Hey , welcome to Doing Life with Ken and Tabitha . We are so pumped that you're tuning into this podcast . It has been designed for people just like you . We wanna do life with you , share our wins , our defeats , our ups and our downs , in hopes that you'll grow closer to God and to the people that you love in your life . Sit back and enjoy today's podcast .
Speaker 2A lot of times we get tempted by Satan . We get tempted by spiritual warfare , generational curses , all kinds of things we get tempted by , but we don't know what the word said , so we don't respond . Like Jesus responded with the word , we respond like oh my gosh , I just feel so crazy . Or oh my gosh , you know . Like we don't know , we have no power because we don't know the word . When you know the word , you have power and you respond with the word . And , like you said , that word cuts sharper than any two-edged sword . You cut the power of the enemy by speaking the word of God .
Speaker 1Hey , what's up everybody . Welcome to Doing Life with Ken and Tabitha . So good to have you guys joining us for another episode today . If you are newer to our family , our podcast family , we just want to say welcome . Hit the subscribe button . If you're new , hit the icon so you can be the first to grab the content and make sure you share this episode if it blesses you
, like we hope that it will . Today we want to talk about how to study the Bible . I know that this is a very important topic to both of us and I would venture to say that this might be one of the most important topics that we've ever hit .
Speaker 1one of the most important episodes that we've ever . Do you think that's an overstatement ?
Speaker 2I mean it could be , but not because the Word is everything . Without the word , what do we have ? So we have to study the word .
Speaker 1Well , the reason that I would say it's not an overstatement is because everything hinges upon our understanding of the word . Our marriage is where it is because of our revelation of God's word . God's word is what gives us direction , it gives us life , it gives us spiritual nourishment . It gives us direction , it gives us instructions , it gives us everything that we need . And I just feel like for many things in life , we go to counseling , we read a book or we go on social media but , my whole thing is what does the word say ?
Speaker 1Jesus was the manifestation of the word , and the beginning was the word yes . The word was with God and the word was God yes . And this is a principle that I learned years ago that you only love God as much as you love his word , and you only know God as much as you know his word . What does that mean to you ?
Speaker 2I mean I love it . I mean that's why studying the word is so important , because the more time you spend studying the word , the more time you spend with God . And a lot of people say , you know , Pastor Tab , you know , I just want to be closer to God , I just want to know God more and I'm like , well , you know , do you study the Bible ? You know how often we try to make it this big spiritual endeavor that when we pray , the heavens are going to open and the light's going to shine , and then we're going to have this experience with God , and most of the time that's not going , that's just not going to happen . You know what I mean . But , um , the majority of the time , the way we commune with God and spend time with God and the way we access the presence of God is when we open up the word of God , you know , and spend time knowing his thoughts , his ways . Um , it's just the best thing that we can do , I believe .
Speaker 1And why do you think um , um bible study so , so important ?
Speaker 2Why has it been important to you ? I mean , I think , for what we just said , because the more time I , the more I study the bible , the more I know god . The more I know god , the better I am . There are questions that we have in the world . You know like I'm a mom , so I have questions about raising my children . I need wisdom . The Bible is filled with wisdom . You know I need wisdom to be a wife . You know the Bible's filled with wisdom on being a wife . I need answers for everyday life and I can find all of that in the Bible .
Speaker 1Yeah , it just makes me think of a few things . That happens and it's basically the lie of the enemy . So the scripture talks about how Satan is the father of lies . Truth is not in him , so he plants lies in society and there's this lie that the Bible has been . It contradicts itself that it's been written by men and almost like you can't trust it .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1So it's almost like he wants to devalue the Bible and place a value on other science books , history books , mathematic books , whatever books there are that have been written by men , and I think there couldn't be anything further from the truth . The Bible is the living , breathing word of God , and I've seen people healed cancer healed by the word . I've seen marriages restored because of the word . People get saved because of the word , and the Bible is actually your one offensive weapon . It's the sword of the spirit which is the word of God .
Speaker 1So if Satan can take away your offensive weapon , you're not going to be able to win in battle . And what most people don't know is that you are in a spiritual fight , whether you're in or not . And Ephesians , chapter six , begins to outline and it talks about the full armor of God , it talks about the helmet of salvation , it talks about the breastplate of righteousness , it talks about having your belt of truth around your waist , your feet , with the preparation of the gospel of peace . But then it gives you this offensive weapon and it says that the sword of the spirit , which is the word of God .
