Hi Dear Friends,

This week is the first full week of 2013 and while reading this devotion written by Rick Renner I felt impressed to share it with you. At the turn of each year is a great time to recommit to the Lord.

So many of us have knowledge of the Word and can easily fall into boredom or assume that we understand and know more than we really do. This attitude (which at times I have been guilty of) can set us up for becoming apathetic, bored or taking things for granted.

Now some of you make take exception to that comment but let me explain a little further. We may have heard the same teaching or Christian principles taught over and over and yet they aren’t functioning in our life. And why would that be? Well, possibly, we have become too “familiar” with “Christianese” and not earnestly sought out or meditated on the Word. Maybe what we already know hasn’t been put into practice. And, perhaps we have not allowed the Holy Spirit to bring us into maturity in Christ.

Likewise, that complacency can lead to a spiritual boredom in our lives. So I hope you will be blessed by this excerpt from the Sparking Gems book for January 7th. God bless you as you read this and I pray that all of us will commit to being used of the Lord in 2013 more than ever before! God bless — Sharon

How to Remedy Spiritual Boredom in Your Life!

By Rick Renner

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” — James 1:22

Do you ever get bored with church or with your spiritual life? If you say, “Yes, I get bored with my spiritual life all the time,” I want to help you understand the root of that spiritual boredom.

There is one primary reason why people get spiritually bored. It is very simple: Knowledge without application eventually becomes boring and unfulfilling — every time.

If all you do is sit and listen, listen, and listen to the Word without ever taking steps to apply it to your life, you’ll soon reach a place where you’ve heard, heard, and heard so much of the Word that you are sick of hearing it! Instead of anticipating what you might receive from the Lord, you’ll think, Oh, no, another sermon!

But the problem isn’t the Word! God’s Word was meant to be acted on. So if you just sit and listen to more and more sermons, gathering more and more information but never acting on what you’ve heard, you’ll eventually become so oversaturated that you won’t want to hear any more!

If this describes you, it is likely that you are tired of hearing the same ol’ Word over and over again. You probably wish someone would come along to preach or teach you something that you’ve never heard before. You might even find yourself roaming from church to church, seeking someone or something to spice up your spiritual life. However, the problem is not the church, your pastor, or the kind of preaching you are hearing. The problem is you!

You are bored because you’re not doing the Word that you’ve heard preached. Let me tell you the truth: If you will simply do what you have already been told to do, you won’t have time to be bored!

Applying the Word you already know will necessitate that you have a serious prayer life. It will require great discipline; it will demand that you learn to crucify your flesh. In fact, walking in the kind of obedience that God expects of you will take every ounce of your focus. You’ll be so busy trying to obey what you’ve already heard preached that you’ll never have a moment to be bored!

This is why James 1:22 tells us: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” Notice especially the words “hearers only” in the verse above. These words are taken from the Greek word akroates, which was used in classical Greek times to describe people who audited a class rather than taking it for credit.

In other words, these people didn’t attend the class to receive credit for the course. They were simply there to hear the lecture, think about what was taught, and then later discuss it with their friends. But they had no intention of actually applying what they heard!

In addition to being intellectually stimulating, these lectures could be quite entertaining. So these “hearers only” would roam from meeting to meeting because they loved special speakers and the excitement of hearing something they hadn’t heard before. Sometimes they followed their favorite speakers from city to city.

Although the “hearers only” had no intention of applying anything they heard, they loved to gather new information that made them look knowledgeable in the eyes of other people. It was their delight to attend meetings in order to be with the crowd, to have a good laugh, or simply to hear something new. But they never put any action to what they heard, because they were “hearers only.” They weren’t listening to the messages they heard to get credit for it, but simply to have a good time!

This means James 1:22 conveys this idea:

“Don’t be like those who attend meetings and listen to sermons for the sole purpose of being with the crowd or of gathering information that makes them look smart in other people’s eyes….”

Since this is the background to the phrase “hearers only” used in James 1:22, we must take a good look at ourselves and ask:

* Am I serious about the Word of God and its application in my life?

* Or am I simply an “auditor” who has no intention of doing the Word?

* Am I doing something with the Word I’ve heard preached, or am I among those who hear the Word but do not act on what they have heard?

* Does God consider me to be a hearer or a doer of the Word?

The fact is, many people attend church regularly, go to special meetings, read books, listen to teaching tapes, and watch nonstop Christian television. They’ve seen a lot, heard a lot, and they really do know a lot — yet they do nothing with what they have heard. That’s why they eventually become bored with spiritual matters. They haven’t acted on what they’ve heard or put into practice the information they’ve gathered; therefore, they’ve become over-saturated and spiritually numb.

Don’t let this happen to you. Make the decision to be a “doer of the Word and not a hearer only.” Receive deep into your heart the truths you’ve heard preached over the years and let them begin to work in your life. You can be sure of this one thing: If you determine to obey every scriptural truth that’s ever been preached to you, you’ll never have time to become spiritually bored again!

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, I ask You to help me become a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. Forgive me for the times I’ve heard the Word of God preached in power and even said “Amen” to the message, yet failed to walk out the truth I heard or to make it a part of my life. Starting today, I make the decision to be a doer of the Word of God. Holy Spirit, give me the strength and divine energy I need to take the Word I hear or read and put it into practice in my life!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY

I declare that I am a doer of the Word of God. I am among those who hear the Word and immediately apply it to their lives. I experience the power of God’s Spirit in my life because of my obedience to walk in what God has revealed to me.

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER:

1. Be honest! Have you been “spiritually bored” recently?

2. If Jesus were to ask you the reason for your boredom, what would you tell Him?

3. Make a list of steps you could take to eliminate spiritual boredom from your life.

(from Sparkling Gems from the Greek, © 2003 by Rick Renner. Used by permission. All rights reserved.)

Hi – me again (Sharon) – listen to this awesome song called “Light the Fire Again”. I believe this is the cry of many hearts today. Let’s pursue God with a greater passion and dedication this year – this is our time to be alive and make a difference in the Earth for Christ! God bless you as you are set on fire for Christ and win souls for the Kingdom. You are loved!

Listen to “Light the Fire Again” by Brian Doerksen:

Call the Morningside Prayer Center whenever you need prayer. (417)779-4673