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Archive for bible study

life change

Clarity, Certainty, Confidence – life changing benefits of scripture

Posted by Carey 
· Friday, September 26th, 2014 

Life changing. It’s an over-used word in our day and age.

Everyone from business gurus to doctors are touting the “life changing” effects of their system, program, or method.

It’s enough to make you a skeptic for life.

But don’t go there just yet. There truly are some life changing things in the world, and scripture is one of them.

I want to quickly outline 3 things that come from a right knowledge of the scriptures that are truly life changing.

1 Clarity

Yes, there are parts of the Bible that are less than clear. I know that. I get that.

But overall, the Bible is God’s revelation to us about things we wouldn’t know otherwise.

Think that one through for a minute: God who knows everything has “revealed” things to us through the scriptures. That’s an incredible gift.

Sure, it takes the hard work we call “study” to truly understand it sometimes, but what do you expect when God-sized truths need to be understood by human-sized minds?

The scriptures are intended to provide “clarity” to us about things that are beyond us. Things like…

  • How to be made right with God.
  • What God thinks about us.
  • What God has done for us (way beyond our salvation).
  • How we are to live in the world (both in terms of proper behavior and in terms of what resources to use to do it).

I want clarity on those things. Do you?

If so, scripture is the only place you’ll find it.

2 Certainty

How many things in life are you truly certain of?

  • That your children will not rebel and go off the deep end?
  • That your spouse will remain faithful?
  • That your income is secure?
  • That your health is guaranteed?

But…

 

life changing word of God

 

3 Confidence

There’s a progression happening here that you may not have noticed.

Clarity or understanding brings certainty. Certainty brings confidence.

When we are able to understand, know, and rely on what God has said to us, we can live in a way that baffles the world and brings great stability to us, no matter what challenges or obstacles may come our way.

That’s because we’re able to move out, proactively, into the storms and trials of life with an underlying peace that supports us through everything.

We don’t have to be timid.

We don’t have to be afraid.

We don’t have to wish upon a star, or rub a rabbit’s foot, or say any kind of mantra or magic spell.

We have confidence based on what the God of all the universe has said.

Let me say it another way…

Understanding + Trust = Active faith.

And it comes through time spent reading, studying, and internalizing God’s word.

My encouragement to you… no, my challenge to you is to become more intentional, more aggressive about getting God’s revealed truth into your mind and heart, and to take your family with you.

There are many ways you can go about it, but here are a couple that I’ve found helpful.

  • Find scripture put to music – it’s a powerful way to use the catchy nature of music to embed scripture in your soul.
  • Use scripture flash cards to learn Bible verses together at dinner time or breakfast.
  • Include scripture in your family devotional times.

Finally, here’s a motivational video from John Piper. In 8 simple statements he outlines the benefits of memorizing scripture.

Don’t skip the video. Take the time to watch it.

Now.

 

How are you going to act? What are you going to do to provide life changing clarity, certainty, and confidence to your family?
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Categories : Parenting, Spirit Health
Tags : bible study, life change, life changing, scripture memory, value of scripture
God is light 600

Podcast 88 – God is light, and what it means for your family!

Posted by Carey 
· Wednesday, September 10th, 2014 

God is Light: A lesson for Christian families

Christian Home and Family subscribe on Stitcher! Miro Video Player listen on player.fm

Or if you are using a “podcatcher” here is the feed address: https://christianhomeandfamily.com/feed/podcast/

God seems to love illustrations and symbols. The scriptures are full of them: sheep, goats, seeds, plants, vines, brides and bridegrooms, light, darkness – you get the idea.

This episode uses the biblical illustration of light to show you a fun and effective way that you can use light to teach your family that God is light, and what that means for their lives.

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Categories : Podcast, Spirit Health
Tags : bible study, christian family time, daily devotions, God is light, quiet time, spiritual growth
30 day bible saturation

Podcast 87 – 30 day Bible saturation for spiritual growth

Posted by Carey 
· Wednesday, September 3rd, 2014 

30 day Bible saturation for spiritual growth

Christian Home and Family subscribe on Stitcher! Miro Video Player listen on player.fm

Or if you are using a “podcatcher” here is the feed address: https://christianhomeandfamily.com/feed/podcast/

There are a million different ways you could get into the scriptures and get the scriptures into you. But here’s one that’s honestly new to me, taught to me by my daughter. I call it the 30 day Bible saturation, and it’s really a cool way to get yourself immersed in some of the main themes of scripture in a very contextual way.

