Quiet time, Honduran style

The Lord spoke in all kinds of ways and means during my week in Honduras, but this was my favorite place.

I would jump out of bed as soon as I woke up and it was light out (usually about 5am), take my iPod, Bible and journal and have some good quiet time in a hammock before the day began. I'm thankful one of my teammates snapped of a picture of me there.

Here are a series of verses the Lord gave me to meditate on throughout the week:

Revelation 22:17:
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.

John 4:10 & 13-14:
Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water... Those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life."

John 7:37-39:
"Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)

From Misty Edwards, Lovesick:
Happy am I to live a hungry life
And blessed am I to thirst
My desire for you is my gift within
And I am blessed, I am blessed among men!

Bible people

I'm starting to notice a subtle, yet distinct dichotomy in the types of people that study the Bible. There are people who read the Bible seeking to find truth, and there are people who read the Bible looking to prove what they already believe. The dangerous thing that the prior is very difficult and the latter is very easy.

It's been said that you can use the Bible to argue anything. It's true. This is why I don't like what I call "acrobat" Bible studies, when a person speaks on a topic and has you flip flop through your Bible to catch wayward sentences that may relate to that subject (or not). Satan used scripture in the temptation of Christ. The word of God is a sword, and it can be used quite violently. From the law of Moses until now, the scriptures have been used by religious people wielding it recklessly and for their own power.

But the word of God is a double edged sword. I don't really know what that means in context, but here's how I'm going to use it. :) There's the prior use for the sword as I mentioned earlier. But the Bible is the truth of God, and I have this vision of a lost person cutting through dense overgrowth to find their way back to the path. Kind of an image of one of the seeds in Luke 8. You don't know what you're going to find as you continue on, but each step is progress.

The Bible is all about paradox. Weak and strong, humble yet exalted, sinner but saved. I think this is another one. One of the most evil things is to twist the word of God into your own creation; that is pure blasphemy. But one of the most beautiful things is to find a ray of truth that you know would never come from a source of this world.

We hold the same book in our hands, but every one will choose how they're going to approach it.

God, open our hearts. Empty us of ourselves. Show us your truth.