FEAST: Five Prayers for Daily Bible Reading

0:01 Okay, so for the next 30 minutes or so, I want to focus in on enjoying Jesus in secret. That's the title for this message. We're going to focus on the inputs, the fuel of the Christian life. What sustains happy, healthy followers of Jesus? and I'm passionate about these habits because meeting with God alone every day and then regularly week after week with our church family meeting with God is the habit that has most dramatically changed my life it's touched everything in my life everything I'm called to do and be is touched by this habit. In my life, I don't know what it's been like for you, but my personal devotions, my time with the Lord, it went on something of a journey since deciding to follow Jesus. It went on something from a journey from neglect, really struggling to even read the Bible, much less consistently. To discipline, reading the Bible more regularly, but not getting a whole lot out of it. To understanding, or at least the beginnings of understanding, feeling when I sit down and read the Bible, I'm starting to get more of what God is saying there. And then to obedience, now realizing that this book is asking a lot of things of me.

1:41 It's offering me way more than it ever asked me. But if we're going to read this book and be doers of the books we'll talk about, went to obedience and then finally to delight. from neglect to discipline to understanding to obedience and then to delight. And that's not to say that I don't struggle with neglect or confusion at times now. I certainly do. But I can honestly say that I really look forward to my time alone with God in his word. I love those minutes I fight for those minutes because they're no longer about doing what I have to do but they're about doing what I get to do I don't know where you are on that journey from neglect to discipline or consistency to understanding, beginnings of understanding to obedience, to delight but my hope is that you would leave here tonight hungry for delight.

2:55 hungry to enjoy your time alone with God, to really enjoy God in secret where no one's watching or applauding you. where do I see this secret delight in the Bible? Because if we don't see what I want for you in the Bible tonight, then you shouldn't care what I want for you.

3:26 What gives me confidence that Bible reading should be more than just understanding and obedience, I see this delight in places like Psalm 1. blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers but his delight is in the law of the lord and on his law he meditates day and night he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season and its leaf does not wither, in all he does, he prospers.

4:08 Blessed, happy is the man who walks not in the ways of the wicked, of sinners, of scoffers, but who meditates on his law day and night. Why is he so happy? Why? you could say it's because life is going so well in all that he does he prospers who wouldn't be happy if everything was going that well might be part of the answer you could say it's because he's avoided the foolishness and the misery of sinners the consequences that inevitably come for people who live a lifestyle of sinning he's not bearing those consequences? That might be another part of the answer. I don't think that's the main reason this man's so happy, though.

5:04 No, I think the most important answer is right there in the verse. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on that law, he meditates day and night. This man's an unusually happy man because he finds his happiness in the words of God. who and how God has revealed himself to us. He delights in the book.

5:45 So do you. I remember when I didn't. And I'm not beyond those temptations and frustrations even now. But as a young believer, I was committed to reading the Bible every day. I had a bookmark where I could check off the three or four readings for each day. Sometimes I'd fall behind, often. But I'd race through chapters so that I could check every box. I wasn't enjoying myself.

6:17 I was proving myself. I knew that God was over my shoulder waiting to see that if I would wake up early enough and give myself long enough and pay close enough attention or if I would just start checking boxes that I didn't actually read. when it came to my devotions, I was an employee,

6:47 a slave. and then the God over my shoulder, he gently grabbed me by those shoulders, and he used, among other things, a paragraph in one of my favorite books. This is John Piper writes in God is the Gospel, page 47, oh, page 47. He says, Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. Say it again. Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there.

7:43 the gospel is not a way to get people to heaven. It is a way to get people to God. the gospel is a way to get people to God the gospel is a way to get me to God it was devastating to me at first. because I knew I could totally be happy in heaven if Christ were not there.

8:23 As long as he got me there, then I'm good. I have all I want. And he's saying that people who think that way about heaven, they won't get to see heaven. It was devastating. to me.

8:45 Devastating and then Thrilling. Thrilling because I realized that there was something to want about heaven better than everything I had ever wanted about heaven. God. everything I was looking forward to more golf my favorite meals all my friends the family I loved all good and I think all I believe uh I believe we will enjoy all the good gifts that we enjoy here in heaven but he is saying there is something better a treasure better an experience better a love better than any of those things I was looking forward to in heaven and it's him Thank you. I had stumbled into a land I had never seen before, an ocean I had never sailed before, a favorite meal that I had never tasted before.

