Tag: Bible

Becoming Full

On By BrianIn Book of Acts, Habit of Prayer, Habit of Scripture

Last week we looked at three areas where we should be full.  We should be full of the Spirit, full of wisdom, and full of faith.  But how do we get full?  How can we be filled?  This is not something we can do on our own.  Each of these things comes from God, and so if we are going to be full we must look to God.

  • First, we must look to God in prayer.  In Acts 4, the early church prayed and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.  James 1:5 tells us that if any lack wisdom, they should ask of God, and God will give wisdom.  In Mark 9:24, a man cries out to Jesus that he might overcome his unbelief.  If we want to be full, we must pray.  Do you pray to be full?
  • Second, we must look to God in His Word.  In Ephesians 5:18-20, we are told to be full of the Spirit.  In a parallel passage in Colossians 3:16, we are told to be full of the Word.  The Spirit and the Word work together.  The Word is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17).  Psalm 19:7 tells us that God’s Word makes people wise.  Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes from hearing the Word.  If we want to be full, we must be in the Word.  Are you filling yourself with God’s Word?

Meditate on the Word

On By BrianIn Habit of Scripture

Last week, we talked about delighting in the Word.  If we delight in the Word, we will want to spend time in it.  We will want to read it.  We will want to meditate on it.  I have added a new page to the site with a Bible Reading Plan.  You read from different portions of the Bible six days a week.  Day seven is to catch up on a day you missed or to review ways that God has challenged you during the last six days.

There are of course a lot of reading plans out there.  This one works for me, because the review/catch-up day helps keep me from falling behind.  But whatever approach you take, the important thing is to read and meditate on the Word.  With that in mind, here are a few ideas for meditating on the Word:

  1. Pray your way through the passage as you read it.
  2. Read slowly.  Ponder what God is saying to you.
  3. Record what you are learning in a journal.
  4. Look for repeated words or ideas.
  5. Ask: What is the main idea of this passage?
  6. Write down the main points of the passage.
  7. Ask: What does this mean? And How should I respond?
  8. Use a study Bible to explain things you don’t understand.
  9. Ask more questions:
  • What does this passage teach me about God?
  • What examples do I see of God’s grace?
  • What does this passage teach me about ____? (any theme)

10. Ask more application questions:

  • Is there a truth to believe?
  • Is there a promise to claim?
  • Is there an example to follow (or not follow)?
  • Is there a command to obey?
  • Is there a sin to confess?

11. Try Luther’s contemplative method by asking three questions:

  • How does this show me something about God to praise?
  • How does this show me something about myself to confess?
  • How does this show me something I need to ask God for?

(Adoration, Confession, Supplication)

Fighter Verses

On By BrianIn PASSION Resources

FighterVersesYesterday we said that one application of delighting in the Word was to memorize it.  I have been reading the Redwall series to my kids.  They love it, and so naturally they have memorized some of the lines.  They love Narnia, and can quote lines from the books and the movies.  If we delight in the Word, shouldn’t we be able to quote lines from it?

But the Bible is a big book!  What verses should we memorize?  One good approach is to memorize verses that you have been reading and meditating on.  Which verses seem to jump out at you as a special challenge or comfort from God?  Memorize those verses.

But there are also some basic passages that touch on the basic teachings of the Bible, and basic issues that everyone of us face as we fight the good fight of faith.  The folks at Children Desiring God have chosen 260 passages as basic passages which they call Fighter Verses.  They have created a five year program that has you learning one passage a week.  Many churches use this program to encourage each other to memorize Scripture together.  I encouraged the folks at my church last week to try it in the coming year.  I just started working through it myself.  Perhaps you might want to try it too.

I encourage you to visit their site.  It is packed with helpful Scripture memory resources.  They have a bookmark with all of the 2013 verses on it, plus a strategy for learning and remembering them.  If you want to create memory verse cards, they have a link to easily do that.  They also have a blog post each week reflecting on the verse you will be learning.  Plus there are apps for your tablet or smartphone to help you learn the verses.  They have audio resources and more.  Explore their site, and ask God if he might have you use this resource in the coming year.  And if not, how else might he be calling you to memorize his Word in 2013?

Applying Our Delight in the Word

On By BrianIn Habit of Scripture, Virtue of Joy

In the last post we looked at three reasons from Psalm 119 regarding why we should delight in the Word.  Today, I want to consider three ways we should apply our delight in the Word:

  • Meditate on the Word.  If we delight in the Word, we will want to meditate on it, or fix our eyes on it (v14-15).  To meditate is to think about the passage, to ponder it, to chew on it.  If we delight in the Word, we will regularly read it, meditating on its meaning, and its application in our lives.  Do you regularly meditate on God’s Word?
  • Memorize the Word.  The Psalmist says he delights in God’s Word and will not forget it (v16).  Rather he has stored up the Word in his heart (v11).  We too need to regularly memorize the Word, so that we might always have it available in times of need or temptation.  Are you memorizing God’s Word?
  • Live the Word.  It is not enough to merely meditate on and memorize the Word.  We must also walk in it; we must keep it (v1-2).  You can’t tell me you delight in God’s Word if you are not following it.  Are you seeking to live out the Word?

If we delight in the Word, we will mediate on it, memorize it, and live it.  As the New Year approaches, this is a good time to reconfirm your commitment to God’s Word.  And if God’s Word has not been a commitment in your life, now is a great time to commit yourself to the Word for 2013.

