Dustin Alley (00:03.266)
Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the Men After God podcast. I'm excited for the month of April because we are starting a series this month on a topic that's becoming more and more dear to my heart as we explore it. Luke and I just had a fantastic conversation even before we hit record here today. I know it's going to lead into a great one here. We're talking about spiritual disciplines.

This topic comes up in all forms of Christianity and throughout your churches, it comes up with how you're developing your men and how they're being disciplined at home with their spirituality and how their relationship with Christ really looks. And I'm excited to get into this topic because there's some common phrases we say here at Men After God that I want you to make sure you have in your heart. And that's one of them is this, there's no such thing as cookie cutter Christianity.

your relationship with Jesus is your relationship with Jesus. You are going to walk with Him the way you were made to walk with Him. And that might be different than someone else's, and it's okay. So today we're going to talk about the spiritual discipline of Bible reading. And we're not going to get into exactly how to do it. We'll talk some of that. But what I want you to grasp from today's episode is an understanding that your relationship with the Word of God is

might look different than someone else's and it's okay. What's important is you have a relationship with Jesus that's founded upon his word. And I do think it's important to be consistently pursuing a greater knowledge of who God is and what God has done in and through your life. And that's going to come from his word. But how you get there can be a little different. Luke, when it comes to spiritual disciplines, Bible reading and stuff, what stands out to you as important for guys to recognize in this realm?

Luke Sorensen (01:47.85)
I think first of all is the fact that, you know, we talk about the devil. The devil doesn't want you to the Bible. And I know that sounds really cliche because here's the deal. I talked to a lot of men, even my inner dialogue of like, man, I want to hear from God. I want to hear from God. Well, good, there's a place where you can hear from God. And I've seen this meme like, if you want to hear from God, read your Bible. Like, well, I want to hear from him audibly. Well, then read it out loud. And I think it's a little bit funny, but also it's one of those things where just, you know,

Dustin Alley (01:56.014)
Thanks

Dustin Alley (02:10.862)
Yeah.

Luke Sorensen (02:17.768)
and I'll say this for the thousandth time, don't let what you can't do keep you from doing what you should do. And there's so much benefit in the discipline of discipline. me take a step back. We're gonna talk about Bible reading and disciplines of a godly man. There's a benefit of discipline at all. And I'm gonna go to take it to a different level. For years, I hated budgeting. I hated budgeting money. Like, and that's not the conversation today, but hear me out.

Dustin Alley (02:22.936)
Yeah!

Dustin Alley (02:38.488)
Mm.

Luke Sorensen (02:42.282)
because I felt that if I budgeted my money and had to live on a budget, I would lose all my financial freedom. Now for any of you that understand budgeting and money, you know that's quite opposite that discipline is freedom. To quote Jocko Willink, discipline is freedom. And so one of the things that you need to start doing is looking at, these rhythms of your life and getting in place of like, what do you need to start doing consistently? And I'm not talking about 10 hours of Bible reading a day. I'm talking about starting just getting the five minute, the 10 minute.

doing something is better than pretending that you're ever going to do something when you get time for it. Because one, you're never gonna find time for it because what you don't prioritize, what you don't schedule doesn't get done. So I'd say this, that the primary core of this is understanding that discipline is freedom. And scheduling the Bible reading, the concept of a rising tide raises all ships. When you start Bible reading as a spiritual leader and you're being fed by the word of God, this is a good thing. There's no...

downside to it. And if there is a downside, you're reading the wrong Bible and I'm not talking about version.

Dustin Alley (03:45.678)
Yeah. man, I love that. You know, look, I think a lot. was asked recently about how to help someone new to the faith come to the place where they can engage in spiritual disciplines. And my thought process there is a person's not doing it because they don't see the value in it.

We understand that with many things in life. If we don't see the value in something, we're not going to do it. And you can say, well, they should do it because they love Jesus. Well, people should do a lot of things because they love Jesus. If that was the primary motivation for everyone, then we wouldn't see half of what we see in churches in America today. So, there has to be a to help someone see the value in engaging in spiritual disciplines like reading the Bible. And it starts with knowing who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.

