Learning to Love God's Word

Janet Aucoin January 12, 2024

Do we need our souls refreshed? Do we need to be made wise? Do we need joy in our hearts and light in our eyes? All of these things can be found in learning to love the Word of God.

Janet and Jocelyn walk us through Psalm 19, a psalm of David that shows the delight of deep affection for the truth of God’s Word.

Visit the Joyful Journey website to sign up for our newsletter, view a transcript, and search previous episodes.

Emails us with questions or comments at joyfuljourneyquestions@outlook.com

Facebook, Instagram

Donate to Joyful Journey Podcast

Joyful Journey Podcast is a ministry of Faith Bible Seminary. All proceeds go to offset costs of this podcast and toward scholarships for women to receive their MABC through Faith Bible Seminary.

Resources

Episode Transcript

Resources

Songs

⁠O Lord Our Rock and Our Redeemer - Sovereign Grace⁠

⁠Your Words are Wonderful - Sovereign Grace⁠

⁠Shane and Shane Psalms Album 1⁠

⁠Shane and Shane Psalms Album 2⁠

Handout

⁠Bible Reading Plan Suggestions

Transcript

Jocelyn: I don't just need to feel better. I need the truth. And ultimately that will make me better.

Janet: I just want to make it as totally simple as possible for ladies to see that the Bible is really applicable to their everyday life.

Jocelyn: When they understand theology, the application flows out of it quickly with joy.

Janet: It is a journey, but even the journey itself is joyful when I'm doing it, holding the hand of my savior and trusting him all along the way. This is the joyful journey podcast, a podcast to inspire and equip women to passionately pursue beautiful biblical truth on their journey as women of God. When you choose truth, you're choosing joy.

Janet: Okay. Welcome back listeners to our first podcast of 2024. Yes. This is Janet here back again with Jocelyn and we'd like to start out this season talking about how we can grow in our love for God's word.

Jocelyn: Yes. And because we want to encourage you to read it with us, we're putting a new challenge out there. Last season, we all did Bible memory. And this year we are encouraging you to commit to reading through the Bible this year in some way. So we're going to mention it throughout the year. And at the end of the year, we'd love to hear from you if you were able to finish. And we're going to be linking a document on this episode of Show Notes for sure, that talks about just some different ideas of how to read through the Bible in a year, especially if you've never done it before. It can be a little bit of a daunting idea. But if you see that lots of people have already organized it for you. You just have to follow their plan.

Janet: That's right. And there's so many ways you chronologically, there's so many ways. So we don't care what way,

Jocelyn: no, we don't,

Janet: but we'll give you some ideas so that you're not starting from scratch.

Jocelyn: Just want you to read along with us this year.

Janet: We're going to send a little something to each listener who lets us know that you read through the Bible. I love presents. I know who doesn't love to get something in the mail. So join us on that and you'll be hearing us throughout the year referring to that as we're both committing to also reading through the Bible again this year.

Jocelyn: It's been a really good discipline for both of us. We've done it for years and every single year that we do it again, it's like, wow, like this is so encouraging to see this again or this part new. So it's going to be a great thing.

Janet: The challenge that I have not done yet, and I'm not even going to make the commitment to doing it right now, but I've heard great things about doing it in 90 days.

Jocelyn: You know what? I actually did that this past summer and it was my favorite Bible reading I've ever done.

Janet: That's what I've heard. But I'm like, okay, I gotta, I haven't done it yet, but I've heard great things about it.

Jocelyn: I don't think my new life reality allows me to have an hour of Bible reading at this point in my life. I was glad I had it then. But yeah, that's not a current reality.

Janet: Well, let's talk about reading our Bibles. Consistently reading our Bibles is hard. Why do you think that is?

Jocelyn: I can, I can answer for me because I overschedule and overcommit and underestimate the amount of time that my actual life will take. But other reasons are like, sometimes we just don't prioritize it, you know, like you wake up and you just get going on your day, whatever your day is. I always hear people have lofty plans for reading through the Bible and then they get to Leviticus and they're like, what? And they're done.

