![]() Prayer is a two-way conversation with God. How does your observation impact your life? Does God have instruction for you today? If you can’t be real with Him, you’re not being real with yourself. Make sure to keep this thought consistent with the rest of Scripture. Does this passage speak to your identity in Christ?įinish this section with a quick summary of the one thing God is speaking to you through this Scripture.Is He communicating something about Himself?.What is God showing you from this passage? Write out repeating words, look up words you don’t know, describe events happening in and around the text, It’s a discipline that requires commitment, not beautiful penmanship. There is something about writing out Scripture that seems more engaging. Write down the passage(s) that stood out to you today. Ask God to illuminate the words for today. Soap helps me see the section of Scripture, within its context, and apply it to my life personally. As a middle school pastor, it’s hard to get out of the “studying to teach” aspect of reading Scripture, even in my personal devotion time. I joked earlier, but it really is an easy way to approach reading the Bible. Soap stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer. I should clarify, I’m not talking about the cleansing agent but the way of approaching Scripture. I use soap at my office to help focus my day, but you could really use it anywhere: the coffee shop, the park, or while your kids are getting a haircut. I was introduced to soap in my twenties, and I have loved how easy it is to use. Most mornings my routine involves toothpaste, Mango Strawberry Spark, and soap. One that is as dangerous to the enemy as Ralphie wielding his Red Ryder BB gun. One that leaves you refreshed from time with our Heavenly Father. There are many ways to do a quiet time, including the one you will find below, but the trick is and, the heart behind Arise, is that you would find one that works for you. Be fueled by the internal transformation that personal time with God through Scripture promises to bring (Isaiah 55:11, in fact just read all of 55, it’s a good one!) and less about what it’s supposed to look like externally. It’s good because it works for me in the same way different settings work for others. Meanwhile, my reality finds me sitting in an office (under fluorescent lights) scribbling in a journal on my messy desk. Scrolling through my social media feeds, I often see a picturesque scene of my friend’s personal quiet setting: complete with coffee mug, Bible, journal (opened to a non-vulnerable page of course) in a naturally lit room on some sort of wood-grained or neat surface. I believe it’s easy to get lost in the noise of what studying the Bible is “supposed to” look like. Unfortunately, this was my approach to reading the Bible all throughout middle school. Questions began rolling around in my head:ĭo Christians really read the whole Bible?Īnd, why are all these names so hard to pronounce?ĭisappointed, I looked around for clues of what to look like on the outside, but I had no idea what was supposed to be going on internally. I was frustrated as I discovered the Bible was not just one book but actually a collection of sixty-six books, numbering over a thousand pages. That wasn’t going to deter me from doing my first quiet time! However, my enthusiasm quickly changed to frustration and my curiosity was overshadowed by a sense of feeling overwhelmed and in over my head. There was a brief teaching on how to do one, but it might as well have been in a foreign language, because I left more confused than before. ![]() The camp leaders taught us that “personal quiet time” is a term used to describe the time you sit down with the Bible and study it. ![]() ![]() I remember feeling the same about my first personal quiet time with God. ![]() I just knew what it was supposed to look like on the outside. I knew nothing of the contents inside the book. My request was fueled in part by a curiosity about Christianity but mainly out of fear of being the only kid at Bible camp without a Bible. Now, I wish I could say that I described it with the same passion as Ralphie, from A Christmas Story, requesting “a Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle”. I anxiously asked my parents to buy me a Bible, but not just any Bible, a “black leather Bible with the letters ‘NIV’ on the side”. I was a thirteen-year-old boy heading off to my first winter camp, with a youth group I had just begun attending. I actually found much frustration while digging into Scripture the first time. I wish I could say that I instantly fell in love with reading the Bible. ![]()
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