Once we have that gospel-centered view together, then it's the question, well, don't you want to know Jesus more? Yeah, okay, great. And here's a wonderful place to start that. 2 Timothy 3, 16, all scriptures God breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. Telling your man, like, hey, this is where you find how to live. This is where you find how not to live. This is where you find the correction from how you are living and how to get to where you need to be and how to train yourself, your children, your spouse.

up in righteousness. So, if you're looking to be a man after God, it starts with a relationship with God's Word. And then there's the practical research that's out there that shows the great value of men who regularly engage in Scripture. And Barna's research says just four times a week. So, this isn't even a daily thing. This is just four times a week. It says that 57 % of men who engage in the Bible reading four or more times a week are

less likely to struggle with pornography. 68 % are more likely to share their faith. 61 % more likely to disciple someone else. Reading the Bible four times a week can literally change your behavior. But what is stopping you? What are some of those practical things? Because I know we said like there's a philosophical reason.

Luke Sorensen (05:46.45)
Yeah.

Dustin Alley (05:53.942)
But for the same reasons we don't do other stuff, there's some practical things too. The first one I'll get to, I'll get to the first two, and Luke, I'll give you the next ones after that. The first one's time. I read something the other day, and Luke, maybe you can attest to this for a minute. Parenting in today's age is actually harder than parenting 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. And the reason is because of how much we have going on.

not just in our schedules, but also the amount of things vying for our attention. And truthfully, there's scientific studies that marketing companies and big businesses using to get your attention and to maintain it. Social media thrives off you being on your phone. And so we find ourselves with our time being filled with so many different things.

And as men, you got to provide, you want to make sure everyone's cared for, you got to fix the house up, you want to try to have a hobby, you want to make sure your kids have sports experiences, they get to go to church, that they get to their education's cared for. You got all these things you're thinking about, but you're trying to take care of everyone else rather than actually take care of yourself. So we find ourselves overbooked. And again, if we don't make time for it, there won't be time for it. So we have to put that in our schedule. And then we're distracted. So this goes back to the phones. Our phones are dopamine machines.

They are constantly hitting us with dopamine. It feels really good. You know else hits with dopamine? Nicotine and other drugs because it's an addiction and it keeps drawing you back in and drawing you back in. And I can fall as prey to this as anyone else, but I challenge you. Pull up the screen time feature on your phone. Add up how much time you spent on it the last week. Multiply it by 52. And that's how much time you spend on it in a year. And I guarantee

you will find you are spending days living your life through a little seven and a half inch, I don't even know about the five and a half inch screen.

Dustin Alley (07:49.344)
Is that really how you want to spend your life on this earth connected to a little screen like that? So we get with time. We are overbooked. We're not making time for it. We're distracted by everything else going on. And then look, there's a there's another one here that I think is good for you to speak into.

Luke Sorensen (08:07.082)
Yeah, I think this one is something that is real. We refer to it as shame. Like, hey, why are you not reading your Bible? And a lot of us believe that we should be further along spiritually. mean, I've been saved for 30-some years, almost 31 years. I was saved at very young age. And yeah, I look at my spiritual growth, I want to map my devotions. And like, I should be this, know, DL Moody of a scholar. Like, I should be this version of whatever, right? And there's this concept of like, well,

What's one more day of just not doing what I've not been consistent in or what hasn't been real? And I want to just speak to that for just a minute. Imposter syndrome is real, but I want to talk about where it comes from. Imposter syndrome, you're talking like, hey, I'm not reading the Bible because maybe I feel like I'm not worthy. Maybe I've messed up. Maybe I've got some other things in my life that are, you would talk to it like, hey, you know, going back up to the whole like, hey, if you read your Bible four times a week, you're going to, maybe you're struggling with pornography or maybe you're struggling with other issues that are.

that are things that you know you should do and you're not doing, know you shouldn't do and you are doing and you feel that guilt and shame. The devil is a master at making sure that that is what is on the forefront of your mind and is called guilt. Now I want to just say this, the Holy Spirit's going to impress and very much guide you to say, okay, are you quenching the spirit? That's the Holy Spirit's job is to make sure you feel it, but not to make you feel shame.

but to make you feel inspired to get back to God. She's talking about like the concept of like, I wanna be close to God, but I don't wanna do what it takes to be close to God. Well, then you're never gonna be close to God. But the Bible says this, if you draw an eye to God, he is faithful and just to draw an eye to you, right? And the concept of First John, heard a message recently by our youth pastor at our church, Pastor John Mark at Levon Drive-up Church, and man, the message changed my life. Like it was so good.

