Inscribed on the Heart
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Even in a brief conversation with Priscilla Shirer, you realize she doesn't just talk about the importance of knowing the Bible, she lives it—passionately. A Bible teacher, she regularly appears alongside Beth Moore and Kay Arthur at conferences, and has written several bestselling books, including her most recent Life Interrupted: Navigating the Unexpected (Broadman & Holman). She and her husband, Jerry, also co-founded Going Beyond Ministries.
Not only is she sharp in her Bible knowledge, she also clearly understands the difficulties of finding balance between pursuing spiritual disciplines and handling everyday chores.
"The enemy wants to put guilt on us, so that we think only spending three minutes in God's Word or having a card with a Scripture verse pasted to a mirror is trivial and won't make a difference," Priscilla says. "But God knows where we are and delights in us. He loves that one little verse being inscribed on our hearts and is using it to speak to us in the regular rhythms of our lives." Here's what else Priscilla shared with Kyria about the spiritual practice of Bible study.
How should we prepare before we dive into Scripture?
Go to the Scriptures with an expectant heart that you can and will hear the voice of God speaking clearly to you. Don't approach it as something just to check off the list.
We get so used to approaching God's Word with familiarity and casualness that we forget that it's not just a historical book, but illuminated by the Holy Spirit. He causes it to become specific to our lives—living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12).
Prayerfully say, Lord, you know what I'm going to face today, this week, this month. I'm expecting you will have divinely set in place what I need to be equipped.
What's the best way to study the Bible?
Study an entire book of the Bible from beginning to end, so that when you come across verses that speak to you intimately and personally you have a context for their meaning. It will be more deeply engrained in you because you have a setting. It also keeps us from the error of taking things out of context just because we want them to align with what we're thinking sounds nice for the day or coincides with the plans we've already made.
I spent two years in the Book of John, because as a mom with three small children I can't read a whole chapter or two in a sitting. But I can take a verse or two and really meditate on it.
I write one or two verses and put them on the bathroom mirror, above my dashboard, and over the kitchen sink. Those are my verses for the week. So everywhere I go, I look at those verses. By the end of seven days, they've become intertwined with my life.
That's the purpose of studying God's Word. When God told Joshua to meditate on the Scriptures day and night (Joshua 1:8), he wasn't saying scan over these passages quickly, and only when you feel like it. He was saying to make sure it's planted deeply in your heart and mind. That means we have to take time to deliberately, consciously allow these words to be ingrained into our regular life rhythms.
Related Topics:
Bible Study, Biblical Guidance, Faith, Growing in, Growth, spiritual, spiritual disciplines
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Average User Rating:
Gaynor
Thank you for this wonderful reminder...especially on a monday of what looks like a busy week. Running around so much we need a reminder to keep our focus on God and the truth in His word ...building Precept upon Precept!
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