Janet: And they're done.

Jocelyn: So it's just some of the parts of the Bible. If you don't understand what's going on, you know. It's challenging.

Janet: Yes.

Jocelyn: And then some of the prophets, you're like, what in the world are we talking about? So I think there's sections of the Bible that are maybe a little bit more difficult to understand.

Janet: For sure.

Jocelyn: especially in some of the genealogies might seem kind of boring, but overall I just think some of us are lazy. And it doesn't come naturally for us to work hard. Any of us.

Janet: And we do what's important to us. I think you're right about the priorities. Yeah. I'll talk about myself. I've been a believer since October of 1983, 40 years ago. And it's taken me years to grow and actually loving the word of God. I knew it was true and right. I knew I needed it. But it was like medicine. I know it's good for me. I didn't treasure it. I did listen in church. I did small group Bible studies. It was a chore to be in the word. And honestly, because I'm a lazy person, it's still an effort to start my time in the word frequently because I want to do something mindless instead of thinking.

Jocelyn: Especially if it's your first thing in the morning. it takes me a little while to wake up.

Janet: And I have years of habits of thinking it was a needed chore to get over, but I'm growing to love it. And really what I want to do in this episode is just to encourage you to persevere. For some of you, you love being in the word and you see it for the delight that it is. For some of you, it may be more like I was, and I still can be. I see it as necessary. It's good for me. It's not dessert. It's still the medicine, and you may feel guilty because of that. Well, yes, that thinking is wrong, but let's not be shocked that we have wrong thinking. Let's just by faith persevere and ask God to help us see his beauty. So the way I want to do that today is to just take a look at Psalm 19. it was a while back I heard my husband preach on this psalm it was very exciting to see the word of God in this way and to see how over time it's become more of that for me. Jocelyn, can I ask you to read parts of it and then I'm, you know how I am, I'm going to interrupt you.

Jocelyn: I love it when you interrupt me.

Janet: Oh, well then you're about to have a good day. So can you read verses one to six? We're in Psalm 19.

Jocelyn: All right, Psalm 19, one through six, the heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship day after day. They continue to speak night after night. They make him known. They speak without a sound or word. Their voice is never heard yet. Their message has gone throughout the earth and their words to all the world. God has made a home in the heavens for the sun. Burst forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding. It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race. The sun rises at one end of the heavens and follows its course to the other end. Nothing can hide from its heat.

Janet: So it might sound strange that we're starting here because this is not first about the Word of God, but first David, who wrote this, talks about how creation declares, proclaims God's amazing glory. Yeah, basically that I love how he says it this way creation speaks without speaking in my version it says there is no speech after it says the verse before they pour out speech. So it's speaking without speaking. Yeah. When we see creation. And then when we listen, when we hear a creation, it just screams that there's a God.

Jocelyn: I came to that conclusion in this last year as I was taking an anatomy class. Like when you study the craft work of the human body to look at it and not believe there is God, you would have to be squelching the truth because the creation of the human body is loudly proclaiming that there was an intelligent, creative person who put all of that together.

Janet: Yes. And that's all of creation. All of creation. It does the same thing. Good. Now, can you read verses seven to nine?

Jocelyn: The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the Lord are right. Bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living. Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the Lord are true. Each one is fair.

Janet: So now he talks more specifically about God's word. Creation speaks that there's a God, but we need to hear actual words from God if we're going to know anything about it.

Jocelyn: True. Yeah.

