Finish Strong #3 (2025.10.05)
Scott continues the study of finishing strong by discussing the foundational characteristics of God—His sovereignty and providence—and explores what it means to trust, seek, and come to God, even in the midst of difficult circumstances. He explains how believers now have direct access to God through Jesus Christ, not needing an intermediary or specific rituals, but being able to approach God at any time.
Scott outlines a practical routine for daily time alone with God, emphasizing blessing, praising, thanking, confessing, casting burdens, receiving God’s mercies, feeding on the Word, and asking for what is needed. He highlights the difference between corporate worship and personal devotion, and gives detailed suggestions on battling distractions and maintaining consistent routines. The episode closes with a warning about looking to worldly solutions for answers, urging listeners to rely on God for wisdom, comfort, and help.
Download the Insight Sheets Here:
Blank Insight Sheet:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J_BZ73L0SEQsAI57xqUvWrmkqosmajLa/view?usp=sharing
Insight Sheet With Answers:
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Key Topics Discussed:
- God’s sovereignty and providence
- The meaning and practice of daily devotion
- Trusting, seeking, and coming to God
- Access to God through Jesus Christ
- Routine for personal devotional time
- Confession and receiving forgiveness
- Casting cares and burdens upon God
- Receiving God’s daily mercies
- Feeding on the Word of God
- Differences between corporate worship and private devotion
- The importance of earnest, persistent prayer
- Warnings against seeking answers from artificial intelligence or worldly sources
Transcript
Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the Bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there will be a link to the episode website@beholdingbibletruth.com and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.
Scott Keffer [:So imagine if you could, that you had the opportunity to think about historical figures, human right, you had the opportunity to say who has wisdom? And you would go to for guidance. Think about like if you could access somebody out of history, we'd say, oh, they, they are really wise. You know, you think about Abraham Lincoln, you think about, you know, Churchill or somewhat others kind of through history, would you access, Think about who would you go to for comfort and encouragement over time? Mother Teresa or Corey 10? Boom. You know, those who've really endured long times, you know, would you go to the disciples? Who would you go to? And then who would you go to for help? Right. Who would you go to for help and favor? Laura, you know, I really need you. Well, today we're going to look at as we walk through this idea of how do I finish strong? The fact that we have access, we have access to the one who can grant all of those things. Wisdom and guidance, encouragement and help and favor. Does that make sense? So we're going to look at that today.
Scott Keffer [:So we are in part two of this series which is how to live. And we began in, in part one taking a look at two characteristics of God which I think of the are the critical and most important characteristics of him that we have to deeply sink ourselves in the foundation of God's sovereignty, of God's sovereignty and also God's providence, which is an old time word, God's sovereignty, love the fact that rain falls right in the middle of that. And old time word is providence, his providence. So the Heidelberg catechism says providence is the almighty and everywhere present power of God, whereby as it were, by his hand he still upholds heaven and earth with all creatures and so governs them that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty rate. Yay. All things come not by, not by Dance. But by his heavenly right, his fatherly hand, all things, he says, not one sparrow falls to the earth without his leave and notice. So sovereignty and providence, right? So the application in part two is, okay, how do we live? How do we live? And our response, I'm saying, is daily devotion.
Scott Keffer [:Daily devotion. That that would be the right response to all of this. So I started thinking, so what does that mean? What are the components of devotion to Him? The very first thing, the most important thing. If he is sovereign over all things and his providence, his care extends to all things, can I trust him? Can I trust him? And I trust Him. Beloved Jeremiah, he said, blesses the man who trusts in the Lord. But this is really important. He says, whose trust is the Lord, right? This goes from conceptual to personal. Who trusts in the Lord, and whose trust is the Lord? Really? Why, he will be like a.
Scott Keffer [:A tree. What kind of tree? Planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream. And it will not fear when the heat comes. Will not fear when the heat comes, but its leaves will be green. And it will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor cease to yield fruit, as he say. Trusting God gives us security and confidence and hope. When the things around us look bad. I might say the things around us look bad today.
Scott Keffer [:Now, keep in mind over history, things ain't so bad. And certainly where we live, they ain't so bad. But they're bad. You'd say, oh, they're bad, right? So when things around us. Right. In the year of drought, he's saying, what do we do? We trust. And so you can imagine, this picture I have of Jeremiah is the. You know, the ground is cracked and the things are dead, and there's a tree and it's fruitful and it's green.
