Draw Near
Draw Near
Encountering the Lord in Scripture: Listening with Your Heart, May 13, 2026
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In this episode of Draw Near, we explore how Scripture becomes a living encounter with the voice of God. We talk about how to prepare our hearts to hear him, the power of knowing the full story of salvation, and how God speaks uniquely and personally through his Word. With personal stories, practical tips, and favorite passages that have carried us through suffering and joy, we hope to inspire you to trust that God is speaking to you.
Whether you’re new to reading Scripture or longing to go deeper, this conversation will help you move from simply reading the Bible to truly encountering the God who loves you.
On demand link: https://drawnear.fireside.fm/221
Thank you for listening to Drawner with Fred and Kara.
SPEAKER_00Drawner is brought to you locally by Cybercloak.tech, providing confidence and cybersecurity for small businesses. Learn more by contacting Cybercloak.tech'CTO and founder, Steve Gretkin, at 712-220-3001. Thank you for joining us on Draw Near. Here we celebrate the beautiful truth that God, in his deep and personal love for each of us, always takes the first step to draw near.
SPEAKER_03But his love calls for a response. A response that transforms our hearts and shapes our lives. Together we're on this journey of faith, discovering how God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit work within us every day.
SPEAKER_00Rooted in the Catholic faith, this is more than a podcast. It's a space where authenticity meets joy. We're two best friends navigating life, family, and faith with honesty, humility, and a lot of love.
SPEAKER_03Our hope is to inspire you as we all grow closer to Christ and to one another.
SPEAKER_00We're so glad you're here. Let's draw near. Yes, many times.
SPEAKER_03To Crystal or to somebody else?
SPEAKER_00To Crystal. Yeah. Those are the only ones that matter.
SPEAKER_03That matter. And what do you know, like what okay, what then prompted you to write that and like what was her reaction to it?
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say what prompted it was love. Uh obviously it meant a lot to her. She still has them all, like like I think a lot of women do, they hold on to those things, but she still has them. Every once in a while, she reminds me that I don't write love letters like I used to. Yeah. But uh, I think that's true for true for a lot of folks. Like as often, my love letters are our children now.
SPEAKER_03That's true. They walk around. That's true. Okay, well, the reason I ask is because I I, you know, our topic, we're gonna uh spend some time talking about scripture. And we've we've actually done an episode about this, but not necessarily in this way. Like it's it's a love letter. It's a love letter from God. And I think, you know, to look at what was his purpose in writing the Bible, and also like what should it mean to us? His purpose was driven by love. Thank you for that. It's so eloquent. Like that was your purpose behind love letters.
SPEAKER_00That's the end of the show, actually, right there.
SPEAKER_03So well, I want to say love. Thank you. But okay, there's reality in that. Thank you. It is, it's it's that simple. Like for God too, I think he's just like his love was so great that he wanted to give us this wonderful living uh guide for all of us. And it begs the question then, just like Crystal, you know, begs the question, well, what's our response to it? And for for many, I'm sure it means the world. And for many, I'm sure, you know, we return to that for encouragement and to be reminded of his love. Or maybe there are some people out there who like, I don't know what meaning this has in my life, and I don't turn to it and I'm not even sure I understand it. And so we kind of want to talk a little bit about, you know, how can scripture come alive and create this personal encounter with God in our lives.
SPEAKER_00Amen.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So I guess that maybe that's like, well, we'll get to that, I guess. Uh I kind of want to start with the first question of like how if I'm somebody who wants to dive more deeply into scripture, because actually this was like a very intentional desire in my life for a while. I think high school was maybe like that first time. And I know that was a huge part of your conversion, was like, why am I not reading the actual gospels when you're reading the other gospels, the lost gospels? Um, and in high school, mine was like, I really want to read scripture, and I'd start from Genesis and then I'd get to Exodus and be bored, and then you hit Leviticus. You're like, I'm done.
SPEAKER_00Leviticus is where it all just falls apart.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's definitely not how I would recommend beginning scripture. But um, you know, maybe, maybe you have that desire like I want to do, I want to do more study of scripture, I want to pray more with scripture. But I think there's an initial step, um, and that's preparing ourselves. So, like preparing our hearts. Um, so maybe that's the question. How do we prepare our hearts to really hear God uh in scripture?
