02/09/2019
Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life, Lesson #3
The importance of time with God
1. Matthew 4.4, 2 Timothy 3.16, Revelation 1.3. What blessings can we expect if we read the Word?
Nothing will change your life like the habit of reading God’s Word.
It won’t feel that way at first. In fact, it might not feel that way for a long time. Perhaps that is why 80% of church goers don’t read their Bibles on a daily basis.
If you start reading the Bible every day, you should know what to expect. It won’t feel like much at first. In fact, it won’t feel like much for a long time. There will be lots of days when it feels—dare I say it—a tad boring.
If you start reading your Bible every day, it won’t be a glorious, earth-shaking experience that makes you want to shout. If it were, everyone would do it. You might be thinking, “Why bother?”
Here is what you can expect. There will be a few days from time to time that will make you want to shout. There will be some days that you will see amazing insights in His Word. You will follow times in His Word with prayer that will be absolutely glorious. You will see application that will be life-changing. But, most days won’t be like that.
What will happen is that you will wake up a few months from now and notice that you are changing. Your heart is becoming more tender. You worry less than you used to. You curse less than you used to. You are more compassionate to others, both in heart and deed. You tip better at restaurants. You don’t yell at your kids as much.
It is a little like education. Ask a child what he learned today at school.
“Nothin.”
He is not trying to be aloof. He honestly cannot recall a single thing he learned. But, somehow, in a few years he will be able read and write. He will be competent in math. He will know something about history. What day did he learn any of this? You can ask him every day what he learned and every day he will tell you he didn’t learn anything. But, somehow, in a few years, he would have learned a lot.
So it is with reading the Bible. On any one day, it won’t mean much. But, keep it up for a time and it is life-changing.
Physical exercise works much the same way. Suppose you have not been in the habit of running. Go out and run for as long and hard as you can. Then walk some. Then run some more. Keep this up for about an hour. Tell me, do you feel better or worse? Was it a glorious experience that made you feel invigorated? Or, was it exhausting and made you want to lay on the bed and never do that again?
Suppose you take another approach. Get out and take a walk. Walk a little more than is comfortable—a little faster than is comfortable, and a little longer than is comfortable. Do this every day for six months. Now, tell me if you don’t feel better. — Josh Hunt, The Habit of Discipleship (Pulpit Press, 2015).
2. Do these blessings come all at once, or little by little?
One more example. Suppose your marriage is, like a lot of marriages, starved for time. Marriage expert Willard Harley recommends a couple have at least fifteen hours a week of undistracted couple-time. This doesn’t count things like watching the kids together, or watching TV together. This only counts times of one-on-one communication. Let’s suppose you are under Harley’s recommended fifteen hours a week.
Let’s suppose you start going out on a date night once a week and spend three hours together alone every Friday night. The first Friday night may not mean all that much. In fact, if you have not been in the habit of talking, you might find you don’t have much to say. The habit of conversation becomes sweeter with practice. But, keep it up for six months and you will find you are closer. Much of life works this way. — Josh Hunt, The Habit of Discipleship (Pulpit Press, 2015).
3. How has reading God’s Word privately changed you?
As Jesus transforms our thoughts and our desires, he conforms our ways to his will. I think about Luke, a member of the church I have the privilege of pastoring. I have seen God turn Luke’s thoughts, desires, and will upside down from the inside out.
When Luke was in college, he found himself living the typical collegiate lifestyle. Though he had heard of God’s love, he tried to drown out God’s voice with alcohol as much as he could. By God’s grace, it didn’t take long for Luke to come to the end of himself as he realized the emptiness of the worldly pleasures he was pursuing. Luke said, “One night I cried out for God to change me through Christ.” That night, Jesus saved Luke from his sin. Luke died to himself and became alive in Christ. Not long after that, he was baptized.
Immediately after college, Luke became a successful businessman with significant means. At the same time, he was growing in his understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. After a sermon one day on God’s will to be worshiped in all the world, Luke wrote me and said, “David, I realize that the entire reason God has blessed the business I lead is so that I can fulfill his purpose in the world. He has blessed me not so that I can drive a BMW or live in a big house or have prestige. He has blessed me to glorify himself.”
