February 14

---

…desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby… 1 Peter 2:2

---

🔊 It is a strange exhortation: desire God’s Word!  It might seem that we should first be encouraged to read the Word, so that then we may come to desire it.  But it is only if we first desire God’s Word that we will ever read it.  Here the Holy Spirit speaks to us that our desires are subject to the involvement of our will.  God commands us to desire, therefore the possibility exists that I can stir myself up and do exactly what God says.  This means that I am not to accept my moods, and resign myself to any state of mind or heart, as though it were all-powerful and sovereign.  No!  God’s Word is over all, and if God tells me to desire something, then as I turn to Him in obedience, I will find that it is true.  So stir yourself and yield yourself to what God says.  To the lukewarm Church of Laodicea Jesus gave the command, “be zealous” – Revelation 3:19.  So much of what we expect the Holy Spirit to do is within our reach, if only we will stir ourselves and obey.