Speaker 2Which is the word of God .
Speaker 1And so your sword is what can cut ? Off depression , cut off cancer , cut off sickness , cut off distress , cut off grief , cut off doubt , unbelief . And Satan would love for you to not believe in your sword or put down your sword and not know how to wield your sword .
Speaker 2Yes , you know , you talked about the devil , we talked about Satan and in the beginning you talked about Jesus and how you know Jesus was tempted . You know of the enemy , and when did you say that ? Or did I just imagine that ? You said that when you said something and it made me have this and it reminded me of when Jesus was tempted . He fasted and prayed for 40 days , 40 nights in the wilderness and then , at the end of that fast , at the weakest point , satan came and tempted Jesus . He tempted Jesus three times and each time he tempted Jesus with his words . But what Satan did was he gave Jesus the word of God . He said it's written that man shall not live by bread alone . You said Satan gave Jesus the word of God . He said it's written that man shall not live by bread alone .
Speaker 1You said Satan gave Jesus the word of God . I mean , I'm sorry .
Speaker 2What am I saying ?
Speaker 1Jesus gave Satan the word of God .
Speaker 2Jesus gave Satan the word of God , but Satan tempted Jesus , and so Jesus responded with the word of God , and a lot of that is that's how we respond in life . We respond with the word of God , and a lot of that is that's how we respond in life . We respond with the word of God . That's what you said . You said it is written .
Speaker 1I said what does the word say ?
Speaker 2What does the word say ? And the word says you know , like Jesus responded
in , we shall not live by bread alone . A lot of times we get tempted by Satan . We get tempted by spiritual warfare , generational curses , all kinds of things we get tempted by . But we don't know what the word said . So we don't respond like Jesus responded with the word . We respond like oh my gosh , I just feel so crazy . Or oh my gosh , you know , like we don't know , we have no power because we don't know the word . But when you know the word , you have power and you respond with the word . And , like you said , that word cuts sharper than any two-edged sword . You cut the power of the enemy by speaking the word of God .
Speaker 1Yeah , I was a Christian atheist for about 10 years of my life , and most of you all know that for 10 years I believed in God , but I lived like he didn't exist . That's how I define a Christian atheist , and so , if you were to put me in a lineup with 10 of my closest friends that were unsaved , I drank like they drank , slept around like they slept around , partied like they partied , meaning that you could not see what I believed in my lifestyle . And everything changed for me , probably about 23 , 24 years ago , and there was a couple of pivotal things that happened . I rededicated my life to the Lord .
Speaker 1I just made a commitment in my heart Jesus you're going to be . First , I got filled with the Holy Spirit , or I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit , which gave me power . Every believer needs power . Number three , I got into a good church , and I think this is huge because not only was it a good church , it was a church that taught us the word . They taught me to value the word , they taught me to go to the word . They taught me to speak the word , confess the word , and I love the church that we used to go to , because I'm talking about every single Sunday . We would come teach us the word . We'd have Bible studies on Wednesday . They would teach us the word . And one thing that I did early on in my Christianity and I would suggest anybody to do this is that I started to spend an hour with God's word every day and it's not like that's .
Speaker 1The scripture tells you to spend an hour , I mean you can spend 15 minutes , you can spend three hours , but I don't know .
Speaker 1Somebody just made that reference to me . Hey , why don't you spend an hour with God a day ? And in my early 20s I started to spend an hour with God . And in my early 20s I started to spend an hour with God . And I remember when I first started reading the Bible , it felt so boring that I mean I had to almost stand up so I wouldn't fall asleep . It was like my spirit was so immature and my flesh was so strong . So as I began to read the Bible , I felt so sleepy and I was so distracted because I had to discipline my flesh to build up my spirit . But I'm telling you , 20 years later , I've still been spending that kind of time with .
Speaker 1God . Sometimes it's been more , sometimes it's been a little less , and it's not all just Bible study . Within that time and I probably right now , average about an hour . I mean I did an hour today , did an hour yesterday , did an hour before that I probably average about an hour or to an hour 20 minutes , and it's just . I have prayer , I have worship , but the study of the word has always been something that I've felt like every believer just has to have a relationship with their Bible ?
