Thank you for listening to the Cultivating Growth podcast and as we began last week, John and I are going to spend this month kind of discussing the importance of developing good spiritual habits and the importance of doing so. Last week we talked about building the habit of prayer and this week we're going to talk about building the habit of studying from God's Word.

So I'm looking forward To this conversation, let's get to it. 

Well, Jeremy mentioned last week, we started this conversation around our habits pertaining to prayer, and I think it's appropriate that the followup conversation to that is around studying God's word and developing healthy habits around there. Because with each of those topics, what we're talking about is communication.

We communicate to God through prayer as we talk to him and he invites us to approach his throne and talk to him about what's on our minds, what we're dealing with, what we're concerned about, what we need, all of those sorts of things.  And really what we're doing when we open up the Bible and we study from it is we're allowing God to speak to us.

And so we're seeing communication back and forth between God and ourselves. And as we all know, that's where relationships are developed. In order for relationships to be strong, communication has to be strong. And so it's only appropriate that as we talk about developing some of these healthy spiritual habits, that we spend some time talking about just how important it is to daily develop habits around spending time in God's word and allowing God to.

Yeah, I love how you started there with the realization, especially from last week's conversation about prayer, and now this week's conversation about studying from God's Word. It is our communication with God. It's how we speak to Him and listen to what He has to say. And if we, we, set that alongside any other important relationship in our life.

And listen, I think for the most part, if you were to ask, you know, people, listen, is your relationship with God important? They're going to say yes. They're going to classify it as an important relationship. Well, all the, all the ones that are important, the, those relationships that are important, we are in the habit of communicating with them.

We are in the habit of talking to them. I'll speak, you know, specifically, you know, with my wife, who was my closest. Physical relationship here. And even if we are away from each other, if one of us is out of town or even during the day, if I'm at the building working or she's out running around, it's not too many hours that we're just I'm calling her, and a lot of times, I don't have a whole lot, you know, to say, but it's just, you know, it's been a few hours, and  everybody understands that, and that's because we are in the habit of communicating with one another, and so it feels awkward if I would go, not just a day, hours at times, you know, I start to feel like, ah, you know, I haven't talked I haven't talked to my wife, you know, in a little bit, and so I'll just call her up.

And that is kind of where we are with last week's conversation on prayer and this week's, you know, conversation about study. I think you made a good point in your illustration that you used that sometimes when you call your spouse, you don't even necessarily have anything specific. You just know you would miss not communicating with them.

And I think sometimes one of the holdups some people experience when it comes to studying the Bible is I don't, I don't know what to read. I don't know. I'm not sure, you know, this book is kind of big and maybe you're not super familiar with it or you just feel kind of lost. I don't really know what.

Well, the answer is, is there is not a bad place to turn and read in the Bible in the same way that your spouse just likes to hear from you and you like to talk to your spouse. The same can be said. Now, there's certainly time for very dedicated, specific study of something. If, if you are dealing with something, if you're trying to work through an issue or you're, you're studying with someone on a school trip.

certain topic, then you need to get very specific in that. And maybe your habits around study have progressed to the point and you want to do a more methodical study through the Bible or through the new Testament or through the old Testament or whatever it is. But sometimes you just open it and read, there's not a bad place to start.

And if once we can clear that hurdle, then what you're going to find is the next time. is going to be easier. Just pick up where you left off and just keep going with that and allow some of the initial stages of the hesitation that we sometimes experience to pass and just start to develop the habit of opening up your Bible each day.

Yeah, I mean, we talked last week about,  about, you know, establishing Good habits when it comes to prayer and the fact that there are lots of examples that, you know, certainly showcase that and the same is true Specifically even about study. I mean you could talk about, you know, passages like Acts chapter 17 You know verse 11 where you have the brethren there in Berea who are searching the scriptures daily, daily Searching to find out whether those things are so.

I think Jesus is another good example of that He is the one that was So intimately familiar with scripture. He's using it all the time, all of the time where he has, it is written, it is written, it is written over and over and over. And not just in the way that he uses it as teaching, he uses it to combat temptation and you know, all of these things that show us not just the example of it, but also the importance of it.

And that in a lot of ways, what we talked about last week as well. Yeah. Psalm 119 105 is really well known. passage of scripture. I mean, that entire Psalm is talking about, you know, God's word and his commandments and everything and how wonderful all of those things are. And Psalm 119, 105, we sing a song about that particular verse, you know, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

It highlights just how necessary and important it is. And so if. If we're intellectually aware of just how important God's word is to us, then there should be a desire to develop healthy habits around studying it and reading it. And, you know, I've seen, I see a lot, especially around January, a lot of the read the Bible in a year.

