12 FOUNDATION STONES - CLASS 1A TREASURES NEW AND OLD THE WORD OF GOD, PART 1.2 ------------------------------------------ Section 2: How and What to Read ------------------------------------------ -> The Word of God is not just pretty pictures! The Words of God are not just pretty pictures. They are meant to be put into action. They should move you and motivate you; guide you and change you. For the next half an hour, we're going to look at how to get the most from what you read, and give you ideas of where to start. We won't be looking at many more verses, as we've already looked at the needs and benefits of reading the Word, but we'll be concentrating on practical tips about how to get the most from your time in the Word. -> When to: It is difficult to get too far in your reading if you don't spend at least 20 minutes at it. Can you set aside 20 minutes daily? Or would three times a week be easier to start with? Whatever you decide, try to make a definite goal and then determine in your heart to see it through. It will be easier to follow through if you establish a definite time slot as part of your regular daily routine. It doesn't matter what time of day, just whenever suits you best. Some people find it easier to concentrate in the morning; others do better in the evening when the business of the day has been completed. See what works best for you. Regard your "Word time" as an appointment with Jesus. Don't be tempted to cancel or postpone the appointment any more than you'd cancel an appointment with your employer. -> Where to: Try to find a place to read where you will not be interrupted. If possible, use the same place every day, but the most important is that you have a quiet place where you won't be distracted. You might want to take the telephone off the hook (or turn off your cellular phone). In front of the TV is most likely not going to work! -> What to: It's a good idea to make a plan of what to read over a period of time. But remain flexible. Ask the Lord what Bible chapters or other Word-based material you should read. Having a goal can help you. Perhaps you'll work your way through one of the Get Activated! books, while also reading through a book of the Bible. (There are suggestions of what to read weekly in the Study Notes book.) Even if you're following a set reading course, you shouldn't always just say, "Well, I already know what I'm going to read. It's planned out for the next month." Each time before you sit down to read, you should pray for the Lord's leading, because maybe the Lord wants to change it! Maybe you needed to read up on "faith" a week ago, so you decided to read something on that subject. That's good. But maybe the Lord knows that you need to read about something else even more this week. So you need to pray about it instead of automatically following your previous plan. -> How to: When you sit down to read, the first thing you should do is pray and ask the Lord to bring the Word alive to you by His Holy Spirit. As David prayed, Psalm 119:18 - Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. You can read all the Word you want, but if it doesn't come to life by the Spirit, it's not going to do anything! Jesus said, John 6:63 - It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The Words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. And Paul told us: 2 Corinthians 3:6b - For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Unless we read the Word in a prayerful and receptive attitude, looking to the Lord and His Holy Spirit for guidance, it can be very difficult for us to understand some things. Ask the Lord to give you the spirit of wisdom: Ephesians 1:17–18 - …give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, (18) the eyes of your understanding being enlightened… You can read a Scripture maybe all your life without grasping its meaning, until the Holy Spirit speaks it to you and applies it to your situation and brings it to life! The "voice of His Word," as it's called, is when He speaks to you personally through the Word, or He gives it to you in an answer, He brings it to life, applies it to a situation, and it becomes alive suddenly! It's no longer just mere words any more, or words that just run through your head, but all of a sudden you get the point! In the Study Notes book, we have included some sample prayers for reading the Word. Humor: How not to read! Sister Susan got out her Bible and decided she would let the Lord lead to the specific verse she needed for the day. So with eyes closed she opened her Bible and put her finger on a verse. Opening her eyes she read, "And Judas went out and hanged himself." She quickly sought a different verse, once again closing her eyes, cracking open her Bible, and placing her finger on a specific spot. This time she was disappointed to read, "Go and do likewise!" Undaunted she followed the same plan a third time, and the verse was, "What you do, do quickly!" -> Don't just read - study, question, and apply 2 Timothy 2:15 - Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. One of the main goals of this course is to help you develop a personal connection with Jesus, so you are able to get spiritual nourishment from His Word. "Rightly dividing the Word of truth" means to know what the Word says and means. -> Read the Word carefully, prayerfully, and thoughtfully. If every time you sat down to eat a meal, you gobbled and gulped it down as fast as you possibly could, you wouldn't digest or absorb it nearly as well as if you had eaten it a little more slowly. - Nor would you enjoy it as much! This same principle applies to your spiritual food as well. Take time to fully digest, absorb, and benefit from the Word! You can miss a lot of the meaning, the real depth of what the Lord's talking about, unless you stop to think about it and apply the Word to your personal situation, and ask, "How is that true and how does that apply to me?" - Not with a questioning or a doubtful attitude, but one full of faith, knowing that you can learn even more lessons if you search further and dig deeper. -> Doers of the Word "The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives." - Dwight L. Moody. The Word of God has been given to change our character and bring it more into conformity with Jesus'. All of our efforts in Bible study are valueless if in the final analysis we do not change and become more like Jesus. We must not merely listen to the Word, but we are to do what it says. James 1:22 - But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. You can't really get to know the Word of God unless you apply it in your life. You can be a walking Bible encyclopedia, with your head crammed full of Biblical and theological knowledge, but