DEVOTIONAL DIRECTIVES

“And David said...I cannot go with these [Saul’s armour]...And David put them off him.”

(1 Sam. 17:39)

The song says, “Dare to be a Daniel.” How about, “Dare to be a David?” The leader, Saul, tried to get David to do things the way he did: the accepted way, the norm. But David was not comfortable doing things that confined and limited his life, that voided his liberty.

Many well meaning leaders attempt to dictate how other Christians should have their devotions. In my sixty-plus years of ministry I do not know of a subject I have given more time to in study than the saint's devotional life, the exception being the Life of our Lord.

I once heard it said every believer should read his or her Bible three times a year. How foolish to tell a new mother this, or a man who works a twelve hour day with a family, etc. In these instances it is wrong to teach one to exceed their grasp. Legalism is its end!

It is not how many times we go through the Bible, but how many times the Bible goes through us. I held a meeting for a pastor that boasted he’d gone through the Word seventy-eight times. Soon after I heard he had left his wife for another woman.

I like the story about the eating of the Manna as found in Ex. 16:18, “He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.” EAT TILL YOU’RE SATISFIED! That is, full. This was Jesus’ way (Lk. 9:17).