Welcome to the new and improved weekend surveys. Or more appropriately, the weekend forums, perhaps?
Now instead of (sometimes) random questions the weekends are a place for you to ask questions. If you have something you’d like to see discussed just shoot me an e-mail.
To find out more details on the new weekend surveys, see here.
This week I want to start things off right. This is a topic I have wanted to write on for a while and I got an email regarding it so I’m taking advantage. The question I was asked was:
I’ve been thinking abou the different aspects of engaging with the word lately and wouldn’t mind hearing your comments on how you approach this. Do you have a systematic plan for studying it? How do you see the different aspects like: meditating on it, memorizing it, reading it, devotional, study, praying it, etc. What’s your philosophy and experience here?
I am personally not going to answer the whole thing. I want you all to give your input as well, and feel free to ask more questions…how do we get rooted and grounded in the Word?
This is a safe place to share your concerns, questions and victories. To give advice and to love on others.
Shawn said:
I know of all sorts of study plans, study schedules, study guides. Being around a wholehearted community that covers every personality type on the spectrum opens up the doors to every if, and or but about Bible study.
What I am currently doing is going through the New Testament from start to finish.I began in Matthew and I’m now in Acts.
I have a journal with a pen and some highlighters. As I read through each chapter of the Bible I have no rules whatsoever concerning what I write down in my journal.
If a verse just strikes me as unique, funny, important, etc… I may copy it down. I may paraphrase it. I may stop and do a study on it. I may outline an entire passage. Anything that helps me get the Bible clearer into my head and heart.
What is great about this study style for me is that I enjoy it. I can sit down before the Word and know that in my own personality and my own quirks I can enjoy God and enjoy the written Word.
It is far more important to get the Bible alive in my heart than organized in my head.
Posted on February 2, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Ruth said:
One thing i’m struggling with (still..) and maybe i always will…is this.. we don’t want a one year action plan to read the bible, memorize it while not having the word rooted and grounded in our heart. so I like what you’re saying: “It is far more important to get the Bible alive in my heart than organized in my head”. To read the bible just to say “we read the whole bible in a year” is not the thing. We wanna believe deep within in our hearts what the word is saying and have understanding. One year action plans are great. Because if i don’t have one (and i don’t have one right now..) i may end up before the throne without ever having read Nahum or something. And because it’s in the bible Nahum (with lots of “bad news”) must be really important for my life somehow.
So, what do we do? Do we follow our action plans to read it in a year, or…do we take one verse to meditate on that a few weeks or days? I know this sounds kinda black or white, there must be a grey area where we read the bible a lot and meditate on it a lot. But where’s the balance?
I just found out that meditation really is a vital part of my life, and I think everyone will agree…but the tension i feel when I read the bible (let’s say a whole book in a few days), i keep thinking/asking do i have understanding deep within of what it’s saying?
And when I meditate a few days on one verse, I keep thinking I could have read lots of chapters..and i’m missing out on what God is wanting to tell me.
You seem to have the right balance Shawn, but I guess i’m struggling.
Sorry for the long question/comment…you can edit it so that it’s not too long. looks like an essay now.
Posted on February 3, 2007 at 6:39 am
The Other Andy said:
One thing that I do to meditate is a model called RWSSP. I take one verse like:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Then I take a phrase from that verse like:
“For God so loved”
Then I read it, write it, say it, sing it, pray it over and over again and the Lord speaks! For me it’s not all about getting sweet revelation or anything (although revelation will come). It’s a way for me to encounter the Lord and minister to Him in the place of prayer.
There’s actually a book written on this by Kirk Bennett and you can find it in the IHOP bookstore or at 7thunders.org
Posted on February 3, 2007 at 8:43 am
Abby said:
I’m with Andy on the RWSSP thing. That’s originally how I was taught the fundimentals of meditation. However I’d like to sugguest that while writing it really think about what the passage is saying. Think about it. Don’t just copy the words. Most of the time that’s when I find my heart unlocking the secrets in between the lines.
Posted on February 3, 2007 at 10:11 am
Ronni said:
I tend to take it book by book. I’ve done the whole “read through the bible” stuff, and I think everyone should do it every once in a while, but I find I get more out of it if I study a book. Then if during the study of that book, I have questions, I do a study on that, or if one of my pastors brings something up, I’ll study that… I have also done word studies that took me all over… I think just being proactive and cracking the cover will root it in your heart.
Now my issue is remembering the “address” for certain verses. I can quote a ton of verses, but ask me to find them… oy.