As he began to understand God’s will in the world, Luke started intentionally meditating on and memorizing God’s Word. He told me, “I used to not even bring my Bible to church, but now God’s Word is changing my life. My Bible no longer sits in one place long, as it now comes with me to work and everywhere I go. I just want to know and follow him.” Before long, Luke memorized the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). He told me, “My insatiable desire for business books, seminars, and motivational speakers has completely gone away. God has replaced that desire with a hunger for his Word. I’m now reading through the entire Old Testament. Scripture is coming alive as I begin to see the beauty of the interplay between all of the Old and New Testament. As I aggressively read the Word, I am encouraged in the Lord, and he is daily changing my desires.” Luke was not just content to soak in God’s Word for himself, so he began teaching God’s Word in the church.
As Luke’s desire for God’s Word began to grow, so did his passion for Christ in prayer. He wrote me about a prayer time he had with a friend named Stephen, saying, “Stephen and I prayed together this morning for the first time. Wow! I thought we were just going to get together and pray over the request list from our small group. But we never even got to it because we were so busy pouring ourselves out before the Lord. The Holy Spirit’s presence was so strong it was almost overwhelming. We both looked up with tearstained faces after about an hour and a half of prayer and said, ‘What in the world just happened?’” After another similar prayer time, Luke wrote to Stephen, saying, “Stephen, after you left our prayer time this Scripture came to my mind: ‘Taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!’ We literally tasted and saw that the Lord was good this morning.” On another day, Luke told me, “We had an awesome prayer time this morning as we prayed for about two hours. It’s amazing how good God is and how he longs for us to intercede and talk with him. God is birthing in me a desire to not only pray in fellowship with others but also to pray without ceasing and about all things.” — David Platt and Francis Chan, Follow Me: A Call to Die. a Call to Live. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2013).
4. What keeps you from reading the Word?
Prayer and the Word are inseparably linked together. Power in the use of either depends on the presence of the other. — Andrew Murray
I need the spiritual revival that comes from spending quiet time alone with Jesus in prayer and in thoughtful meditation on His Word. — Anne Graham Lotz
Either God's Word keeps you from sin, or sin keeps you from God's Word. — Corrie ten Boom
God has given us all sorts of counsel and direction in his written Word; thank God, we have it written down in black and white. — John Eldredge
Words fail to express my love for this Holy Book, my gratitude for its author, for His love and goodness. How shall I thank him for it? — Lottie Moon
Laura Story, What If Your Blessings Come through Raindrops? A 30 Day Devotional
5. The first spiritual discipline is hearing the Word. Then there is reading the Word. The last discipline we want to discuss is studying the Word. What exactly does it mean to study the Word?
Bible study is essentially just bombarding the text with questions. You might start with the six writer’s friends:
• Who? – What? – Why? – Where? – When? – How?
Who is writing? Who are they writing to? Who was Amnon? Who was Tamar? Who was Absalom? (OK, I will help you out here: all David’s kids.)
What is being said? What is not being said? What would I have expected it to say? What is said in similar verses? (The Bible is an excellent commentary on the Bible.) What does predestination mean?
Where was…? I love maps. Of course, this is easier than it has ever been. Google it. You might also look for pictures.
A good study Bible will go a long way in helping to answer many of your questions. Make it your goal to collect a library of good study Bibles. If you have the resources, you might look into some good Bible software. I use both Logos and WordSearch. E-Sword is another highly recommended Bible software, and it’s free. http://www.e-sword.net.
6. Jeremiah 15.16. How did Jeremiah feel about devouring the Word?
It is vital for every Christian to know how to study the Bible. You should be able to dig into God’s Word yourself to glean and to gain all the riches that the Bible contains. I often think of the words of Jeremiah who said, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart” (Jer. 15:16a). The Word of God is a tremendous resource. Christians should not be handicapped in their own ability to study God’s Word for themselves. So we are going to be examining how to study the Bible. But first, we should see why it is important to study it.
Walter Scott, a British novelist and poet and a great Christian, was dying when he said to his secretary, “Bring me the Book.” His secretary looked at the thousands of books in his library and said, “Dr. Scott, which book?” He said, “The Book, the Bible—the only Book for a dying man.” And I would have to add that the Bible is not just the only Book for a dying man, but it’s the only Book for a living man, because it is the Word of life, as well as the hope in death.
