Luke 6:46-49 The Flood Rose
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: July 22, 2018 Luke 6:46-49
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.
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
(Understanding the Text) Jesus is talking to many of His disciples (not just the twelve) here. He is accusing them of not following His instructions. His instructions throughout Luke 6 have been about learning to live like the kingdom of heaven. Jesus has been telling them to love their enemies, give more than what has been demanded, put self aside and promote good for evil, to forgive and give, to not judge others, and to examine themselves to see if they are blind to their own faults. He has told them to love each other. Now, Jesus is saying that His followers claim to listen to Him as the great teacher, but they ignore His teachings.
(Revelation of God / Application) Jesus does not promise a sweet life if we incorporate His teachings into our lives. He knows that we live in a warzone and will be attacked. Instead, He tells us how to survive spiritually here on earth. He knows that He cannot yet rescue us from this sinful world, so instead, He gives us the tools that we need to not only survive, but win the battle. He tells us that we have to have a strong foundation because we will be pushed and pulled and surrounded with wrongness that will try to pull us down. If we have that strong foundation, the forces around us will not be able to bring about the collapse of our faith, but if we do not have that foundation, in other words, if we have not taken Jesus’ words and incorporated them into our way of life, we will not be able to meet the forces of this world that seem to overwhelm us. We will simply let go of our faith and be swept away into the vanity of this world which will ultimately lead to our destruction.
(Application) It is not enough to simply hear the word of God and assent. We must incorporate the words into our lives. We must do them. We must live them. We must understand and enact them. Again, what are we doing? Loving our enemies, returning good for evil, not judging, examining ourselves, offering more than was demanded of us, lending freely with no expectation of receiving anything back, treating others as we want to be treated, forgiving the wrongs done to us, examining ourselves to see if we have blind spots, and treasuring Jesus and His words.
(Application / Prayer) My application to myself is that Jesus is talking to me in these verses since I also call Him Lord. He is asking me to follow His words. Jesus is asking me to trust Him enough to act in ways that open myself up to hurt and pain. Jesus is asking me to be a warrior who fights evil by not reacting in kind. He is asking me to give up my self-righteousness and my sinfully natural responses to being attacked. He is asking me to learn new reflexes so that I react out of heavenly ways instead of worldly ways. He is not asking me to be a victim, but a fighter, a fighter who battles by not returning fire, but instead runs into the fire to aid the enemy. This is difficult for me. I want to protect myself and I have a hard time trusting You to protect me. Give me faith in You. My faith is so weak.