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Categories : Podcast, Spirit Health
Tags : bible study, daily devotions, quiet time, spiritual growth
Mondaymindset-bible-verse

Monday Mindset: The power of a Bible verse

Posted by Carey 
· Monday, September 1st, 2014 

Don’t ever underestimate the power of a Bible verse

Even more importantly, don’t underestimate the power of the God who spoke it.

One of the primary means God uses to do work in our lives is through those Bible verses we take so much for granted.

And if you’re raising your children in a way that includes regular church attendance (you are, aren’t you?), then you run the risk of scripture becoming too familiar.

Yes, too familiar.

Scripture only has power when it has meaning to the person reading it. Its truth has to soak in to the soul, transform the mind, and make a difference in how the person thinks and lives.

That’s when the power of a bible verse is seen most clearly.

Help your family understand the power of a Bible verse this week:

Use the following Bible verse(s) to lead your family into a deeper understanding of the valuable, life-changing resource the scriptures can be for them.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. – 1 Timothy 3:16-17

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  • What do you think it means that the Bible is “breathed out by God?”
  • What does it mean if something is “profitable?”
  • So how is the Bible profitable to us?
  • What kind of people need teaching? How important is it that the person teaching knows what they are talking about?
  • What kind of teacher do you think God is?
  • What is reproof and correction?
  • Do you like to be corrected? Why or why not?
  • Why is correction good for us?
  • What does it mean to be trained for righteousness?
  • How do you think God uses the Bible to train us for righteousness?
  • What is God’s purpose for giving us the Bible? (look at the end of the verse)

 

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Categories : Parenting, Spirit Health
Tags : bible study, bible verse, bible verses, scripture
daily devotional mind hacks

Daily devotional mind hacks you might not have considered

Posted by Carey 
· Tuesday, March 18th, 2014 

Most Christ-followers intuitively feel that daily devotional time is something that should be part of their every day life…

But it’s not that easy, is it? There’s a ton of truly important things that compete for your time…

  • Work & career demands
  • School schedules & homework
  • Household responsibilities (meal prep, laundry, vacuuming, etc.)
  • Family relationships
  • Church attendance & service
  • Extra-curricular activities at school
  • Friendships
  • and the list goes on, and on, and on…

In a legitimately busy life, how do you make time for Quiet time (daily devotional)? And once you make the time, how do you make it count?

It begins with mindsets

As someone once told me,

Every one of us makes time for what we believe is truly important.

Let that sink in. I believe it’s true.

You see it proved true over and over again in the “normal” course of life:

  • If sports is important to you, you’ll make sure you’re schedule is clear so that you can watch the game. You might even make sure your kids are involved in sports, too.
  • If fishing is important to you, you’ll plan and carry out fishing trips on a fairly regular basis.
  • If work is important to you, you’ll be on time, diligent, and possibly even work more and later than you should.

You get the point, because it’s true. The same holds true for your daily devotional time…

If your daily devotional time with God were truly important to you, you’d make sure you didn’t miss it.

Why is your daily devotional not that important?

Much of this post comes from my book RECHARGE

Recharge
EBOOK: Here PAPERBACK: Here

In 20 years of pastoral ministry, and continued marriage & family coaching, I’ve come to see one main reason Christ-followers don’t devote themselves to daily time with the LORD:

They don’t see the vital benefits that daily devotional time with the LORD provides.

Daily time with Jesus is indispensable, because He IS your life. Did you hear that? Jesus IS your life!

When Christ, who is your life, appears, you also shall appear with Him in glory. – Colossians 3:4

This responsibility-packed rat race you call life, is NOT your life. It’s the things you do with your life. Jesus is your life. His essence, His person is what comprises all that you are and are to be. Does it make much sense to neglect the very thing that will give you life?

