was Impress - the family way of instruction. I thought I'd share some of this as it really challenged me to stand up and take some action.

First off, Impress comes from the word "Echad" which means sharp or sharpen. If we are going to impact our families and others, we truly do need to be sharp as the message and outcome needs to leave a very lasting impression.

Dave shared out of Deuteronomy 6 and it wasn't really until I went back and reread it today that it home.

We were able to take some time today and consider applications for what we have learned. I began my time by asking myself "what can I do"?

A few verses in advance of the passages that Dave shared on, Moses wrote that the purpose for this scripture was for him to share the commands, decrees and laws that God directed to us for living a long life.

Moses shared, "Hear O Israel, be careful to obey so you may increase greatly, in a land of milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your Father promised you." The command was simple. OBEY! What resonated deepest though was why...to increase DEEPLY. Further in the chapter Moses added that these commands (decrees, laws) are to on our heart and we are to impress (sharpen) them on our children (I extrapolate that to all God's people).

The word says we are to talk about it...when we sit, walk, lay down and get up...guess that really means anytime but when we are sleeping. The word says we are to tie/bind it to us. It adds to tie it to our hands, which we use the most. Lastly it calls for us to write. Where? On the door frames and gates. So this means write it in the places where we are most comfortable.

So after chewing on this some, I had to ask myself the question "what is preventing me"?

I came up with fear, lack of knowledge and understanding of the scriptures, lack or preparation, lack of being intentional, time and desires (that is me filling life with all the other things I love to do).

After pondering that some time, I thought "what do I need to do to change it"?

I need to commit. I need to make certain these things are on my heart.

I need to give God the First Fruits of my time, not the leftovers or what I fit into the rest of the day. I need to get deeper into the word, to study it, work to understand it and not just read it. Kind of like the old cliche, you can be a mile wide and and inch deep or an inch wide and a mile deep.

Another conclusion I reched is that I believe I need to sacrifice something in my life to do this. Not a sacrifice made to deprive myself of something I enjoy but out of obedience and love. By giving up something with meaning to me, it then gives more meaning to what I am doing.

The final action for me is to continue to write. This outward expression "The Experiment" is written for me but I hope it touches you too. We never really know the full impact our words can have.

My heart desires the the kingdom increased greatly. We each have our place.

My prayer is that I will seek Him, hear Him and obey Him. May you seek God and fulfill your calling. May He continue to bless us all richly!