9:46 God wasn't just the only way to get to heaven. He was what makes heaven worth wanting, and I wanted him. I wanted him. he was the great meal he was that wild and wondrous ocean he was the treasure hidden in the field he was the pearl of great price it was him and that discovery about god it changed everything about my time alone with god he doesn't just mean to be known and obeyed but enjoyed he means to be savored and worshipped and he's not hard to enjoy.

10:42 If you see him, if by faith and his spirit you are given eyes to see Jesus for all that he is, he isn't hard to enjoy. He is the most complex, most satisfying, most thrilling wonder you or I will ever find. We will never get to the bottom of him. we will spend 10,000 years with him and still be in awe of who he is. And he sets the table of wonder and satisfaction for us every day right here in this book. From beginning to end, all about. Him. So when I thought about spending 30 minutes with you tonight, my main burden was to tell you that your time alone with the Lord shouldn't feel like a burden, but it should feel like a privilege, a blessing, a feast. And so with the time left, I want to walk through a five-step prayer you could pray when you sit down with your Bible to meet with God. And I built the five prayers, they're built on an acronym for FEAST. FEAST. F, focus my mind. E, enlighten my eyes.

12:14 A, address my sin. S, satisfy my soul. And T, train my hands. Focus my mind, enlighten my eyes, address my sin, satisfy my soul, train my hands. So F, focus my mind, focus my attention. If you want to consistently enjoy Jesus in secret, this is where the fight really begins. I see this right here in the first verses of Psalm 1, which I already read. His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. No one meditates on anything without focus.

13:13 That means we can't access the blessedness of verse 1 unless we find the focus of verse 2. unless God gives us the gift of keeping everything else at bay long enough that we get to hear his voice. we won't see or hear anything meaningful in our bible reading if we're not able to focus and if we're honest many of us aren't able to focus we might choose a bible reading plan and open the bible every morning and run our eyes over verses and chapters but we're not really reading the bible we're certainly not meeting with god no we're over our bibles but we're actually meeting with our to-do list for the day or that hard conversation from yesterday or the game that's happening tonight.

14:15 Timberwolves are playing the Lakers. I don't know if anyone cares. We care in our house. Or meeting with those social media posts that we scrolled through that morning before we opened the Bible. Our eyes might be here, but our minds and our hearts are everywhere else. and so we pray God as I sit down to see you to hear from you to enjoy you focus my attention focus my mind we pray Psalm 119 37 turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in your ways why would anyone have to pray that why would anyone have to pray God help me not to look at worthless things help me to not waste my time thinking about worthless things when I could be seeing God, hearing from God, enjoying God why would we have to pray that it's because Satan has a thousand ways of making worthless things seem more compelling and urgent than meeting with the God of the universe.

15:35 Isn't that crazy? And yet he does it again and again and again and again. Do you know that you're under attack when you sit down to meet with God? so pray and ask ask God for the almighty supernatural gift of focus second enlighten my eyes open my eyes psalm 119 18 that I may behold wondrous things out of your law we need focus when we sit down to meet with God and his word and we need light. We need understanding. We need God by the power of his spirit to help us understand the word that he's given us here. My favorite verse for this prayer is 2 Timothy 2 verse 7.

16:34 Paul says to his young disciple, think over what I say for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. think over what I say for the Lord will give you understanding in everything it's pretty amazing acknowledgement when you stop to think about it he says in essence timothy i know that some of what i'm writing to you right now it's not going to make sense to you at least not immediately and when that happens you're going to be tempted to think you can't understand it but you can Thank you. so don't give up too easily don't assume that this is above you assume that the god who raised you from the dead if he can do that assume that the god who raised you from the dead can make his words clear to you he can give you understanding those apart from Christ, those who don't have the Spirit, they cannot understand the things of God.

17:49 They flip through the Bible's majesty and wisdom in vain. They don't see anything there. They see foolishness. 2 Corinthians 2.14, The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him. and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. But that's not you if you're in Christ. If you're in Christ, you can see things in this book that they can't see. You can understand things that they can't understand. Where they see foolishness and irrelevance, you see unspeakable beauty. You see a stunning window into ultimate reality. That's what you see because the Spirit of God lives in you.

18:45 And he's in your eyes. and it's not because you're smarter or more educated or merely a better reader than they are that's not what second Corinthians 2 says no it's because you're not a natural person anymore you're a supernatural person with supernatural abilities supernatural mind and heart and eyes God has shown in your heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Corinthians 4, 6 that's who you are when you open the Bible and because you're someone new, you can understand more of the Bible than you might think. not only can you understand more than you might think but the apostle goes even further he says the lord will give you understanding in everything i love the everythings of scripture in everything he says the lord will give you understanding with god's help nothing in this book is too hard for you now to say that we can understand everything in the bible is not to suggest that we will understand everything immediately or fully. We won't. And certainly not the first or second or even tenth time that we read a particular passage or chapter or book.

