Read posts that reference the Holy Spirit
Study Tip: Approach
(While I'm working on NaNoWriMo – 50K words in 30 days – please enjoy a few refresher posts. Thanks for understanding!)
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: Acts
Iron-Sharpening Friends
Study Tip: Read Only What’s There
Today's tip sounds like a no-brainer – Read what's there. But whether we realize it or not, we bring a lot of history and preconceived ideas with us.
Let me give you some seasonal examples – From just the information we have in the accounts in Luke – We don't KNOW that Jesus was born in a stable. We only know Mary laid him in a manger afterwards. Granted, mangers were usually found in stables.
But keeping assumptions separate from from what we actually read is critical.
There's also no mention of an innkeeper and no donkey to ride into town on. And although I love the carol, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", they didn't. They just spoke.
Popular culture, tradition, personal experience and favorite teachers or preachers all contribute to what we think we know about Scripture.
Take care to let God, through the Holy Spirit, be your primary teacher and focus on what the Word itself says.
Breathing
The single factor that determines how far or how fast I run is not my heart rate or my leg muscles. It's not even the heat or the hills (We call 'em that here in Illinois just to humor the natives. I'm from Eastern Kentucky. I KNOW what a hill is.) It's not lack of hydration or my shoes that causes me to take a walking break.
It's breathing.
I knew breathing would be important, but I didn't realize what a make-or-break you part of running it was. Once the newbie, gasping phase passed, I found there's a rhythm to it. That steady in and out increased my endurance far beyond what I believed I was capable of.
In the New Testament, the same Greek word is used for breath and Spirit, and there's a definite parallel between physical running and running the race God lays before me. The key to success and endurance is learning to run in the rhythm the Holy Spirit dictates. The "heat" and the "hills" are what God chooses. I picked up my shoes already. But breathing gives strength to my legs to keep those big muscles moving.
If I push too hard, my lungs can't keep up and I get that familiar pain in my side. In the same way, if I try to push beyond the Spirit's direction, He'll give me that same hitch as a door closed, an obstacle or sometimes a spectacular failure.
In Matthew 11:29 The Message says "Walk with Me and work with Me–watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace." Breathing. In and out. The Holy Spirit. In us, then out through us.