Roughly half of my bible study time is spent writing in a journal. I have my pen and paper – usually a regular spiral bound notebook like you’d buy a kid for school – by my side as I pray, read, and study, and I simply write down my thoughts.
Sometimes I write a basic summary of the scripture I studied. This helps me remember what I read, but it also helps when I need to hash out the lesson or the story because I still don’t fully understand it. I write/talk myself through what I read, what I think it’s saying, what I don’t understand, and any insights God gives me as I’m writing/talking.
Sometimes I write my thoughts and feelings about what I read – an evaluation, if you will: questions I’m still pondering after researching bible commentary, how it challenged or convicted me, how it made me feel, how I could apply it to my life, or what I think God is saying to me about my life. (The “bible commentary” hyperlink takes you to Part 1 of this series).
Sometimes I research and record the original Greek or Hebrew meaning of words from a verse or verses that stand out to me. This is called word study, and it is useful for researching and internalizing scripture. (The “word study” hyperlink takes you to Part 2 of this series).
Sometimes I write my prayers to God word for word as if I am talking to Him out loud or praying inside my head. (I stay focused better this way during the actual prayer time). I typically use the P.R.A.Y acronym to format my prayers, but sometimes they’re free-form – I simply write what I’m thinking to Him in my train of thought.
Image Credit: dancesinthelight.com
Sometimes I ask Him a question – for clarification, for insight into how the scripture is relevant to me, for guidance on what I should do with the conviction I feel, etc. – and sit with my paper and pen and wait until I experience a response and record what He says.
Often, I record prayer requests – my requests and those of others. This is helpful because I go back later and look over the requests and see how God has answered.
I even sprinkle in comments about my day – what I did yesterday, what I plan to do today, things I’m worried about, situations at work or with family – just like you’d find in a regular diary or daily journal.
I also write in the margins of my bible. I’ll write notes from other sources of commentary. I’ll underline or box-in verses that catch my attention. I’ll write quotes from speakers I hear and include the speaker’s name and date and record connections with other verses.
There is also a creative Bible journaling technique of drawing in your Bible. (There are some links below that discuss this method in more detail).
There are multiple ways to use writing or journaling as a Bible study technique. Just pick up your paper and pen (or turn on your laptop or use a note-taking feature on your smartphone) and write. It’s that simple.
Whichever method you decide to try, just go with the flow, writing whatever you feel you need to write at the time. Don’t worry about grammar, punctuation, spelling, the way it sounds, whether it makes sense, etc. No one is going to read it. It’s between you and God. Don’t worry about whether you’re doing it the “right way” – just write.
Keeping a daily study journal/prayer journal/bible journal – whatever you want to call it and whatever form it takes for you – is a great way to learn to talk to God and to deepen your relationship with Him. I strongly encourage it.
How do you use writing or journaling in your bible study time? Share your tips and tricks.
Other Bible Journaling Resources
Five Reasons to Journal Dailyfrom wellwateredwomen.com – This article discusses the benefits of keeping a daily journal from a Christian standpoint.
How to Bible Journal from NIVBible.com – This article focuses more on artistic journaling (drawing artwork based on what you study, but it touches on some other, basic journaling tips as well.
Je ne sais quoi is a French phrase that doesn’t easily or directly translate into English. There’s something “lost in translation,” if you will. It translates directly as “I don’t know what,” but that doesn’t do the phrase justice. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it means “a pleasing quality that cannot be exactly named or described.”
And even that doesn’t fully explain the meaning. Many times, this phrase is used to describe someone that is physically attractive, but maybe not for conventional reasons. Maybe you wouldn’t look at this woman and think her beautiful in the typical sense, but there’s just something about her…something you can’t quite put your finger on. The “something” you can’t quite put your finger on… that is je ne sais quoi.
If you simply translate the phrase directly, you’ve done your job, but you miss the complete essence of what it means. You miss just a little more understanding that gives you the “a-ha” moment. The hidden understanding you can only get if you look deeper into the meaning.
After I’d been studying the Bible a few years with the help of the commentaries, cross references, and concordances I had at my disposal, I felt a pull for more. I didn’t know what that “more” was, but I knew I wanted something else. Then, I started noticing places in sermons where pastors would explain what a word in a Bible verse meant in the original language. The pastor usually pointed out the original usage of the word when it was different from the way the word would be defined in our culture, when knowing the original usage would give us a deeper understanding of what the verse meant. I came to understand that, at times, when translating Greek or Hebrew to English, something vital was lost in translation. And I don’t want to miss anything.