Scott Keffer [:And people are saying, what's up? What's up with that tree? Right? That's what he says. If we trust in him, he will water us when there is no water. So we trust God. Secondly, we seek God. We seek God. He says, oh, God, Thou art my God. I shall seek the earnestly. I shall seek thee earnestly.
Scott Keffer [:What's it mean to be earnest? If you think earnest, what's it mean to be earnest? Right? It says, seek him earnestly. What does that mean? Wholehearted fervor, right? Make it a priority, right. That I shall seek thee earnestly. And so what does that mean? Thus I beheld thee in thy sanctuary. So we seek God, we trust God, we seek God, and we come to God as the deer pants for water brooks so My soul pants for the O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. And then he asked the question, okay, so when shall I come and appear before God? Right? So when my soul aches. And in Psalm 64, he said, in a dry and weary land where there is no water, so out there there isn't an answer for my soul.
Scott Keffer [:When your soul aches. Soul aches. He says, where do I go? When shall I come? So he asks the question. It's a rhetorical question. So in other words, should I go and be with God? When shall I come and appear before God? So when your soul aches, it's like the. The red light on the dashboard, which I call the idiot light, because you can ignore that light. You notice if you just don't pay attention. The light says, time to bring her in.
Scott Keffer [:Time to bring her in. If I go for a while, I don't even notice it's there until it breaks down. Then I have to. So oftentimes, that is with God, right? The light's going off. My soul as a deer pants for water, brooks, it's aching. What does that mean? Time to when shall I come and appear before God? And I love this. He says, without faith. Underline that without faith, it's impossible to please Him.
Scott Keffer [:For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder. Underlined rewarder. He's a rewarder. Who's the reward? Those who seek him. So the sovereign and providential God of Gods, Lord of Lords, the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, he will reward you for seeking Him. Oh, wow. So I come to him. I have to remind myself I'm here by faith.
Scott Keffer [:Here by faith, you're by faith. And that you are a rewarder of those who seek Him. Isn't that amazing? The God who spoke into existence all that there is, the heavens and the earth, upholds it with his, the word of his power, right? He will reward you for seeking Him. And as you understand it, he's even giving you the grace to seek it. It's his grace to seek him, but he will reward you for seeking Him. So we trust God, we seek God, and we come to God. So you stop for a minute, and in order to understand the New Covenant and the New Testament, you have to go back to the Old, because you can't appreciate, you can't understand it. And in the Old Testament, God met in his tabernacle and he dwelled in the holy of holies.
Scott Keffer [:Once a year, only one could go in there. Who was that? High priest. And the high priest would go in there with a rope and a bell. Because if the high priest died, they janked him out, right? One time a year. Access to the holy of Holies. Only the high priest was the new high priest. Jesus. Jesus.
Scott Keffer [:When Jesus shed his blood and died on the cross, the veil which kept everybody out of the holy holies was rent. It was torn. What does that mean? Access was open. We have access. We have access. We have access to God the Father. Like having a VIP pass to go in, right? The side door, the back door, the special place. We have access to God the Father through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Scott Keffer [:Through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, he says, if that's true, since we have confidence, underlying confidence, he says, since we have. In other words, you should have confidence. What do you have? Confidence. You have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus. It's a new and living way. It's not like it was before. A new and living way.
Scott Keffer [:You don't go through the high priest because he is there, which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh. And since we have a great priest over that, great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near. Draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. There's not only the guilt of our sin, but our guiltiness is gone. Guiltiness. I don't have to feel guilty because we have peace with God. We have peace with God, says in Romans.
Scott Keffer [:We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have peace with God. So you have an all access pass 24 7. To the God of Gods and the Lord of Lords. To God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. All access pass never denied, never closed, never not open and available. An all access path. You don't have to go in through somebody.
Scott Keffer [:You don't have to go certain times of the day. You have an all access pass. Stop for a minute and think about that. The God of Gods and the Lord of Lords, A creator of the heavens and the earth. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is at his right hand. God the Father sits on the throne. No one has seen God at any time.
Scott Keffer [:The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's brought him out in the open. But he opened access that you could come before him every day. Say what? Middle of the night? Middle of darkness. Middle of darkness. So we have an all access pass. We've been justified by faith, and we have peace with God. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? So what's astounding about that to you? He never sleeps nor slumbers.