Speaker 2Yeah , I think so . I giggled a little bit because I remember reading the Bible for the first time as well , trying to just stay in the Word and study the Word , taking notes and things like that . I literally fell asleep . I didn't like I would just fall asleep and I remember being like , well , I'll just go to sleep for a little bit , and then I'd wake back up . But this is like we were working and we had careers , but we were grown people and just still falling asleep . And it's funny because we both went to college . We know what it's like to stay up all night studying , but as an adult I couldn't stay up studying the Bible . That's just amazing to me . But we press through , you press through . Well , that which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit , that's just amazing to me , but we press through you know , you press through .
Speaker 1Well , that which is flesh is flesh , and that which is spirit is spirit . And you just got to make some decisions of what you want out of life . What's going to be your source , where you get your information and your downloads from ? I don't know . The Bible is one of those books . I mean historically speaking , it is 66 books by 40 different authors spanning a a time of about 1,500 years , and it all kinds of prophesies and says the same thing . It is the most sold book in the world in the history of the world .
Speaker 1It is also the most stolen book in the history of the world . It is the book that has an anointing on it , because it is not just like when you read a regular book . It's like fossilized , it's just men's thoughts , but the word of God is living and it's breathing . So it's forever speaking . So when you read the Bible and you're filled with the Holy Spirit or you have a relationship with God , not only are you reading the Bible , the Bible is reading you . There is like revelation that jumps off the page .
Speaker 1Revelation is simply revealed knowledge , and so you have the Logos word , which is the written word that's in the 66 books , but then you have the Logos word , which is what the Holy Spirit illuminates or reveals to you so that you can apply it to your life today . So if people read the Bible from just the historical standpoint , they miss what this is about . Yes , that was about David and Goliath . Yes , it's about Moses in the Red Sea . Yes , it's about Jeremiah and Jonah in the well .
Speaker 1Those are stories , those are stories but there are stories and principles that God wants to use to speak to you , right ? Now in today's terms , and when you really have a relationship with God and a relationship with the Bible , you will find the Bible comes alive , it is living and it is breathing and it is speaking .
Speaker 2Yes .
Speaker 1God uses it to do something in us .
Speaker 2And there is a difference when you read the Bible as a non-believer and you read the Bible as a believer . I have experienced it , yes so I read the Bible because we you know I just got done saying I fell asleep literally . The Bible's not boring , you shouldn't be falling asleep . Reading it is not boring , it's like the most amazing book ever .
Speaker 1It depends on where you start . If you start over in the baguette , the bagu you start in Leviticus .
Speaker 2Now there are parts of the Bible that may be boring , but you don't know what in the world it's talking about . You're just like what is this ?
Speaker 2So , so anyway , I just wanted to say that . But so , as a non-believer , I remember I was searching for God . I was like 21 years old 2021 . And I bought a Bible for the first time . I went home and started to read the Bible and it was just kind of like I was reading a book . I was in college . I was reading a book just like anything else . It was like a history book . Now I believe that it was true , but it was like I was reading a history book . It wasn't alive yet . And then I got born again and I began to read the , the Bible and I just understood it a little more . But do you know where power actually came in ? So I was born again , reading the Bible and falling asleep . I got filled with the Holy Spirit and then , when I read the Bible , it came alive .
Speaker 2That's what happened to me as well , that's the ministry of the Holy Spirit .
Speaker 1That might be a major key for people . You know , I think a lot of people . That's the ministry of the Holy Spirit . That might be a major key for people . I think a lot of people they might know about the Holy Spirit , hear about the Holy Spirit but it's kind of like off in the back room somewhere and that's not how it should be To me , the life of the believer . When you accept Jesus , you need to dive into understanding the Holy Spirit , for he is the great paraclete .
Speaker 1That word in the Greek means comforter , advocate , stand byer . He is the revealer of truth and there's just something about you know you get saved , the Holy Spirit lives in you . But there's a second experience where he comes upon you and doing you with power from on high . But when we received that , it was like I could read that Bible and it was like God himself was speaking to me . I mean , there's no experience like that . Yeah , I pray that for every single person .