I wanted to know how to look up scripture in its original language, but I wasn’t going to take a course in Greek or Hebrew any time soon, so I asked our life group teacher if there was access to such information for the laity – us “common folk” who aren’t pastors or theologians – who want to look deeper into what the Bible is saying. He pointed me to several online resources and smartphone apps. Two of those have become constant study tools for me. I want to share them with you because they have added richness to my time in God’s Word.
Blue Letter Bible
Blue Letter Bible was the first site my friend recommended. (I use the smartphone app nearly every day when I study the Bible, so I’ll walk you through using the app; I rarely go on the website itself, so I’m not as familiar with it).
Note: I don’t read the Bible as a whole from this app, (although you could if you wanted). I read it from my print Bible. I use this app when I want to study the scriptures deeper – such as looking up the meanings of words in their original language or looking at one verse in a variety of translations. (I’ll explain both applications here).
Basics of Blue Letter Bible app
Once you’ve downloaded the app from the App Store and opened it on your phone, you’ll choose the translation you want to use (you can add a translation if you don’t see the one you want). I added the ESV because that’s the print version I have, and I am used to reading that translation.
You can switch between translations by clicking on the word “Bibles” in the top, right corner (see the arrow in the image below). Do this anytime you use the app. You can also go back and add more translations later.
Once you’re ready to study verses using the app, toggle back and forth between Old Testament (OT) and New Testament (NT) by clicking the button circled on the image below.
For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to the New Testament and choosing Matthew. You can see that the books are listed in order as they appear in the Bible. Click on a book to open it.
Next select the chapter you want. I’m using a verse from Chapter 4 as an example here.
Scroll down and click on the verse you want to study. I’m using verse 17.
After you click on the verse, you get the menu below. I’ll come back and talk about some other features here, but for now, we’re going to focus on studying the words of scripture in their original language, so click on “Interlinear/Concordance.”
Below, you’re looking at Matthew 4:17 in ESV. The Greek text is at the top followed by the ESV translation. I click the “Reverse Interlinear” button to put the English words on the left side of the screen. Just makes better sense to my eyes and brain.
In this verse, let’s say we’re interested in the word “repent.” This is what Jesus preached once his ministry started; he began telling people to repent. So, I want to understand what he was saying. To me, “repent” means being sorry for what you did. But I want to see if there is something deeper here. It seems like an important thing if it was the message Jesus began his ministry with. So, scroll down and click on the word “repent” (somewhere near the English word itself. If you click on the oval in the middle of the screen, it’ll take you somewhere else).
On this screen, you see what the Greek word looks like and can click on the blue speaker icon to hear it pronounced. (I LOVE to do that). You can see the part of speech and any root words. (The blue words are hyperlinks you can click on to go to the entry for the root word).
But, what I’m mostly interested in here is the “Outline of Biblical Usage” section just over half way down the screen. You can see that the definition of repent, as it is used in this verse, goes far beyond simply being sorry for what you did. And THAT is exactly why I encourage you to learn to use BLB app or some other tool to study the words in their original language. Having this understanding of how the word “repent” was used gives me richer insight into what Jesus meant in his message when he began to tell people to repent. In the highlighted section, you’ll note that repentance is when a person turns “from sin to God” {emphasis mine}. Jesus commanded that people turn away from their past sins and turn toward God. Literally, look at God rather than the sinful world. Man! That’s so rich!
Once you have a better understanding of the general definition of the word, you can go another step deeper: scroll down, and look at the Thayer’s Greek Lexicon – circled below. This portion of the Interlinear/Concordance shows you exactly how the word was used in that specific verse – rather than a simple, dictionary-type definition. So, click on the link that says “Tap to view the entire entry” to open the full lexicon for the word.
Then, scroll to the bottom of this area where you see the heading “BLB Scripture Index of Thayer’s.” (I’ve also noticed that the lexicon isn’t exhaustive – it doesn’t list all the verses in the entire Bible that use the word in this specific way). However, many of the verses are hyperlinked here. So, when you find the verse you’re looking for, click on it, and it takes you to the place in the Greek Lexicon section where it shows how the word is used in the specific verse you’re studying. The highlighted portion below shows you exactly how the word “repent” was used in Matthew 4:17.