He's talking about 1 John, we use this Christian bar, so 1 John 1,9, if we confess our faults, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And I've used that verse a lot more times than I wanna acknowledge, right? As a, hey, I have sinned, I'm gonna confess it, I'm gonna do what's right. And he did a deeper version of like, he's like, there's confession at the surface level, but then there's confession and repentance. And then there's confession where you get down deep and realize that what you are confessing,

Dustin Alley (10:10.83)
Right.

Luke Sorensen (10:25.93)
is not telling God something he doesn't know. And a lot of times we put ourselves in these different versions of who we are when we approach God. There's the, am a good person and God, I want you to see who I am so that I can feel blessed and feel good about what I am so I can feel like a spiritual being, right? And I'm worthy of God's love. Okay, well.

You're wrong, but that's okay. We'll go to go. And then you have a different version of you that's like, well, this is the sinful version of me. This is the carnal version of me. This is the person that I really, I don't want to show God. Don't want anybody to see this is my closet person that's kind of hiding from God. And I approached God differently. It's almost like I approached God pretending that God doesn't see me as one whole being. He sees the most sinful version of you and the best version of you and you're the same person. So when you're going to God and confessing and talking to God and go into the Bible,

There's a place that you're not going as a good Christian to the Bible. Reading the Bible does not make you a good Christian. Reading the Bible makes you a real person that's a sinner saved by grace just like the rest of the people that read their Bible or don't read their Bible. So stop trying to deal with this facade of who you think you are because imposter syndrome works two ways. Either you're pretending to be something you're not or you feel you're not worthy of being something that you are. Either way, it's not real versus

Dustin Alley (11:16.909)
Hmm.

Hmm.

Luke Sorensen (11:40.638)
God, I'm your child and I come bold to the throne of grace not because I'm perfect because I'm your kid because when you see me, you see what Jesus has done because in the verse where it says he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, it's not that he's just extenuating grace. It's just because of what Jesus already did. You're justified. Not it's not like God's like, you were not good enough for my forgiveness today. So no, no, no. It's just because it's already been done. So stop.

playing the game of like, I'm not worthy to be a good Christian because I'm making mistakes. You know how you're to stop making mistakes and start walking with God? Literally start walking with God. And that means, hey, if you've got five minutes, I mean, how much technology? You talk about like all the technology changes of the distractions. That's real. But you know, the benefit of it is that there is no excuse for not spending time in God's word. You can go to YouTube, which on one side of YouTube might be a very, carnal version of all the stuff that's there that might not be good.

Dustin Alley (12:12.215)
Hmm.

Luke Sorensen (12:37.194)
But on the other side, there's so much spiritual resources, literally in Bible passages, Bible reading, Bible devotionals, textbooks, someone reading the Bible, the podcasts that we do, right? I've got a friend, Kevin Birdsong, not Kevin Birdsong, Keith Birdsong, out in Texas, I forget, Texas City, Texas City, Texas, right? He's close. My wife has started to listen to his podcasts and now my in-laws are. He does it through the Bible podcasts and they are so spiritually challenged by this. I need the message, don't ever know, just because there's so much out there.

Dustin Alley (12:54.028)
He's in Texas somewhere.

Luke Sorensen (13:07.172)
The shame that you feel is very, very real. I'm not trying to minimize that. But guess what? Jesus didn't die on the cross and walk out of that grave for you to feel shame about reading the Bible. He walked out of that grave to make sure you feel victory and so you can start at any time you want. And that's a challenge for us. So as we're going through this, understand it's not a performance. Don't let it be the concept of like, got to check a box, the duty, the check a box thing. No, no, no.

Dustin Alley (13:17.688)
Hmm. Yeah.

Dustin Alley (13:26.286)
That's cool.

Luke Sorensen (13:34.662)
It's for depth of relationship. What is God trying to tell me today? What am I learning about God? How is God talking to me?

