Believe it or not, a key component to your Bible study is memorization. I know, we think memory verses are for kids, and we have way too much to remember NOW. Adding Bible verses will cause a total system shutdown.

What if it was easy?

Foolproof?

Would you be willing to give it a try?

Kay Arthur has the easiest method of memorization I've ever run across. All you have to do is read. She says read the Scripture three times, out loud, in the morning, at midday and before bed. Just read. Look at it the whole time. Don't worry about trying to remember it. In seven days, the verse will be locked in your memory.

Try it for yourself and let me know how it works for you.

Studying God's word as a habit runs a risk of becoming a boring routine. Instead, each time we sit down at our desk or wherever we study, we should expect to hear directly from the God of the universe, the Savior who loves us and gave Himself for our redemption. What a privilege!

We don't have to wonder, like ancient pagans, if we have angered God or how we can please Him. He tells us plainly who He is and what He expects.

He didn't save us, then leave to figure things out for ourselves. He gave us a Guidebook, a personal Guide in the Holy Spirit, and 24 hour access to His throne Room.

But He never forces us to utilize those resources. He leaves the decision with us.
Do we want to continue to struggle and question, or would we rather find comfort and reassurance?
Do we prefer stress and burdens, or could we take the easy way out and let God handle it?

Studying, absorbing, integrating His word into our lives is a key to developing intimacy with God. However, if we approach it as a mindless to-do item, or if we're guilted into it, we lose sight of those benefits.

If your study time has become mechanical (or non-existent), here's a suggestion. Leave the notebook behind. Change venues. (I read at my desk- I could move to the backporch.) Change Bibles. (Grab something other than my marked-up study Bible.)

Just read. And don't stop until God speaks. He honors that desire to know Him and hear from Him.

Then after you hear FROM Him, be ready to do FOR Him.

Study Tip Tuesday is back! Often little words carry great weight, and today's tip looks at some important small words that can be a big help during our study time.

One key to understanding a passage of Scripture is getting a handle on the sequence of events presented. Some signposts to watch for are "now", "then" and "when".

For instance, I flipped open to Matthew chapter 2. Here's a sample of sequence markers (the "trail" markers):
V.1 "Now after"
V.3 "when Herod"
V.4 "when he had gathered"
V.7 "Then Herod"
V.9 "when they heard the king"
V.10 "when they saw the star"
V.11 "when they had come into the house"
"When they opened their treasures"
V.12 "then being divinely warned"

While these sequences are especially important studying the narrative sections of Scripture like the Gospels or some of the Old Testament books, they also figure in other books as well.

1 Corinthians 15:54 "So WHEN this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, THEN shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

1 John 3:2 "Beloved NOW we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that WHEN He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

Other times they introduce a condition or a contingency:

Jeremiah 29:13 "And you will seek Me and find Me WHEN you search for me with all your heart."

Ezekiel 36:23 "…[A]nd the nations shall know that I am the Lord, WHEN I am hallowed in you before their eyes."

2 Chronicles 7:14 "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, THEN I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.

Watch for these trail markers as you read, and take a moment to consider what truth they are highlighting.

Do you have other examples?

Do you want to be made well? John 5:7

Jesus asked this question of a man with a paralyzing illness, lying beside the pool at Bethesda. The man had endured alone for 38 years and was desperate enough to try the superstition of the day- be the first one in the pool when the water is stirred up.

[Today we'll try double duty- a study tip AND a look at the question!]

As you read and study the story, make a note of the details.
A great multitude of sick people were there at Bethesda- dozens, hundreds perhaps, grasping at a faint hope.
We don't know what illness the man suffered from, or when it struck him, but I speculate it hit in childhood or his teen years because he had no wife or children. There were also no parents or siblings, or even friends. He was abandoned. Devastating illness does that. (Be extra compassionate and say an extra prayer for those who struggle with chronic illness.)
Jesus approached him. In the gospels, we usually see folks imploring Jesus to come and heal a loved one, but not this time. Jesus initiated this encounter with a question. We'll discuss that question in a minute.

Bible study centers around three overarching questions:
1. What does the passage say?
2. What does that mean?
3. How should I live or what should I do as a result?

There may not be a 'set' answer for each of these questions. Each time you study, the Holy Spirit may illuminate a different nuance or idea. Here's how I'll answer the questions today.
1. Jesus healed a paralyzed man.
2. He didn't heal everyone at the pool. For His own reasons, (which He never explained) He chose and healed this one man.
3. God is sovereign. I need to trust His decisions.

You may answer the questions differently. Next time I study this passage, I may answer them differently as well.

Now for Jesus' question- Do you want to be made well?
Jesus says "made". Made well. Jesus is offering to do the hard part. The man must simply surrender to it.
It's a yes or no question, but the man answers with an excuse.

Jesus performed dozens of healing miracles, each with a purpose. They all demonstrated His deity, His power over nature and its processes, but they were more than that. All sickness is a result of sin, not necessarily personal sin correlated with personal illness, but the world operates under a curse of sin. Cells go bad. Viruses replicate. DNA codes fail. Every miracle of healing is an object lesson for Jesus' whole purpose- to deliver men and women from the curse of sin.

At the moment of salvation, we are eternally delivered from the judgment sin brings, but each day we need rescue from the influence of sin. Jesus offers. Do we want it? Or do we prefer to give excuses?

BTW: Steve Arterburn has a great book on this question, Healing is a Choice

English is a tremendous language with rich shades of meaning in its words. However, there are a few occasions in Scripture where we miss out because we’re reading in English. One of those passages is John 20 where the discovery of the empty tomb is described. The word “see” or one of its form is repeated several times. However, there is much more going on in the Greek.

If you have your handy-dandy Strong’s or some other Greek reference, and read verse 1 you find out that Mary Magdalene “saw” the stone removed. The word is blepō and it means to look at (literally or figuratively), behold, look (on, to), perceive, regard, see, take heed. Strong calls it a voluntary observation.

In verse 5, John does the same thing. He looked in and “saw” the linen clothes lying there. Same Greek word.

In verse 6, Peter arrives and he checks things out. His word is theōreō. It means to be a spectator, look at, behold, to view attentively, take a view of, survey, to view mentally, consider. Peter examines things, inspects them and begins to process the information he’s taking in.

Then in verse 9, John has another turn. John followed Peter’s example, examined things, especially everything neatly folded and in order and he “saw” and believed. His word is eido. He perceived with his eyes and understood the implications of what he saw. John had a light bulb moment. He’s not quite there yet, though, because he and Peter go home.

Mary is still hanging around, however, and in verse 12, she sees an angel at the tomb. This is theōreō. In verse 14, she sees Jesus Himself. Same theōreō kind of seeing. The risen Christ speaks to her and she recognizes Him. Jesus sends her to tell His disciples.

In verse 18, she runs to tell them she saw the Lord. She gets a whole new Greek word- horao which means to become acquainted with by experience, to experience. Strong goes on to say this word implies that it’s something remarkable. It has an idea of wide-eyed wonder. So the boys “saw” it, maybe even comprehended it, but Mary “got” it.

May God grant us all a new grasp on the wonder and miracle that is Easter.