Posted on February 3, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Shawn said:
@ Ruth: I love what you brought up: The tension between going through large portions of scripture or going slowly.
I don’t think the answer to this tension is ‘either/or’ but rather ‘both/and’.
We should always have some verse or concept of scripture burning in our hearts. The Word should always be alive within us. But that reality doesn’t have to be traded out in order to read several portions of scripture a day.
FOR EXAMPLE: Let’s say I have Acts 1:8 burning on my heart “…you shall be witnessess to Me…”, and as I’m reading 5 chapters a day to familiarize myself with the whole story of scripture I carry the reality of Acts 1:8 asking for insight into the Bible. This works because the whole Bible is a commentary on itself. It is alive!
The issue isn’t WHAT we are doing to study the Bible but how our heart is connecting. I know many people who know the word so well and all they did for years was just read large portions of scripture every day. Mike Bickle read the New Testament every month for several years (that’s 10 chapters a day).
Posted on February 3, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Shawn said:
@ Andy & Abby: The Read it, Write it, Sing it, Say it, Pray it method is phenominal. I do that often with my current journaling.
The emphasis is on praying the scriptures. It’s so easy to disconnect from the fact that the Bible is alive! There’s a man hidden between those lines and we have to pray to find Him.
@ Ronni: You’re dead on with “I think just being proactive and cracking the cover will root it in your heart.”
Posted on February 3, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Jared Diehl said:
In my short years of studying the word and being an FSM student I have found that it is trial and error with studying….you don’t have to do 10 chapters a day, one-year plan, this or that formula…you just need a place to start..which all of these keep you on track…I have found that in studying the word you have to be patient with yourself…understanding takes time…it will just take a lot longer if you don’t start and maximize your time to study the word….perseverance-don’t give up when you feel “dumb” and without understanding….I think these are important…
Posted on February 3, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Benjamin Wood said:
Shawn is so good at telling people to raise support. I learned so much in his little “spot” at the IHOP new staff orientation. He is so cool! I wish i could be more like him.
Posted on February 3, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Steph said:
A slightly more abstract contribution, but perhaps enlightening nonetheless. This is a quote that I enjoyed from a book I read recently that seems to touch upon the topic:
There’s a lovely Hasidic story of a rabbi who always told his people that if they studied the Torah, it would put Scripture on their hearts. One of them asked, “Why on our hearts, and not in them?” The rabbi answered, “Only God can put Scripture inside. But reading sacred text can put it on your hearts, and then when your hearts break, the holy words will fall inside.”
(from Plan B, by Anne Lamott)
I am finding that it is in the breaking that the Word becomes most real to me, like you say, living in the heart and not just the head.
Posted on February 3, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Ronni said:
Steph, that is the most beautiful quote! I love that!
I’m writing that in my journal… thank you for sharing…
Posted on February 3, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Shawn said:
@ Steph: Psalm 119:67 says “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your Word.”
Posted on February 3, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Theresa said:
I am praying through Psalms right now. I like to read commentaries on something that really speaks to me. I also like to read commentaries sometimes when I am listening to the webstream and they read/sing a verse. This might sound old school, but I ask the Lord what I should read sometimes. Sometimes I am really off, but sometimes it is so good and really ministers to me.
Posted on February 4, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Sydney said:
So, Shawn, first of all I just want to say that I find you to be a very positive and affirming person - something I very much admire.
As to the topic of your post, I think it’s a very good one. Lots of people have brought up interesting points so far - stuff I’m very much intrigued to put into practice in my own quiet time.
Personally, I’m the type of person who is often doing more than one thing at a time, and it’s the same way with my quiet time. I’m reading at four different places in the Bible right now: Genesis, Matthew, Revelation, and Jeremiah. I find that there’s just too much I long to know about God, that I can’t just pick one book; it’s also really enlightening to read a bunch of places at once cause I’ve seen parallels I’ve never pulled together before. But this way might not work for some people, cause I don’t do all for every day.
I’ve done the practice of meditation before, but haven’t been doing it recently, and I missed it, so I’ve been meditating on one verse from Song of Songs for a week at a time. It’s pretty rockin.
I think the most important thing to remember though is that it’s not really about what you’re reading, or how much you’re reading… but HOW you’re reading and the state of your heart when you’re reading. God knows the desires of our hearts, and when we pursue Him, He reveals Himself to us.
Posted on February 5, 2007 at 2:28 pm