Good morning and a most blessed day to you. I want to begin our time of devotion with a beautiful verse that Paul has written in the letter to the Romans the 10th chapter, verse 8. And then we're going to talk a little bit about that. 

So he wrote,  

But what does it say? “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 

Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy the 30th chapter here, where God is saying that he is putting his word near. His commands are near to the people. They don't have to seek them from far-off. And no one has to come from far to bring God's commands to them. 

I love this in the context of the New Covenant… in the context of Christ. The Living Word of God is always near us…on our lips and in our hearts. We don't have to seek far. He is with us always.

Recently in one of our small groups, someone shared something so meaningful and beautiful. This person graciously gave me permission to share it with you. The question came up as to why we should memorize Bible verses. And this dear saint said that if she needs to engage with the word of God for strength, comfort, guidance, or for a particular need, at any moment she can open the Bible and read it. And that's true. We even have the Bible on our phones, that we can access at any time and read it to be strengthened, refreshed and filled with God's love and mercy.  She said, “But I memorized Bible verses so that I have them readily available to share with others.” That is so beautiful. What a heart of a missionary… that the memorizing of God's word is for the very purpose of sharing it with others.

It’s amazing that God's Word is fully for us. It is fully and completely for you. But at the same time it is fully and completely for you to give away.  Isn’t that at the heart of God?  He gives and gives, and continues to give.  There's never a shortage of God's love and mercy and forgiveness. 

I hope that you will take some time to memorize some scripture. Memorize one verse that has been meaningful in your life, or gives you strength and joy. Memorize that and share it with someone.  We have a perfect opportunity this Easter to share God's love, mercy and grace by sharing the Word with someone.

 Let's pray.  Lord, we thank you for making your word always available to us. We thank you for making your word of hope, of assurance, and of love readily available for us to engage at any time; and for placing it in our hearts and on our lips, that it would be readily available to share with those whom we meet in this world.  Lord, we ask that you would give us the courage and the strength to speak your Word of promise to those we meet today. Lord, we lift all of this to you in the name of Jesus Christ.

God bless you! I look forward to worshiping with you this Palm Sunday, and in the coming Holy Week. God bless!

Pastor Malinak