Scott Keffer [:He never sleeps nor slumbers. He who keeps Israel neither sleeps or slumbers. Also, I don't have to just wait until I'm in good behavior to seek him. Don't have to wait until I'm in good behavior to seek him. I have all access to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I need to make an appointment. Don't need to make an appointment. Don't need to go get in your car, go somewhere.
Scott Keffer [:Don't have to enlist somebody to bring you in, because the one who brings you in is seated at his right hand. We come in as a son. Don't get confused about gender. We come in as a son, which means right positioned as the firstborn, because he is the firstborn among many brethren. And in him. Right in him. So we have access. He set his love upon us.
Scott Keffer [:And the verse before that, it says, as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him. For he himself knows our frame. He's mindful that we're about to us. Isn't it great? So we have access to him. So what does that mean? This means that there's an opportunity to have time alone with God. This is an opportunity to have time alone with God. So if we have access to God, the opportunity to be with him. And if you've been born again, there's a new man.
Scott Keffer [:But hey, there's also an old man. And the old man ain't interested in getting with God. Your old man does not want to get with it. When. When the people understood that Moses was going to get an opportunity to meet with God, they said, you go meet with them and tell us what God says, right? Because if we meet with them, we'll die. If God speaks to us, we'll die. And today there's the same sense. You meet with them and tell me what he said.
Scott Keffer [:So I'll read a devotional. Does that make devotionals bad? No, it's just secondhand, right? God has opened the door for each of us, right? How does this sit in context to group? How do we do this? Corporately? So we gather corporately. We worship we worship God. It's not the same. It's not a substitute for individual. We have the opportunity to have access, direct access to him. So what does that mean? The old man in me doesn't want to. Neither does the enemy of your soul.
Scott Keffer [:He doesn't want to either. He doesn't want you to either. Does that make sense? So what does that mean? It's a battle to meet with him. How many say, I know that battle. Yeah, because there's my flesh said. I don't want to meet with God. I don't want to meet with God. I don't want to be time alone with God.
Scott Keffer [:So you have to have a daily routine. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door, post. So some sort of routine. Does that mean it has to happen every day? No, because things happen. I get like. But my general. General. The way weeks unfold is it's a day.
Scott Keffer [:The idea is it's a daily routine. Right. Things happen. I get that. But it's a daily routine. Watching daily, waiting at my door, post. So what should that be? What should that be? What does that look like? Right. What, what, what do we do in our time alone? Does that make sense? So a number of things.
Scott Keffer [:First of all, bless, praise and thank you. So let's look at the first. Bless God as one who's been blessed. Which seems weird, I thought God blesses us. He does. He blesses us, doesn't he? Right. May God bless you and keep you. Right.
Scott Keffer [:Cause your face to shine. God is the one who blesses. He's the greater blessing, the lesser. That's his blessing us. And our response to that is us blessing him. So it's one who is received. And so literally the Hebrew word means to kneel. It means to kneel.
Scott Keffer [:There's a sense of humility, worship, submission. And we do. We bless God as one who has been blessed. We've been blessed by God. Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. And forget none of his benefits.
Scott Keffer [:Ha. So we bless God because we have been blessed. I will extol thee, my king. Oh God. And I will bless thy name forever and ever. Every day I will bless thee. And I'll praise thy name forever and ever. Every day I will bless thee.
Scott Keffer [:Every day I'll bless thee. I say, Lord, I can't bless you every day. I need your help to bless you every day I need you to bless me, to bless you every day. Right, Because I don't want to. I will praise thy name forever and ever. Grace of the Lord and highly to be praised. So I praise God for who he is. I praise God for who he is.
Scott Keffer [:Praise him for his mighty deeds. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Say Lord, when I'm praising your excellent greatness. Well, your greatness is. Is infinite. I love it. Your excellent greatness. As if you had to add excellent.
Scott Keffer [:We praise God for His greatness. No, his excellent greatness. It's kind of like exceeding abundantly. Right? Why, you don't need all those. But his greatness is excellent. He's the immovable, unshakable and unchangeable one. Then we pray God for who he is. And of course we thank God for what he's done.
Scott Keffer [:We enter his gates with thanksgiving. Course, with praise. Right. If you start there and see, they're intertwined, aren't they? Blessing, praise, thanksgiving. It's all intertwined. What's the difference? Yes, just all in there. Right. We, we, we bless him.
