shareyourstorynow.org

DAN MEYERS: I’ll be really honest in saying that, um, I know that deep inside the Bible should mean so much more to me that it does. And, uh, I think that’s probably a reality for a lot of us that we take it for granted.

Um, that it is the word of God and, um, God has given us everything we need for life and Godliness through our knowledge of him. It says that in second Peter, the first chapter.

And, uh, and I think about that. If he’s given us everything that we need for life and Godliness through our knowledge of him and that knowledge has come specifically to us through his word and through the coming of Christ who is the word of God made flesh, um, and the gospels that record the life of Christ in word for us to take.

Um, if God has given us everything we need for life and Godliness through our knowledge of him then it is a very valuable book to me. But in my daily struggle, as all of our daily struggles are of busyness and selfishness and concern with the stuff of earth, um, I have to remind myself of that.

So I thank you for asking me the question because it’s—it brings up that part of me that says Dan you don’t value the word of God like you should and you get very complacent at times with just making it a—almost a un-appeasement kind of material, you know something that we—we do what we should do as Christians is read the word and not study it.

And I enjoy studying the word. I enjoy getting with some of my brothers in this life and we chomp through those things and challenge one another because it does change us. The word of God does change us.

DAN MEYERS: I’ll be really honest in saying that, um, I know that deep inside the Bible should mean so much more to me that it does. And, uh, I think that’s probably a reality for a lot of us that we take it for granted.

Um, that it is the word of God and, um, God has given us everything we need for life and Godliness through our knowledge of him. It says that in second Peter, the first chapter.

And, uh, and I think about that. If he’s given us everything that we need for life and Godliness through our knowledge of him and that knowledge has come specifically to us through his word and through the coming of Christ who is the word of God made flesh, um, and the gospels that record the life of Christ in word for us to take.

Um, if God has given us everything we need for life and Godliness through our knowledge of him then it is a very valuable book to me. But in my daily struggle, as all of our daily struggles are of busyness and selfishness and concern with the stuff of earth, um, I have to remind myself of that.

So I thank you for asking me the question because it’s—it brings up that part of me that says Dan you don’t value the word of God like you should and you get very complacent at times with just making it a—almost a un-appeasement kind of material, you know something that we—we do what we should do as Christians is read the word and not study it.

And I enjoy studying the word. I enjoy getting with some of my brothers in this life and we chomp through those things and challenge one another because it does change us. The word of God does change us.

DAN MEYERS: I understand it to be really the foundation of, in a basic sense, the handbook for our life that God has given us. Um, he’s revealed himself through his word.

And so there’s the element to which it’s those—that truth—that truth that has been born in word that I can hold in my hand to have it reveal the character and the nature of God and who I am and the promises of God. And that’s powerful.

And I think sometimes I lack seeing the power of that, um, honestly. And I think a lot of us, if we’re honest about that, especially as Americans where we can have a Bible in every room and several even in every room, start seeing—looking for the revelation of God’s character in other ways.

And there is the general revelation through every thing he has created, uh, so that we are without excuse. But God’s word impacts my life, um, because it is living and active and it’s sharper than a two edged sword and it does cut to the heart.

And it’s amazing when I—when I do read in scripture at times there’ll be a verse that I’ve read many times where the Holy Spirit will cut me with it because of an area of my life that is either dealing with disobedience, dealing with apathy, dealing with selfishness and dealing with pride and I realize who am I, you know.

And at those times I feel like, you know, a man who totally realizes that I am dependent upon this word. And I use the scripture very much as a foundation for my writing as well. And I’m beginning to see the truth of God revealed in every thing around me.

That’s kind of a desire that I have is I want people to step out their front door and begin to see the fingerprints of God on everything and—

But we have to know God’s word in order to do that. We have to know the truth that has been specifically given to us through his words so that we aren’t just interpreting things based on our emotions, our what is good for me at the moment but is really coming from a subjective source of God’s word to say yes, this is—this is—this is truth and what I’m seeing does relate and is confirmed by what he has given us.

And so, um, truth is a huge thing to me and I know that God’s word is truth. And truth is a very fluid word in our culture today and so I cling to the truth of God’s word as the starting ground for thought and for interpretation.

