Monday, April 4, 2016

Monday Devotional-Open Your Bible Week 4


We have come to the more practical application of the study and this is where the rubber really meets the road. We are applying what we know to be true in our heads and our hearts. Connecting the dots here and putting all of this goodness into action is going to require me and you to put into this process maybe a little more than you have up to this point but I promise that it will be worth it!

What do you think of when you are asked to “apply” something?  What does it look like to take the scriptures and put them into practice? These are a few things to think on as you go through the steps listed below for applying scripture.

This weeks study opens by looking at 2 Peter 1:3-8 and I feel like it sets the stage for the fact that although we have all we need and that God is already at work within us that we should still make efforts to supplement our faith is the wording the NASB used.

When applying truth you need to look at 4 ways to do so:

1.     Appropriately
2.     Responsibly
3.     Permanently
4.     Prayerfully (all roads lead to prayer and drive this point home in this study)


What does it look like to apply truth Appropriately?
Appropriately means that when we open our bibles to read scriptures or a book of the bible that we go into the reading asking what does this mean. Not what does this mean for me or to me but what does this passage say about God. Sometimes we approach reading as a one stop shop. We walk up to the bible and open it and then decide what encouragement we need for the day and let that be our take away. We do not want to get too bogged down in details and we do not want to read too much into it. We will never be able to really “see” where God is in the scriptures if we don’t ever consider him. Just let that sink in for a moment.

Some tips to make sure you are appropriately applying scripture are to always read the few verses before and the few verses after. Don’t just take 1 verse and pull it out and say aha I found what I needed today.

To keep it all in context you should investigate and this is where that digging deeper comes into the scenario. See who is speaking. Who are they speaking to? What is happening in this text? Any major events or main people? You can also look at different translations of the bible on your phone or pick up a couple of different translations to study from. You can pick a more literal translation and a more thought for thought translation that puts it into more simplified terms and words.

What does it look like to apply truth Responsibly?
This section gets a little tricky and even a little tough at the beginning because we all KNOW how the scripture is intended to be used but I would be willing to bet many of us myself included at some point have used it wrongly and wielded its power to tear someone down over a poor choice of words they used, a bad decision they made or feelings they hurt that we feel we need to make restitution for. We are humans and we do make mistakes so we have to acknowledge that icky part of it. The good news is the scriptures are so much bigger than our mistakes and misuse if we are willing to open our bible and look for God instead of a way to win an argument for ourselves or someone else.

If you remember the last week we touched on treating the bible and the scriptures with reverence. The words hold a lot of power and we have to make sure we are using them for good and for what they are intended instead of personal use.

Open your bible to Ephesians 4:1-6 and read about what Paul valued and count how many times he uses the word ONE. Do you see what he was getting at? We are not to be in a community of believers and be of the attitude that it is every man for himself. It is actually the exact opposite. It is very much EVERY man for EACH other yesterday, today and tomorrow. That will always be our goal is take others along with us.

Open your bible to Romans 14:19 and see what followers of Jesus are called to pursue? If you walked away with a PEACE written in big letters with circles around it then you would be correct!! We are to pursue peace and we are to build one another up. Our one goal is to share the gospel and its not a very good story to share if all people see is fighting to keep one another down.

Open your bible to 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and see that it is specifically laid out for us when it comes to how we are to be using scripture and just a hint it is probably not how you and I use it the most so take note and let this sink in so tomorrow can be a new day for us both. We are to use the scriptures for teaching, training and reproof (not injuring but building). When we focus on these uses we all become a little kinder and a little less US focused and a little more Jesus focused since after all he is the life, the way and the truth….not myself.  

What does it look like to apply truth Permanently?
This section shed some light on a story that I have heard a million times and it just never hit me the same as it hit me today as I was preparing to do the write up. 

Open Your Bible and read (really read like you do not know it) Matthew 4:1-11

Jesus in the wilderness open and vulnerable without much defense or so you think. What did he have to defeat Satan? Nailed it! He had scripture after scripture as a defense to block every temptation that was hurled his way. He straight up scriptured Satan right out of there. Do you like how I made that word up? Seriously, this should be so encouraging right now that you jump up and down because the words that Jesus used are words we have access to as well. We too can memorize these scriptures. Commit them to heart and commit them to memory and when we need them and come up against whatever the adversary looks like that day we just need to close our eyes and start letting the words speak for us. We need no other defense.  These words have the same power for us as for Jesus!

Open Your Bible and Read and make notes on the following scriptures dealing with God’s word on our hearts

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Deuteronomy 11:18
Joshua 1:8-9
Psalm 119:9-11
Proverbs 2:1-5

Memorizing scripture is a great way to know God’s word permanently.  Below are some ways to start committing scriptures to memory.

·      Write it over and over until you have it memorized.
·      Get a post it and jot down a few verses and stick it in front of the sink in the bathroom or kitchen sink and keep it there till its memorized and then replace it with new ones.
·      Save it as a lock screen on your phone because we all know we look at our phones a thousand times a day.


What does it look like to apply truth Prayerfully?
This is something that we touch on every week as we close out the session and if it has not become clear to you yet then it will. I think the authors added this in because they know our nature to forget.

This week and every week in this section we are really just talking about the fact that we need to be praying in a way that we are saying we want God’s will to be done.  We want his words to be in us and we want them to be lived out through us. We are asking the Holy Spirit to help us in this and come along side us in this study and to guide us and give us wisdom.

I hope you enjoy this week because I sure did! Good stuff in there. As always if you have any questions or want to get the actual study book I can get you the info. If you have any prayer requests I would love to pray with you so feel free to message me. 

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