Personalize God’s Word to Change Your Life

Personalize God’s Word to Change Your Life

BY RICK WARREN — OCTOBER 12, 2014

25910

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”(Philippians 1:6 NLT)

God’s Word will never change your life until you let it become personal. It’s not about your neighbor, your friend, your spouse, or the stranger down the street. God’s Word must be applied to your life. The Bible won’t become dynamic until it becomes specific.

How do you make God’s Word personal? Try the personalize-it method of Bible meditation. Anybody can do it! You don’t need any special tools or advanced theological training.

You simply put your name in the place of pronouns or nouns in Scripture. For example, if I were personalizing John 3:16, I’d write something like this: “For God so loved Rick that he gave his one and only Son, that Rick would not perish but have everlasting life.”

Or, for Philippians 1:6: “He who began a good work in Rick Warren will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Put your name in the text, and you’ll strengthen your faith and encourage yourself.

You can also re-write the verse as if God is talking directly to you. For example, Philippians 1:6 would be: “I, who began a good work in you, Rick, will carry it on to completion.”

Do this, and many passages of Scripture will literally bring tears to your eyes. You’ll start to read the Bible as God’s love letter to you. It’ll be God’s gift to you! Reading your Bible isn’t just about getting to know the content of the Word; it’s also about getting to know the author of the Word personally!

Talk It Over

• Have you ever thought about the Bible as a love letter to you? How do you treat a love letter from your spouse or partner?
• How does your life change when you believe that God wrote the Bible just for you? What does it look like when you treat the Bible and your quiet time with God as a personal conversation and lesson for life?
• How will you personalize what you’re reading from God’s Word today?
• PS... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33aGaYAZvL4

He Increases Your Strength

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:

He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound].
Isaiah 40:29, AMP

TODAY'S WORD:

In the Bible, Joseph went through seasons of difficulty. He was rejected by his family, sold into slavery, lied about, mistreated, abandoned, falsely accused and thrown in jail. But through it all, Joseph never gave up. He kept pressing through and doing the right thing even though the wrong thing kept happening. The Bible says in Psalm 105 verse 18 that as Joseph lay in prison in those chains of iron, his soul entered into that iron. In other words, as Joseph just kept on fighting life through, his soul became as strong as that steel. God developed a supernatural strength in him that no one could take away.

If you are going through difficulty today, God wants to increase your strength. He wants to increase your power to overcome. He wants to make your inner man as strong as steel. When you keep standing, keep believing, keep doing the right thing, you are opening yourself to God’s supernatural strength. That’s when you know you are growing in Him. Be strong today. Keep pressing forward because God is at work increasing strength in you so that you can live in victory in every area of your life!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Father in heaven, today I surrender every difficulty to You. I release the questions, hurts and frustrations. I choose to trust You and do the right thing. Increase Your strength in me so that I can live in the victory You have in store for me in Jesus’ name. Amen.