BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Study to present yourself to God as one approved,
a worker who does not need to be ashamed
and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
(2 Timothy 2:15)
MEDITATION:
Quite often people read the bible differently than they read any other book.
Seldom does anyone pick up a book, open it at random and start reading
in the middle of a paragraph. Reading a book in this manner wouldn’t
make any sense. In order to understand and fully appreciate the book,
we read it sequentially, often in paragraphs or chapters.
When we read the bible we should be reading for quality, not quantity.
Our goal is not to see how much of the bible we can read. Our goal is
to see how much of it we can understand and apply to our lives. We
should try reading a small amount (maybe even just one verse) and
then ask ourselves,
“What is God saying to ME?”
Another approach is to read a verse several times with an emphasis
on each word.
For instance,
THE Lord is my shepherd.
The LORD is my shepherd.
The Lord IS my shepherd.
The Lord is MY shepherd.
The Lord is my SHEPHERD.
When using this approach, the meaning of a verse can change each time
we read it. It also gives the Lord multiple opportunities to speak to us in
different ways.
ACTION:
Try these two techniques for one week and see if it makes bible reading
more meaningful and exciting. Then, apply to our own life what the Lord
has taught us. Some wonder if God speaks to us today like He spoke to
the people during biblical times.
God does not show favoritism, so we would have to assume that He does
speak to us today, but maybe in different ways. We have been given His
Word as a venue for listening to His voice, and we should embrace our
opportunity to ‘listen’ as God ‘speaks’ to us collectively and individually.
We need to also remember that our Creator is a God of dispensation who
can use the same verse to communicate something different to each of us.
He knows what we need and He doesn’t have to create specific verse for
for each of us; He can use one verse and the Holy Spirit can give us the
capability of hearing His message directly to us.
Some can engage in heated debates over a scripture because they failed
to realize they can both be right in what they understand from the Lord.
Discussing God’s Word is never a bad thing, but arguing about what He
means is counter-productive to its purpose, and His will.
Everything we do should be tempered with love and not to convince others
to believe what we understand from the scriptures. When we get derailed
and our passion is to convince others that our interpretation is the correct
one, we are treading on a thin ice of pride.
Love gives us the capacity to listen to the interpretation the Holy Spirit gives
others and yet remain focused on how the Lord spoke to us. We can share the
message we get from a verse and understand that God may have given someone
else a different interpretation (neither is wrong, just different).
However, we should weigh anything we understand, or hear from others
and see if they fit within God’s guidelines for living as His Son, Jesus. The
Holy Spirit helps us in doing that, not for winning a debate or argument,
but for evaluating our own relationship with the Lord.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, help me to read Your Word with the intent
of listening for You to speak directly to me. Help me to block
out all the distractions from the evil one who wants to prevent
me from hearing from You. Teach me how to read the bible in
a way that helps me absorb everything I read, and guides me in
applying what I have read to my own life. Your Word is filled
with advice, guidance, assurance, and blessings that will enhance
my life by giving me an unusual joy and peace that cannot be
found anywhere else. Remind me that Your Word is not just a
book, but it is You and Your Spirit speaking to my heart and soul.”
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Discussion
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