Janet: What is his heart? What's his character? What's he like? How do we get a relationship with him? Our words communicate to each other and allow us to get to know each other and God's word does the same for us. So what does it show us? Well, what we could do, which would be pretty cool, a great study. Look at each one of these words, all the things that it does. It's perfect, trustworthy, right? It's radiant, pure and reliable. That's great. And I'm not going to do that. Do that on your own. But I wanted to try to help us just see the big picture. That's specifically in these three verses. So I'm going to take us back first in Genesis from the beginning before the fall, Adam and Eve were truly alive and they were hearing physically directly from God and walking with him. He had a special relationship with them that he says is like a marriage. That's so cool. When we go to Ephesians 5 31, which is a passage on the marriage relationship. He quotes there from Genesis 2, 24, for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two will become one flesh. Then in verse 32, he says, This mystery is profound, but now I'm talking about Christ and the church. So marriage, starting with Adam and Eve, pictured the deep covenantal relationship God had with them, and now through Christ, the relationship he has with us, the church. What did we do with that? I'm just going to read a little bit because I think we need to understand, why we need God's word. Ezekiel 16, 8 and following gives us a picture of God marrying Jerusalem. It's just so picturesque. I'm just going to read parts of it because I just think it's beautiful. and understand this is not literal because Jerusalem is not actually an infant baby. But Jerusalem, he says, I passed by and saw you after he has, saved a baby that was basically the picture is a baby left alone to die and God saves the baby. And then years later he says, you were indeed at the age for love. So I spread the edge of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged myself to you, entered into a covenant with you. This is the declaration of the Lord God, and you became mine. So he talks about how he marries her. And then what does he do? I washed you with water, which isn't that beautiful? That's in Ephesians 5 as well. Husbands are to wash their wives with the water of the word. Well, God says to them, I washed you with water, rinsed off your blood, anointed you with oil. I clothed you in embroidered cloth, provided you with fine leather sandals. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with jewelry. He goes on and on. I put a ring in your nose. You were adorned with gold and silver, fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became extremely beautiful and attained royalty. Your fame spread among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through my splendor, not your own, through my splendor, which I had bestowed on you. So God took a nation that had nothing and gave Israel, Jerusalem, everything. And made Jerusalem beautiful. what did Jerusalem do with that? But you trusted in your beauty. Who gave her the beauty? God did. You acted like a prostitute because of your fame. You lavished your sexual favors on everyone who passed by. I look at this. You took some of your clothing and made high places. Clothing God gave her and used that clothing. To do things that would dishonor God, you took the beautiful jewelry made from gold and silver that I'd given you and you made male images to engage in prostitution. So. Israel, Jerusalem took all that God had given her and used it for idolatry. And I know that that sounds like, what in the world does that have to do with the word of God? think we do the same thing with the word. Instead of seeing God has given us something out of his love for us, we take the beauty of his word and we use it for our own benefits. So, I don't know, Jocelyn, how do you think we can use his word for our benefit instead of seeing it as a gift of love to us?

Jocelyn: I think it's easy to use the Bible to like read until you find a special message from God to me just to make my day better. Yes. Like, this is my Personal inspiration for the day and you just pull it out of context. You don't look at the structure of what it was supposed to be conveying. It's just God's special word to you. I've also seen people using the Bible in really just outlandish ways to make decisions like you just flip it open and point to a verse and like that's God's special revelation to me for this specific decision, which is a really self centered way to use the Bible because that's not how God says to make decisions. So you're using the word to violate the word. Basically. I also have seen people just like I don't know, like highlighting certain passages that make them feel better. Like Jeremiah 29, 11, like God has a plan for you. Yes. God had a plan to return Israel from captivity. That's what Jeremiah 29, 11

Janet: and sought for him with all their heart.

Jocelyn: But people like pull that verse out of the context that it was written to. They beautiful signs hanging around their house. And it, yes, it does say something about God's character, but the point of that passage was not to make you feel good about your day. Right. And so I think we use sometimes uses the word selfishly. Sometimes people even quote scripture in an OCD way to help them not feel anxious, which is not the same thing as repenting of, you know, if there's something that needs to be repented of and then trusting the word, it's just like a mantra. Right. If I say this over and over, it will be true

Janet: because the goal is not to love the word. The goal is to use the word to feel bad, to feel it a certain way. Yeah. Yeah. And I think we can use even good biblical principles and because they're right, because God doesn't make mistakes, I then use them for my own ends. You know, maybe I'll use biblical principles of finances so I can become rich and greedy, there's so many ways that, or I want to spend time in the word, so God's obligated to me the rest of the day.

