Matthew 7:24-27 Where’s your house?
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: February 15, 2019, Matthew 7:24-27
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
(Understanding the Text) I guess this is the blessing and cursing at the end of the sermon. If we follow the beatitudes to become part of the kingdom of heaven, if we understand and practice true righteousness rather than outward compliance, if we acknowledge God’s sovereignty over every aspect of our lives, if we practice mercy even with our enemies, if we pray and look to heaven as our destination and reward rather than to the world’s treasures, if we trust God to take care of us, we will be able to withstand the worst storms of life. If we believe that God wants to give us only good, if we do not judge ourselves by a different standard than we judge others and treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated, we will be able to stand strong in the storm. If we look for fruit in others and so are warned of the wolves in sheep’s clothing and follow the leading of the Lord through the narrow gate, we will not fall but be warned of the storm.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) This is saying that when we hear Jesus’ words and incorporate them into our lives rather than letting them pass out of our hearts after we have heard them, we will have the strength to stand in any storm of life. However, if we hear Jesus’ words and let them flow past us without incorporating them into our life, we will have no strength to stand when the trials come. Jesus does not promise an easy life. In fact, this is basically a promise that life will batter us. The key is that life will batter us whether we are protected or not. Jesus wants to protect us so that when we are attacked by life, we will not be broken to bits. Sometimes, we blame God for the storms. The fact is that we live in a world of storms that will come eventually, sometimes frequently and sometimes not, but they will come. Jesus came to teach us how to connect to the One who could provide us protection from the storms so that when they batter us, we do not break. The war rages around us, but Jesus living in us protects us.
(Application) I used to have a problem with this passage because I understood the idea of “do them” as outward obedience to rules rather than inward changes of heart. The beatitudes were gibberish to me, the commandments as Jesus gave them were impossibilities; prayer was empty, and giving to the needy was a luxury rather than an integral part of life. I knew that I did not measure up and could never measure up never realizing that I was so focused on outward compliance that I missed accepting Jesus’ message of inward transformation. I knew that I could never live up to the standard, so I gave up on the standard and only paid it lip service. I fell under the storms again and again.
(Prayer) I need You to be living in me and my life. I want You in every part of me. I pray for the strength to deal with the storms and to know how to help others to be strong in the storms that sweep into their lives.