Engaging Scripture: Practical Tools for Daily Bible Study

But this is the story of Jesus, and he is alive. And his word is alive. It's not like any other book. This is alive, and it's powerful, and it's deep. It has the capacity to do what? Has the capacity to discern and a capacity to heal. But this kind of transformation, it lives on the other side of study. As we study and as we understand the reality of this scripture that it is alive and powerful, it comes alive. So do you hear that? The reality of this scripture comes alive on the other side of study. [01:14:58] (62 seconds)  #ScriptureComesAlive

When we come to spiritual growth, we have the super food, the bible. So here's my encouragement. Embrace the journey of personal direct engagement with scripture. Yes. It takes effort. Concentrate and discipline yourself. The spiritual growth you will experience from reading the Bible for yourself will surpass any other method of growing your faith. When you integrate the bible into your life, when your story becomes part of its grand narrative, it creates a dynamic life changing growth. [01:10:22] (42 seconds)  #ReadToGrowFaith

So as we read, we ask these questions. There's four of them there, I think. Does this point towards Jesus? Did Jesus live out this doctrine? Is this fulfilled in Christ? Does it reveal Jesus? So we're asking how and why or how this is connected to Christ, knowing that the scripture in its fullness is a story of Jesus, a revelation of Christ to humanity, savior to the world. [01:01:32] (35 seconds)  #FindJesusInScripture

So in my reading, is there a promise to claim? Is there a command to obey? Is there a truth to believe? Is there a sin to confess? Is there an attitude to change? So we're thinking about this passage of scripture now and its application to myself. How does this apply to me? Not how does not looking at it through a lens of my circumstances and situations, but looking at the scripture and let them speak to me and my life. [01:03:01] (37 seconds)  #ApplyScriptureToLife

Once you know it, once you know the capacity of the word of God and the truths that it declares to us, then it becomes alive. It's not alive when it's just not known and not activated upon. It's alive when it's known and applied and activated. That's when transformation comes. That's when it has the capacity to heal and to divide and to discern. [01:16:00] (34 seconds)  #ActivateTheWord

Imagine that there was an exercise machine that worked out for you. Someone else runs a treadmill, but your body burns the calories. Or some someone lifts weights, but your muscles just grow stronger. Sign me up for that. But we all know that it doesn't work that way. For my body to grow, I can't just watch someone else run on a treadmill. At some point, I have to step on it myself and start running. Only then will I reap the rewards. [01:09:05] (35 seconds)  #DoTheSpiritualWork

And then there was the little things that disturbed me in life that were the size of a pinhead. But in my world and in my mind, they are of significant size. They're a challenge. They're an obstacle. And they can be things in the breadth of humanity. They can be our worry and our strife and our anxieties and our uncertainties and, our wonders and our ifs and our buts, but placed into the magnitude of a good and a great God. We let them dissolve. They let their significance decrease, and we let his significance increase. [00:37:48] (52 seconds)  #PutWorriesInPerspective

Now are we finished in the passage study? What have you got so far? You've just got some head knowledge, haven't you? So now we've gotta ask the question, spirit of the lord, what have you revealing to me in this passage? Now that's personal. That's the everything we've done so far is general knowledge that could be shared from one to another. Now the application bit is, holy spirit, what are you saying to me today from your word? And that's the personal bit. [01:42:31] (32 seconds)  #AskTheSpiritToApply