Jocelyn: I've even heard, like, in counseling, husbands using the word of God to squelch their wives. You know, Using the word of God in a wrongly authoritarian kind of a manner where they hold people down. Yes. With that biblical authority instead of using the word of God to serve people.

Janet: Yes. I mean, and it's fascinating. Husbands tend to do that from Ephesians five that tells women to respect their husbands. But of course, if they read the rest of Ephesians five, they're supposed to love their wife the way Christ laid out their life, his life, right? It's like we don't read that part, right? So you're right. We pick the things that Fit us. Yeah. Either so it can obligate God or obligate other people. Yeah. To us. Yeah. Yeah. So maybe I read to find out what I need to do to get the outcome I want. I don't see that the word is lovely. It's now a means to an end. Maybe I just don't want to feel guilty today. So I get up and do my morning devos so I can say I did it and then feel better about the rest of the day being about me. maybe I want to have the answers in small group, so I'm going to prepare my lesson so I don't look stupid. I don't love the word, but I'm using it. And can I just say I'm so thankful for God's patience when my motives are so inferior.

Jocelyn: I was actually looking at that list thinking of all the times I've done lots of those things like, and God was very patient with me and allowed me to use his word wrongly and still get stuff from it.

Janet: Yes. Yes. And then I still learned. Yes. His word is so much better than that. Let's just take a look at a few of the results of God's powerful and amazing word. So first we see in Psalm 19 that it revives our soul. Think about that. It gives us life. After the fall, Adam and Eve experienced death for the very first time. But God's word Can bring us back to life. That's so cool. And it also says it makes us wise. Let's go back to Adam and Eve again. Do you remember why Eve ate the fruit?

Jocelyn: She wanted to be wise like God.

Janet: Yes. Yes. She thought it's going to make me wise. Well, she was wise in her own eyes by choosing another way other than God's. And it led to her destruction. God's word gives us true wisdom, different from what she tried to get in her own way. It also says that it rejoices our heart. So what else do you remember about what motivated Eve to eat? Do you remember reading? She desired it and it was delightful. Yes, it was delightful to the eyes. She delighted in it. It wasn't wrong that she had desires, but that she found delight in the wrong things following that desire. That indulging, that delight brought destruction. And now through the word of God, I get to experience true delight that doesn't have guilt on the end. And it says it enlightens our eyes. Think about that. Eve saw the tree and thought she understood, Oh, I see it. And when I understood that it would make me wise when it was desirable, but she was deceived. But his word, it truly enlightens us. Now I can see clearly and I won't give into deception because it will be obvious.

Jocelyn: Because the word is so clear what the truth is.

Janet: Yes. So in so many ways his word reverses the effects of the curse. That's so cool. And as I learn to love, love it and live by it, my life then reflects what it was intended to be. God made a way for the curse to be reversed. His words are life for us. So do we see God's word as rules that get in our way? Oh, it's not that at all. Just today in my reading plan, I was reading Psalm 119, 165, and it says, abundant peace is for those who love his instruction. Not, if I know his instruction, I have to do it. It's kind of a bummer. I don't ever get to do what I want. I have to do what he says. Who doesn't want abundant peace and stability? It says you never stumble. That's what his word does for us. True life. I love this passage in Deuteronomy chapter 32 verses 46 and 47 say this, take to heart all these words. This is Moses talking. Take to heart all these words I'm giving as a warning to you today so that you may command your children to follow all the words of this law carefully. And you could look at that and go, yep, there you go. Do it. Yeah. Here's all the stuff. But the next verse for they're not meaningless words to you, but they are your life and by them you will live long in the land you're crossing the Jordan to possess. I was amazed when I read through Deuteronomy, how much of what God says he did so that we would live long and prosper. That's his goal.

Jocelyn: Yeah. I love Deuteronomy. 30 for that very reason where it talks about the choices between life and death and they're connected to, you will have life and prosperity if you cling tightly to God for he is your life and follow his ways, which we find in the word.