Dustin Alley (13:41.364)
I'm glad you mentioned depth of relationship because I think that's something we forget in our pursuit of Christ, especially through the Word. And I told my son this the other night, I said, I'm so glad you have a private Christian education. think that's wonderful for you. I'm afraid you're going to view the Bible as only an academic textbook. And that's just not the reality of it.

what is good is understanding that it doesn't require seminary-level exegesis to get into the Bible each day. And you mentioned the technology. So, for instance, for me right now, it has been so amazing to take the pressure off of myself to have to…

You know, like dive into a study or anything like that, just in a season of life I'm in and I'm going through something called the Bible recap. I'm loving it. It's my first time through it and I'm loving Tara Lee Cobble. I think it's the author. She's got a book out. I'm using the Bible app to go through it. She's got like Keith does the videos each day and just breaks down the scripture and things with a kind of little bit of a high level overview. And where I'm at right now, that is just phenomenal for me to sit and I get to hear the stories that I've read about or I've preached on and different things of that nature. And I'm hearing them from a different perspective.

And I'm hearing them in a way that I can really reflect on God, because she does a great job at the end of it. She asks always, like, what's your God shot? Like, how did you see God in this today? And so that's been a wonderful way for me to reflect on Him. And when it comes to depth of relationship, if you've been married for any length of time, you know, I hope, your relationship now is deeper than it was before. And it's not because you continue doing the exact same things that you did before.

When you first started dating your spouse, there's a lot of conversations, a lot of dates, lot of convincing her that you're the one and things like that. And now it's different and life's different. And our relationship is strong, but I don't have to buy my wife flowers every week. I don't have to win her over or convince her. And there's like today, this day of recording, and today's a long day for us where we're actually not gonna see each other that much, but that's okay because we have ways that we are able to interact and engage through text or whatever.

Dustin Alley (15:45.324)
and our relationship has evolved over time. Your relationship with Christ is going to evolve over time. Never put experience before Scripture. All experiences are based on Scripture, but your experience with Christ and how you engage your relationship with Him, I don't think it's wrong to say that it's going to evolve. It could change. And for some of you, it may not. And I mean it this way. You talked about D.L. Moody earlier. Look at Spurgeon.

Look at these theologians, that that's how they are made and what they do. And there's great men today, they're doing the same thing. We've got Matthew Henry's commentary and guys writing on the Bible all the time. That's great for them. You may look at it and I could never do that. That's okay. You don't have to. Don't try to. But what's important is to consistently pursue Jesus every day. And I do believe your Bible is a part of that. And so find the best way for that to happen for you. Simply speaking, there's a good framework here.

Luke Sorensen (16:36.446)
Mm-mm.

Dustin Alley (16:38.462)
and I want to go over it. It's the SOAP framework for reading Scripture, okay? The first one is Scripture. Read a passage. Now, when we say passage, we don't mean multiple chapters. It could be one verse. It could be five verses. Read a passage of Scripture and then ask yourself, what stands out about this? What can I learn from this? What's happening here? And again, you don't have to go into a

sermon level exegesis of the passage, know, who wrote it? When did they write it? Why did they write the whole book? Who's speaking? Who are they speaking to? All good things to know, but in the small quiet moments of your day, it may just be, what stands out to me in this passage? And then application. How does this change me? How can I apply this today? And maybe it's not a today thing. Maybe it's, okay, God, how would I apply this if I encountered a situation like this? What does this mean?

asking what your God shot is. How did I see God in this? And then prayer, talk to God about it. Now, we're going to do a separate episode on prayer, so I'm not going to dive into that right now, but what I will say is please don't think that prayer has to be one, should never just be vain repetitions, saying the same thing over and over again, you know, and I mean that in the sense of like a scripted prayer, but if you're brokenhearted and just can try it and you're just repeating to God, you know, your brokenness, that's one thing.

Luke Sorensen (17:54.654)
Mm-hmm.

Dustin Alley (18:00.338)
And then it doesn't have to be very long. It doesn't have to be with King James English language, you know. It can be a simple conversation, but we'll talk more about prayer next time. Again, going back, finding the simple way for you to approach Christ, your relationship will grow deeper and it'll grow at a different rate than someone else's. Luke mentioned that he's been saved for 30-some years. You find other people have been saved for 30-some years that are further along in their journey with Christ, and you find some that are not as far along in their journey with Christ. It's your journey.