I don’t care how busy your life (or my life) truly is, you cannot survive a day (in a God honoring way) without communing with Jesus. I know, that’s an extreme statement, but I believe it with all my heart. We, as sin-stained people, are unable to live the kind of life we need to live, day in and day out, without the enlivening power of Jesus, and we’ll be unable to tap into that power, if we are not daily drawing near to Him. Jesus said it best…

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.John 15:5

Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Our lives amount to ZERO without us “abiding” in Him.

What does that word “abide” mean:

a·bide [uh-bahyd] v. – to remain; continue; stay

Daily devotional time is not about practicing:

  • Bible reading
  • prayer
  • meditation
  • other spiritual disciplines

Daily devotional time is about abiding… making a connection with Jesus that goes with you throughout the day.

Bible reading, prayer, meditation, etc. may be the means you use to draw near to Jesus (and most times, should be), but they are not the goal you should be aiming for. Your goal, in every daily devotional time, should be to draw near to your Savior, who is your life (Colossians 3:4).

Mindsets to help you abide

START WITH PRAYER

To get started, I’d suggest that you always, always, ALWAYS begin your daily study time with prayer.

I don’t mean that you need to take out your prayer list and pray for everyone from your spouse to your co-worker’s Aunt Ethel. I’m talking about an introductory prayer, to set your mind in the right place (Remember how important the mind is?)

My insistence that you start here is based on two scriptural principles that go together. You can think of it as connecting the dots…

  • God Himself is eager to have a genuine relationship with you. He’s proved it through the gift of His Son, Jesus. (John 3:16, Romans 5:8)
  • God has promised that if you ask for anything He wants, He will give it. (1 John 5:14-15)

So… If God wants a relationship with you even more than you do (the first point), and if He has promised to give you the things He wants when you ask Him for them (the second point), then it makes perfect, divine, powerful sense that the most important thing you can do to establish a consistent and meaningful time with the LORD is to ask Him for it each day as you begin seeking Him.

Plead – Beg – Ask – Seek – Knock – Pursue – Beseech (there’s a King James word for you) – and don’t do it in a “wishful” sort of way (I sure wish this would happen…). No, do it with CONFIDENCE! Jesus has made the way for you to go boldly before God’s throne to ask Him for the help you need…

In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.Ephesians 3:12

So start out by asking God to help you every day.

SLOW DOWN

Your daily devotional time with the LORD is not a race, a project, or a task where you get points for finishing early. It’s the exact opposite. You get more out of God’s truth the longer you marinate in it. Human beings can marinate… it’s called meditation. You need to take time to make that happen.

When you study the Bible you need to be taking time to understand:

  • the intricacies of the situations it describes
  • the logic in the arguments it makes
  • the deep spiritual truths that underlie the verbiage and sentences
  • the application it has to your life and relationships.

That means it may take you a few days to digest only one passage or story. It may require that you write the key verses on a card and read and ponder them throughout the day (highly recommended!). All of that is perfectly O.K. Really. You need to get out of the “get er done” mindset. It’s not important how fast you finish your scriptural meal, it’s important how much nourishment you get from it!

That means you may have to do something practical (gasp!). Make sure you schedule enough time to actually get something out of the meal. Five minutes won’t do it. Ten minutes probably won’t either.

God is worth it. Make enough time.

REMEMBER THE BIBLE IS UNLIKE ANY OTHER BOOK

You can’t simply read the Bible and “get it” immediately. You need the LORD to reveal His will and ways to you as you consider the scriptures. His thoughts are much higher than yours, as are His ways.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.Isaiah 55:8-9

There’s no hope of grasping the eternal and unfathomable riches that are recorded in scriptures unless you lean on Him in childlike dependence. That ties in nicely with the prayer I mentioned previously. Only now I’m suggesting that you make it an ongoing practice as you read the scriptures.

  • When you come to something you don’t get… ask God to explain it.
  • When you are confused or unsettled by something… ask Him to give you insight and comfort.

Interact with God as you read the scriptures. You need His help because the book He’s given you is unlike any book you’ve ever read. You’ll find Him more than willing to help you understand.

REMEMBER THAT YOU’RE DEVELOPING A RELATIONSHIP

Any relationship takes time and effort, and none of them happen naturally or easily. The same is true of your relationship with the LORD. It IS a relationship… you know that, don’t you?

Your daily time with the LORD is not…

  • a religious act
  • a ritual
  • an obligation
  • a box to be checked each day…

It’s a way that you engage in relationship with God, and it needs care and intentional attention.