(There have been times I couldn’t find the exact verse in the lexicon. Not sure if I missed it or if it just wasn’t there. Either way, you have the basic definition(s) to go off of to get a good enough idea of what’s being said).
If you find that you love studying the Bible this way, I encourage you to try rewording the verses based on the original meanings you uncover. To do this, go through the verse, using BLB app and look up each word in the scripture or each key word or each word that was important to you. Once you had a solid understanding of the deeper meaning of the word, reword the verse using the information you found in your study. This has been a favorite activity of mine for Bible study.
*However, be sure you aren’t changing the meaning of the verse when you reword it. To be sure this doesn’t happen, pray through the word study with God, carefully look up each word, read the verse in a variety of translations, read surrounding verses to get context, and read commentary on the verse. Really dig deep into the verse before attempting to reword it. When you feel confident you understand it enough to work with it, then reword it.
*A fun hint I’ve picked up along the way is personalizing scripture. You can add your name into the scripture where a personal address might fit. Here’s an example using Matthew 4:17 – From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, Heather, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Add your name in the place of mine. You can do this with many, many verses, and it helps drive home the idea that God is speaking directly to you through His words in the Bible, and that His Word is still relevant today.
I’ve mentioned reading different versions of the Bible several times in this post, and BLB app makes it simple to do that. Without leaving the app, you can read most of the major translations of the Bible. When you’re inside the verse you’re studying, click “Bible Comparison” to switch between different translations.
When you click “Bible Comparisons,” you start with the version you’re reading, but you can scroll down and read the verse in different translations. This has been such a helpful tool for me; I use it regularly to help me get a better understanding of the verse.
While you’re inside a specific verse, you can also click “Text Commentaries” (see highlighted below) and read commentaries on that specific verse, chapter, book, or the concept being discussed in that verse. A wealth of commentaries are loaded into the app.
I have come to enjoy David Guzik’s commentaries and will usually seek them out when I use this feature of BLB app.
Vine’s Expository Dictionary
Another app I use for studying original meanings of words in scripture is Vine’s Expository Dictionary app. It’s a more straight-forward and simpler to use than BLB. I use it when I already know the word I want to look up – I have a word in mind separate from a specific verse. (BLB is for studying specific verses then drilling down to individual words. Vine’s is for looking up the original language for a word you already know you want to study – not necessarily connected to a specific verse).
Below, the icon is circled, so you can find it in the App Store.
When you open the app, you have two choices for searching for the word – either type it in the search window at the top or click on the box with the corresponding letter of the alphabet and go from there.
I searched “righteous,” a word I often have to look up when I’m studying because I can’t get the meaning to stay in my brain 🙂 Once you find the word you want, click on it in the list.
Then, you can scroll through and read about all the varied meanings of the words in scripture. If you know a specific scripture, you can search the blue hyperlinks.
What helpful bible study hints have you picked up along the way? What tools help you most during your study time? Please share them here.
It is difficult to understand what’s going on in some places. There are lots of hard-to-pronounce names of people and places. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. It’s imperative that you read it for yourself – especially if you’re telling people you’re a Christian. You can’t rely on what other people tell you about the Bible. Even the most trusted pastor would advise you to read and study the Bible on your own, in addition to listening to sermons and messages from those trained to teach from it.
Aside from simply gaining knowledge about biblical things, reading your Bible is a way to grow closer in your relationship with God. He can and will speak to you when you spend time in the Bible.
Even if you wouldn’t classify yourself as a believer, you can read the Bible. Even if you’ve never accepted His offer of salvation, you can read the Bible. The Bible was written for you, too.
There are tools within most Bibles to help you when you’re ready to dig in and study what it has to say, and we’ll talk about some of those.
But first, here are pointers to keep in mind:
PRAY. Talk to God before you start to read the Bible – every time you start to read. Thank Him for giving you His written word so you can learn about who He is. Thank Him for giving you His written word so you can learn how He wants you to live. Ask Him to forgive you for your sins so you won’t be separated from Him, so that you are able to hear Him when He talks to you about what you’re reading and so you can understand things about God’s kingdom. Ask Him to open your eyes and soften your heart. Then, tell Him you will submit to His will. Ask Him to open your mind and your heart to read and understand what the Bible says. Ask Him to show you where to go and who to talk to when you need help. Ask Him to help you yield to Him when He shows you things in your life that you need to turn away from. {Hint – you aren’t going to like or agree with everything He tells you to turn from, so praying for His help to yield to His commands is important}.