Speaker 2Yeah , and so now it's just like whoa ? I mean I open up the Bible and I like
to , you know , just create parts of my life , just like by habit . So most of the time if I'm not studying the Bible , I like to read the Bible . So I'll read Proverbs . So Proverbs , every morning I'll just open up Proverbs and just read a chapter a day , or at night before I go to bed . If I haven't read a book or the Bible or something I still want to deposit the word in me , I'll go to Psalms and read a Psalm at night before I go to bed . And those are things that just it comes alive to me , it speaks to me , no matter what , no matter where I am in life . I mean I could have a problem with my pinky toe and I read Proverbs and it's like , oh Lord , thank you , I bless my pinky toe . I mean it just doesn't matter , the word of God speaks to whatever you're going through .
Speaker 1Yeah . So I mean I look at you as a person who you do a lot of Bible study .
Speaker 2You know .
Speaker 1You're a person I've seen just being God's word all the time , whether you're listening to it , whether you you got an app that's just the reading the Bible . What would you suggest to people who are watching and they're ?
Speaker 2like .
Speaker 1Hey , I want to be able to take my Bible study a little bit deeper . What are the tools ? What are the hacks ?
Speaker 2What are your perspectives about Bible study ? I would say , first of all , make it a part of your life . Okay , you know you want to make the Bible , the Word , a part of your life . The Bible talks about , you know , writing the Word of God on the tablet of your heart , to write it on your doorpost , above your windows . You know , like teach it to your children day and night . Talk about the Word of God . How do you do that ? We put this into our life . So , apps on our phone you know what I mean , it got the Bible app . Or you know YouVersion Bible , all of those things . You can have devos on your phone , like ping . You know a script will pop up on your phone and just sit there and read it and then it's a way to put the word in your life . I put the word in my life , like going to work , I'll put on a message . You know a live church . Just put on a message , put on a YouTube message .
Speaker 1Well , that was huge for me and I think that's this is very important . You know , there's a scripture that says faith comes by hearing , hearing by the word of . God . Now you can apply that to salvation . Of course , people can't hear about Jesus unless and they hear about Jesus , the message being preached , they accept salvation . But I think the principle is for everything . So whenever I want faith for finances , I start listening to financial messages .
Speaker 1If I want faith for healing , I'll listen to messages on healing yes , and I found out years ago when I first got into the , I would my pastor would preach a message and I would probably back then you had the cassettes . When I first got into the , my pastor would preach a message and I would probably . Back then you had the cassettes and I would go and buy the cassettes it was like $5 . Cassettes and I would actually listen to the message at least two or three times , probably before winter . And what I found is that I only got a little bit of it when I was in church and the more I listened to it , the more my faith came . And maybe it's because I'm an audible learner .
Speaker 1I think you got visual learners , you got audible learners but , I , just think that there's something about hearing the word being preached hearing the word being preached . It does something . I'm listening to podcasts right now and they're just blessing me because I'm just hearing stuff and I just think that there is a principle that be careful what you hear and be intentional with what you hear , because faith does come by hearing , hearing , hearing the word of God , hearing by the word of God . Yes , yes . What else would you give us Hacks ?
Speaker 2And so , yeah , making it a part of your life . And then , when it comes to studying the Bible , I would treat it as if I were studying for a test . I take a highlighter , I take my notebook , I take pencils , I write in the Bible like notes . I'm , oh God , illuminated that I have tools with me , like other Bible study tools . I might have a dictionary . What does that word mean ? I have cross-references , I have a version of the Bible that I understand , so you can read the King James version , which is the original English version of the Bible , and it can say thee and thou , and whither and whist , and shout not , and all of these things , and you're like , oh , oh , my gosh , what are you talking about ?
Speaker 2um , but you can get a different version , um , that speaks in modern day terms , uh , and then you can understand what you're reading , and so if you can't understand what you're reading , there's no sense of doing it okay , so it doesn't have to be hard .
Speaker 1We can make this easy yeah , yeah , a few things came to mind , but I forgot what they were . Anything else Hacks ?
Speaker 2No , I would just say I mean for me , I kind of like I love what you said about the word , is that the word is our sword , it is the sword of the spirit , and so like I just I like my Bible .
Speaker 2I have several different Bibles actually throughout the years and you know , growing up , you know I didn't grow up in a Christian family or anything like that , but we did have a Bible and I remember it was just like like hidden under the coffee table and it was this brand new book that nobody ever touched but it seemed like it was holy and in fact I had a kid's version of the Bible and it was picture . There were a bunch of pictures in it and when you open up the beginning and it was really beautiful , there was Noah's Ark and all of this stuff and all of the animals and stuff . But in the middle of the book you can open it up and the devil was in there . They had a picture of where Jesus was in the wilderness and they had the devil coming up to tempt him and he was red with a cape and horns on his head and I think he had a pitchfork in his hand . We were so terrified of this book Like , and we would tell our friends open up that book . The devil's in there .