SPEAKER_00Three words come to mind uh as as I was reflecting on this episode and preparing for this episode as far as how do we prepare our hearts to encounter the love of God, to encounter God in his word, because that that's something that can get overlooked. The Bible is not just a lot of information, it's not just history, it's not just poetry, it's so much more than that. It there's a reason the church says ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ. Yeah. The Lord, what is unique about scripture is the word of God and the person of God are one in the same. And so I think we need to remember that when we approach scripture. So three words, I said there were three words. What are those three words? Reverence, expectation, and surrender. We have to come to scripture with the proper reverence, recognizing that it is sacred. It's not just inspirational. Scripture is not like one of those cat posters where the cat is like on the rope and just hanging on, Lord help me hang on. That's not what scripture is, it's so much more than that. And we can look at the catechism, which by the way, the majority of the catechism actually is scripture. If we really look at those footnotes and the index and everything like that, what does the catechism say about sacred scripture? In sacred scripture, the church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength. In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children and talks with them. That's what scripture is. And so we need to come with it, come with a reverence toward it, recognizing it for what it is. The catechism also says scripture is food for the soul and strength for the faith. So, how else do we come uh to scripture with expectation? If scripture is what we say it is, then we should expect that encountering the Lord there, something should happen. We should recognize that the Lord wants to speak to us, and we should come with an expectation because his word is alive, and we'll talk about that more, I'm sure. His word is alive, that means it's living and active, as scripture tells us. And he wants to speak to us. So we should expect that God is gonna speak to us when we come to Scripture. And finally, if we come with reverence, if we come with an expectation that God wants to speak with us, it's gonna require something of us, a response. And you said that as well. You get a love letter, it requires a response.
SPEAKER_03Now, I'm I'm sure I unless it was like unreciprocated love, well, this is a stock.
SPEAKER_00I'm sure there are those listening, it's never happened to me, of course, uh, that have written a love letter and not got the response they expected or wanted. So, what is required of the love letter we read that God wrote for us? Surrender. Surrender, letting the word shape us, not just affirm us, not just picking our favorite scripture passages to inspire us, but actually surrender to it. Yeah. The Lord says, take up your cross and follow me, for example. Yeah. Not necessarily the most inspirational scripture passage, and yet it's an invitation to surrender. It's something we have to do. The rich young ruler, go and sell all that you have and come and follow me. There's nothing encouraging about that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And he can't do it.
SPEAKER_00It's challenging. Yeah, it requires something. Surrender. And there are so many. We're gonna talk about this more. I know it's probably the majority of this episode, is on this point, I suspect. No, that's our next episode. This is true. Well, there you go. A plug for our next episode. Yeah. Uh is surrender. I have to surrender it and let the word shape me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. What was the second word? Uh, expectancy that you said? Yep.
SPEAKER_00So it's uh reverence, yeah, expectation, expectation and surrender.
SPEAKER_03Uh, that one stood out to me a lot, expectation, because uh it actually reminded me, um, for whatever reason, scripture keeps coming up in like conversations with my kids. And um, my daughter Agnes, she's almost three years old, and just in the car recently, she goes, Um, Mom, I think Jesus is talking to me. We've been talking a lot about like how do we know if it's God who's leading us or somebody else? And she's like, I think Jesus is talking to me. And I said, He is? What is he saying? She goes, I love you very much. And I'm like, you know, that sounds like something that Jesus would say. And then my daughter, who, my oldest daughter, you know, she hears that. And of course it's coming from a three-year-old child, like, just like you know, very sweet, innocent. But my daughter is like, Mom, how do I know if God's talking to me? Because I don't think he's ever talked to me before. And so, you know, we had this whole conversation of well, it doesn't sound as clear as me talking to you right now and hearing my voice. And so we talked a little bit about Elijah and like hearing him in the still small voice and everything. But I did tell I like we talked and I about how I bet he has been talking to you for a very long time. And we just don't we don't expect him to, or he comes in different ways that we might not expect. So I let that's the one that stood out to me expectation that when we sit down and read scripture, we have an expectation that he is speaking to us, and it's not gonna be like this this big booming, clear, like clear voice, or this immediate answer. Maybe it's gonna take like a month of sitting down and reading the daily readings at mass. And throughout that story, like God is speaking to you and there's clarity at the end of it. Maybe it's not just like you sit down and I have an answer that day, but there is an expectation that he will speak and that he is trying to speak to you, and maybe there's a process to it. But I think with that and like having an expectation with that, there needs to be uh an understanding of his story. And I say that because maybe I'm just coming from a place of where where I had to start. Because in high school, I like I would sit down and I I would want to know more about scripture, but like the story of Genesis, it was just this like distant story about two parents who I didn't know or really care about, and how does it pertain to me? Because like I didn't see it as like a whole story, it was just like books, you know.