Scott Keffer [:Bless, right. Praise, give, thank. We bless Him. Again, it's just all interfined. So I think in that sense of humility. Right? Right. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God and Maker as one who's received.
Scott Keffer [:Right. So we bless him, we praise Him. That's a great way to start, isn't it? Great way to start your day. Great way to start your day. So in coaching, I teach first hour power. First hour power in your personal life, in your business and whatever you're doing. First hour power. What is your first hour should never be your phone or your computer or TV or any other thing.
Scott Keffer [:I don't think. Not even sure most of those should be included anyway. But certainly first hour power. Think. How do we start? Like first fruits of our time. How do we start? Well, start in the right place. Don't you lift your eyes. On high drives, on high.
Scott Keffer [:So we bless, we praise and we thank. They're all intertwined, they're cool. He's worthy of blessing, he's worthy of thanking and worthy of praising. That could go on for a long time. The next three are confess, cast and receive. So we confess. When I look at him, what do I see in me? My sin. I see his holiness.
Scott Keffer [:What Isaiah said, woe is me. I should see my right. If I look at his holiness, I should see my sin. Well, he's made provision for that, hasn't he? We confess. You confess your sin and you receive forgiveness and cleansing. Confess your Sins and you receive forgiveness and cleansing. I acknowledge my sin to you and my iniquity. I did not hide.
Scott Keffer [:What does he say? Did not hide? I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And you forgave the guilt of my sins. That's different. Forgiving your sin and washing the guilt away are two different things. God. God can forgive your sin, but you can still hold on to your guilt. Right. You know, Lord, how many times do I confess this today? How many times that he'll continue to forgive me? Yeah.
Scott Keffer [:And then what do you feel as a result of that? Guilty. I'm not worthy of that. That's guilt. That's the guiltier sin. You need God to cleanse. Cleanse you, but also to wash away the guilt of your sin. Right? That's why we confess. That's why we confess often.
Scott Keffer [:Police confess daily. Right. The, you know, Catholics get this, right? They. You confess before you go into. Right. You go into worship, confess before that. That's the. That's a good picture, right? It should be in part of your time with the Lord.
Scott Keffer [:Part of your time. A love confession with the Lord. Because I know my sin, right? It's not as if God is being informed, oh, Lord, by the way, right? It's not like he's being full of horn. He says, if we confess our sins and. And it means homo, say the same thing. In other words, agree with God. Oh, yeah, that's a sin. Oh, yeah, that's the sin.
Scott Keffer [:Yeah. And then. Then he can bring up. Right? He can bring up sin. Oh, yeah. When I said that person's a. They're a stupid idiot. Then he says to me, right? If you call your brother a fool, that's a sin.
Scott Keffer [:So I have to say the same thing. I know, but he deserved it, right? So now I got to go through that with the Lord. Well, where else are you going to go through that? You want to go do that with him? Felt like he deserved it. Yeah. Okay, so if we confess our sins, what, he's faithful and righteous. Two things. Forgive and cleanse. Those are different things.
Scott Keffer [:Your sin is forgiven. I need you to wash me of it. Why? So that next time I'll have more victory forgiven and I'm cleansed, like Jesus said, right? We wash the feet. He's faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then he says, I've written unto you in. In First John 2 that you would not sin. If any man sins, we have an advocate. Paul, what's an advocate.
Scott Keffer [:Do advocates on your math. Where is he advocating from? The right hand of the Father. He's advocating on your behalf. Jesus Christ, the righteous. Does his advocation carry weight with the Father? All weight him. Yes. You sin. You have an advocate.
Scott Keffer [:Jesus Christ. And he is the righteous. I Love that. Psalm 51. Great pace to look as David pours out his heart. And then he prays, Create in me a clean heart. Don't you pray? So I confess my sin. Lord washes me.
Scott Keffer [:And then Lord, create me a clean heart. Clean heart and an upright spirit. Who could. Who can create in you a clean heart? Who can do that? Can you wash your heart? It says in there, for thou does desire truth in the inward parts. Can you cleanse your inward parts? So you can. Which means you're completely dependent upon him to do that. He alone. Confess.
Scott Keffer [:He alone. We get to confess. We get to him and. Yes, in us. In us, in the inward parts. Yeah. To do what we cannot do. New heart, new spirit.