Speaker 2Look , you can see the devil in that book . And so , like I never touched that book , I opened up that book and so in the back of my mind , even as an adult , it was like that's the spiritual book here . I don't know if I want anything to do with that . That's not what we want to do as believers . This is a book that , like when our kids were little , in my Bibles two or three of them
I have drawings and scribbles from my two year olds and my three year olds getting in my Bible because I left it on the coffee table and they go and eat it or they go and draw in it . We had a rabbit , olaf . We had him for nine years . He was so cute , he was white and fluffy and he was a wonderful little bunny . But he grew up with our kids . But I would leave my Bible sitting on the stand and Olaf the rabbit he would get up there and eat my Bible .
Speaker 1So the rabbit , he would get up there and eat my Bible .
Speaker 2So one of my Bibles have rabbit chews you know like in them . He got to your Bible too . He got to your shoes one time . I thought that was hilarious . Yeah , he literally ate the word of God . But I said all of that to say it's not this holy book that you just kind of put on a shelf , it's a part of your life , Like I put it in my purse . Some pages are missing in some of my Bibles . Some of them are ripped . Why is that ? Because I use it , I refer to it , I just I make it a part of my life and I would encourage everyone to do that .
Speaker 1What would you say to people who are like , but I have an electronic Bible ? It's on my phone , it's on my iPad or something like that , and they don't have a paper Bible .
Speaker 2Do you ?
Speaker 1prefer one over the other .
Speaker 2I mean , I personally prefer a paper Bible because I love books , I like to touch and read , I like the whole experience of a book . We have a library in our home of just books and I love that . I would recommend everybody to have a physical version . I don't know , I can't really speak to it . If that's your thing and you can just go to your phone all day , every day , on your Bible , I would say I mean , I'm not going to hate on that , but I would say , have a physical version as well , because I'm not a fan of the phones personally . I personally , you know , like looking at my phone all day , every day , if all you have is a phone and you're trying to read your Bible and you got texts and emails and messages , it's just too distracting to me . I think you I mean now , if you have it on an iPad or , you know , a Kindle or something fine , but I think you need something that will you can be in solitude with God , with you know , and not have access to the world through your phone .
Speaker 1Yeah , I mean as a person who we didn't have phones when we kind of started this . I mean we have phones but it wasn't like we go to them for information and we just went to the Bible like old school concordance , like 500 page deep . I mean . Go to a book and now to have so many devices like we have , I would say that there is something that's authentic and different about turning pages , highlighting things , having a Bible that you own , tying your Bible , putting a scripture over here .
Speaker 1That leads to another scripture . That leads to another scripture putting in memories and different things like that . I'm not going to say that that's a have to , that's a command , but I do think that if people never really learn how to turn , okay , like where's Leviticus ? Where's Numbers ? Where's Deuteronomy ? Where's these different books ?
Speaker 2in the .
Speaker 1Bible . They're going to miss on Just a little something . I don't even know if I can explain it but just because we've been across a bridge in generations there's just something about having a great paper Bible that you can study . And so what about people using ChatGPT for Bible study ? How do you feel about that ?
Speaker 2I mean I'm not against it . I mean , if it's it's going to help you study the bible , it just should not replace you actually reading the bible , like if you use chat to get um , you know , like an outline , you know I want to read about jesus and um how , how he healed people , so it can pull up information about jesus and how . But you know , open up your Bible and go to it .
Speaker 1Yeah , for me it's like we live in one of the greatest times ever . I mean you can literally pull up all kinds of information , like I mean it used to take us hours of research . I mean remember encyclopedias ? I mean literally you had to go to a library and then go to the A section of encyclopedias to learn about apes . That's crazy . And the fact that you can now just Google something or you can put in chat .
Speaker 2You had to go to the card catalog .
Speaker 1The card . Oh , I forgot .
Speaker 2People don't even know what that is the card ?
Speaker 1catalog is . I can't barely remember what that is . That's crazy . And now the fact that you can just get on chat GPT and say , hey , tell me the top 10 things I need to know about apes , and it spits you out like world-class information . This is a dope time to live in . I love it , and so I'm down with technology .