SPEAKER_00So I think it's fascinating as just a story, of course.
SPEAKER_03It is, it is, but when you see your place in that and how it how it impacts you because it's all a part of your history in the church, it becomes so personal. And so I think that would be like, how do I make scripture per a personal encounter with God? We have to also know the story. Now I'm not saying, you know, go off to grad school and learn about scripture. I'm saying maybe take, you know, watch a watch a seven-minute YouTube video from Father Mike Schmitz that he walks through the story of salvation history really quickly, or or Dr. Edstree or something, where we get the the general idea of of this story of love, of how God has worked, because often, like Hebrews 13 says, Jesus is the the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And so, you know, sometimes when we when we read scripture, it's like he doesn't necessarily change his methods, right? He still makes us wander the desert, hopefully not for 40 years. He still speaks in the still small voice, he still, you know, brings beauty and wonder and promises out of difficulty and suffering. He still asks us to sacrifice and that's love. So like he doesn't, he he has methods and they're you know, there's a pattern there. So if we understand the story. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I don't know. That would be my advice of like, okay, if you're looking for the story of scripture to be more personal and to have an encounter, first just look at like a 10,000 foot view of the story and then start diving in because then I think we can see like there's a pattern in our own life too. Does that make sense? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That makes sense. The word of God isn't prime again, it's not just about God, it's not just about information. It's the word that brings us into relationship with God, helps us receive that love. So scripture is more about transformation than it is about information.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So then what are what are some of the um practices I think that have helped you with scripture becoming more alive uh in your own life that you would like impart upon other people?
SPEAKER_00This may sound like a cop-out easy answer, but I think knowing the scriptures.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, like you just talked about, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it goes hand in hand. I think you have to commit to spending time in the word. Yeah. And I do think there's a place for memorizing scripture. If we look at the example of Jesus, who ultimately is who we're supposed to follow, how did he overcome the devil by quoting the word and quoting the word rightly, I might add, because the devil also quoted the word, but Jesus handled it rightly. So I do think there's a point where you need to spend that time in the word and internalize it, not just I uh you because you can approach scripture just as reading, just like we were just talking about it. Yeah. Um, I think the Bible in a year is a beautiful thing. But if you're just following a reading plan to get through the Bible and read it in a year, could there be some transformative effect? Absolutely. But if it's just to to get through the pages and get through and you're not internalizing it, yeah, sometimes it's more fruitful to spend a week on one single passage than an entire book. Um, I'm kind of rambling off topic. I don't know if I'm answering your question. No, you are, you are, but I I think uh internalizing the word. If we look at the book of Revelation, looking again at Jesus' example also, it says we overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Yeah. A big part of that testimony is scripture. For me, one thing that comes to mind is more recently, I was at a conference in Chicago, and the sun and the readings for that particular day really struck me. That was the the readings were where Abraham is pleading with God to save Sodom and Gomorrah if there's you know, if there's 50 righteous, 40, and so on and down the line. And it really stood out to me the way Abraham is praying to the Lord. He's he's being very honest, but also like reminding the Lord, hey, you're merciful. Yeah. Um, would you really do this? You're merciful. And so it was kind of reminding me that, okay, how do I pray? How am I talking with God? And then the psalm for that day was Psalm 103. And for me, that's very significant because it's one of those scripture passages that I have internalized over the years. Read it a hundred times, probably more than that, realistically. It's been one that I've gone to. It says, Bless the Lord, all my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name, bless the Lord all my soul, and forget not all his benefits. He forgives all your iniquities, heals all your diseases, and this is the part that really stood out to me. Redeems your life from the pit. He crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, and he satisfies you with good as long as you live, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Now I came to this conference reflecting on how I kind of feel like I'm in that pit, Lord. There's some things that I need to change and aren't changing, and I kind of feel that way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, but I hadn't really talked to the Lord about that in prayer. And so it was a reminder, and I spent time with this scripture really reflecting on it. Lord, you redeem my life from the pit. You crown me with love and mercy. And so, what did that do? It reminded me of Psalm 23. Most people are probably familiar with this. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me. Same kind of prayer. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Thou preparest a table for me before the presence of my enemies. Now, what are my enemies? Everything that's making me feel like I'm in that pit, you know. And yet he crowns me with love and kindness. Goodness and mercy shall follow me. Lord, thank you that even though I'm in this valley, you you've goodness, your love and mercy follow me, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Which took me to Isaiah 40, 31. Lord, I feel like I've waste time, and yet you tell me that if I put my trust in you, I shall mount up like wings, uh like eagles, and you shall renew my youth, basically. I will run and not grow weary, which took me again to Romans 8, 31 through 39. Nothing can separate me from the love of God. Nothing. And so, like this beautiful experience of prayer that I had that really helped me to overcome and move past some difficulty was rooted in knowing the scripture and being able to make those connections.