it won't do you any good if you don't apply it practically in daily living. When you are reading the Word, pray and ask the Lord to help you apply what you are studying and show you specifically what He wants you to do. Ask the Lord to show you: "How can I apply this Word in my life?" "How can I use this knowledge to help others?" When you read the Word and you feel the conviction of His Spirit, stop right then to think and pray and meditate on what that instruction means for you personally. Don't delay taking the time to apply it to your life, because if you delay, the conviction will wane, you will forget, and the Word you read will be of no effect in your life. When the Lord is speaking to your heart, challenging you through His Word, that is the time to take action, to make commitments. You need to think, meditate, consider how you can live the Word, and make a definite plan right then as to what you'll do. Don't wait. Later will probably be never! John 13:17 - If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. -> Marking the text Read with a fine-point pen or dry marker in your hand. When you come across a passage or Scripture that stands out to you in some way, underline or mark it. Underlining the key phrases and marking the paragraphs that apply to you makes your reading more interesting and far easier to review. -> Taking notes "A short pencil is better than a long memory." You might want to start writing key passages and verses into a special notebook that you can reread easily. It will become sort of a spiritual diary. You can use it to write down things you want to remember that are important to you in your walk with the Lord and your relationship with Him and others. Sometimes just writing something down will help you to meditate on it and remember it. There are different ways to organize a notebook like this. It can be chronological, like a diary, with meaningful quotes and verses written down from day to day. Or you can start a page for each of the different topics you're interested in, and then record helpful passages and verses you find on each one as time goes by. -> Memorizing Bible memorization has always been a strength to God's people, even as King David testified: Psalm 119:11 - Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You! Moses made mention of the same: Deuteronomy 11:18 - Therefore you shall lay up these Words of Mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets (decorative bands worn on the forehead) between your eyes. The Scriptures we commit to memory will be a great blessing to us. In times of sickness and difficulty, verses are a tremendous comfort and strength. Knowing specific passages and Scriptures also helps us in our witness to others, as Peter advised, 1 Peter 3:15b - Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. We will be looking further at the subject of memorizing in a later class. -> What to do when you don't understand something Don't stop reading if you come across something that you don't understand. Keep on reading, as there'll be plenty of other things that you will understand. If you don't understand something, maybe God will reveal its meaning to you at a later reading. When you come across something you don't understand, you can wrap it up in a little "bundle of faith" and put it on the shelf. Wait for the Lord to unwrap it for you and reveal it to you later. Proverbs 2:6 - For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. We do not have to understand everything St. Augustine was once walking by the seashore. He was greatly perplexed about a particular aspect of faith and doctrine. He observed a little boy with a seashell running to the water, filling it and then pouring it into a hole that he had made in the sand. "What are you doing, my little man?" asked Augustine. "Oh," said he, "I am trying to put the ocean in this hole!" Augustine learned his lesson, and as he walked away, he said, "That is what I am trying to do. I see it now. Standing on the shores of time I am trying to get into this little finite mind of mine things which are infinite." Let us be content to let God know some things that we cannot know. -> Don't worry about all the details of ancient history Many of us have found that the most rewarding aspects of our reading of the Bible have not been in getting to know all the details of ancient history contained in its pages, but in finding what applies to us in our daily lives. For instance, when we read about the life of Jesus and the early Christians, we see a pattern of "love in action" that we know we should try to follow. When we read the Psalms and other devotional passages, we can apply them in our own prayer lives. Although the history of God's people as written in the Bible is interesting and it is good to at least have a general picture of who did what and where and when, extensive in-depth studies of Biblical history are not the most important for you to spend a lot of time on. -> Suggested Bible studies Psalms and Proverbs are good devotional books, and by all means read the talks and lessons and Words of Jesus in the New Testament! The Gospel of John quotes more of the Words of Jesus than any other Gospel, including passages like His farewell talk in chapters 14–17. So, a good place to start reading the Bible is with the Gospel of John. (You'll find that there are around seven chapters suggested to be read in each section of the Study Notes book.) -> Summary of steps for effective Word time Make a commitment to set aside a regular time for reading and try to follow through on your plan. Find a quiet place where you will not be interrupted or distracted. Make a plan of what to read over a period of time, but be flexible and let the Lord lead you to read something different as the need arises. Begin your time of reading by praying, asking the Lord to speak to you from His Word and to bring it to life by the Holy Spirit. Don't just read - study. Try to apply what you are reading to your daily life and commit yourself to putting it into action. Mark the text so that later on you will find it easier to review. Keep a notebook with the most outstanding verses and passages. Memorize key verses. If you don't understand something, don't give up but keep reading! Two key questions to ask yourself when you read: How can I apply this Word in my life? How can I use this knowledge to help others? ------------------------------------------ Ending note ------------------------------------------ * Now it's up to you to put this into action! You can think of this as being like a cookery class. We've given you a recipe, but if you don't pull out the ingredients and try to cook it, you'll never find out how delicious a meal you could enjoy!