20:19 Some questions will be answered slowly, so we don't expect to understand everything now. But I want you to expect to understand something now, and then a little more tomorrow, and then a little more the next day. This understanding, it doesn't float down from the clouds and land softly on our heads. No, God gives the gift of understanding we see in the verse through the hard work of thinking and reading well. This verse demands almost as much as it promises, if you're paying attention. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding. In everything. This won't come easily, Timothy. Yes, God is the one who gives understanding. But that doesn't mean you're not going to have to work for it.

21:12 You will. You'll have to focus. And you'll have to think. But he's going to help you. So when we sit down and the Lord gives us focus, we pray, enlighten my eyes. Make me understand the way of your precepts. Psalm 119, 27, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. Enlighten my eyes. All right, third, address my sin.

21:43 Now, I could have said, absolve, forgive my sin. That's a good A word. And I could have said, abolish, conquer my sin. a dress I think allows me to say both though and that's important to me it allows me to say both just like King David does in Psalm 51 this famous prayer of confession he says have mercy on me oh God according to your steadfast love according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. In other words, forgive my sin. Blot out my transgressions.

22:36 This is Micah 7, 18 and 19. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love. you will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Forgive my sin. but when David sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah, and God, and that's the context of this prayer of confession in Psalm 51, he wasn't content with just forgiveness.

23:18 He wanted God to do more than forgive when it came to his sins, so he says, verse 10, he prays, not just blot out my transgressions, not just cast my sins into the depths of the sea, but he says, verse 10, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

23:43 When I ask you, O God, to address my sin, I don't want you to just forgive my sin. I want you to rid me of my sin. I want it to be dead. For me, I don't want to wallow in self-pity like I do when I disappoint my wife. I can respond that way sometimes.

24:13 When I don't do something that I said I was going to do. Or I communicate badly in a busy season. Or I don't step up and lead in some difficult situation in our life. I don't want to be like that. I want to be rid of those sins. And I can't kill those sins of self-pity and passivity and selfishness without God's help. I have to pray. God, address my sin. we put sin to death by the spirit. And so we turn Jesus's prayer for us in John 17, 17. He prays for us, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. We turn his prayer into a prayer for ourselves.

25:03 Address my sin. Sanctify me, oh God, in the truth. Your word is truth. address my sin. Forgive me, yes, but change me. Make me new. Empower me to overcome temptation.

25:27 And God, show me my sin. Address the sins that I'm aware of, that I confess to you, and then through your word address the ones I'm not aware of. Expose them to me. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting, Psalm 139. When I open my Bible each morning and I've stared at Jesus there for another 10 or 30 or 60 minutes, I sure hope I leave that time a little more like him. God address my sin Okay fourth prayer And this is the entree The S is the whole feast In just three words Satisfy my soul Psalm 90 14 Satisfy us in the morning With your steadfast love That we may rejoice And be glad all our days Do you ever pray like that?

26:38 do you pray like that when you sit down to meet with god in his word god satisfy me again this morning do you pray like that it's my main burden for you this evening that when i think about your time alone with the lord you've probably prayed for god to help you understand the bible and you've probably prayed for God to forgive you and sanctify you. You may have prayed and asked God to help you focus when you sit down to read the Bible. I would bet, though, that fewer of you sit down with your Bible and expect God to delight you, to captivate you, and really move you as you meet with Him.

27:31 you expect that when you sit down with your favorite meal. No one has to tell you to pay close attention here and enjoy yourself when the barbecue comes. We had barbecue for dinner. But if you're honest, the Bible doesn't feel like a favorite meal all the time. It may not feel like a meal at all. It might feel like a chore. I really believe this is better than your favorite meal. Every day. I believe that if God gives you focus and understanding and removes your sin, these can be the most satisfying moments of your day. And Psalm 119 agrees with me. Listen to how the psalmist talks about the Bible, about Scripture. In the ways of your testimonies, I delight as much as in all riches.

28:33 Verse 14. Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. Verse 111. I rejoice at your work like one who finds great spoil. Verse 162. Could you pray like that? if not, don't you want to be able to pray like that? To have that kind of joy in God's word.