Read and reread. It’s ok if you don’t understand what you read the first or even the fifth time. Read it again and again. Reread it even if you did understand it. Meditate on what you read – think about what it said over and over in your head. You can even use apps that will read the verses to you so you can listen to scripture.
Read the same thing in different translations. This is particularly easy if you have access to a smartphone or the internet. Many versions of the Bible are accessible through their own websites and there are also apps that offer different versions within the same app – you can switch back and forth by clicking on the version you want to read.
Ask a trusted Christian friend when you need help. Don’t have any Christians in your circle that you could go to with questions? I’m available to talk with you. Contact me through my blog, and I’ll do all I can to help.
Now, let’s look at some of the study tools available in many versions of the Bible:
Once you’ve prayed and God has pointed you toward the particular book to study, read the introduction to that book (if your version of the Bible offers that). I do this in my print Bibles. I have an English Standard Version (ESV) Personal Size Study Bible and a New American Standard MacArthur Study Bible (MSB). Both offer introductions at the start of each book that include information such as the author and date of the book, background and setting, key themes of the book, an outline, etc. Reading the introduction first gives you context and helps you place the information you’re about to read in the overall timeline of biblical (and sometimes broader historical) events. I do this every time I read a book for the first time.
Many Bible translations also offer commentary. This is extra information and insight from theologians and biblical scholars about specific verses and passages. It is important to make the distinction, however, between the scripture itself and the commentary. Scripture is the Word of God; it came from God. Commentary comes from man. It is meant to give us extra insight and help us get a better understanding of what we read, but it isn’t meant to be taken as 100% accurate like we would scripture. We must always go back to prayer and scripture for our final understanding.
The commentary in my ESV is at the bottom of each page below the scripture. Scripture font is larger than commentary font and a line separates the two in order to signify the distinction between scripture and commentary.
The concordance is another helpful tool found in many versions of the Bible. It’s located at the back of the Bible and is similar to an index and a glossary in reference books. Let’s say you want to study the biblical concept of “fasting”. Turn to your Bible’s concordance, find the “f’s”, and find “fast” or “fasting.” (Words are listed in alphabetical order). Now you have a list of other verses in the Bible that include the word “fast” or “fasting.” You can go to those verses and read more about biblical fasting (and the accompanying commentary for those verses). I do this when I want to focus my study on a word or concept and learn more about it from a biblical standpoint.
MSB Concordance
Cross-references are similar to the concordance and help us locate more scripture about a particular word or concept. Note the picture below. The arrow in the middle of the page points to a tiny “t” superscript in front of the name “Apollos” in Acts 19:1. In the left margin, another arrow points to the corresponding “t” meaning the name Apollos is mentioned again in Acts 18:24. If I want more information about Apollos, I can use this cross reference to read the scripture and any corresponding commentary about him.
Cross references are signified in the verses with superscripts (tiny letters above and to the left of the word or idea). The corresponding cross referenced verses are found in the inside-facing margin of each page.
Next week in “How to Study the Bible Part 2,” we’ll discuss studying words from the Bible in their original languages – Greek and Hebrew. You don’t have to have a seminary degree to be able to do this 🙂 Come back next week, and I’ll show you.
More than likely your answer to the question in the title is “no,” and that’s perfectly ok. But I’m a nature geek, so I’ve always felt a sense of awe at the natural world and marveled at the way God created it and all the amazing plants and creatures in it. For me, it’s fascinating to learn how the natural world works.
Last year, we planted a garden at our house for the first time. (I worked in the garden at my grandma’s house in the summers when I was younger but hadn’t had one of my own until last summer). We had success with our tomatoes, okra, jalapenos, and bell peppers but failed to get much yield out of our corn, cucumbers, watermelons, and cantaloupes.
I noticed the same thing happening this year with the corn. It popped up quickly once planted, eventually tasseling out at the top, and then showing silks on individual ears.
My mom and grandma taught me that when the silks on the ears of corn turned dark brown, the ears were ready to be picked. So last year, I was excited when I saw the first dark brown silks.
But when I grabbed the first ear with dark brown silks, I knew immediately that it wasn’t ready. The ear was too skinny. The kernels hadn’t filled out.
This year, when the first shiny white silks emerged, I decided to figure out what went wrong and try to fix it.
Research suggested that the ears didn’t fill out because they didn’t pollinate.