SPEAKER_03It's like a path through script.
SPEAKER_00It very much was a path. It out of the pit, out of the pit, reminding me that his love and mercy follows me, reminding me that no matter where I am, no matter what I'm going through, no matter how far away from me he may seem, he's there with me, and nothing can separate me from his love. Lord, your word promises that you will redeem me from the pit. Sometimes we have consequences for our own actions that I'm not saying I did anything wrong or anything. I just do stupid things like many people do sometimes. But even then, even in the midst of of those sorts of circumstances, his goodness, his love, his mercy follow us all the days of our life. And that's something we need to be reminded of. Yeah. How did that happen once again? Because I knew the scriptures.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. You knew the scriptures, and God was helping you to like internalize them more.
SPEAKER_00Amen.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I love that. I think I I would say the same thing. That was one thing that I had too, like making the scriptures come alive to you. And when the scriptures come alive to you, or you know them, or you have them memorized, like you said, Fred, I think it can make all of your prayer come alive to you. Like there was one, um, well, not one, like there's uh I have a crucifix in my in my bedroom that has I don't even know how to explain it. It's one of my favorite that I've ever seen. And I don't even remember where I got it from. And it basically has this image of God the Father behind Jesus, and Jesus is on the cross, and the dove is above both of them. So all three in the Trinity are on this crucifix. And so when I'm praying the rosary and if I'm I'm on the crucifixion, the fifth sorrowful mystery, I usually will just stand. And if BJ ever came up and like came into the room, he'd knock right into me because it's right by our door. And he'd be like, What are you doing? And I'm just staring at our wall because the crucifix is on this wall. And I just, I like look at this at this crucifix as I'm praying the crucifixion mystery. And it's scripture that makes this prayer come alive because as I'm looking at it, I'm like, oh, he he doesn't have nails. Like Jesus has no nails in his hands, but the father's hands are holding him onto the cross. So it reminds me of that scripture passage, into your hands I commend my spirit. So it's like he's literally giving over the sacrifice. And then the the dove who comes down reminds me of the baptism of Jesus. And so like it's it like pulls all these scripture passages in. So I think, like you said, when we know scripture and we uh we might not even interiorize it yet. We might not interiorize it, it might not come alive for us yet. But when we know it, it gives God the chance to like pour grace into those passages and make them come alive, even if they don't in that moment of reading it, like he'll bring them back. And I think that's so beautiful. But the second thing I would say to if you're really like, I don't know how to pray with scripture, obviously we've talked about Lexio Divina many times, but one of my favorite ways to pray with scripture is visualization. And it's it, I mean, even this, maybe this is something that you're not necessarily like, you need a prescription of how how do I go about doing this. But it started very, very simple for me. It was when I would pray, just anything, um, I would picture Jesus sitting in a chair next to me. Usually I would pray at night, so I was getting ready to go to sleep, and I would picture Jesus in a chair sitting next to my bed and we were just talking. And then it kind of just develops from there, like allowing God to use your imagination and use visual exercises to help encounter you. And so if there's a that would be one thing that I would say, if there is a scripture passage that you're like, I'm just reading to read, I'm just reading to get through. I want to spend more time in scripture, so I'm just reading it. Pause, restart the passage, read it slowly, close your eyes. If there's a word that stands out, close your eyes and like invite God to bring a picture to your mind. Is it Him? Is it, you know, a space? Is it a comment? Like what you know, just allow your imagination to be brought into the prayer. So that would be one thing that like really allows it to come alive for me is visualization. God gave us imagination, he gave us that. And so I think it's a beautiful gift to invite it into it. Um, that's meditative prayer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And if if you noticed how I prayed, it was as simple as turning the scripture into a prayer. So I think of going back to Romans eight, Lord, I thank you that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power powers, nor nor height, nor depth, nor anything in all creation will be able to separate me from your love. And going back to Psalm 23, again, you're just turning those scriptures into prayer. Lord, your goodness and mercy will follow me. Help me to remember that, Lord. Help me to remember that I will dwell in your house forever. Um, help me to seek your kingdom before all things. I've just strung a bunch of scriptures together, but you can, that's part of the beauty, is you're learning how to pray the scriptures. That's Psalms is a great example of that. Lord, bless the Lord all my soul. Lord, help me not to forget your benefits. Yeah. That you crown me with love and mercy, that you forgive all my iniquities. Yeah. We're turning the scripture itself into a prayer.
