The Practical Disciple » Entries tagged with "bible reading"
My Big Bible Reading Blunder
I try to enter every day with what I call my ‘Big Five’ list. I use to sit down and write out a bottomless list of meetings, commitments, tasks, and sundry chores that needed attention. The list was never realistic. So, it was demoralizing when I never finished. Far too many items got carried over than I care to admit. One day, I realized that what I was doing was idiotic. I decided to limit … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bible Study
Bible Study and Worship Tips: What to Look for in a Sermon or Passage
I have encouraged readers in recent posts to take notes when listening to a sermon and to set goals for responding. I thought it may be helpful though if I offered some suggestions as to what to look or listen for. When I am either doing bible study or listening to a sermon I listen for what I call three basic callings. They are principles, tasks and changes. Principles or life lessons are … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bible Study
The Difficulty with Bible Reading
I was reading a post by Tim Challies on his blog, Challies.com, about personal bible reading. He shared an ugly truth that many Bible study leaders and gurus fail to share. Specifically, that the difficulty with Bible reading is that sometimes it is difficult. Chaillies put it this way… Now I’d like to make a rather practical observation. A general desire to know and to study the Bible does not necessarily mean that we will always be overflowing with enthusiasm to do so. When we say that we desire to study the Bible we can mean two things. We can mean that we spring out of bed in the morning eager to rush to a comfortable chair and spend some time drinking in the Word of God. Though … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bible Study, scripture
Applying Rules of Creativity to Your Bible Reading, Even If You Think You are Creatively Challenged
I was reading an article about Joey Reihman’s book, Thinking for a Living. Reihman describes being creative as having four stages. Investigation–Detect, study, explore, gather Incubation–The longest stage, quantity over quality, can involve blending, traveling, polarizing, walking, meditating, praying and sharing Illumination–The editing of stage two, illuminate the big idea, the “Aha!” moment Illustration–Portray and personify the big idea, design, create I read this process and immediately thought, this sounds very much like the process I try to follow when writing a sermon. It is a fitting general prescription for Bible reading as well. I had never really thought about my general Bible reading as a creative process, but really it is. Each time we read we should strive to manifest the word as a living reality in our lives. That is truly … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bible Study, Uncategorized, scripture
Creating Sacred Space While Traveling
Summer months for many people include travel. I find that travel can present some challenges to maintaining my normal routines for prayer and Bible reading, but they are not insurmountable. Yesterday, I drove to our church camp to serve as a chaplain for a couple of days with our camp staff who are going through training. When I got to my room, the first thing I did was set up my devotional … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Ghost Dose #6, Kindling the Spirit
Verse: “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (2 Timothy 1:6, NASB) Meditation: Today’s verse reminds us of simple yet often ignored truth, the gift of the Spirit requires responsible continued attention. The greek word translated “kindle afresh” in the New American Standard Bible, is a difficult word to translate cleanly. An examination of five versions yielded four different translations. The English Standard Version and New International Version-”fan a flame” New Revised Standard Version-”rekindle” King James-”Stir up” New American Standard Bible-”kindle afresh” The translation challenge that results in so many different version is that the greek word is a compounding of several things. Perhaps, a more literal and accurate translation would be something to the effect of “to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bible Study, prayer
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