Here’s where the cool part comes in (fellow nature geeks get ready to get excited): the things that pop out of the top of the corn stalk – the tassels – hold the plant’s seeds. Those seeds contain the pollen grains needed to pollinate the ear of corn by coming in contact with the silks on each ear. The idea is that, when the wind blows, the pollen grains fall off the tassel and land on the silks. I learned that, if the corn isn’t pollinating, I can take some of the pollen grains off the tassels and put them on the silks.
(Whole stalk of corn) (Tassels at the top) (Pollen grains on the tassel)
As I was doing that one morning, I happened to look at the whole plant and noticed that many of the long, downward-curved leaves already had pollen grains on them and some of those grains had slid down the leaf to gather in a heap at the stalk (where the ears of corn attach).
BOOM! It hit me! It was because of the way God designed the leaves! Because of their shape, the leaves act as funnels. They’re broad and flat so they catch the grains when they fall. The leaf is also slightly concave and curved downward toward the stalk, so the grains that hit the leaves are funneled back toward the growing ears of corn and their silks. The natural shape of the leaf is the reason the plant can pollinate itself!!!
(Downward-curved,broad, flat leaves) (Pollen grains funneled toward the stalk)
Wow! Go God! You are so amazing!
When I “put two and two together” as they say, I was blown away! The Creator of the whole universe designed this humble little plant in this simple but effective (and brilliant!) way for a specific reason. He gave the leaves a job to do and fashioned them in such a way that they could do the job. Even better, the leaves are still doing the job He created them to do!
That gave me goose bumps! I had a little worship moment right there in my backyard garden.
And that’s how it should be. God’s creation should cause us to rejoice. Noticing the natural world and all its wonders should point us to our Creator in heaven. We should delight in the God who fashioned our world, who wonderfully provides for His creation, who takes pleasure in what He made, and who continues to provide for it and care for it!
When we wonder at nature, we wonder at God. When we wonder at God, we worship Him. When we worship God and our hearts and minds focus on Him, anxiety lessens, stress releases, gratitude and thanks increase, and our hearts and minds learn to love and trust Him. (And trust me, we all need a little more of that)!
Isn’t that why He made the world – to display His glory? The natural world points to its Creator and inspires awe and worship.
And I realized – looking at a stalk of corn – the tassels, the leaves, the silks, the ear – the God of the universe who imagined and designed and created this plant to do what it does also created you and me. If He continues to care for this plant, still taking pleasure in seeing it fulfill its purpose, still providing what it needs to grow, won’t He do even more for His children who were made in His image?
I say, “Bless the LORD, O my soul! Oh LORD my God, you are very great!” Psalm 104:1 (ESV)
I say, “O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all: the earth is full of your creatures.” Psalm 104:24 (ESV)
And I say, you created the whole world, Lord. You can be trusted with my life.
{But I may also be having some hormonal changes because of my age and the time I am in right now in life. That’s probably a whole other blog post on its own though…}
What is comes down to it, I forgot how much God loves me. I ignored the things He has done for me in the past.
They say “count your blessings” to help us remember to focus on what we have rather than fixating on what we don’t have. Because, if we fixate on what we aren’t, on the things we don’t have or can’t do, the enemy has fertile ground to plant seeds of distraction, discontentment, bitterness, jealousy…
I’m there – staring that dead in the face.
This summer, in an effort to renew my relationship with the Lord, I picked up where I left off in Psalms a while back and began reading a psalm a day.
{If you haven’t done this, I highly recommend it. The psalms are such a blessing. They allow us to see how God’s faithful children praise Him but also how the faithful ask for help and how the faithful confess fear and doubt. They allow us to see how the faithful admit when they can’t see what God is doing. When they need God. When they fail}.
The psalms I’ve read recently have helped me refocus on God’s trustworthiness.
For example, Psalm 91 reminded me that God is faithful. I can have confidence that He is with me. Protecting me. He has good things for me.
I’ve been fixating on the fact that I don’t have a job yet. I’ve been looking since February, and I’m discouraged. I’m sad, anxious, worried, and overwhelmed. All these feelings distracted me, and I completely took my eyes off of God’s goodness which He has shown me time and again.
When I read Psalm 91, God reminded me of a young married couple who was searching for their first home. (That would be my husband and me way back in 2007).
We were ready to move out of our apartment, so we got with a real estate agent and started looking at houses.
