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BIBLE READING:
1. Take a passage or paragraph and read it 3-4 times.
2. Then make a list of every thing it says about God (Father, Son & Holy Spirit)
3. List anything that it tells you about yourself
4. List example to be followed, commands to obey or things that need to be avoided.
MEDITATION:
Then choose one or two thing that you think were most important or the best thing that you learned from the reading. Keller says that mediation is talking to yourself about God, in the presence of God (Psalm 103).
Keller recommends 2 ways to meditate upon the passage:
- The Shorter Way
Ask yourself how you would be different if this truth was explosively alive in my inner being? Secondly, ask why is God showing me this passage today? What is going on in my life that i need to learn this truth?
- The Deeper Way
ACTS= Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving & Supplication
Adoration: What can I praise God for in this truth?
Confession: What false attitudes, behaviour emotions or idols come alive in me whenever I forget it?
Thanksgiving: How is Jesus Christ or the grace that I have in Jesus Christ the key to help me overcome the sin that I have just confessed?
Supplication: What do I need to do or become in light of this?
"Read a text and begin to mediate on it until the Holy Spirit starts to preach to you" Tim Keller
Here, then, is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy.
- R.C. Sproul -
The Word of God is God’s words to us - his instruction, his guidance, his encoruagement – but more importantly – it reveals who he is.
that we should foresake it for other things, tempory things, fleshy things is a shame.
that we should put it last on the list is a shame.
its a shame because we miss out on the richness of hearing God’s voice and learning more about who he is.
Draw near to me, says God, and I will draw near to you.
sure it is *work* but it is glorious work with glorious rewards.
it transforms us and renews us and encourages us and inspires us.
we are very blessed to have the Word in written form. men and women gave their lives that we may have such a book. lets be people that dont let the dust gather, that are not lazy but apply the nike principal to it… just do it.
first. get yourself a bible plan. like one year bible or something. now with your bible plan make sure it is one that you can “have off days” in – we all have days when we dont get time or make time to read the bible cos of life and things. so make sure it is one that the whole plan doesnt collapse if you miss a day or amonth or something. the one year bible plan is good because you just pick up on the date you are. eventually throughout your 80 year or so life you’ll get to read those other bits… dont sweat it right now.
second: when you are reading the bible you are not reading to absorb and learn teh whole thing. you are looking for THE ONE THING. the one thing is the thing that jumps out at you. it is the thing htat God is ILLUMINATING to you. you mignht think – oh that is just my mind i am just drawn to that – well that is fine. that is good. and God speaks and speaks through his Word. so when you are reading you are looking for the one thing. and that one thing is the thing to focus on and think about nad perhaps even write down throughts about.
that is what i do. i read my passages and write down teh bits that jump out. i write the verses and write what i think about them. soemtiems it is deep and cross references with what i know about God throughout the bible, other times is is a simple “wow i like that” etc .
sometimes the bit that jumps out is a challenge for us to clean our lives up. sometimes it makes questions. sommetimes it encoruages. sometimes it makes you smile all the way through.
and it makes it exciting to realize that God is speaking to us through his Word. and to learn his Word. and to read his Word. this is how we connect with God.
his Word transforms us and washes us and shows us the way to walk and reveals to us Who God is. it helps us to know God. his Word peices our heart and convicts us and encourages us.
its the nike principal again – just do it. just read it. just search for the One Thing. God. His voice. His Word
well its a new year and the year of beginnings and all that and so i have begun at the start of my bible plan again.
do you follow a plan when you read?
do you read regularly?
what’s your favourite part of the bible to read?
my bible plan is the hippocampusextensions.com/mcheyneplan/ (M’Cheyne Bible Plan) and goes through the NT and Psalms twice a year and the rest of the OT once.
i am currently reading in Genesis, Matthew, Ezra and Acts and i am also playing a bit of catch up and reading in Joshua and Jeremiah still.
as i read i underline bits i like or am challenged by and am reading to learn more about who God is. not just facts but relationship.
i make notes as i go through the bible about verses that particularily jump out and encourage me or challenge me or that are relevant for where i am at now and endevour to keep blogging and sharing them.
i’m not a deep theologican but i do love God and i love His Word and believe it is a revelation of who he is – a real gift for us to learn about who he is and how to follow and serve and love Him. it is a guide on how to be light in this world and how to live a life pleasing to God.
again in church last night we continued to look at how to read the bible ourselves – last week the theme was in our personal time and reading that we arent reading the whole thing but we are reading to find the one thing, the part of the passage that jumps out and is illuminated to us and then this week we continued with what to do with that part that jumps out.
one of my housegroup girls did the message which was awesome ! yay her!
she encouraged us to :
believe it
chew it
pray it
do it
so a passage jumps out and you believe it – you lift your experience and “beliefs” up to the truth of the Word of God and then you chew it, you digest it, you ask questions, you break it down, you think about it, ponder it, mediate it, examine it and then you pray it – so you converse with God about it and talk about it with him and pray it like a prayer and if there is practical application to be done, then it makes sense to DO it!
for example: CHEW
Maathew 13:44-46 44 “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. 45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. 46 When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!
i myself journal – and i write down questions or what i think about it. what immediately grabs me is the “sold everything”… and my thoughts are framed by the fact i am a mother – what is everything – the house the car the toys the clothes the food the furniture the everyhting….? what would be so valuable to seel everything, to give up everything, to risk everything, to count everything else as loss, so to buy the treasure? etc etc etc
then PRAY – thanks God that your kingdom is real and that you are so awesome and amaizng – help me to be like the man who sold evertyhing, help me put your kingdom first, help me to love you….
then DO – prioritize God and his ways and his will. obey him. live out your life as someone who has sold all to know God…
reading the bible doesnt have to be some deep myseterious thing that only spiritual people do… you dont need a degree or a fancy qualification. God’s Word is for God’s people, you and me. we are blessed to have it so accessable. lets read it and believe it and learn aboaut God and know Him and make him known!
Hebrews 12:1 We must be determined to run the race that is before us (CEV)
the word determined jumps out at me – we msut make a choice and hold to that to succeed and participate in this race of life and faith. We must be determined in the face of opposition and circumstances that try to deter us. Determination gets up again after falling down. Determination presses on and against opposition. Determination sets a goal and moves in that direction if only one step at a time. One step is movement.
What motivates us to stay determined? What motivates us to stay focused? Jesus. We fix our eyes upon Jesus, who was nailed to the cross for our sakes.
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