Scott Keffer [:His spirit. Right. His spirit. Nothing like being cleansed by Almighty God. Nothing like being cleansed. No more guilt Washes away the guilt. Right. And create, renewing me, a steadfast spirit.
Scott Keffer [:Yeah, I love that. Don't you? Yeah. Confess. Right. And then cast. What do we cast? What's it mean to cast? Well, I don't know. If I'm fisherman, cast means this. Right.
Scott Keffer [:If I'm a farmer, it means dumb. Right? Means dumb. So what do you cast your anxiety and your burdens upon God? Cast your anxieties and your burdens upon him. So whatever. Picture casting like this or dumping your wagon. I always say you bring your wagon of worries and woes and you dump your wagon. Really? Yeah. You cast it.
Scott Keffer [:How much of your anxiety does it say in perfume? Oh, it says all of your anxiety. Huh. So why are you carrying any of it? Just wondered through the day. Why are you carrying it? He says cast it all. I know, but I like to keep some of it. Right. We do. Because.
Scott Keffer [:Right. Because we like to worry. Right. He says in the Old Testament, it says, do not fret. Fret means like rubbing my hands. But Lord, this is fun to do. Sometimes woe is me. Worry about the world.
Scott Keffer [:Worry about the world. There's a bucket over here called the can't control bucket. This is God's. This is God's bucket. Why are you worrying about that stuff? Why are you in my bucket? He said it's not your bucket. Oh, but the way the world is going. Oh, apolog oh. To the people.
Scott Keffer [:Right. So he said, do not wring your hands like he says, cast it upon me. He said, not only your anxiety, cast your burden. Right.
Scott Keffer [:The heaviness.
Scott Keffer [:What, what, what are you carrying? And he will. There was a ground of the old when we first came to Christ wasn't a whole lot of music. But if he carried the weight of the world upon his shoulders, why can't he carry you something? It was something like that banister, Brown, banister, and so on. If he carried the weight of the world, why can't he carry you? Why can't he carry you? And all things that have been created for him and through him and in him, all things hold together. If he holds all things together, do you think he can hold your life together? And remember, stay out of my bucket. God says, stay out of my bucket. What are you doing in my bucket? I've given you a bucket. And then he says, receive God's mana mercies.
Scott Keffer [:Receive God's mana mercies. What does that mean? In the Old Testament, when he sent manna to the people, they were to collect enough for the day. If they collected enough for tomorrow, it rotted. So the Lord is saying, I have mercies for you today. Why are you trying to get tomorrow's mercies? So Jesus said, today has enough worry. I know, but next week? You don't know, Lord. Next week I got. He said, there's no mercies.
Scott Keffer [:There's no next week mercies. They're this day mercies, right? This day mercies. They're a man of mercies. The Lord's loving kindness says, that's the word chesed. That's God's covenant is covenant. Love is immovable, unshakable and unchangeable love. It doesn't waver ever. And he said, his loving kindness says, not just loving kindness, it's plural.
Scott Keffer [:Indeed. They never cease.
Scott Keffer [:They never cease.
Scott Keffer [:His compassion. His mercies never fail. They are new in the morning. Are you getting them? So after we confess and we cast, it's time to receive. It's time to receive his mercies, resulting kindness. Thomas said, let me hear your loving kindness in the morning. That's what we needed. And you remember his faithfulness at night, in the morning.
Scott Keffer [:I need his loving kindness. Loving kindness says, wash over me. Receive. It's time to receive. There's time alone with God. You need time to receive. You sit. Receive from the Lord his man of mercies.
Scott Keffer [:He says, let us therefore draw near. Draw where near? Saying, why are you far off? What are you doing over there? Like Adam? Where what do you mean, Lord? You were like Adam. Where are you? Oh, what do you mean, Lord? Why are you far off? He says, draw near. And how you should draw near? With confidence. Confidence to the throne. Grace. Grace. Throne of grace.
Scott Keffer [:The apostle Paul starts every book that the Spirit of God wrote through him with God's grace and ends with God's grace. Every book you look at begins with God's grace, ends with God's grace. There's nothing in the world like God's grace. Favor grace. So you receive mercy. What do we need mercy for? I sinned and raised to help in time of need. Draw near. He's saying, come near.