Luke Sorensen (18:05.866)
Mm-hmm.

Luke Sorensen (18:18.058)
You

Dustin Alley (18:30.956)
We're not supposed to compare to others and judge others' relationship of Christ based upon ours. We're supposed to help them grow into who God made them to be the way God's going to have them grow. And that's a whole other thing. So, pursue Christ and pursue Christ consistently. What are some techniques and ways that they can do that,

Luke Sorensen (18:48.862)
Yeah, I think it's crucial that you look at two things. I think schedule is part of the discipline is looking at when you're going to do this. Brother John Beasley, who's been on our podcast before and is a great person to follow when it comes to physical health, stuff like that. Yeah, he had some gold and we only got to like little bit of the gold that he has. Great stuff. challenge you. Yeah. Find John Beasley. think it's mind and body is his. Yeah.

Dustin Alley (19:01.742)
We need to get him back on here. think we have a follow-up episode we're supposed to do with him.

I know, he's like, seven points, we got two and a half.

I'm going through his coaching program right now and we'll talk about that another day.

Luke Sorensen (19:18.666)
That's a great, I it's great. But he said something about his word rhythms. And I just really liked it. I'm like, rhythms, man, that makes sense. Talking about, you know, routine sounds so boring, but rhythms sounds beautiful, right? What is your rhythm? And so you say, hey, I only have, you know, these things. And so like talking to the dad who's on the way to work and you have a 10 minute drive to work, well, that 10 minutes could be the most valuable time of your day of being able to consume the word of God. You're like, well, it's not the same if I don't have the passage of the book in front of me. Hold on. If that's not what you have time for, then do what you have time for.

I'm an audio book person. have a Bible that I love to open and love to teach out of and love to read and mark up. But there are times that that is just not the feasibility of what I need. listening to the word of God. then the concept of this, scheduling it in a way where it is the priority. So like some people I do the thing where if you haven't got a priority, you're a morning person, the first thing you do if you're like me is, first thing I do is I grab my phone and see what did I miss? What do need to check off?

Did my daughter text me about school? Like all these things that are priority, right? Hey, your schedule, look for a place where you can put God first so that you can connect with God for real. Secondly, understand that even though you might be scheduling a time that is sacred, and some of you, you might say, I work five days a week and I do devotions five days a week because Saturday and Sunday, it doesn't work for me. Hey, that is better than most.

Don't beat yourself up over missing a day. So be like, well, I checked off 365 days. Yeah, but did you walk with God? Did you hear from God? Like, where'd you miss, right? So just kind of take that in its way. The concept is when you've read the Bible, put it in your heart and then ponder it and then talk to God about it. So we're talking about pray, we'll talk to God about what you learned in the Bible. When you have a relationship with your spouse and your spouse goes to do something, you learn about something this week.

Dustin Alley (20:46.83)
There you go. Yeah.

Luke Sorensen (21:06.44)
My wife went to a ladies thing, came back and she had all these things to talk about that she learned and took and we talked about it for hours. We've been talking about it, just really powerful stuff that she's like, I can see what God's doing in our life. It's really cool. Just because she knows it doesn't mean she wants to hold it inside. She also wants to talk about it. And I guarantee God is no different when it says He's given us the living, breathing word of God.

He wants to talk to you about what you read and about what he has already given and the fact that you picked up the pieces that he put down. He's like, man, let's talk about this and wants to be in communication about that. understand just cause you have a segment of time and some of you are, I mean, you have a 30, 40 minute, maybe a couple hour routine. That's great. Congratulations. That's fan. Fine. But what we're talking to is the person who either needs to pick it up more or needs to pick it up at all. And if one person starts reading their Bible consistently, that four or five, six times a week,

Dustin Alley (21:36.792)
Yeah.

Luke Sorensen (21:59.402)
because of this podcast, we win. And that's progress. That is great. So just be the one to just like, hey, take the challenge, let us know about it. Because we sure would love to be an encouragement. But if we go back to that segment where it talks about the percentages of people like read your Bible four times and the benefits of it, the percentages of just improved life, improved spiritual walk. If you go back to that study, it is crucial to understand that the people who read their Bible only two or three times did not get the same benefit. So consistency.

Dustin Alley (22:27.597)
Hmm.