Speaker 1I just don't let technology replace my personal relationship with my Bible and my personal relationship with God Because , without question , technology is not going to be able to answer things that are like some of those debatable topics in scripture . It's going to probably give you something that is based upon somebody's theory , based upon what it's pulling and how it's calculating information , so you're going to have to know God's Bible . So it's a tool . That's all I'm saying , and I like the tool . It's a very good tool , but all the tools Blue Letter Bible is good , like Old Concordances versus . Go here and Find Original Hebrew and Greek words . Thank God for the tool . Thank God for YouVersion Bible app . You can literally go on there and you can go to many different versions and you can hit certain things and it'll give you a devo . Thank God for tools , but there's something about tools and also just the Bible .
Speaker 2Because the tools help you to study and to learn and to know . What tools don't do is bring about wisdom . The tools are the knowledge and understanding . You get knowledge , understanding and wisdom . You want to get to wisdom and understanding . So chat can give you a bunch of facts , but it can't make you understand it . It's when you open up the Word of God for yourself and you take it in , it's the ministry of the Holy Spirit that will bring about understanding and revelation .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , so good , so good . Okay , well , let's talk about how to study the Bible . Just a few , maybe a few keys that we can leave you guys Number one . Here's a few suggestions . Tell me what you think about this one .
Speaker 1Start small , quality over quantity , all right , so you don't really need to read the whole Bible . I mean , some people have the Bible in a year . That's fine . You can do it that way . You can focus on a book at a time . You can go slow , but I mean , start small . What does God say about this ? What does God say about that ? You know you have . You can do character studies , like I'm going to study the life of David throughout scripture . I'm going to study the life of Esther throughout scripture . Or I'm going to do a topical study where I'm going to study faith throughout scripture . I'm going to study mercy throughout scripture . You can do an expository , where you're just reading books at a time .
Speaker 1Like I'm going to look at Matthew Before you get into this . Do you think that there's a difference between reading and studying the Bible ?
Speaker 2Reading and studying ? I don't know . I haven't thought about it . I would say yes , there's probably . You know you can read information and not remember it . You can read information and not apply it . I think , when you study , you're studying to know , you're studying to understand and you're studying to become whatever it is that you're you study , you're studying to know , you're studying to understand and you're studying to become whatever it is that you're taking in .
Speaker 1Yeah , I mean I think both are good For me . Reading the Bible , I feel like I can read
stuff and not retain anything . Though Right , I can read stuff and still not have a grasp of it . I mean , people can literally go through the Bible reading in a year and come out the end of it and say I read the Bible this year . But then my question would be did it change you ? What did you understand from it ? What did you grasp from it ? And I would rather read a chapter in a year that I really grasp . I can quote . It changed my life . I can apply it . I can do it .
Speaker 1Not that reading the Bible in a year is wrong . What I'm saying is that I think it's just quality over quantity . So I think when the Bible says study to show thyself approved , it's not just read , it's study . Like what did that word mean ? Who is it speaking to ? What was the context ? Looking at other versions , taking a deep dive , how does this apply to my life today ? Study to show yourself approved ? And I think that there's something about study that I think is powerful . But anyway , start small quality over quantity , anything else on that ?
Speaker 2Nope , Just do it . It's just like anything else , like a workout . Get in there , get it done . You're going to like it . You'll become more accustomed to it . You'll want it more and more the more you do it number two would be use a simple framework .
Speaker 1Um . So one thing that we do and if you get any of our devotionals , you can jump over to ken and tabithacom . We've written some books . We've written some devotionals , boot camps , master classes . Just browse through a product and see if any of them will bring value to your life . One One thing that we always teach is the SOAP model when it comes to Bible study .
Speaker 2SOAP the acronym S-O-A-P .
Speaker 1S is for scripture , o is for observation , a is for application and P is for prayer , and so I do this pretty much every morning . I did it this morning , and so I had a scripture that I was looking at and I can't remember what it was . It was a pretty good one . Anyway , I'll move on and I look at the scripture and then I write the scripture down and then I say what did I observe from the scripture ? What sticks out to me ? I write that down . Then for A , how does it apply to my life right now ? And then P I'll write down a little prayer for God to ask me to apply that to my life in an appropriate way .
