“We recently taught them a devotional method called Lectio Divina,” Abe says. This includes five steps: lectio or divine reading; meditatio or meditation; orotio, or prayer; contemplatio where people contemplate throughout the day on what they received from God during the first three steps; and actio, or action, applying what God has said to everyday life.
Every once in a while I get reminded how God is in the small stuff. How simple Bible study is, but how difficult do we make it? We pull out our commentaries, teaching websites, help books and dictionaries, not to mention umpteen translations of the Bible itself. We find ourselves "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth". 2 Timothy 3:7
I want to encourage you to get back the basics like this group of Navigators did.
Read the Word. Find a translation you understand. Make an effort to read several verses every morning. (John 1:1)
Meditate on it. Take a key verse and write it on an index card and memorize it. (Romans 12:2)
Pray about it. Ask God to show you something new about Himself with that scripture. Ask Him to reveal something about you. (Ps 139:23)
Contemplate it throughout the day. Write in a journal, ask questions. Log key thoughts on the passage. (John 5:39)
Then apply it. What do you hear God saying you need to do? Do you need to make a change in your life? Do you have some confessing or healing to do? Does it give you a fresh idea for a ministry? (James 1:22)
How simple can it be? As simple as opening the Bible and reading.
Get back to the basics of Bible study. And when you dig, you will find a priceless treasure that is in a loving Creator speaking to you personally, as only you can understand Him.
'You will seek Me and find {Me} when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13
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