As promised, here are some practical ways to encourage our love for the word of God and strengthen the discipline of filling our minds, hearts, and souls with scripture.
1. Make Reading His Word a Daily Habit
Since it is a relationship with God we desire, then it makes sense that we would spend time with God throughout our day, not just once. But first it is important to make it something we do every day, a habit, and He will gradually fill us with a desire and yearning for His word so that we may know Him better.
Even in the moments when we do not feel like reading His Word, we know that it is His word alone that can encourage our hearts and minds to pursue Him. No matter how hard we try to make reading the Word something more than just a box to check, many of us (including myself) still have the mindset that we simply read the Word for 15-30 minutes and move on with our day. However, Jen Wilkin encourages believers to have a different mindset when it comes to reading God's Word.
"Rather than thinking of it as a debit account, where you are putting in your card and taking out the emotional boost you need for the day, to instead regard studying the Bible as a savings account where you make small deposits on a regular basis. And these small deposits are so that you are growing in your knowledge of the Scripture in such a way that you are building a comprehensive knowledge rather than just using that time for devotional thoughts."
Pick a time that works for you, whether in the morning, afternoon, and evening, and stick with it for a few weeks. You can either start from the beginning of the Bible and read straight through, read the whole Bible chronologically, or just pick a book of the Bible you have never read before. This should help form the habit of reading God's word every day. From there, we can grow by coming to Him and His Word for truth and encouragement throughout our day whenever we need it rather than just once.
2. Choose to Hear His Word
One of the best ways to grow in our faith is to be part of a local church. God has called us to be in community with one another, to encourage one another. The best thing we can do is select a church that has a strong conviction to preach the Word of God faithfully, not based upon their own opinions or to cater to the world, but to strengthen the believers. It is here at church that we can listen and hear the Word of God being read over us and taught to us in the main service, bible studies, small groups, etc.
3. Memorize His Word
One of the most important reasons to memorize Scripture is because it fills our minds and hearts with more of what is true rather than the lies of the world. If we or someone we know is struggling with a certain sin, the best way to combat that sin is with the truth of God's word. Also, when we remove sin from our lives, we must have something to fill that space, and what would be better than the inspired Word of God!
We memorize God's word not only to encourage our own hearts as well as others, but also to remind ourselves what is true and pleasing to God. For if we truly love God, we will obey His commands, and in order to obey His commands, we must remember what He has commanded. As Psalm 119: 11 says, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."
Nik Ripkin in his book The Insanity of God describes the intense persecution experienced by Christians all around the world. When these believers were thrown into jail for decades, separated from their family, their local church, and a physical copy of the Bible, many of them were only able to persevere because they had memorized the Word of God. I often wonder, if we were to suddenly be stripped of our rights to worship in the places where we live, would we be able to encourage ourselves with the Word even without a physical copy of the Bible?
4. Meditate on His Word
The Bible is filled with psalms and proverbs all proclaiming the wonder of meditation. Memorization, meditation, and study seem similar, but they are very different.
Memorization is the process of learning something so well, you can repeat it word for word at a moment's notice without having to look at something for reference. I love how Life Love and Jesus explains meditation as fixing the passage "so firmly in your heart that you can rely on its truth whenever" you need it. Just because we may have something memorized does not mean we perfectly understand its meaning. It is for this reason that we meditate on God's Word. It is filling our time thinking about Scripture so that we may understand who our God is more and more.
Psalm 119 is one of the greatest examples of a psalm that clearly displays a love for meditating on God's Word. Verses 14-16 says:
I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.
The psalmist declares that God's word can be compared to great riches! We only think about the things that we care about and consider worthy. How often do we think about God? Do we consider Him worthy of our time? If we are struggling to know God, we can be like the psalmist and meditate on His word in order to know Him because He is worthy!
It is almost impossible to meditate without first memorizing the scripture. Here are some great passages to memorize and meditate upon:
Exodus 34: 5-7
Deuteronomy 6: 4-8
Psalm 119 (break it up by stanza!)
Psalm 23, 46, 51, 139
Isaiah 53, 55, 58
Matthew 28: 16-20
John 3: 13-18, John 15: 5-8
Ephesians 2: 1-10
Colossians 1:15-20, 3: 1-4, 3:12-17
Hebrews 12: 1-3
1 Peter 5: 6-11
1 John 1: 5-10, 4: 19-21
and so much more!
5. Study His Word
When we read any book, we at least attempt to understand what the writer originally meant by their words. Unfortunately, it seems that many people today simply accept whatever interpretation of a biblical text seems best to them without attempting to understand the original intent of the words. As Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart explain in their book, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, it would be nonsense to only read the Bible to just find "its meaning for us," but it would also be "dry and lifeless for the church" to make "biblical study purely an academic exercise" (18). We know as believers that "this Word is ever a living Word" (18). Therefore, we must have both. We must seek to understand the original meaning first and then apply it to our lives today.
Of course, at the end of the day, we must remember as Jen Wilkin explains that "the goal of Bible study...is not to build greater knowledge of the Bible, but really, when we study the Bible, we are looking for greater knowledge of God himself."
Some ways to study the Bible:
Read the passage in multiple translations, such as NASB, NIV, ESV, NLT, etc.
Write down a summary of what happened in the passage.
Look at any cross-referenced passages in the footnotes for a greater understanding of its meaning.
If the passage references locations, find a biblical map to better understand the passage.
After reading the passage several times, consult different commentaries or study bibles to learn more about the cultural context, greek/hebrew words, etc.
To learn more about how to read and study the Bible, please consider reading How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Fee and Stuart.
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