Timelines, and I'm sure for some people, those are really helpful. And if they are helpful to you, that is wonderful, and I would encourage you to continue using them. I think sometimes they can actually be a little bit detrimental to building healthy habits around reading the Bible, because sometimes those can be excessive for someone who is just starting to read.

to be asked to read five or six chapters a day out of the book of Leviticus, for instance, if you're new to scripture, that could be a very challenging thing for you to do come February of this year. And so maybe don't, if you're at the early stages of developing some of these habits, Maybe don't utilize something like that until you become comfortable with just sitting down with your Bible for a few minutes a day.

And then if you feel as if you need a little bit more structure and a little bit more direction, then maybe you can seek out some of those resources. But I really think in the early stages, it's all about just getting comfortable with having the Bible in your hands and spending some time. Allowing God to speak to you.

And once we get more comfortable with that and begin to develop some of those habits so that we would miss it if we didn't do it, then we'll find ourselves probably naturally reading larger chunks of scripture at a time or reading multiple times throughout a day. Or maybe now you're wanting to study something very specific.

And so you dive into a certain topic or a certain book or something like that. But those things are going to come further down the line as you progress in this healthy habit. Yeah, there's no question about that. And I think, you know, another thing that can really be helpful, and we talked a little bit about this last week when we were talking about, you know, prayer and, you know,  coming to that realization of You know, having the opportunity to speak to the Creator of the world, right, and having an opportunity for Him to be there and for Him to be at the ready to listen.

And once we can really grasp, you know, that reality, the impact that that's going to have on prayer, well, the same impact can be had when it comes to our study. I mean, you think about Passionless 2 Timothy chapter 3, you know, specifically verses 16 to 17, where Paul's making the point. point that the words that we have here in front of us are, even though it looks in a lot of ways like all the other books on our shelf and it's put together in a very similar kind of way, it has a binding and pages and words.

It's so completely different.  And completely unique in the fact that all of the words contained there  are the words from Jehovah, from his very mouth, from his mind. And so once we can kind of grasp that, to the best of our ability, grasp what that reality is, that will have an immediate impact on our desire to study, is  wanting to know what he has to say, what his will is.

And I think your point is well taken. You know, I think sometimes we We fall prey to kind of opening up the fire hose and trying to drink from it in a lot of ways. Instead of just, you know, realizing that, hey, maybe I'm trying to establish a habit. And that is, at the same time, maybe in the same place, in the same chair, even, that you've got a Bible sitting there and you read a chapter, or you read a few verses, or you read a verse. 

And the next day, you go to the same place, at the same time, in the same chair, with the same Bible, and there's a marker in the spot, and you read the next chapter. Or you read the next few verses. And then the next day, you do the same thing. And I think in a lot of ways, you know, that's Kind of the best way to kind of start to establish some habits when it comes to studying God's Word.

And I think everybody is going to kind of experience different ways in which they can really begin to reinforce some of these habits. I know some people like to journal as they read and study through the Bible. Great. Some like to pray about their reading. Great. Some, as you say, have a specific place.

Where they like to, to read great, but we have to all kind of figure out what it is that's going to help us. Some, some like to journal, some don't. Some find the, the serenity of being in the same place, surrounded by the same things really helpful. Some don't,  some are probably going to prefer morning. Some are going to prefer evening. 

Everybody's got to figure that out for themselves.  And so maybe what you have to do is try a few things. Try reading in the morning. Try reading in the evening. Try reading in this chair. Try reading in that chair. See what works for you. Try journaling one time.  And you're going to find, as you experiment with some of those things, that certain aspects of that are going to resonate with you more.

Grab a hold of those things, and make note of those things, and use those to continue furthering these habits. Yeah, and we talked last week about the importance of stacking habits, and how that can help us when we're trying to develop good habits. And last week we talked about developing the habit of prayer, this week we're talking about developing the habit of study.

Those are easy habits to stack.  You know, that, hey, listen, I'm praying before I maybe study or I'm praying a little, maybe right after I study, those are very easy, you know, kind of habits to stack it and listen, not to give too much away, but next week we're going to talk about developing the habit of meditation.

There's another great habit to stack on top of these three, that whether it's a chapter, whether it's a verse, or it's a few verses, man, if you can do that in the morning and then just throughout the day, just kind of think a little bit, you know, about what's going on. That verse was and what God is trying to say.

Now you're stacking these habits and you're really building a strong spiritual day. Yeah. Well, let's, let's wrap things up in second or first Peter chapter two. And it's, it's the wording and the phrasing that's used in this verse that I find so interesting. To us as we think about studying and building habits around these things, as Jeremy mentioned earlier, it's important to remember just how important God's word is to us.

And so the imagery that Peter is using in one Peter chapter two is of a newborn child who desires milk, and he's comparing that to how we should. 

Thank you for listening this week. If you haven't already done so, we'd appreciate it if you would take just a second to subscribe to the podcast, whatever platform you're listening, rate and review the show so we can continue to spread the good news of Jesus widely and effectively as possible. Thanks again for joining us this week, and we'll talk again next week.