SPEAKER_03You're learning the voice of God and you're learning like the language of prayer in the church.
SPEAKER_00And so maybe you're a person that struggles with visualizing things. Because some people do have struggle with that. Maybe that's one way you could could pray the scriptures. And what's beautiful about that, like you said, you're learning the language of prayer, but guess what's also happening? You're internalizing the scripture.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, with that, which scripture passages have shaped your life and helped you, Fred, to kind of carry through hard times. I know that one was a most like a most recent. Yeah. Um, but I feel like there's been a lot in your testimony.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I laughed because I was gonna say the book of Philippians, because that's my go-to answer.
SPEAKER_03I thought you were gonna say the book of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00No, definitely the book of Philippians, literally the whole book. That's why we have a bonus episode that's literally me reading the book of Philippians. Um, but as I was thinking about this question and preparing for this episode, and maybe I'm getting ahead of you, I'm not doing it on purpose if I am, Kara, but I was thinking about how we come to scripture. Sometimes we come, we maybe we come with that expectancy, that reverence, um, a willingness to surrender. But sometimes it doesn't always say what we want it to say. So, how do we approach scripture? How do we respond when scripture tells us something different or surprises us? So, I wanted to share, I love obscure scripture passages, you well know. Um, Romans 14, 16 come to mind. And the reason I give this scripture as an example is because it was definitely a turning point of surrender in my life, especially my post-conversion, early conversion uh relationship with Christ. Um, and it's very simple passage, Romans 14, 16, do not let your good be spoken evil of. Why is that uh a favorite scripture passage? And why did that come to me of all scripture passages? It reminded me of uh initially when my wife we weren't married yet at the time, we began our journey. We had, we, we heard the gospel for the first time, had a radical conversion. And it was around this time we were engaged to be married, but we lived together. And but by this time, we had made a decision consciously uh to save ourselves from marriage. It seemed like how we lived together, we were too, we were too in it already to separate. And sometimes that happens, but we were committed. There are certain things we're not gonna do until we're married. Yeah. So we, as the saying goes, live together as brother and sister, basically. First of all, let me be clear, it takes a lot of grace, a lot of surrender, and a lot of prayer uh to make that happen. And it helped that we were on the same page. But we were blessed to have good pastors that poured a lot of their life into us and really mentored us. And it was funny during that time, and because we, whenever we would meet somebody new, we would talk about our living situation when it would come up, and we'd immediately respond, but we're not doing anything, you know. Like we kind of had that. We got to throw this caveat out there, which does feel a little bit like looking back on it, like self-justification, but it's just where we were at the time. But our pastor was very, very patient with us. And then that one morning I woke up and I was reading my Smith Wigglesworth devotional, that is a real person with a real name, Kara. Smith Wigglesworth. Um, and the reflection for that day was on this very scripture passage. Yeah. Do not let your good be spoken evil of. Now, when I read it, I nothing really clicked. Nothing really was like, oh yeah, I'm doing that. And then that Wednesday night, what was the sermon our pastor preached? Do not let your good be spoken evil of. And then it hit me. Uh, and then so we went to talk to him afterwards, and we're talking about how you know you're trying to live your faith, you're trying to give a good witness, yet it looks like you're not. And so, in a way, you're letting your good be spoken evil of. And so it was a very much a turning point for us in scripture changing our lives, changing our mind completely. And so, what happened? Crystal was able to move in with her grandparents. That wasn't an option we ever thought was on the table. It gave her some time to spend with her grandfather who was diagnosed with cancer, and uh which was a surprise. So it gave her some time that she wouldn't have got otherwise. And how did I spend my time in those six weeks before marriage? We did this. Most people would say, Why bother at that point? It's only six weeks away. Yeah. But the word changed our hearts, changed our mind. And I spent a lot of that six weeks studying the word, uh, spending time in scripture, and I and I put that word to use that way. I took that, yeah, put that time to use that way. I give that example because that was a scripture that really changed my path. And your circumstances, and our circumstances, yeah. And so um I want to encourage listeners to be open to that because surrender is so important. That's a good example of what it looks like to surrender. As I was reflecting on this, also, I thought, has there been a time in my life when I haven't been open to what scripture says? And I want to say yes, but there hasn't been. There really hasn't been a time where I haven't, at least that I'm aware of. Yeah. I don't mean this in a prideful way, but I think I I try to approach scripture with absolute surrender. And sometimes a divine punch in the face is exactly what I need. Yeah. And I want it, if that makes sense. Yeah. I hope that doesn't sound prideful. I don't mean it that way if it does.
