David Lee Martin

Scripture Mining

I’m no money man, but I am a honey man.

“How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103 KJV)

I’m licking my lips when I open the Word of God.

I don’t understand bitcoin mining, but do know a bit about scripture mining.

I’m digging for peace and pleasantness, not pennies. With a large helping of long life, and an overflowing side dish of riches and honour.

“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” (Proverbs 3:13–17 KJV)

To my understanding it takes a great deal of energy to mine a bitcoin. This is why some believe that it will fall over and fail in years to come, when energy becomes the core resource.

Whether these predictions are in any way accurate or not, I have no idea, but I do know a resource that is inexhaustible.

It does take energy to mine the scriptures too. Fortunately, the return on investment is magnificent.

“…to have skillful and godly Wisdom is pleasure and relaxation to a man of understanding.” (Proverbs 10:23 AMP)

The effort you put in to dig the truth yields a harvest of pleasure and relaxation.

The ways of wisdom are paths of peace.

Dig it?

Remember this

Sometimes we can get caught in the trap of always seeking something fresh and new.

It's like the record gets stuck in a prophetic groove,

“Behold, I do a new thing…”

And again, the desire for novelty sends us scrambling, hunting for an ear-tickling revelation.

But often it's not the new thing that's going to provide the answer you need. It's the old things. Things that you already know.

That's why I love this verse in 2 Peter.

“Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.” (2 Peter 1:12 KJV)

Peter tells them, "Hey, I'm going to remind you to remember the things that you already know."

Because it's the basics on which we build. Not the novelties. Not the side dishes. Not the latest greatest doctrinal trend. The core and the heart of the gospel is where true transformation takes place.

You are begotten again!

Your old life is gone and a new life in Christ has begun.

As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, we are told. And there's nothing wrong with going back and enjoying a fresh jug of milk every so often. By all means, wash down the meat with the milk, but never forget that the things that you already know are often the very thing that you are looking for.

Stopped in my tracks…🛤

It's easy nowadays to be in a rush.

But rush rarely leads to results.

Slow down.

Especially when it comes to Bible study.

I'm not talking about Bible study so you can swing your diploma around and beat people over the head with your theological prowess. Not that kind of Bible study.

Rather, I mean the kind of Bible study that helps you to become a student of God and of yourself (the Bible is a mirror after all) and how you are viewing what sits right before your eyes, and equally what cannot be seen but is just as powerfully at work in the invisible places of the heart.

God's Word searches out the deepest thoughts and intents of the heart, we are told.

This probably sounds a great deal more spiritual and complicated than it actually is.

Here's how it works…

Open your Bible and allow the Holy Ghost to direct you where to begin reading. By that, generally, I mean what book to read, not just a random verse here or there. The Bible was written without verses, and each book was written as a whole. To understand and draw the most juice from your study, I find it's best to approach a book as a whole.

For me right now, it's the books of 1 and 2 Peter.

As you're reading through, read slowly.

Let your heart be sensitive to the Teacher who sits by your side. Incidentally, He is also the Author of the book, so he has a pretty good idea what is relevant to you right now.

You'll find, in the same way as the dove alighted on Christ at his baptism, that you'll sense his presence land on particular verses or portions of the book that you're reading.

The Dove lands on the Word. (Read that statement again, it's packed with revelation)

You'll be prompted to go back and read the verse or portion again, sometimes again and again.

Certain words may be highlighted, and that could be an indication that it's worth scratching below the surface to find out the definition of that word, the Greek or the Hebrew original, or how that word is used in other contexts throughout the scripture.

It may be that a character or a personality stands out, and that God wants to lead you into a more in-depth character study.

Or a subject. A particular thread of theology may loom large as you begin to piece together the different things the Holy Spirit is saying throughout the book and how it connects to what He has said in other books of the Bible.

Like me, you'll find that you are stopped in your tracks.

The Holy Spirit will press the pause button, and cause you to camp around a certain book, a certain word, a certain subject, a certain character, or a certain theme.

My current campground is the first epistle of Peter, chapter 1, verse 3, and particularly the words "According to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again."

In verse 23 of that same chapter, he talks about being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God.

Looks like the Holy Spirit is bringing me back to some of the basics.

On a side note, there's another verse in chapter one of 1 Peter that's causing me to itch on the inside, and that is verse 14.

This particular verse talks about fashioning ourselves according to things other than the word of God. How we ignorantly seek to shape ourselves instead of yielding to the hand of the potter as He shapes us into the image of His Son. I think there's something there worth digging into.

How about you? What is the Holy Spirit emphasising when you're spending time with him in his Word?

Running After Things

If you’re gonna chase, be sure you’re chasing the right thing.

Jesus first of course, but beyond that, life gets askew when a singular focus becomes the monolith that rules your every action.

I’m thinking here of money in particular, but anything that becomes an idol is dangerous.

Often great servants but rotten masters!

Even Jesus recognised that he alone was not enough. That may seem like an unexpected and unlikely statement from someone who lives by the premise "Jesus first," but there's a second part to that premise: "everything else follows."

I've asked a few times in various meetings: "What do we need?"

The enthusiastic charismatic answer is, of course, “only Jesus!”

But even Jesus himself didn't say that.

Matthew 6:32 is very revealing of how aware our Father is of the reality of our life on Earth.

It plainly declares, “Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” (Matthew 6:32 KJV)

We need, want, and desire many things, and there is nothing wrong with that.

In fact, having an understanding that there are many metrics that we can measure our success by, not just one or two, is important.

The world wants to convince you that your success and your significance can be measured by fame or fortune or other such fleeting metrics. The truth is, such things are just one of many and perhaps far from the most important ones

A big factor for me in my business life, for example, is the metric of peace and prosperity, not just prosperity in the narrow sense of the word.

Notice here how John, the beloved disciple, prayed for his people.

“Beloved, I wish (pray) above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” (3 John 1:2 KJV)

At the end of the day, it's a matter of priority and perspective.

Prosperity of soul is the deep soil from which natural prosperity can grow.

And today I just want to remind you that there are many metrics that are far deeper and far more important and far more enduring than money.

Seek first his kingdom, we are told, and all of these “things” will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).

Things are important, but they are the fruit, not the root.

Tend the roots of your relationship with Jesus well.

Let his love and affirmation build you up, not the social signals and other wonky measurements that the world wants to impose on you.

And as you do so, expect good things to be added to you.

The “B” “I” “B” “L” “E”

There truly is no book like it on Earth.

No surprise there, because it is not from earth!

God saw fit to force his eternal mind into finite words – all of Heaven’s limitless wonder crushed into a Book!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1 KJV)

THAT Word is THE Word that we’re speaking of!

When you open up to this startling fact, the way you approach the Bible changes completely.

You’re no longer ticking a box on a devotional calendar or fulfilling your religious reading quota for the day. You’re exposing your heart and mind to another dimension entirely.

The Bible describes it as “tasting the good word of God and the powers of the age to come” (Hebrews 6:5 NKJV)

Oh, that our spirits would drink ever deeper of His goodness, and feast on the most delicious truths of His Words.

“I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.” (Job 23:12 NKJV)