I don’t remember how long it took, but we must have looked at 50+ houses. I’m not exaggerating. I’m sure our agent was tired of us.
I specifically remember coming back to our apartment after a particularly unfruitful afternoon looking at a handful of houses and being overwhelmed with frustration because we didn’t see anything we liked.
I stood in the middle of the teeny living room in our tiny apartment and whined, “Why.doesn’t.God.want.me.to.have.a.house!” I may have even stomped my foot. I’m also pretty sure I cried about it.
What struck me recently when I read Psalm 91 is how wonderful our first house was once we found it. It wasn’t our first choice. It wasn’t our dream home. It wasn’t up-to-date or turn-key. We did a TON of work to it in the 7 years we lived there. But we loved.that.house and made beautiful memories there.
For one thing, the neighborhood itself was perfect. I enjoyed walking in it when my babies were in strollers and later when they were toddling or riding their tricycles.
One of our next-door-neighbors was a former pastor from Olivet, the first pastor I remember from when I was a little girl. It was cool to see him and his wife again.
Today, in 2023, nearly 16 years after we bought our first house, I have enough critical distance to see that it was God’s plan for us to be in that house during that time. When I stood in our apartment that day in 2007 and whined about God not “wanting” me to have a house, I couldn’t see it. But 16 years and two houses later, I can see God’s providence in our lives. Remembering that experience confirms for me that I can trust God with whatever issues I have going on now.
My point is this: I need to wait patiently and trust God because His plans for me are good. He will prosper me and not forsake me. He’s shown me His faithfulness on more occasions than I deserve. I may not find my “dream job” yet, but everything will work out for the best anyway. I have no doubt that I’ll be right where God meant for me to be in the end.
I’d caught myself asking God similar questions before, but my bouts with these thoughts were coming more and more frequently.
“Why am I not friendly, like her?”
“Why don’t I feel like I belong here?”
“Why didn’t you make me more outgoing?”
“Why didn’t you make me this way or that way?”
When I stopped to think about it, the negative self-talk had been intensifying for over a year. Those thoughts were popping up in my head more often and were starting to take over. Sometimes, it seemed like all I could think.
One day, when I was particularly down on myself, running through the list of things I didn’t like about myself or things I couldn’t do and asking God why He hadn’t made me more this way or that way, He spoke into my spirit:
“If you’re always focused on what you aren’t, you’ll never see the things I DID create you to do, the abilities and strengths I DID give you.”
The thought quieted me.
Anytime I truly feel God speak into my spirit, the experience stills me, and it also convicts me.
He is right, of course.
When I focus on the negative, I won’t see the positive.
I won’t be able to see who God made me to be if I fixate on what I don’t like about myself.
Today, about a year or so after that encounter, I’d like to say the negative self-talk is gone, but it isn’t.
I continue to battle it.
However, since that encounter, God has shown me that those thoughts are encouraged by the enemy of my soul, Satan. My enemy wants to distract me and bog me down in the mire of self-pity, self-doubt, self-criticism…
If Satan can do that, he can distract me from glorifying God with my life.
When I catch those thoughts hurtling into my mind, I try to change the question. Instead, I’ll ask: “God, will you show me what you created me to do?”
“Father, would you help me show someone your love today?”
I don’t always catch myself. Sometimes I’m in the pit before I realize it, and the sludge is smothering me.
But, sometimes, I remember that those thoughts are not from my loving heavenly Father. He does not seek to tear me down like that. So, I turn my thoughts to Him.
Recently, I discovered Psalm 77, and it has helped me when the weight of my self-doubt or other pain creeps over me. I believe it will help you, too.
The pslam begins, “I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me. In the day of my trouble, I see the Lord; in the night, my hand stretches out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.” Psalm 77:1-2 (ESV)
I understand the trouble and weariness the psalmist is talking about.
Has your soul ever refused to be comforted?
The psalmist continues, asking, “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Psalm 77:7-9 (ESV)
When I’m in the pit, weighed down by self-doubt and negativity, it’s easy to think God has forgotten me, doesn’t see me, doesn’t know where I am, doesn’t care. It’s easy to think I’ll stay there.
Thankfully, there’s verse 10. It’s the turning point, the part that gives me strength to shut out the voice of the enemy and choose to look at my Father instead. When I get to that verse, I feel a smile at the corners of my mouth. My heart warms. My body relaxes.