Janet: Yes. Yes. So it's, it's my life. And now. We know even more than David knew, when we read John 1 verse 14, we read the word, the word of God, the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. Obviously we're talking about Jesus Christ. Throughout the rest of the gospels, we get to see the word come to life, the beauty, the compassion, the heart of God made manifest in the flesh, which is the word in the flesh. How should that impact us?

Jocelyn: I should want to know more about it. If Jesus is the exact representation of God, then I should want to know more about him. And when I read the word, I can learn more about him and he tells me more about God.

Janet: Yeah. Any part of the word, not just the gospels, you know? Yes. Yes. Can you read verse 10 for us?

Jocelyn: Sure. They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.

Janet: Here we are back in Eden again. The word Eden means delight. And he starts with saying more to be desired. And then there's more. marriage and love language sweeter than honey. The word is how we know the heart of this God who wants to partner with us, who chooses to covenant with us. And then how about verse 11,

Jocelyn: they are a warning to your servant, a great reward for those who obey him.

Janet: The word helps me see that his ways are better than mine. I'm warned, not don't get out of line because I'm a mean God. I'm warned how to avoid disaster and how to be blessed by his presence. How about verses 12 and 13?

Jocelyn: How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins. Don't let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.

Janet: So all of this that we've read leads to a humble recognition of my own lack. You get to this point in the psalm, and if we're thinking, we're thinking, I don't live this way all the time. I don't measure up to all of this. And it leads me to beg for mercy and forgiveness. And I can do all of that in light of his beautiful word because he loves to forgive. Good. And then how about verse 14?

Jocelyn: May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Janet: This is another one of those verses that we use a lot and it's a beautiful. but I love though, it's not that it's wrong when people use it because that is what I want. But to think it's not just a proverb on its own. What are the words? It's the words he just said. It's this Psalm. David ends by asking that the words he just said in Psalm 19 would be acceptable to God, that they would be honoring to him. And they're about the beauty of the word. So first we have creation. And then we have the more personal word of scripture, and then the most personal word in Jesus himself. And all these words are designed to draw me into a closer love relationship with the lover of my soul. First we have creation wordless words. They were spoken words in the past because God spoke everything into being. And they continue because his word never fails or ends. Then we have the word of God, his written words, and then we have Jesus, the word become flesh.

Jocelyn: That's such a super cool progression. That's so neat to see that.

Janet: Yes. So it's like we have so much more. Yeah. And look what David had to say, and he didn't even have that yet. Let me just go to one other passage that shows that dynamic. I'm going to go to Ezekiel 20. verse 11, then I gave them my statutes and explained my ordinances to them. The person who does them will live by them. the decrees are given so they could find life. It's beautiful. They'd already been rebellious at this point in scripture. And in spite of that, God delivered them, gave them decrees of life, and he gave them the Sabbath to remind them whose they were. He says in verse 13, how they've already rebelled. But again, the person who does my ordinances will Live. It goes on to verse 17 and it says he still took pity on them in verse 18. He warns them again, which is continues to be a gift. Verse 21. He says, if you would only listen to me, it would give you life. I'm amazed. Verse 27. He still brought them to the promised land and they continued to rebel. Why? Because they didn't value his words. He kept telling them they would be their life. Instead, They listen to themselves. They listen to what made sense to them and to the powerful people around them. What the powerful culture said, and they walked toward their own destruction. With the words of life right in front of them.

Jocelyn: What a shame.

Janet: I love how Psalm 19 ends in a similar way to Psalm 1 39. In Psalm 1 39, David has extolled the beauty of being fully known and fully loved, and it leads him to loyalty. And in the end, he's asking God, show me any ways that I'm sinning. I want to change. In Psalm 19, David extols the beauty of the word of God and it leads him to ask God, cleanse me from hidden faults and bring me to repentance from willful sin. All of that is a result of meditating on God's life giving words. And his prayer is that all he's just said will be acceptable to his redeemer, who he knows. Because of his word, only because of God's life giving word does he even know his redeemer.