29:09 We have to compel our kids to clean their rooms, parents in the room. Maybe you've learned a secret that I don't know, but we have to compel them to clean their room. You're going to get a spanking if you don't clean your room. No dessert if you don't clean your room. We'll get rid of some of the toys if you leave them laying on the ground in your room.

29:35 We never have to compel them to go to Chick-fil-A. Never. If they hear a phrase that remotely sounds like Chick-fil-A, they're in the van with seat belts and smiles on ready to go so does your bible reading does it look if someone were to watch you meet with god does it look more like picking up dirty laundry and legos or does it look a little bit more like eat more chicken David says, Psalm 16, 11, You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

30:34 Fullness of pleasure forevermore. You can't beat full and forever. YouTube can't beat full and forever Instagram can't beat full or forever your best, happiest, most productive day at work or at home they can't beat full and forever you don't get full and forever anywhere but him and you get him clearest and fullest right here in this book. Lord, satisfy our souls with yourself. Finally, T, train my hands. I'm not going to spend much time here because this is where David's going to go with the next session, but it belongs in the acronym. We need a prayer for this.

31:27 We don't ever want to be mere hearers or even just enjoyers of this word, but we also want to be doers of the word. James 1, 22 to 25. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. The one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, who does, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. He will be blessed, happy in his doing. This blessing has fallen to me, Psalm 119 prays, this blessing has fallen to me that I have kept your precepts, that I have obeyed you.

32:14 A life of God-given, spirit-filled obedience to God's word is essential to enjoying Jesus in secret. We have to be doers of the word. So Lord, train my hands to obey you and glorify you in everything that you've called me to do. As we pray for God to do something for us and in us in our secret time with him, we also want him to be preparing us to do something through us for the good of others and for his glory. Again, David's going to go there next and focus on how this life of communion with God in his word and prayer, how it spills over into the needs of others. But before we do that, I just want to add one more dimension here. This talk was entitled, Enjoying Jesus in Secret, but a life of spiritual feasting is never only in secret.

33:18 This is so important. No, with the word and prayer, we need one another. Word, prayer, and fellowship in the local church. To survive and enjoy the Christian life you absolutely need to meet with God alone in secret. Absolutely. And you absolutely need to meet regularly with others who can help you see, savor, and follow Jesus. We need one another. Positively, Hebrews 10, 24 and 25 says, Let us consider how to stir one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

34:13 God doesn't just use the word and prayer to stir us up for love and good works. He also uses people to do that. so who are those people for you maybe they're here with you tonight whoever those people are God wants us to be intentional and creative in how we encourage one another and stir one another up towards love and good works he says let us consider let us think let us brainstorm let us be creative in how we stir one another up towards love and good works. And then negatively, a few chapters earlier, Hebrews 3 warns, take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So positively, we need one another to encourage and stir one another up.

35:18 Negatively, we keep each other from being captured and hardened by temptation and sin, by being blinded by sin. So why do Christians from the early church to today, including right now, every time and place, why do we gather? In part, it's because we need to see and enjoy God, and we know how little we can see on our own. we want to take in and experience more of Jesus than we could ever see through just our own eyes Tim Keller writes quoting C.S. Lewis by praying with friends you will be able to hear and see facets of Jesus that you have not yet perceived that way this is Lewis the more we share the heavenly bread, that's Jesus, between us, the more we shall all have.

36:17 of him. In other words, when we enjoy Jesus together, we each get to have more of him. because we get to enjoy what others see in him. So if you're here tonight and you're committed to a local church like that, I'm so happy for you. You can't measure how much your ongoing community in that church is helping you enjoy Jesus. You can't measure it. But I promise you they are.

36:52 Your time alone with God is different and better because you're a meaningful part of a healthy body. And if you're not a part of a local church, this really is an essential step to knowing and enjoying Jesus. He means for you to know him and enjoy him in his body as a committed part of his body. And so I just encourage you, commit yourself to a particular local church where you can be known, encouraged, challenged, and loved. So Lord, focus my attention, enlighten my eyes, address my sin, satisfy my soul, train my hands. Father, we open our hands now. you put us on earth to glorify you and you mean to glorify yourself through our worship and that means we have to see you if worship is going to be meaningful heartfelt we have to see you we praise you that you've that you've given us a book filled with glimpses, windows into your character, who you are and what you've done for us in Christ.

38:13 And we thank you for your spirit who comes alongside your word to open our eyes to who you are, to help us understand what we read day by day and in our churches. And we thank you for the church, for that army of eyes and hearts who help us see you and enjoy you better. Deepen our communion with you in secret and then allow that communion to overflow bountifully in the lives of those around us.