Delight in the Word

On By BrianIn Habit of Scripture, Virtue of Joy

Psalm 119 is a psalm of delight in the Word.  Again and again the Psalmist declares his delight in God’s Word (v14, 16, 24, 70, 77, 92, 111, 143, 162, 174).  He also gives us at least three reasons why we should find joy in God’s Word.  God’s Word is:

  • A Guide to Life.  We should delight in God’s Word because it gives us counsel (v24).  The Word gives light for our paths (v105).  It shows us how to live a pure right life (v9).  It teaches us to lives as we were created to live.  How many messes in our lives could have been avoided if we had simply followed the Word?  We should find joy in God’s Word because it is a guide for our lives.
  • A Help In Trials.  In the midst of his affliction, the Word of God gave him life; it kept him from perishing.  In our trials, the Word gives us something to hold onto, to cling to.  It gives us hope, peace, comfort, strength, encouragement, joy.  It gives us life.  Even in our afflictions, we can find joy in God’s Word.  We should delight in God’s Word because it is a help in our trials.
  • A Word from the Lord.  The law is not just any law.  It is the law of the Lord (v1).  It comes from God.  He has written us a letter.  God speaks to us in his Word.  If we love God, we will love his Word – we will delight in it as we delight in Him.  We should delight in God’s Word because it is from God.

As we ponder these three reasons, and use the Word as our guide and help and word from God, may God cause our delight in His Word to grow!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts on the Word and prayer for your weekend reading:

How to Listen to a Sermon – Phil Ryken (via reformation 21)
So what is the right way to listen to a sermon?  With a soul that is prepared, a mind that is alert, a Bible that is open, a heart that is receptive, and a life that is ready to spring into action.

A Smorgasbord of Bible Memorization Methods – Jean Williams (Matthias Media)
Every Bible memorization method has one or more of the three Rs at its heart: Repeat, Recall, Review. Repeat a passage over and over until you’re familiar with it; practise recalling it until it’s worn a path in your memory; then review it so you don’t lose it. But there are different ways to do these three things, and not all of them will suit you.

Does Your Church Pray Together? – Sinclair Ferguson quoted by Justin Taylor
I greatly wish that our churches would learn to keep the main things central, that we would learn to be true Churches, vibrant fellowships of prayer, Gospel ministry and teaching, genuine mutual love.

31 Petitions to the Lord on the Occasion of my 31st Birthday – Trevin Wax
My knowledge of You as a loving Father is what compels me to come before You, to ask You, plead with You, beg of You: Accomplish these 31 things in the years to come….

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshipping the Lord as you sit under His Word and come before His throne.

Growing in the Truth

On By BrianIn Habit of Scripture

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” – John 17:17

We live in a world of opinions, lies, half-truths, and competing truths.  But Jesus reminds us where to find truth – in the Word of God.  The Bible is truth.  It is our standard.  It is the measure by which we determine what is true and false in our world.  The question for us is always: does this idea or thought that I am hearing or thinking line up with the Bible?  The truth of the Bible gives us direction in the confusion of opinions around us, a star to follow that cuts through the smog of false ideas and pretend truths.  Biblical truth also shows us how to grow up in Jesus, how to be mature Christians.

Jesus says that we are sanctified by the truth.  “Sanctify” conveys the idea of being set apart.  We are to be set apart in the truth of the Bible.  We are to live according to the truth.  Sanctify also means to make holy.  Sanctification is the process of God making us holy, of growing up in Jesus to be mature Christians.  And this happens as our lives line up with the truth.  Which leads to three responses:

  • First, we need to learn the truth.  We can’t line our lives up with the truth if we don’t know it.  As such we must be committed to digging into the Word.  We are to meditate on God’s Word day and night (Psalm 1:2).  We are to store up portions of God’s Word in our hearts (Psalm 119:11).  We should gather regularly with God’s people to hear the word taught and preached.  We must immerse ourselves in God’s Word that we might learn the truth.
  • Second, we must believe the truth.  We must join the Psalmist who says, “I trust in your word” (Psalm 119:42).  We must believe what we learn, conforming our thinking to the Book.  We simply can’t say, “This is what the Bible says, but I think….”  What we think is simply wrong if it doesn’t match the Bible.  We must submit ourselves completely to the truth revealed by God in his Word.  We must believe the truth.
  • Third, we must live the truth.  As we learn it and believe it, we must conform not only our thinking but also our lives to the truth.  James 1:22-25 speaks of the foolishness of hearing the Word but not doing it.  We live in a world of information overload, and we hear so much that we never do anything about.  But our approach to the Bible must be different.  As we read it, mediate on it, memorize it, study it, and hear it preached, we must make every effort to do what it says.  We must live the truth.

What will you do with the truth today?

Quotes to Ponder

On By BrianIn PASSION Quotes

If you haven’t been jarred when you’re reading the Bible, you’re not reading it. —John Piper

Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder
through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding
of what surrounds you.  This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.
– J. I. Packer

The Spirit-filled walk demands, for instance, that we live in the Word of God
as a fish lives in the sea….  I mean that we should “meditate day and night”
in the sacred Word, that we should love it and feast upon it and digest it
every hour of the day and night.
– A. W. Tozer

I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day
than I would, as it were, rinse my hands in several chapters. 
Oh to bathe in a text of Scripture till it saturates your heart!
– C. H. Spurgeon