DAN MEYERS:

I was born in a Christian family, the youngest in my family and my father was in seminary when I was born. So I was brought up in a very Christian environment. We were heading to mission field, ministering to military oversees in Philippines and Guam and I was very young.

And so I grew up around bible stories and in ministering and my family also sang Acappella gospel music. So I grew up singing. And I remember initially—and this is kind of metaphoric for life too.

I remember learning the songs, age four, age five, singing these songs and not until I became an adult did I realize the words that I was singing because I learned it in syllables. You know you can hear a language and you can repeat what they’re saying without knowing what they’re saying. And that’s what it was like for me when I grew up singing or singing this truth without even understanding the truth that I was singing.

I think that’s also a metaphor for where my life was as well. I understood the truth because of the proximity of my life being in a Christian family, under the blessing of Christian parents and in that environment and being nurtured by that.

But it really wasn’t until I—the Holy Spirit really opened my eyes to really see what it was that I was living and see the blessing of that and really see the gospel for what it really was, that Jesus died for me and I was in need of a savior.

And I began to see that early on even yet, 10, 11, 12 but it wasn’t until I was 14 that I had really come to the place of conviction, of really letting go of myself and confessing before the Lord my absolute need and dependence on his grace.

So in some cases where some people have had backgrounds where they didn’t have that influence, I feel very blessed to have been brought up with that and still see the very core of the gospel, my desperate need for the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And I was 14 when I really came to that place and scripture had a whole new meaning to me at that point.

It began to have meaning to me. It wasn’t just words on a page. It wasn’t just devotions with the family. It was devotions with the family with the Holy Spirit opening my heart to the truth of that word and applying it to my life.

DAN MEYER: A few years ago, I was a commercial fisherman in Alaska. And my boss, who was in charge of us that summer, because of my honesty in saying that I could only do this for one summer and I wouldn’t be back, he really took advantage of that and just was patronizing and undermining, and pulling the rug out from under me and fining me for anything I did wrong. I had no idea how much money I was going to make and my hands were going numb, and that’s the life of a fisherman, you know? And I was beginning to wake up every morning wondering, “How can I please my boss today? What can I do to gain his favor, so that I get a paycheck at the end?” Not even realizing at the moment of those thoughts how metaphoric that was for where a lot of people are in their Christian life in relation to God.

I was mending nets with a bunch of the fishermen one day and I was sent on dump duty, to take all the old nets to the dump. I got there and you know there’s always a dump man that works at the dump and usually they’re pretty miserable and just sitting there kind of waiting for, you know, 5 o’clock to come where they can go home, and this man was sweeping the dump and he had a smile on his face. I drove in thinking, “This guy’s either got to be crazy or a Christian.” He came up to me and he said, “So you’re fishing?” I said, “Yeah.” We started talking and he asked me how much longer I have and I said, “Well, I have a week, and by God’s grace I’ll get to the end of it.” He goes, “Oh, you’re a Christian.” I said, “Yeah. Are you?” He said, “I have been for 16 years.”

I hopped off the truck and he started talking to me. I hadn’t said anything about the difficulty of what I was facing, the fear, even the immaturity in my heart that I was facing, feeling very out of my element, feeling like the youngster. Halfway through talking to me, he stopped and he looked me straight in the eye and he put his hand on my shoulder, and he said, “You know, you’ve had a rough summer this summer. You’ve probably let your guard down a few times and said some things you shouldn’t have said.” All was very true. And he said, “But I want you to know this. God is pleased with you.” And then he said, “Can I pray for you?” So I bowed my head, and my dump angel, Don, he prayed for me rather there in the middle of the dump and I was overwhelmed with one scripture that came to my mind at that time that I had known, but I had never known. It was Zephaniah 3:17, that “God rejoices over his children with singing.” And I thought, “How amazing is that? I mean I am a child of God and He is pleased with me, not because my life is pleasant, not because I deserve a celestial party thrown in Heaven in my name, but because God is satisfied with the work of Christ on the cross, and I can now live a life pleasing to God. And everything that I do, when I honor His name and when I fail it doesn’t mess things up, that my life is hidden and secure in Christ.” And that verse came to me at that time, a verse that I knew but I never knew, and impacted me greatly and really changed a part of me at the very core that I love sharing, because God is pleased with me and he is satisfied with the work of Christ.