Women in the Word Wednesday

I thought I'd share a little bit of how I've loved studying the word of God lately.  I can't yet share the book I've been studying, because we haven't released the title of it to the ladies in our church, but it's been an honor and privilege to be able to study alongside some pretty amazing and godly women.  (If you're new to the blog, I'm helping write a women's Bible study for the ladies in our church.) 

First, I love to read the Bible slowly.  My favorite method of studying and reading to date is reading chapter by chapter, and really picking apart the verses.  Or, I'll sometimes read from subtitle to subtitle in my Bible.  This is called reading in context.  I never want to just randomly choose a verse to call my own and quote it often without really knowing the meaning and context of the verse.  For instance, Philippians 4:13 is one such verse.  It reads, I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.  If you back up to verse 10 in that same chapter, though, you'll see that Paul (the writer) is tell the Philippians that he had learned to be content in all circumstances; with both a little and a lot.  God was the one who gave him that strength, though, and he was making sure the people in Philippi knew that.  That subtitle in my Bible goes from verse 10 to verse 20 and it has "appreciation of support" written above as the subtitle.

Secondly, I love to use other helps in reading.  One that I've used for the last seven or eight years is the Blue Letter Bible.  (Studying the Bible the Precept way is when I started using this tool.)  You can type in the verse or chapter and book you're wanting to look at, pick the translation you prefer, and click the search button.  It'll break the chapter down verse by verse, and if you click on tools, you'll see options come on to the screen, tools like interlinear, dictionaries, cross-references, Bibles, commentaries and miscellaneous.  Everything you need to understand a verse or passage is right there.

Additionally, I love to write out actual verses.  Writing helps me to remember the verses, and in my opinion, that's what it means when I read in Psalm 119:11 that I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.

Aside from writing out what I've read that day, each day in the month I follow along with a Scripture writing plan that Shannon from the Sweet Blessings blog puts out every single month.  This month's plan is on "kindness".  I love that she always has a theme for the month.  When I read in my Bible for that day, I always read the whole passage, again from subtitle to subtitle so that I can get the meaning in full context.

I love to journal about where I've read in the Bible, but I don't always do this.  I'm not doing it right now, but I will write out a verse if one jumps out at me.  During this whole quarantine situation, I've been writing out a chapter of Psalm for a lot of the days.  I've used a plain old notebook I had on hand for this. 

I believe that you need a plan to read the Bible.  I know for me at least that if I didn't have a daily reading plan, I'd probably not be faithful in reading it each day.  It's accountability and it's just good to have a guide.  I'm currently reading the Bible in a year in chronological order with some of the ladies from my church.

The point is to just read the Bible.  Pray every single day and do it multiple times during the day!  The boys all know that if they hear me talking while I'm vacuuming that I am talking to Jesus.  I pray when I drive, I pray when I shower, I pray first thing in the morning and last thing each night.  I talk to Him all the time, and I don't always pray in a formal way.  Sometimes I pray in frustration and when I need to talk to Him about it instead of blurting out the first hurtful thing that comes to my mind.  When I read the word of God, it prompts me to pray.  When I pray, He prompts me to read in His word.  It's all connected.  That is how I spend time with each and everyday. 

What about you?  How do you spend your time with Him each day?  I'd love to hear!  Thanks for reading, friends.  Love to all.