Luke Sorensen (22:29.322)
is crucial and the only way you're gonna get consistency is having that routine to actually be able to do it. And the other concept is, I'll pass it off to Dustin, is if it's really, you're looking for like where to start. A lot of people just don't start because they don't know where to start. And I will say this, everyone starts at start, so start somewhere. But if you're looking for an easy one, I always go to either reading through the book of John, because that gives us a great picture of Christ, that's a great one.

But reading through the book of Proverbs, the day by day, because 31 chapters in Proverbs, 30 to 31 days in a month, it's just kind of in sync and it's really good to do with your kids because it gives something consistent. As a child, my parents read the Proverbs to me almost every day for a lot of my life. We had to memorize Proverbs chapter three. I still know that pretty well. Those are verses that are great biblical principles that are easy to pick up and they're easy to pull a little thing out that I can hold onto for the day.

Dustin Alley (23:19.214)
Absolutely. And for some of you, maybe think like, I read those, but I don't understand them. You know, had a guy I preached recently at a church and he came up to me afterwards and just being very kind and gracious. But one of the things he said to me, he said, I appreciated how you helped me understand what the Bible said, because I struggle with that. And this is a guy, older guy, been in church for a long time, but it was just.

He has a hard time being able to read the Scriptures and be able to, again, exegete and understand the applicability of the passage. And, you know, it's our responsibility as biblical communicators is to help people do that. And there's been great communicators out there that have either the YouTube videos that Luca talked about, Bible app has got so much out there. You could find Devotions Galore. I mean, you can look at Lifeway. You can just do a Google search of any, hey, find one that's great. And, you know, who knows, maybe one day, a minute after God will have one out there.

But what's important is finding what works best for you. Because we talked about why we should do this. We've given you some ways of how you should do this. And I want to let you know what happens when you do. When you invest into yourself as a follower of Jesus, as a man after God, you anchor your life to the Word of God, you become dangerous. I have two statements I'm to make. And the first one is this.

When it comes to the Bible, remember, your relationship with Christ can't contradict Scripture, okay? However, there was a time in history, and a long time in history, where the Bible was not readily accessible to people. And I was telling Luke before we came on here, I'm probably going to do some research into this. What was it pastors said to men and women to help them grow in their sanctification, to grow in their walk with Christ when he couldn't tell them?

Hey, go read your Bible every day. When it wasn't there. There was still an expectation of sanctification and growth. There's still a desire for relationship with God. So, how did that work? I'm interested to see that. And then the second thing I want you to understand is that when you're doing this, when you're consistently pursuing Christ, at any level, a proverb a day, you know, the Bible recap a day, a YouTube video of a good

Dustin Alley (25:36.362)
reading the Bible in a year, when you're doing these things, you're becoming dangerous to the enemy. And why do you think it's so hard to actually do that? Why do you think there's such struggles for you to be consistent in this? Well, I believe it's your flesh. I believe it's Satan that can begin to distract you and put every reason why you shouldn't pursue Jesus that day. And so, I read a quote earlier, if you weren't trying to do something great for God, it wouldn't be so difficult. And so,

Being a husband, being a father, trying to live a life as a man after God, not an easy thing and you're going to face challenges. The question is how are you going to overcome them? But you can overcome them well and you can find the best way to do it because you can then take your Bible reading and your discipline, pass it on to your wife. You can pass it on to your children.

Luke Sorensen (26:12.586)
Mm-hmm.

Dustin Alley (26:23.222)
Lifeway did a study, said the number one predictor of spiritual health in children is seeing their father read the Bible. Not going to tell you, as I find this, as I share this with you, I use my phone a lot for scriptures and things. And my children have devotional books that we're going through right now, and just about every night I talk with them about that, I read through that with them, but I don't have a physical Bible in my hands. And so, I'm probably going to make an adjustment off that to at least carry maybe one of my small New Testaments in there with me and say, let's just make sure we know where this is coming from.

Luke Sorensen (26:46.472)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Dustin Alley (26:50.382)
And then there's Jesus that modeled these things. He often said, it is written. That was his weapon against Satan in the wilderness. If he's going to use it, you should too. But you can't if you don't know it. Going into this thinking spiritual disciplines, as Luke said earlier when it came to budgeting, we often look at it go, oh, this is going to restrict my freedom. I don't want to do this, this, that, and the other thing.