Jocelyn: It reminds me of, I think I might have shared this on a previous episode, but I don't remember which one. it reminds me of something that I did one time when I was reading through the Bible in a year. I was thinking to myself, I want to read the Bible because I want to know what God thinks and I want to know what he thinks is good. I want to know what he thinks is right. And so with that, conscious definition of righteousness, every time I saw something in the scriptures all year long, if it was talking about good, I circled it. And if it talked about evil, I triangled it. And it was a really vivid way. Whenever I turned the pages of that particular Bible that I was reading that year, I can see really quickly, what does God say is good for me? Not just like. What will result in some random good result, but like it is good for my soul and it results in my happiness. My nearness to him results in my joy. So it was, it was cool that you're reading the scriptures with that intent. Like, I just want to know what God thinks about things because I want his thoughts to be my thoughts too, because I believe just like you said, I believe what he said, that my nearness to him will be my reward, that his words give me life, not just like, Oh, I don't want to die, but like a good life.

Janet: I would love, I mean, what an idea. Some of our listeners here, what a great way to read through the scripture this year. As you were saying that, I thought, boy, another way would be interesting. Maybe I'll think about doing would be what does God say and maybe in a different color, what will that. Result in for me.

Jocelyn: Oh, that's super cool.

Janet: That'd be a great idea. see the joy and the peace and that would be really interesting because we deceive ourselves. Yeah. Even though I know better. Yes. I deceive myself. Yeah. If life were easier, it would be better. When God has said, it's the difficulties that draw you closer to me, and that's what's going to bring you peace. And I go, no, no, no. Peace is no problem. Right. I'm wrong. Right. But to be able to see that just coming out the pages of scripture, that could be pretty cool.

Jocelyn: That would be cool. I was also thinking about the heart of change class that my husband and I went to last fall, just the reminder that why we sin is because we were deceived by Satan about something. We believed a lie and we doubted either God's goodness or God's word. And so if those are the two roots of all sin, which is the root of all emotional distress, then what I need to be thinking when I read the Bible is what does God actually say? Because that is the truth. And Satan will deceive me into thinking that something other than the truth is true. And I will doubt that God really has my best at heart. So when I read a command, I'll think, Oh, what a pain that I have to do that. If I don't believe that God wrote that ordinance, because that is what is best for me. If I come to it already believing everything I read in the scripture. God decided this because he created me and he knows what's best for me. Then I'm going to be much less likely to doubt him. I'll be much less likely to doubt his goodness and his word. And so when I read his word, I will say, this is the truth and I'll measure any other. Words that I hear against that standard of what is true. It just leads to so much less sin, so much less distress, so much more confidence and rejoicing and full of happy emotions. No matter if life is hard, like you said, like my happiness isn't tied to the lack of stress. My happiness is tied to handling stress in a way that God ordained me to handle it,

Janet: abiding close to my savior in it. Yeah. Not without it. Yeah. Oh, I love that. So now, okay. My mind is spinning. I may try that. I got to think through how I want to read the Bible this year.

Jocelyn: Because when you read through it multiple times, yes, you know, You, you have read through it multiple times. It's not like you can't learn something new, but I like having something new that I'm looking for. Like when I did the 90 day plan, I did it in an hour a day and I listened to it sped up at 1. 5 speed because I would look at my scripture and listen to it. That's the way that I prefer to read the Bible is listen and look. and in that case, my big goal was to say, What is the big picture in all of these passages? Cause you're reading an hour a day. So it was like in 90 days you read all of the Bible and it was like, I thought it was going to be really hard. My friend recommended it to me and I was like, okay, I'll do it. but it was probably my favorite reading because I got lots of big pictures, big pictures of books, big pictures of sections, big pictures of the whole entire Bible. It was just a really, really cool way to read it.

Janet: I don't know that I'm ready to do that yet. I want to though, but I'm not going to commit because I'm on here saying it, so I'm not ready to say I'm going to do it. I'm committing to reading through the Bible in one year. Oh, for sure. Yes. We'll, we'll,

Jocelyn: we'll rejoice at what that looks like at the end of this year. I'm getting one of those prizes, Janet.