Speaker 2So to me , framework is good , absolutely . You can do that . I love that . You do the soap method all the time . I don't know if I ever do the soap method unless I'm intentionally doing it . I'm kind of more of a free spirit . I just go in there , I read , I talk to the Lord , I listen to God and it's usually something that God will illuminate for me . I'm usually going in intentionally for this question to be answered or for this purpose , and I find that purpose and I ask the Holy Spirit about it . I'll write notes or draw pictures , or I'm going in to just be like I just want to spend time with you today . Let's just read the Bible . I'm here , but every time it's like boom , boom , boom and I just write it down , draw it out , and that's my method .
Speaker 1Okay , all right , good , I like the free spirit method . Number three is make it a rhythm , not a rule , and so pick a time of the day that actually works for your life morning , lunch , bedtime . Aim for consistency , not perfection . Three days a week beats zero days a week , I think sometimes we get into the law and then we start feeling bad , like , oh , I didn't study the Bible today . Now here's what I believe . I don't believe it's like something you have to do . I believe it's something you get to do . I do believe you have to . You know what I'm saying . But not like you're a bad person . If you don't Like , oh , woe is me .
Speaker 1So the scripture talks about meditating day and night , and it talks about day and night . So there's a level of . This is a lifestyle for me when it comes to studying the Bible . But there has been seasons in my life where maybe I miss a day or two or three , and I'm not going to feel bad about that because to me it's more of a rhythm . And so I think you can kind of get into the rhythm and not make it a rule but a rhythm that you really bake into your life .
Speaker 1So for me this whole , let's study the Bible at night thing . That ain't going to work for me . Lunchtime , it ain't going to work for me . I have to do my first thing in the morning and I know there's some of you all , you're just like me . You got to do it first thing in the morning . Why ? Because as soon as I turn on my phone , as soon as I got , I will think I will plan I'm going to get to this at lunchtime and my lunch completely get rearranged and I got to put out this fire and answer this question and go into this meeting . I get pulled into this and pulled into that by the end of the day . I thought my day was going to go like this . I'm completely emotionally drained and I don't know . When I read about Jesus kind of going in the morning even before the sun comes up , that speaks to me . There's something about giving God the first fruit of your day that sets the pace for the rest of your day . That's just my opinion .
Speaker 2And that's how I live . Yeah , I think you know if I I don't know I prefer to pray in the mornings and do things in the mornings . But yeah , I found recently , like I used to before I had children , my favorite time to pray was at night , in the evening , before I went to bed . I don't know , it's just this special time that I love , about seven , eight o'clock , just to pray , intercede , you know , be with God , and . But now I can't because it's just the season of life that I'm in . I mean , I'm tired , I'm not doing anything , I'd be sleeping , and so I do . There are different times and different seasons in lives where you have to adjust . You know what you're doing . So , yeah , I , I study in the morning now as well . And , um , I do two things in the morning so that , because I know they're the most important things , I exercise because I know I need to take care of my body , I need to take care of my health . If I'm not healthy , I can't do anything else . Right , and I pray and or study the word .
Speaker 1Right , yeah , yeah , I'll move on for the sake of time . Number four would be use the tools that work for you . I think we kind of hit this one already . I get the Bible apps that work for you audio Bible , whatever works for you . There's so many great tools out there . They're getting better and better , and I'll go to the last one . Number five is invite the Holy Spirit in , and so Psalms 119 and 18 , it says open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law , and that's my prayer as we go into Bible study Lord , open our eyes so that we can see wonderful things in your law .
Speaker 2Yes , sir .
Speaker 1Word , and so the invitation of the Holy Spirit to say God , help me , lead me , guide me .
Speaker 2The .
Speaker 1Bible says the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth , and I need the help of the Holy Spirit to really understand this ancient text . And that's the best thing when you have
this relationship with the Lord and a relationship with the word of God . Christianity is so fun . It really is Wow .
Speaker 2Yeah , I want to go study is so fun .
Speaker 1It really is . Wow , yeah , I want to go study , all right , well , we're out of time for today . Everybody , we hoped that you enjoyed today's podcast . We love you so very much . If you enjoyed today you're a new person checking us out . Make sure you hit the subscribe button if you are on YouTube and the icon button If you're on Spotify or Apple . Hit the follow button so you can be the first to get the content as it's released . We drop a new episode every Thursday at 3 pm , so we would love to see you back here next Thursday .
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