Luke Sorensen (27:02.514)
Mm-hmm.

Dustin Alley (27:14.72)
Stop trying to discipline yourself into something and start finding a way that you pursue Jesus that brings delight to you and make sure it's something you include every day. Because if you delight in it, you're going to be more likely to do it. Luke, go ahead and talk to us about how it's a light, a lamp into our feet and a light into our path and close us out here.

Luke Sorensen (27:35.39)
Yeah, I would say this, I think that it's crucial to look at this and understand why, you we talked about the word delight. You know, the joy of the Lord is our strength. And you think about all the things that might bring us joy or temporary joy. There is no permanent joy outside of Christ. There's some great things we get to enjoy in life, but when it comes down to it, we have the privilege to kind of take a relationship to a depth of our Abba Father, that relationship with the Word of God and the disciplines.

And I to this, just like working out physically will change a lot of your life, it will change your health, it will change all, I mean it really will affect so many areas of your life. More so the reading of Gonswora, the disciplines will do that. You talk about some of the things you're facing, each of you are probably facing some unique challenges, some unique perspectives, some who knows what you've got in front of you. But I will say this, the Bible says very clearly, as I can't say clearly, your word.

is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path. And how many times do we just need some illumination on what's the next step and what that looks like? And we're praying for it, but are we looking for it? So I challenge you as you get in your Bible, here's the challenge for the week. Get in your Bible this week, especially if you're not consistent. say, man, I do it, but I'm not consistent. Or maybe I'm not doing it at all and I need to start. What a great week. This is the month of April. It's spring. It's time to grow. Things grow in the spring. And you can grow any time of the year. So if you hear this in...

different month and it doesn't matter, right? So take it from what it's worth, but here's the concept, right? Hey, look into the scripture, read it, set aside 10 minutes and just start on the Book of Proverbs. Just do 10 minutes a day, take a challenge. Don't take it as a month challenge, take it as a daily challenge. Did I do it today? Five minutes at a time. And then look at, hey, can I do this for seven days? It's a seven day challenge. Read, reflect, respond, talk to God about it, and then really look at it as like, what?

Dustin Alley (29:00.448)
Yeah.

Luke Sorensen (29:27.07)
What can I do to make this consistent in my life and look at what God is doing to take you from, hey, it's duty, it's discipline, it's work. Push-ups are never easy when you start, but the more you do them, the easier they get and the better it feels. You never wanna do them, but the better it feels when you're done every time, right? And that's the concept. So Dustin, let's land this and take it home.

Dustin Alley (29:38.678)
Hmm.

Dustin Alley (29:44.746)
Yeah, man. No, listen, the Bible shouldn't just be a part of a checklist. Let it be a conversation. Crave it. And I'll tell you, there's times with my wife, I love talking with my wife, I can tell you there are times where I'm okay just being with her. And maybe we don't have to share. I just need to be in her presence. Truthfully, if you just open the Word of God and be in God's presence for a few moments, meditating upon Him and His Word, I don't mean just to clear your mind or anything like that, but just be in the presence of God.

As I wrestle with these things and these questions about Bible reading and spiritual disciplines, what I struggle with is the concept that we make our relationship with God academic and we make it just about reading. It's just about reading. I've got to read the book. I've got to read the book. If I just read the book, there's a lot of benefits to that. not saying don't. I am saying just don't go into it just trying to read the book.

Go into it and try to grow in your relationship with Christ. There may be a day where you don't need to read your Bible and you need to worship. You need to stop and pray. You need to stop and confess. You need to stop and just acknowledge God's existence in your life and what He is doing. And so, guys, we're going to be putting a resource together called the Five Minute Bible Blueprint for Dads.

Luke Sorensen (30:57.226)
Uh-huh.

Dustin Alley (31:04.534)
That'll be available at minaftergod.net slash resources. We're gonna make that a free resource that we'll put out and should be available at a time this episode goes live. If it's not, be sure to check back at the end of April and it will be there. And the next episode, Luke, we're going to be talking about an underutilized weapon in your life, your marriage and your fatherhood. And that is prayer. Until then, open your Bible, lead your family and live your life as a man after God.