Scott Keffer [:What are you doing over there? What are you doing over there? See how this is different than what happens corporately? It's not possible because it's, it's uninterrupted stuff. Just right. Which is okay. We're called to. To worship together. But it's not the same where God has called you in. Right? God has called you in in order to have an intimate personal relationship. Is that unfathomable? The God of the universe.
Scott Keffer [:In fact, it says that his thoughts toward you are as many as the sand upon the seashore. That's a lot. I don't know how many it is, but that's a lot. So he's saying, draw near. Draw near the next. We feed on God's word. This is not Bible study. You do Bible study.
Scott Keffer [:You come to Sunday school with this is. This is feeding on his Word. His word. He says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. This is feeding. I found that word. Was it Jeremiah? And. And I ate them.
Scott Keffer [:Sweeter also than honey in the drippings of the honeycomb. I feed on God's word. We're not there to study it. You're not there to take a test. Which means as I read a small section of God's Word, I don't need to read 27 chapters. I read a small section. And you know what? There are times I don't know what it says. You're not there to know what it says.
Scott Keffer [:You're there to let the word of God feed you. And sometimes you'll say, I don't understand this. But we're not there to take a test. We're there to meet with the God who speaks through His Word. What kind of word is it? It's living and active. Really? Yeah. It's sharper than any two edged swords piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit. Where is that? Deep within soul and spirit.
Scott Keffer [:And fable to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. This is a living word. It's not the same as a. As a. As a devotional. It's not the same. God's word is living. It will feed your soul unlike anything else.
Scott Keffer [:Right? So. So we. Because we're meeting with him and he's speaking through his word. The book of. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. You shall meditate on it. Right? The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. Testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
Scott Keffer [:The precepts of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure. Enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean. I love it. He says they're more desirable than gold. Yes, Much triangle.
Scott Keffer [:Moreover. And he says, sweeter also than honey. And the drippings of the honeycomb, moreover, by them thy servant is warned. And in keeping them, there's great reward. Right? Oh, how I love thy law. So we feed on it. We feed on His Word. We don't study.
Scott Keffer [:We're not there. This is not. Does that mean you don't study? No, there's Bible study. This is different. This is. I'm meeting with God. I've praised Him, I blessed Him, I thanked Him. I've confessed, right? I've cast my burdens, right.
Scott Keffer [:I've. I've received from Him. And then I. I read the small section of His Word. I just talk to him about His Word. Not there. It's not Bible study again. Not going to concordances, doing the Greek and all that stuff.
Scott Keffer [:I'm just in conversation with the eternal God that he's speaking this word. Lord, your Word is living and active. I don't need to understand it. You ever sat with somebody who's really wise, they said something. You think I don't know what that means? Well, you think the God of the universe is going to say stuff. You don't know what it means? Does that make sense? And then, I mean, you have to decide whether you journal or not, right? I will write down the scripture after I read it. And I'll just write down a prayer, a thought or response, right? I'll just write down prayer or thought or response. And this is not through the Bible in two weeks, Right? This is small sections of scripture where you're just letting God speak.
Scott Keffer [:That make sense? Sort of. It's okay. So. And then I'll journal it. I'll write down the verse, I'll write Down a verse that stands out, and I'll write down again a prayer, an insight, then last how do I finish? I ask. What do I ask? I ask God for what you need and want. Ask God for what you need and want. Give us this day our daily bread.
Scott Keffer [:That's, you know, stuff I need. What? Ask and I'll be given to you. He says, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. What should you do? Let your requests be made known to God. Well, he already knows them. He knows what I'm asked for. Ask. Why do I ask? Because he said it's asked.
Scott Keffer [:Let your request. We know peace of God. This is the confidence we have that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that, he hears us. And whatever we ask, we know that we have the request of it. Which is why I like to pray Scripture back to him, because I know that's God's will. As I pray for things, pray for people, and I'll tend to walk through inside out. Inside out.
Scott Keffer [:So family, work, ministry, right? Other ministries, nation, right? Kind of inside out. Does that make sense? Inside out, Us, our family, my work, our ministry. Right? Kind of inside out. And I love this. In Psalm 3:37:4, he says, Delight yourself in the Lord and He'll give you everything you want. So I look at this verse as saying, delight yourself in him and he will plant his desires upon your heart. Because if I pray according to his will, he hears me, which means I need my desires. Some of them change, right? So I believe he says, if you delight in me, I will give you the desires of your heart.
