Simple yet powerful keys and principles to effectively engage with the Scriptures

KEY No. 14 – Ask questions of Scripture

Children ask questions all the time. As we approach scripture, we should come with this heart of childlike simplicity and inquisition.

WHO?
Who is speaking? Who are they speaking to? Who are they speaking about? Who is this promise made to? Who is expected to obey this command? Etc…

WHAT?
What is being said here in simple terms? What does this mean to me? What is he/she doing/saying/meaning? What kind of reaction did this action provoke? Etc…

WHERE?
Where did they come from? Where is he/she going to? Where is this city/town? Where is this event occurring? Etc…

WHEN?
When did this happen? When are they intending to come/go? When am I in a similar position to this character? When can I apply this truth in my life? Etc…

WHY?
Why did he/she say or do that? Why do they react this way? Why did God record this story in scripture? Why is this Truth not working in my life and how can I change so it does? Etc…

HOW?
How does this apply to my life? How does he/she do what he/she does? How can I be more like this character in scripture? How can I avoid the pitfalls that this person fell into? Etc

Simple yet powerful keys and principles to effectively engage with the Scriptures

To study subject by subject promotes rapid growth in the Believer’s life. It is an essential way to build your spiritual life upon the truth, and fill your spiritual armoury for effective battle. Here’s how:

1. Use a concordance to find the Scriptures along a particular subject line.
2. Consult ‘Naves Topical Bible’ if you have one, or look online. Nave’s lists scriptures subject by subject, categorising them for easy reference.
3. Read other books about the subject. For example, if you are studying ‘Grace’ you may purchase or borrow a copy of Charles Swindoll’s book ‘The Grace Awakening’, or Philip Yancey’s ‘What’s so amazing about grace’. Other men and women of God have provided us with such a rich resource, and we live in a country where they are freely available. Use them!

Suggested topics

• Healing
• The Name of Jesus
• Grace
• Truth
• Wisdom
• Money
• Joy
• Love
• Hope
• Salvation
• In Christ
• the Holy Spirit

…etc…etc…the Bible is inexhaustible.

Simple yet powerful keys and principles to effectively engage with the Scriptures

Essentially the Bible is a Book of relationships, not least God’s relationship with His creation. It is a collection of stories about people.

A character study mainly looks at two things.

1. Man’s relation to God.
2. Man’s relation to other people.

You can apply the steps of study already covered. Read all scriptures in context. It is important with character study that we do not isolate the subject of our interest from others. The events, relationships and people surrounding them will say as much about them as they themselves. For example, a study of King David would be incomplete without reference to Goliath, Saul or Bethsheba and his sons.

As you read realate it to your own life, and ask questions like:

• What is his/her relationship with God like?
• What made them so successful, or such a failure?
• What traits in their life do I want to emulate or avoid?

Finally, there is One life and character should be studied above all others. As we look at this One life, we are changed from glory to glory into the very same image. He is the fairest among the ten thousand characters we could choose. His name is Jesus. Make sure that He remains the primary Person you seek to understand and emulate.

Simple yet powerful keys and principles to effectively engage with the Scriptures

KEY No. 11 – Chew the Cud The Power of Biblical Meditation

Unlike some Eastern religions that encourage emptying the mind, Biblical meditation is all about filling the mind and imagination – with the living Word of God! It includes the idea not just of thinking about the word, but speaking it out as well.

The Scriptures encourage us to fill our minds with (meditate on) the Word of God! As we do so, the Holy Spirit illuminates the Word of God in our minds and we are changed. The Word become a vital part of our lives

The Hebrew word for meditate means “to turn-over in the mind, to mutter, to imagine, pondering the meaning of.” It includes the following ideas: “to ponder, i.e. (by implication) converse (with oneself, and hence, aloud) or (transitively) utter:—commune, complain, meditate, muse, pray, speak, talk (with).” [Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance]

One way that I have made meditation in scripture a part of my daily life is to stick a short scripture to my computer monitor at work. I then read it quietly over and again throughout the day, attempting to memorise it and draw from it it’s fullest meaning. This practice allows God to ‘paint’ a picture of the truth you are pondering on the canvas of your imagination. You see yourself living it! Look through the gospels and see how many times Jesus begins His teaching with the word, “Behold”. What does “behold” mean? It means “Look at this!”, “See this with the eye of faith!”, “Use your imagination and picture what I am saying!”

Someone once wrote, “Meditation chews our spiritual food and gets the sweetness and nutritive virtue of the Word into our hearts and lives. Meditation has a digestive power, and turns truth into spiritual nourishment.”

It’s like a cow bringing the same food back up and chewing it again and again until all the juice is squeezed out of it. Yum Yum.

Focus On What the Holy Spirit Is Saying

KEY No. 10 – If God is talking to you about healing, don’t study cabbages!

Have you ever woken up through the night in a strange house, wanting a drink or needing the loo? You had to grope your way across an unfamiliar room trying to find the light switch. Not so easy, as many stubbed toes will painfully testify!

Navigation is so much easier when the lights are on. It is no different in the spiritual realm.

There is a scripture in John 12:36 that the Holy Ghost quickened to my understanding one time. The red bit reads like this:

“While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be the children of light.”

There are seasons in our lives where God wants to speak to us about various things.

This key basically states:

If there is an anointing present at a particular time, leading you to look at and consider a particular subject/book/character etc, give yourself to it while the light is on. If the light is shining in that area lap it up, because pretty soon it may be shining somewhere else and you’ve lost an opportunity for revelation.

Say for example, you just can’t get away from healing scriptures. Every time you pick up your Bible you are drawn to those scriptures that speak of God’s will and power to heal. Now would not be the time to read books about prosperity or end time doctrine.

Buy books about healing, listen to tapes by men who move in the healing anointing and gifts. Do all you can to fill your heart with that area of study, that you may become a child of it.

Just as we are born again by the incorruptible Word of the Living God, so this kind of study generates Christ in us. We want the Word to be ‘made flesh’ in us! We want to be born of the Word of faith, the Word of healing, the Word of truth, the Word of freedom, and the Word of joy…

I remember one season in my life where the Spirit was speaking to me about the power in the name of Jesus. During the next five to six weeks I must have read through the book of Acts seven or eight times, underlining every occurrence of the use of Jesus name. I noted how, where, and when it was used. I bought two six tape sets about the name of Jesus by a popular Bible teacher, and listened to them over and again. I gave myself fully to the light while it was there concerning the name of Jesus, so it might become a living Word in me.

That season was not a time to study the ‘tabernacle’ or ‘repentance from dead works’, but to study ‘the name of Jesus’.

NOTE: It is important to note that general reading of the Bible supplemental to this kind of focused study should also be done. Focus is important, but balance is essential.