June 19 B book we become attached to God. Now for the Devour Scripture visual of the day. Remember we had girding the Ezekiel 3:1-3 (NLT) loins of our mind for the first week and the railroad crossing for last week. Today we continue to talk about learning more about God and our relationship with Him. Spiritual Ready for this weeks, visual!! growth is a process that every Christian should Let's talk about a passage referring to eating in a engage in throughout their lives. It is a continual most unusual way. We are going to consider the process drawing us closer and closer to God. spiritual food God provides in the Scriptures. We Today we are going to focus on how the Bible are going to look into some ways to eat food for contributes to our Spiritual growth. Let me start our soul. It's no different than with food on the with a few stories about how important the Bible table! If you wholeheartedly want to grow strong will become in our lives as we seek God more fully spirituality. We must find our sustenance in God's in our lives. Word. A note from a 15 year old who loves her time with Ezekiel 3 The voice said to me, “Son of man, eat God in Scripture, "Sometimes I hold it in my hand what I am giving you—eat this scroll! Then go and and feel the wonder that it is the very word of the give its message to the people of Israel.” 2 So I Maker of the universe. Amazing." opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. 3 “Fill your stomach with this,” he said. And when I ate it, Dr. Ellsworth Kalas in Course of Study sent us the it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. syllabus for his class on the Old Testament. The book list included only one book the Bible. The Let’s begin by looking at the story of Ezekiel and reading assignment was "read it daily until we get the vision he receives that has him told by God to to class". Dr. Kalas would sit with eyes closed and eat the scroll which contained the Word of God. rub the covers of his Bible as he taught without The obedient Ezekiel does as he is instructed by any notes! Amazing. God. Ezekiel eats God’s message and found this spiritual food not only good for him, but also sweet I love my Youversion Bible on my phone. It comes as honey. And what we want to see is that if you in very handy and I often find myself out and about “digest” God’s Word, you will find that not only and not having to carry an arm load of books. But does it make you stronger in your faith, but its there wisdom also sweetens your life. You need to feed yourself spiritually just as you do physically. This The Bible can seem pretty intimidating if you’ve means doing more than simply giving God’s read it infrequently —lots of “thee’s” and “thou’s.” message a casual glance. To begin devouring the A lot of contexts, commands and critiques that Word you must open your mouth, take the food in, often don't seem to make sense when we first chew it, swallow it, and even digest it. And this read them. But here are some things to consider. needs to become a regular part of your life. The Bible tells us the truth of who God is and why “Eating the Bible” may sound strange to us, yet we need to be obedient to His words. For those God gave us His Word to be our spiritual food. So who are obedient they will begin to live into the His though we may read and study God’s Word, if we promises found in this book. More importantly, if don’t eat it for growth, we’ll be spiritually hungry you want to know God, reading the Bible needs to and, as a result, weak in our Christian life. When become a practice which will evolve into a passion we begin eating the Word, our eyes see the letters for your life. It does so because it unlocks the on the page. Our mind then must exercise the close relationship God offers and desires with effort to form the structure of the text and each of us. God’s word—the Bible—is the primary determine the meaning. Our emotions are way He speaks to us. It’s the absolute best way to involved as we discover the plot of what we are discover how to follow Jesus on a daily basis. reading. So our entire self, heart, mind and body engage and all this exercise feeds our soul and So today's main point is that we need to become offers the nutrients, ingredients needed to attached to this book --- because through this strengthen our soul! Eat and ate show us the theme here. But what There is an internalization of the Scripture that about the words "He fed me" in verse 2? Reading goes beyond the physical effect of your eyes this I discovered this promise from God. If I pick viewing the characters and words on the page. up the scroll, the Bible - if I make the time to open Goes beyond your mind interpreting those words and begin to read - God will feed me!!!!! God and forming them into sentences and constructing wants me to eat this book so that I become thoughts about the meaning - the theme of these spiritually strong. sentences. These thoughts lead us to emotional responses to what we are reading about and this opens our soul to the transformative work of the 3. Personalize it - Replace pronouns or Spirit possible each time we sit and open this book people in the verse with your own name. knowing that what it contains is amazing for our lives. Ezekiel 3 The voice said JEFF, “Son of man, eat what I am giving you—eat this scroll JEFF! Then We come to know God loves us - wrote this book go and give its message to the people of so that we could love Him in return. And that Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and GOD fed me promise is for anyone who will spend time - the scroll. 3 MY STOMACH WAS FILLED with reading and thinking about and eating or this. And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey mediating on His Word. in my mouth. So how do we do this??? How about a few examples of what you can do with Scripture to 4. Pray it - Turn the verse into a prayer and take it into yourself for nourishment. say it back to God. FOUR WAYS TO EAT A VERSE: Ezekiel 3 1. Picture it - Visualize the scene in your Loving God thank you for the scroll, my Bible. mind. Thank you for being willing to feed it to me. To nurture by growth as my parents did when I Ezekiel 3 The voice said to me, “Son of man, eat was a child. Help me to realize the affect of what I am giving you—eat this scroll! Then go and this eating will be sweet as your wisdom give its message to the people of Israel.” 2 So I shapes my life. Then allow me to go and share opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. 3 “Fill the message you have given me. Thank you your stomach with this,” he said. And when I ate it, for loving me that much God. AMEN it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. Pick one of those and apply it to this verse: What do you see in this passage. What does the scroll look like. Can you picture Ezekial? How about the look on his face as he eats the scroll and then finds it sweet? 2. Pronounce it - Say the verse aloud, each time emphasizing a different word. Ezekiel 3 The voice said to me, “Son of man, eat what I am giving you—eat this scroll! Then go and give its message to the people of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. 3 “Fill your stomach with this,” he said. And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. .