Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! James 1:22 (MSG)
When spending time in God’s Word, it can be easy to read a passage, draw nothing from it and move on with your day. One way to change that is to think through the application of it for your life, so it doesn’t just become random knowledge.
For example, Psalm 119:11 (NLT) says, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” You could reflect, “This is a personal verse between God and me that says staying out of sin is a decision.”
If I’m going to hide something valuable that will help me avoid sin, I wouldn’t carelessly toss it somewhere. I would place it somewhere safe. What do people lock away in personal safes and safety deposit boxes? Precious treasures they don’t want to lose. So I’m hiding God’s Word like a treasure in the most secure, personal and private place where it can guide me internally and nobody can steal it—my heart.
In your daily devotions, take time to mull over verses. Don’t rush. Roll them over in your mind throughout the day or even over a week while asking yourself, “How can I apply this personally? How would this look in my life?”
Here’s the best part: the more we meditate on how to apply God’s Word personally, the more it becomes part of our thought lives, where it trickles down into our hearts and out into our daily lives.
Thinking through how verses pertain to your life causes them to become more personal, precious and powerful in your life.