“Then I said, I will appeal to this, to the years of the Most High. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What God is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples.” Psalm 77:10-13 (ESV)
My prayer for you is that, as you read this part of the Psalm, you’ll also feel the peace of God that passes all understanding, that He’ll turn your mourning to dancing as you praise His good works.
When I focus on Him and things He has already done, all the other junk disappears, and I simply worship Him.
Will you worship Him today? Will you praise His name for what He has done?
The book, under 80 pages, is a quick read, but that doesn’t mean you’ll “get off the hook easy.” I was convicted by information the author shared in each of the book’s 6 chapters:
I Will Be a Functioning Church Member
I Will Be a Unifying Church Member
I Will Not Let My Church Be about My Preferences and Desires
I Will Pray for My Church Leaders
I Will Lead My Family to Be Healthy Church Members
I Will Treasure Church Membership as a Gift
When I read this book as part of the bi-yearly training for small group leaders in the Women’s Ministry at my church, it deepened and broadened the way I see membership in my local church body.
Rainer writes, “One of the ongoing questions you should ask yourself and God in prayer is: ‘How can I best serve my church?'” (p. 16).
How often do we ask God to search our hearts and show us where and how we could serve our church? Many of us who join churches are looking for what we can get out of our membership. We visit different churches and ask ourselves questions such as, who plays the music I want to hear? Who has childcare during the service? Will this church let me teach a class? Do I like what the pastor says in his sermons?
What I learned in I Am A Church Member is that this mindset is the opposite of biblical church membership. If I join a church and focus only on my preferences and desires, I’m missing the point and ultimately weakening the body. Rainer wrote “…the strange thing about church membership is that you actually give up your preferences when you join…you are there to meet the needs of others. You are there to serve others. You are there to give. You are there to sacrifice.” (p. 34).
This doesn’t sound like popular opinion.
To support the stance he takes on church membership, the author offers scripture from the Old and New Testaments. From the research I did into the verses, his points are biblically sound. If more church members adopted the attitude he proposes, a revival would break out across our country (and that’s exactly what he prays will happen as a result of people reading this book).
In Chapter 4 “I Will Pray for my Church Leaders,” the Lord continually pricked my heart. Rainer explained the pressures leadership faces, particularly the pastor, and I wasn’t fully aware of the ways the enemy will try to attack the pastor of a church. Clearly, it is up to the church members to intercede in prayer for their pastor.
At the end of each chapter there’s a pledge to sign based on the specific information covered in that chapter as well as a few open-ended “Questions for Study.” That’s why the book lends itself so well to small group study. As mentioned, our small group leaders in women’s ministry used it as training and development. Some of our men’s small groups are using it as their study this spring session, and many of our frequent visitors, potential members, and new members are encouraged to read it as they consider joining with the local body at Calvary or as they become members there. A few of the teens in our youth group have even chosen to lead a youth meeting on a Wednesday night and share what they’re learning from reading the book.
I recommend this book if you’re interested in learning and applying biblical truths about the meaning of church membership. I imagine your attitude will change, like mine did, once you’ve taken the time to read Rainer’s book. Because of the short length, you could probably read it in an hour or less. It won’t break the bank either; at publication date, it was on Rainer’s site for $5.99+tax. (I also saw it on Amazon for less than $12).
Go ahead. Check it out, and get some new ides about serving Christ in the local body of His church.
Tell me if you’ve ever had an interaction similar to one I had recently:
I saw a friend whose hair I just ADORE! It’s a thick, very curly, and a beautiful shade of auburn.
“I LOVE your hair, ” I gushed to her. She beamed because…who doesn’t like getting compliments.
Then, I quickly added, “I wish my curls looked like that. I hate my hair right now. The curls don’t look good anymore. I can’t find products I like. It’s just frizzy and limp and looks terrible. I’m probably going to cut it off and just be done with it. “
I didn’t notice because I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts, but I imagine the beaming smile that was on her face at the start of our conversation quickly slipped away. At the very least, she walked away from our conversation feeling puzzled. Confused. Uncomfortable. Maybe even hurt.
Have you ever been on the giving or the receiving end of a compliment like that? A compliment that was negated before it could even be appreciated?
Why do we (especially women) give compliments about our friends’ appearances, clothes, jobs, children, etc and then effectively take them back by complaining about our own appearances, clothes, jobs, children…
Or, maybe you’ve given someone a compliment and then worried the compliment offended them?!