SPEAKER_03I don't think it does, no.
SPEAKER_00But I would encourage everyone to always be open to whatever scripture is going to speak to your heart and whatever changes um are needed, because that's the way I've always approached it. And I have no regrets. Yeah. Even when I say I feel like I'm in a pit, I still have no regrets. Right. Because the word of God is true. Scripture is who it is, scripture is what it claims to be. God is who scripture claims him to be. And so I have to put my faith and trust in him. I have no, there's no other option.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I think that was a really beautiful example. And just not of like here's something that stands out to me, but here's a passage that literally changed your life. It did. And your circumstance. I think that's wonderful.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because that set that is the turning point where a radical surrender kind of became the norm. Yeah. So yeah.
SPEAKER_03And the fact that you and Crystal were like on that journey together. Right. Okay. Yeah. That's awesome. I think uh all of the passages when I was thinking about this question, all of the passages that stood out to me, I realized that they all came from the Sermon on the Mount. Um, every single one. So I think that for me, that's the Sermon on the Mount in many ways. Um in the Gospel of Matthew, in many ways, it's not just the Beatitudes, but I feel like the entire sermon is just like this instruction manual of how to live like Christ and how to like just image Christ completely. Um, so I think one, if I was gonna do the one of the Beatitudes, it's blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Um, just because I don't, I'm not gonna like say, I've been persecuted a lot because I really haven't. Um, but I firmly believe there's more to come. And the ways that I have been, I think have been very small in preparation. Um, I'm sure they'll grow. But it's in those moments where returning to scripture and allowing God to like bring those passages to mind, blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Or if you choose to be my disciple, take up your cross. Um, that's not the Sermon on the Mount, that's Matthew 16. But those passages I feel like have really um transformed interiorly like my mentality of things, because oftentimes it's easy in those moments to be like, woe is me, and you know, cast blame on the other situation or the person or whatever. And I think those reminders are like those are what transform like my interior um intention. Um, but within the Sermon on the Mount, like the things that often come to me come to uh come to me, all who are weary and heavy burden, I will give you rest. Um, how much more will the father who is in heaven give to give good things to those who ask? Um, Matthew chapter six, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. That one often comes to mind, especially when I'm being like, like, oh, you know, very um worried about materialistic things and needs.
SPEAKER_00I was just thinking about this one this morning. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03So I would say definitely the Sermon on the Mount. Like if you're looking for a place to go for encouragement or guidance on living your life and following Christ, like that's that's a beautiful. I mean, it's it was the Sermon on the Mount. Like he he taught it for a reason.
SPEAKER_00Can't go wrong there. It's also like three episodes of the chosen. It is like commercial there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, it is. So yeah, for I think uh we'll we'll close with this last question. Um, how can we in the general sense, not just Fred and I, how can we, like all of our listeners, um, help other people to encounter the word of God? So not just read it, but to like allow yourself to be transformed by it, either in circumstance or mentality or heart, intention, whatever.