Janet: And I'll make, I'll mail it. I'll make sure it comes in the mail. Well good. As far as, we like to usually have resources at the end. The obvious resources. Read your Bible. Yes. but think about that document that we're going to attach as far as just ways to do it. Do you want to do it chronologically? Do you want to do it in six months? Do you want to do it in a full year? Do you want, whatever you're going to do, find a way, audio, get through the whole Bible, and then together at the end of the year, we'll all know that and we'll all get a little something fun just to remind us. of what we did.

Jocelyn: And I want to also give this encouragement. Everybody gets off track on their plan. Everybody. Real life meets reality.

Janet: You know, I'm behind the, the day right now, right? Oh my goodness. Is it,

Jocelyn: I know. I'm just gonna admit it out. I know. So don't get discouraged if you get off plan. try to get on plan as quickly as you can. 'cause the more you're off plan, the more behind you get and the more it'll stress you out. But don't throw it away, right? Just because you get a little bit wonky in it. get creative in how to get caught back up. But, Don't be perfectionistic about it. If you are, you will never complete it. No one completes a Bible reading plan perfectly. No way. I know. Shocking.

Janet: I am going to link a couple of songs that I really enjoyed, that are related to God's word.

Jocelyn: I'm so thrilled that you have us song recommendation. You never do. Okay.

Janet: Here's true confessions. I was asked to speak on this topic at a retreat and they said, our worship leader would like to know what songs you'd like. So I had to get online and try to find songs. This is like a year ago when I did this and I was like, Oh my word, that's the perfect song. Oh my word. So I found some really cool songs. I can't wait to hear these recommendations. They're both Sovereign Grace. Psalm 19, one's about Psalm 19, one's about Psalm 119, one's Oh Lord, Our Rock and Our Redeemer from Psalm 19, and then one is Your Words Are Wonderful from Psalm 119. So we will link those and because my daughter knows how to do that, I don't know, can I just tell you I haven't listened to them since the retreat because I don't know how to find them again?

Jocelyn: Oh my goodness. Janet.

Janet: She gets me set up on Spotify and then I don't know how to find new songs.

Jocelyn: Oh my goodness. You can also go to YouTube and just

Janet: type the name in. I think that's how I found initially.

Jocelyn: I also want to recommend Shane and Shane. Shane and Shane has a couple Psalms albums that are literally recitations of the Psalms set to music. They're a really cool way to memorize. Oh, for sure. It's so, compelling. And they're, oh, they're just lyrically beautiful. So

Janet: if we have a link to that, we will do that as well.

Jocelyn: I'll just say all of Shane and Shane. You can, you can look those up on Spotify, Janet.

Janet: Okay, I can't, but I'm sure somebody can. Our prayer is that over this year, we would all grow in being in the word and then seeing that his word is life and that it's water for our thirsty soul.

To keep from missing any future episodes, please sign up for our newsletter on our webpage joyfuljourneypod.com. From there you can also subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Google, or Spotify. You can also visit us on our Facebook page or Instagram at Joyful Journey Podcast. If you have questions or comments for us, you can email us at joyfuljourneyquestions@outlook.com. Joyful Journey Podcast is a ministry of Faith Bible Seminary. All proceeds go to offset costs of this podcast and toward scholarships for women to receive their MABC through Faith Bible Seminary.

Host Janet and her husband, Brent, also speak at a variety of conferences as a way to raise money for the seminary. If you want to look at what they offer or book them for a conference, go to their website.

Janet Aucoin

Bio

Janet is the Director of Women's Ministry at Faith Church (Lafayette, IN); Host of the Joyful Journey Podcast (helping women learn that when you choose truth you choose joy); ACBC certified; teacher in Faith Community Institute; Coordinator of FBS seminary wives fellowship, retreat and conference speaker; B.S. Human Resources, University of South Florida.