So we come to the Word of God with a tremendous sense of excitement and anticipation. But before I share with you how to study the Bible, I must tell you about the authority of the Word of God. Then you will see the importance of Bible study. Also, we must state from the very beginning that the Scripture is the Word of God. It is not man’s opinion, it is not human philosophy, it is not somebody’s ideas, it is not a pooling of the best thoughts of the best men—it is the Word of God. — John MacArthur Jr., How to Study the Bible, John MacArthur’s Bible Studies (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985).
7. What benefits come to those who go beyond reading and hearing to studying the Word of God for themselves?
George Mueller, the director of a series of orphanages in Bristol, England, during much of the 19th century, was known as a man of faith and prayer. It is amazing to read the answers to prayer this man had during his long life. What made him a man of faith and prayer? During his lifetime he read through the Bible over 200 times, and more than half of those readings he did on his knees, praying over the Word and studying it diligently. When you know the Word of God that well, you are going to know the will of God for your life. When you know the will of God, you will be able to pray specifically and get specific answers. — Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods: Twelve Ways You Can Unlock God's Word
8. How common is Bible Study for the average church goer?
If we were to ask in a church meeting, “How many of you believe the Bible from cover to cover?” probably everyone would raise a hand. However, if we were to ask, “How many of you read it regularly from cover to cover?” we might not get much of a response. It seems we are often guilty of being more interested in defending God’s Word than in studying it. On a typical evening an average Christian may sit and watch TV for three hours, but only read his Bible for three minutes before bedtime. Is it any wonder many lack spiritual maturity? Many Christians are more faithful to the Dear Abby column or the sports pages than they are to the Word of God. I have known non-Christians who would not leave their homes in the morning until they had read their horoscopes. What would happen if Christians committed themselves with equal vigor to reading their Bibles each morning before they left for work, school, or shopping? It would change their lives and the lives of those around them. — Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods: Twelve Ways You Can Unlock God's Word by Rick Warren
9. What keeps us from Bible Study?
Why is it that most Christians do not study the Word of God? Probably many reasons could be given, but three seem to be most common. The first reason is that people don’t know how. This was my situation for many years. I would go to a Bible conference, retreat, or revival and hear great preaching. I would often leave the meeting amazed at the scriptural insight the various speakers possessed. Then I would think, Why didn’t I see that? and I would try to study on my own. But because no one had shown me how to study the Bible by myself, I was unable to do it and felt frustrated. I knew God wanted me to study his Word, so I committed myself to learning how and to teaching others how it could be done.
If I were to meet a starving man by the side of a river, lake, or ocean, I could do one of two things: I could get my fishing rod and catch him a fish, thus satisfying his hunger for a few hours; or I could teach him how to fish, thus satisfying his hunger for his lifetime. The second option is obviously the best way to help that man. In the same way, hungry Christians need to be taught how to feed themselves from the Word of God.
The second reason why people don’t study their Bibles is that they are not motivated. This is because they have not experienced the joy that comes from personally discovering truths from the Word of God. Past efforts at Bible study have been unfruitful, so they have given up. They have become satisfied with getting all they need for their Christian lives from somebody else rather than finding it out on their own. At this point, I must warn you about this book: If you get serious about studying the Bible on your own, you will never again be satisfied with a mere secondhand knowledge of the Scriptures. Dr. Paul Little once compared personal Bible study to eating peanuts. Once you get started doing it, you’re hooked! When you discover how good Bible study “tastes,” you will find yourself going back for more and more. Personal Bible study can be habit-forming!
The third reason why people don’t study the Scriptures is that they are lazy. Bible study is hard work, and there are no shortcuts to it. It is just like anything else in life that is truly worthwhile: it takes time, effort, concentration, and persistence. Most great truths of the Word of God do not lie on the surface; we have to dig for them. Just as gold might be found at the bottom of a mine or a pearl at the bottom of the sea, so the deeper truths of God must be searched out with great diligence.
