I was greatly encouraged this past Sunday. It was great to have Bill and Marilyn Berg (Curt’s parents) here with us to share about the work of Love & Action, our mission of the month. It was great to see the time of fellowship between services in the Cup of Life Café. There were so many people and all the cookies were gone before 11am worship.
But what encouraged me the most was the feedback that I received from Sunday’s message. What encouraged me so much was what you shared with me about what you were able to take away from Sunday’s message. So many of you shared with me specific and practical ways in which you were going to be more conscious about working together with others.
If you missed Sunday’s message you can listen to it online at Lord of Life’s website http://www.lolchurch.net/ or you can read it on my blog at http://pastorpr.blogspot.com/2007/11/sundays-message-110407.html. The cookie video is also posted on the blog.
Hearing your comments got me thinking about a very important aspect of reading God’s Word. It is taking away practical application.
A few months back I was speaking with a Lord of Life member about reading God’s Word. They shared with me that they were in the Word every day. But they were not getting much out of their reading. They would walk away from their reading forgetting most of what they read.
So the question is how do we get more out of our reading? We should never read the Bible for the sake of reading the Bible. Reading the Bible for the sake of reading the Bible is a pointless exercise. When we read, we ought to look for practical application. Look for nuggets of truth to uncover to take with us into our day. It was one of the reasons I began writing a blog. It provided me an opportunity to write out some practical applications of the Word that I was reading on a daily basis.
When you read God’s Word, ask yourself these questions: 1) what is this Scripture about? 2) What does it teach me about God? 3) What does it teach me about life? 4) Is there a command for me to follow? 5) Is there an example for me to follow? 6) Is there a warning given? 7) Is there an error to avoid? 8) How does this apply to my life and how can I practically put it into practice.
Be specific here. If the passage is about love, don’t write that your practical application is to be more loving. Write a specific way that you are going to be more loving such as giving three compliments to you child today before you go to bed.
You might consider writing down a passage that you believe to be important. Try to memorize it and carry it with you into the day. Look for ways to live out the passage. You might read 1 Peter 4:7 which says, “Be clear minded and self-controlled so you can pray.” When you start to get upset about something that happens to you in the middle of the day, remember that verse, and talk to the Lord about what is making you so frustrated.
Some other great material on this subject comes from one of Pastor Barry’s messages in October. It was called “Get a Grip on Your Bible.” You can read it on his blog at http://docvmp.blogspot.com/2007/10/get-grip-on-your-bible.html .
Groups Page:
If you have not yet discovered it, there is a groups page for this mailing list. You can visit it at: http://groups.google.com/group/pastorpr . On this page you can see previous emails, download the One Year Bible Reading Plan, and find some other resources. I will be adding more to this page as we go along.
Have a great week.
In Jesus,
Phil Ressler
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