Scott Keffer [:Not just everything you want, but believe really what you should want, right? So Heaven give you the desires. So the chunk is bless, praise, thank, confess, cast, receive, feed and then ask. Feed and then ask. So to bring this home, think about for you what's working well in your current routine. It's usually you start here and you go, oh, I need to. I need to. I should. Oh, now start with what's working well in your current routine.
Scott Keffer [:What's working well in your current routine with the Lord. What's working well in your current routine? I think about In Luke maybe 11 or so, where Jesus talked about the the unrighteous judge and the woman who kept coming to him because of her right, persistence. She wore him out. And he also says the same when he says, if your friend comes to you at night, knocks on the door and you're already in bed, you say, leave me alone. Don't come. Right. And he said because of your. He uses an old time word, importunity.
Scott Keffer [:Right. Which is. Means banging. So. Yes, Yes. I think we both leave it with him and keep coming. We both leave it with him and keep coming. Because he says knock.
Scott Keffer [:Yeah, and keep knocking. Keep knocking. He says pray without ceasing, pray without season. But on a particular. I mean, that's the idea of all day long. I mean, in. In prayer. Specific thing.
Scott Keffer [:Yeah, it's specific. I think of those two where he says, keep knocking. Keep knocking. Importunity, keep knocking. You're praying for a situation until it's resolved. Yeah, I think it's fine. Oh, this idea that. Oh, his answer somehow is tied to my faith because.
Scott Keffer [:Oh, if you have faith enough, you're going to move them out. Okay, we'll move them out. I want to see somebody move them out. Do you think that's what Jesus is saying? Are you going to move a mountain? No. Right. Faith is our trust. But he says continue to. Not continue.
Scott Keffer [:Yes. I pray for healing. And yeah, sometimes he heals. Most times he doesn't. Does he have the ability? Is he able? Yes. Is he able to. So that's where I stand. You're able.
Scott Keffer [:Till the day. I mean, with cj Till the day God called her home, where we had. That was our last prayer. Lord, he could. He could speak in that moment. But I don't command God. I don't command God. My faith doesn't make God because God is free.
Scott Keffer [:He can't be pushed into a corner. He can't be. His arm can't be twisted. You know, I'm gonna. I'm gonna say it in such a way by faith that forces you to do this. God, that's not our guy. That's not our guy. This person's pretty good.
Scott Keffer [:This person. So if you started with bless, praise and thank him, by the time you get to asking, he's got your heart in a position right. Where I'm super grateful. It just. He just washed away my sins. Super grateful. What do I want? I want to want the things that he wants me to want. I'll tell him, I don't know.
Scott Keffer [:This is what I want. I don't know that it's right. I tell them, I don't know. I want this person to be healed. Okay. You know that that would be fine. Most times that's not happening. Okay.
Scott Keffer [:You have to have a. A grander purpose that I don't see. But last I look, you're wiser than me. Your understanding Is infinite. Right. And that's where I start. Once you. You do that, then all of a sudden.
Scott Keffer [:Right. Perspective. That make sense? If you think about God has time and desires. Intimate fellowship with you. Yes. Intimate fellowship. Access to the holy of holies. Access to the holy.
Scott Keffer [:I need wisdom. I need encouragement. I need comfort. I need favor. Need help. I need deliverance. I need guidance. Where else should I go? So, danger and warning.
Scott Keffer [:Danger and warning. I was going to say this earlier. Dang, I forgot. I shouldn't have gone to the end. Danger and warning. Where does the world system want you to go for answers? Used to be Google, now it's the AI. Just watch out. AI is a God substitute from the world system wanting you to go there for instantaneous answers from artificial intelligence which is programmed by other people.
Scott Keffer [:Everybody get. It's not an intelligence that's out there. It's a program that other people have programmed. It's artificial intelligence. Right. And the world system, which is Satan's domain, wants you to go there for answers. Because you get them quick. They want you to get dependent upon AI Forget that.
Scott Keffer [:Pay attention. Warning. Danger. Will Robert Will Robinson. Danger. Danger. Danger. May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Scott Keffer [:May he bless you. May he keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you. May he lift up his countenance and grant you shalom deep in your soul. And may you go to him often. Amen.
Scott Keffer [:Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the Bible, in His Son, Jesus Christ. Until next time. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time. May God bless you and keep you.