Howard G. Hendricks, well-known conference speaker and Christian education expert, has spoken of three stages of attitudes toward Bible study:
• The “castor oil” stage — when we study the Bible because we know it is good for us, but it is not too enjoyable.
• The “cereal” stage — when our Bible study is dry and uninteresting, but we know it is nourishing.
• The “peaches and cream” stage — when we are really feasting on the Word of God.
In the Western world we live in a society that prefers to have other people do our thinking for us. That’s why TV and other forms of entertainment, including professional sports, are so popular. We want to relax and be entertained without having to think or exert any effort. In Bible study, however, we have to learn some techniques, some methods, and then concentrate on digging out the messages God has for us. — Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods: Twelve Ways You Can Unlock God's Word by Rick Warren
10. What is one thing you could do in the next 24 hours to get you on a regular diet of God’s Word?
Research into the spiritual lives of seventy thousand Americans—of all ages, from nearly every corner of the nation—is proving something many Christians have doubted: There’s power in God’s Word. A majority of those we surveyed showed us that consistently engaging the Bible is the key to knowing God intimately, getting unstuck, and growing spiritually. Yes, it really works—despite what we may have been told! The sixty-six love letters from our Creator are far from irrelevant. To the contrary, getting God’s words from our head to our heart (and eventually into our feet) can result in amazing changes that transform how we think, love, live, and serve. — Unstuck: Your Life. God's Design. Real Change. by Arnie Cole, Michael Ross
11. Perhaps there is someone in the room who is secretly thinking, “I think I will take a pass on this one. Realistically, I am not going to change anything. I don’t want to hear, read, or study the Word.” If there were someone in the room thinking that, what would you want to say to them?
Nothing has a greater impact on spiritual growth than reflection on Scripture. If churches could do only one thing to help people at all levels of spiritual maturity grow in their relationship with Christ, their choice is clear. They would inspire, encourage, and equip their people to read the Bible—specifically, to reflect on Scripture for meaning in their lives. The numbers say most churches are missing the mark—because only one out of five congregants reflects on Scripture every day. — Move: What 1,000 Churches Reveal about Spiritual Growth by Greg L. Hawkins, Cally Parkinson
12. How could we help each other hear, read, and study God’s word?
Behavior is contagious. If your friends smoke, you are more likely to smoke. If your friends quit, you are more likely to quit. If your friends gain weight, you are more likely to gain weight. If you friends lose weight, you are more likely to lose weight.
The key to consistency in a daily Quiet Time is to surround yourself with people who are having a daily Quiet Time. There are two ways to do this. You can invite your existing friends to take the journey with you, or you can get some new friends. But, know this: if your friends don’t have a consistent Quiet Time, odds are that you won’t either. Here is the science:
The findings are based on the results of the 2009 Shape Up Rhode Island (SURI) campaign, a 12-week statewide online weight loss competition designed by study co-author Rajiv Kumar, M.D. Participants joined with a team and could compete against other teams in three divisions: weight loss, physical activity and pedometer steps. The weight loss competition included 3,330 overweight or obese individuals (BMI of 31.2 or greater), representing 987 teams averaging between 5 and 11 members each. The majority of these individuals enrolled in all three divisions.
Weight loss outcomes were clearly determined by which team an individual was on. Participants who lost clinically significant amounts of weight (at least 5 percent of their initial body weight) tended to be on the same teams, and being on a team with more teammates in the weight loss division was also associated with a greater weight loss. Individuals who reported higher levels of teammate social influence increased their odds of achieving a clinically significant weight loss by 20 percent. This effect was stronger than any other team characteristic, Leahey said.
Teenage pregnancy is contagious. If you are a teenage girl and your older sister gets pregnant you are twice as likely to get pregnant as well. It is not all that difficult to understand why. If your older sister gets pregnant, getting pregnant just becomes your normal. Getting pregnant is no longer a shocking, scandalous thing that “those people” do, it is what our people do. We are profoundly affected by the behavior of the people that we consider to be, “our people.” — Josh Hunt, The Habit of Discipleship (Pulpit Press, 2015).
e-Sword is a feature rich and user friendly free Windows app with everything needed to study the Bible in an enjoyable and enriching manner!
