Category: Bible Study Tips

Love Him More Dearly

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march 2

Just this morning I read A. W. Tozer’s words, “Let us go on to know Him and to love Him more dearly, not for His gifts and benefits, but for the pure joy of His presence. Thus we will fulfill the purpose for which He created us and redeemed us!”  What a fitting close to our series on Knowing Him.  May we truly embrace the wonder that almighty God invites us to have a relationship with Him. Continue to grow in Him, getting to Know Him through His Word and spending some alone time with Him in prayer. Please feel free to review the videos, as I hope they are a source of encouragement to you.  

 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:33

Live It Out

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I’m excited about sharing the last video in our series on Knowing Him. You will see that this one is a little different than the rest. I was on vacation in Austin and shot this from the back porch.  It’s a little more raw and real (with cars driving by and dog’s slurping in the background), but then again isn’t that what real life looks like? The message of the Bible isn’t about perfect people doing perfect things, rather it is about messy lives of imperfect people who allow the power of God to work through them. This final video is about applying what we have learned in scripture and living it out in a practical way.

Also, remember that PWC is coming up soon – February 23. I hope you all will join me for a powerful message entitled, “What Does True Love Look Like?”  For more info click on the PWC Study button in the menu bar at the top.

Memorizing Scripture – You Can Do It

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What could be more powerful than equipping your brain with the lasting truths of the Bible? Sadly, we often become discouraged and give up, thinking we just can’t memorize things anymore. I’m here to tell you – don’t give up! You can do it! And what a life-changer it is to know and speak God’s rich truth from the wellspring of your heart and mind.  I use the DART method to help me memorize.

“D” stands for deliberate. Make a decision that you are going to memorize scripture and be deliberate and diligent to do it. Just as you may determine to reach certain goals in your life, you can also determine in your heart that memorizing scripture is a worthy goal and press on to accomplish it.

“A” stands for accountability. Ask at least one person to be your accountability partner. When you know someone is going to require you to say your verse or verses, it helps you stay on track and come through with your goals. You can ask a friend or your spouse, or consider forming a small scripture memory group to recite scripture together.

“R” stands for repetition. Reviewing and repeating the passage each day, helps to seal it into your brain. I typically review a passage for 21 days to make sure I really have it down, then I review it once a week to make sure I continue to keep it fresh. You will want to repeat the passage you are learning several times throughout your day. Print it out and put the verses in places where you will see it. This will spur your mind on to repeat them.

“T” stands for technique. There are many tricks and techniques to help you memorize verses, and you will need to discover what works best for you. I like to use silly pictures to help me remember the words of a passage. Here’s an example of how I draw pictures for a verse. This is Romans 12:3, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”

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Other techniques include singing the verse, acting it out, writing it over and over, speaking it aloud several times a day. Try several methods and see which one resonates with you.

God’s word is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Just as a dart can penetrate into our skin, so the word of God penetrates our heart and changes our lives. Below you will find my latest video on Knowing Him through scripture memory, and remember – with God’s help you can do it!

Shaken and Stirred

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outside

When you read the Bible, are you shaken and stirred by what you read? That’s what it means to meditate on God’s Word. The original Hebrew word for “meditate” is hagah, which, surprisingly, means “to moan or growl.” It is pronounced “haw-gaw” (with the emphasis on the second syllable) and is thought to be an onomatopoetic term reflecting the sighing and low sounds a person makes while musing or pondering. Personally, I don’t typically moan or make “haw-gaw” sounds when I am in the depths of contemplating something, but I guess the ancients did.

The implication of hagah is that the reader is so moved by what they are taking in that he or she erupts in audible moaning. Does God’s Word move you to that extent? When you reflect and ponder the Scriptures, are you so taken by its wisdom, conviction, and authority that sighing is the natural release? That’s some serious hagah, my friends! I want God’s Word to move me and change me, but I must admit all too often I read it in a hurry without allowing it to affect me at all.

Meditating on God’s word should not only stir our hearts with the powerful truths and wisdom of the Bible, but it must also shake us up and move us to action. God told Joshua meditate on the Law day and night so he would “do everything written in it.” Similarly, James wrote that we are to not merely listen to the word, but do what it says. As we contemplate His Word, it should stir us to obedience. The Latin word for “obedience” is obaudire, which actually mans to listen with great attentiveness. Do you see how taking in God’s Word and obedience are completely linked together? God wants us to listen and to walk with Him.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, imprisoned during World War II for subversive activity against Hitler’s regime, wrote, “Daily, quiet reflection on the Word of God as it applies to me becomes for me a point of crystallization for everything that gives interior and exterior order to my life.” He continued, “Why do I meditate? Because I am a Christian. Therefore, every day in which I do not penetrate more deeply into the knowledge of God’s Word in Holy Scripture is a lost day for me.”

 Click Here to watch a short video with Karol sharing about Meditating on God’s Word.

Father, draw us to Your Word in a deeper, richer way. Let us not only learn it in our minds, but experience it in our hearts and live it out in our lives. May we live in constant communion with You and Your truth. Stir in our hearts the greatest truth of all, the fact that you love us with an unfailing love. Let us walk in your love all day long.

“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long” (Psalm 119:97).

This is an excerpt from, Becoming a Woman of the Word. Click here to find out more about this resource.

 

 

Will God Answer My Prayers?

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March

The following is an excerpt from Becoming a Woman of the Word.

Do you want to know how to pray more effectively? Silly question, right? Who doesn’t want to see their prayers answered? A Newsweek poll titled “Is God Listening?” showed that of those who do pray, 87 percent believed that God answers their prayers at least some of the time. We have all had times when we prayed for something and didn’t seem to get the answer that we were hoping for, making us question, did I pray the right way? Is God mad at me? Did He really hear me? Why does He answer some of my prayers and not others?

The Bible is our guidebook for prayer. In His Word we not only see powerful examples of answered prayer, but we also find the teachings of Jesus on how to pray effectively. In the Scriptures we discover God’s invitation to prayer and His desire for us to cast our cares on Him. We also learn some of the reasons why prayers may not be answered exactly how we had wished. We learn to view prayer from a heavenly perspective, not an earthly one. I find it humbling to think that Almighty God invites us to pray. He loves us and cares about the details of our lives. From Genesis to Revelation we find examples of God listening to His people and answering their prayers.

The apostle John wrote, “If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” How do we know we are praying according to God’s will? His will is revealed in His Word, so if we are going to pray according to His will, we must pray according to His Word. Certainly we don’t find a listing of His will for every detail or every circumstance of our lives, yet the more we know of His Word, the more we come to understand His heart of love. We learn who He is and how He works. We want to approach God’s throne with confidence, and we can do that as we get to know His heart through His Word.

Honestly, I can look back at my life and thank the Lord for the prayers He didn’t answer exactly as I asked. Why does God answer some prayers and seemingly leave others unanswered? Because He loves us and sees things from an eternal perspective. Can we trust the God of love, the God who sees all things, the God who sees the beginning and the end? In His time and in His way, He is at work beyond what we can see. As the apostle Paul wrote,   For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Watch this video for a brief word from Karol about prayer.

How has prayer changed your life?