SPEAKER_00And first is recognizing that you don't have to be a Bible scholar to help someone hear God, to help someone encounter the Lord in scripture. You just have to be willing to share your story of how the word of God has changed your life. Yeah. That really is that's it. That's literally what I put. Yeah. Yeah. The they overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. That's that's it. It's that simple. I think again, coming back to reverence, expectancy, and surrender. Yeah, how is that evident in your life? In terms of reverence, again, do we approach scripture and do we give the example that the church teaches it should have? Uh, I'm pulling from Dei Verbum, which is the church teaching on divine revelation. The church has always venerated the divine scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord. How much care do we give the Eucharist? I'm going back to the quote here, but especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table of both God's word and Christ's body. I love that imagery because if you look at a Catholic Mass, how much care do we and attention do we give the Eucharist? Well, it's the same thing with the Word of God. Is that evident in my life?
SPEAKER_03I love that too, how like obviously the bread, like that's a physical nourishment, like we can receive that, but it's the analogy of like, but you also should be receiving the word as nourishment.
SPEAKER_00Right. And then lastly, what I said at the beginning as well applies here. Scripture is more about transformation than it is information. Is my time with scripture, is my encounter with the Lord in Scripture transforming my life? Is it making a difference? Am I who I once was? Am I closer to the Lord than I was yesterday? The only thing, well, it's not the only thing, but one of the most important things that's gonna get you there is the time you spend with God in Scripture. If it's about relationship and proximity to Christ, where better can we encounter Him other than the sacraments? Yeah, uh, then in the Word of God.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And then to help people to grow in that too, like talk about it. If you've encountered Christ in the Eucharist and in Scripture, or if you're just excited about something, like how often when we're excited about something, do we want to come and and tell people the story, or you're you know, you saw a cool play in a sports game and you're like, Did you see that? And you want to tell somebody about it. It's like if you read something in scripture, if you like watch a a YouTube video or something where you like you learned and you got excited, go tell somebody. I don't know. I think that's yeah, that's how too, like we can help people realize that the word of God is alive and it speaks into their circumstance. Like there was a situation recently where I was talking to a man on the phone who's um considering coming into the faith, and he was sharing like just how he feels drawn to God because he knows he's such a sinner. And in the context of that conversation, like I shared both the scripture passage of Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. And also we talked a little bit about Saint Faustina, where in her diary she has a conversation with Jesus and he says, The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to my mercy. So, in that just in that conversation, like it could be very easy to, you know, just receive the comment. But when you encounter something that relates and you're like, oh, there's a scripture passage about that, or there's a I just read something about that from one of the saints, like share that encouragement, share that moment because it could be a great grace to that person. And it also could like you never know, it could be like encouraging them to turn more to the word of God in moments of of hardship or questions.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and being vulnerable and open about how the impact scripture has had on your life. I remember once when I was struggling with something similar as you, but I read such and such passage and it really changed my life. Yeah. And reminding them that God is faithful to his word. I'm reminded of Isaiah 55, 10 through 11, Kara. This has just been an episode where I'm like saying lots of scriptures and throwing them all out. When it's about scripture, I guess. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and return not this is a word you don't say every day. I had to pause, thither, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and prosper in the thing which I send it. What comes to mind there, Kara, is the word of God is for the salvation of our souls. It's for that relationship with God, it's for the love of God. Our response is that surrender. And God's given the grace to us to do that. He gives us the grace to respond in love to his word, and it does accomplish that which he sends it forth. So I think it's important that we remind people that God is who he says he is and he's faithful to his word.
SPEAKER_03And he's the one who helps us to encounter him in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00Amen.
SPEAKER_03I love that. I can't get over the word tither. I have, I will say, I have read uh, I think it's actually The Little Flowers of St. Francis. It is used often. Often. Yeah, I had to read it for BJ2. He's like, that's not a word.
SPEAKER_00It's the word of the day, actually.
SPEAKER_03What translation are you using?
SPEAKER_00It's the RSV C E.
SPEAKER_03Oh, okay. I'm like maybe King James.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, in some of the poetic books, it uses a very poetic language, which I've noticed.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. All right. Well, hopefully this episode has been a blessing to people. You know, I I feel like there always is that desire among so many people to know more about scripture and to also sit down and pray with scripture more. It's just where do I begin? How do I do this? Um, so hopefully this has really given just like that initial um spark of interest and also some some tips.
SPEAKER_00Thank you once again for listening to Draw Near with Fred and Cara. Draw near is brought to you locally by Cybercloak.tech, providing confidence and cybersecurity for small businesses. Learn more by contacting cybercloak.tech CTO and founder Steve Gretken at 712 220 3001. We now return to regularly scheduled programming here on Stuan Catholic Radio.