It’s a time to:

  • share
  • listen
  • interact
  • and engage

because it’s part of developing a relationship… but with the living God of the universe!

MAKE IT AN APPOINTMENT

There have been a handful of times in the course of my marriage that our family has had more month than money. Does that sound familiar?

During two different seasons when we were tight financially, I took a job delivering papers early in the morning. I can remember I had to rise at 3:30 in the morning, drive 30 miles to pick up the papers, and then deliver them house to house. Because I’m pretty conscientious about work related things, I would pop out of bed when the alarm went off. It was a responsibility, and I tend to take work responsibilities pretty seriously. I was never late picking up the papers. I made it a priority. I set my mind before going to bed and when the alarm went off, I had already decided I would get out of bed.

One morning as I was out delivering papers, a new thought came to me about the struggle I’d been having in staying consistent in my daily quiet time. It went something like this…

Why is it that I am so quick to get out of bed for a job, but can’t do the same thing to meet the King of the universe?

It was a powerful question, prompted by the Holy Spirit that helped me understand the priority that my daily time with the LORD needed to be. It was a question that radically changed my thinking (remember the power of right thinking?). I intentionally began to think of my daily time with the LORD like I did work. It was something that I could not allow myself to miss.

What about you? Would a mind-shift of that kind be helpful?

You can train yourself to think of each day’s time with the LORD as an appointment, one that’s important to you. Like a business related meeting or meeting with a friend for coffee. Whatever meetings or rendezvous are important to you, realize that your daily time with God is far, FAR more important and DECIDE that you are going to treat it with the importance it deserves.

You just might be amazed at the impact it has…

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This post is partially excerpted from my book “RECHARGE,” which is available in Kindle and Paperback versions.

 

 

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Categories : Spirit Health
Tags : bible study, daily devotional, daily devotions, personal devotions, quiet time
topical bible study

Topical Bible Study – Quiet Time Tips #6

Posted by Carey 
· Friday, February 8th, 2013 

Topical Bible Study – a deeper path into God’s word

This is the 6th post in my series on “Quiet Time Tips.” Find the others here – (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5).

I’ve been writing about Quiet Time tips because you need to be leading yourself spiritually before you’ll be able to lead your family spiritually.

It’s the logical first step.

So check out the series to find a plan that fits you… and get started. There’s no time to lose!

Topical Bible study methods have been around…

…for as long s the scriptures have been compiled into one book.

It’s an in-depth way of discovering what the scriptures say about any subject…

topical bible study

  • faith
  • love
  • hope
  • joy
  • perseverance
  • anger
  • holiness

The Bible contains wisdom about these subjects and thousand more.

If you are looking for an in-depth way of studying a specific subject, the topical bible study method is for you.

BENEFITS OF TOPICAL BIBLE STUDY

  • You’ll gain a very comprehensive knowledge of a specific biblical topic.
  • You’ll become familiar with a large portion of scripture, in bite-sized pieces.

TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

  • An Exhaustive Concordance for your Bible version or
  • Decent Bible Software (E-sword is a good one, and it’s free)
  • A notebook or journal

HOW TO DO THE TOPICAL BIBLE STUDY METHOD

  • Choose your topic.
  • Look up the topic in your concordance or with Bible software (a concordance in the back of a study Bible will only give you the most important verses where the subject is addressed. To find every instance of a subject, you’ll need to use an Exhaustive Concordance or Bible software).
  • In your Bible, look up the first verse you find about the subject. Read it. Seek to understand the situation and verses surrounding it. Finally, what is being said about your topic? Write down what you discover.
  • Move on to the next verse in your list and do the same.
  • Continue through the list.
  • As you go, you might find it helpful to categorize the ways the topic is spoken of, so that you can keep them separated in your mind.

The topical method can’t be finished in one sitting. Depending on what subject you choose and how much time you devote to it in a given day, it could take a very long time.

But the insights and wisdom you’ll gain are well worth the effort.

Have you ever done a topical Bible study? Tell me your experience in the comments below…

This post is reworked from my book, “RECHARGE“

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Categories : Spirit Health
Tags : bible study, quiet time, study the Bible, topical bible study
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