Recently, I saw a picture on social media of a friend I hadn’t seen in a few weeks. From the picture, I could tell that she had lost weight. I grabbed my phone to text her and tell her…but I stopped. “It will hurt her feelings if I say I can tell she lost weight.” I thought to myself as I stood holding my phone. “She’ll think, ‘Geez! Was I that big before?!'”
So I didn’t send the text. But later, when I saw her in person, she was pumped to tell me she’d lost 16 pounds! {Forehead slap} Why oh why didn’t I compliment her when I first thought about it!
Why do we feel the need to qualify or explain compliments?
And why are compliments so hard to accept sometimes?
I wondered if there was any “Christian etiquette on giving and receiving compliments,” so I picked up my Bible to dig around and find out.
(I’ll go ahead and tell you that I didn’t find any information about how to compliment my friend’s gorgeous hair without making myself seem vain or insincere by turning the conversation back onto my own hair).
We don’t always find the answers we want when we pick up our Bibles, but we will find the answers we need.
We will find what is true. What is right. What is godly.
In my search, I looked first for examples of times in scripture when someone gave a compliment to someone else. Here are some of the verses I found:
1 Corinthians 11:2 – “I am so glad that you always keep me in your thoughts, and that you are following the teachings I passed on to you.” (NLT)
Philippians 2: 19-22 – “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.” (ESV)
Colossians 2:5 – “For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.” (NIV)
2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 – “We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love you all have for one another is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.” (NIV)
2 Timothy 1: 3-5 – “I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” (NIV)
Romans 1: 8 – “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.” (NIV)
Philippians 1: 3-5 – “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now…” (NIV)
(Many of these verses are from letters written by Paul). In these examples, what is he complimenting?
His praise to another person or another group of people is based on faithfulness, work for the kingdom, godliness, fruits of the spirit displayed, etc.
Here are some other verses about encouraging fellow believers:
Hebrews 10:24-25 – “Let us think of ways to motivate one another in love and good deeds. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (NLT)
1 Thessalonians 5:11 – “So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.” (NIV)
Romans 15:2 – “Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.” (NIV)
Proverbs 31:30 – “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” (ESV)
1 Peter 3:34 – “Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourself instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is precious to God.” (NLT)
Ephesians 4:29 – “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” (NLT)
Proverbs 12:25 – “Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.” (NIV)
What does all this mean? To me, it means that believers should look for opportunities to compliment the spiritual growth we see in others. We should encourage each other in our walk with Christ. We should motivate each other to do good. To be godly.
Giving and receiving compliments is challenging. But, Proverbs 12:25 shows us it’s necessary and good. (“Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.” NIV)
Offer encouragement and build up each other in Christ.
When I think it about it more, I believe giving and receiving compliments is difficult because of the condition of our hearts.
How is your heart when you give praise or a compliment? What is your motive?
How is your heart when you receive a compliment? Where do you stand with God at the moment?
I’m not saying we shouldn’t compliment people. It isn’t a sin to like someone’s hair, earrings, clothes, make-up, etc. Just check the condition of your heart first. Be sure your motives are pure – you simply saw something you liked and just wanted to tell that person 🙂
But, first and foremost, consider encouragement, motivation, and building each other up in Christ.
*It has been such a long time since I’ve written much of anything – even for myself. This post came about first as a devotion I wrote to share with the ladies I work with (we have devotions every morning before school starts, and twice a year, I am in charge of leading the devotional time). I miss writing and am still trying to dig out of whatever this hole is that I’m in where I’m not doing this thing that I love and was made to do. I would greatly appreciate your prayers.
Christianity is an action verb. Believers should be active: participating, witnessing, fellowshipping, worshipping, living out our faith, doing what the Word says.
Being a believer isn’t simply intellectual – reciting verses, knowing stories, listing the Ten Commandments…knowing about God. Being a believer is about having your life changed so that you not only think differently, but you act differently.
Being a believer should change the way you behave. Knowing God’s Word presents you with your true self. It causes you to see your sin and your need for salvation. However, knowing God and His Word should also produce an action or a response, and that response should be a change in behavior. Believers should live according to what the Word says.
Image Credit: Abide – follow the “Abide” link for a 3 minute meditation from the Abide blog about walking your talk.
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What is God calling you to do as a result of knowing His Word? How are you living out God’s Word today?
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This post was inspired by an inductive study of James Chapter 1. Read James Chapter 1 in the New International Version here.
Servant Girl Stories 