The following is a note that I wrote to a men's Bible study group that I have the joy and privilege of teaching:
Our goal over the next six weeks is to know God better than we do at this point and time in our lives. Obviously knowing God will take a lifetime of seeking after Him but I am hoping and praying that this study together will allow us to take some giant steps in this process. Before we begin our study I need to sound a warning alarm! WARNING-WARNING-WARNING - Have I gotten your attention?
We are going to focus on the end result and not on the means that it takes to get there. We in the American church tend to think of our spiritual lives in very linear terms. The problem with an approach that says do "A" and then "B" and you will get "C" tends to be religious and legalistic in nature. If we become experts on how to read, study and meditate on the Bible but we don't get to know God then what have we really accomplished?
My point is that we all have different temperaments, backgrounds, parents, education, and life experiences. Therefore we need to loosen up on the way we get to know God and get more focused on the end result of knowing God.
There are many different ways that a person can abide in the word of God as you get to know God. For example:
1. Take a verse and meditate on it for a week, like Galatians 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered Himself up for me."
2. Take a chapter and stay there for several months. Dr. Dixon who did our church retreat in February 2007 taught us John Chapter 9 and this is a chapter he had been meditating on for almost a year.
3. Read using user friendly versions like the New Living Translation, or even Eugene Peterson's "The Message."
4. Get a highlighter and underline the verses that really leap out to you and then write them in a notebook to think about during the day. I have just started to keep a verse of the day for Nancy and I on the refrigerator that I write on a little white board. It gives Nancy and I something to talk about and think about together during the day. Once again no perfect system but try different things, mix it up, have fun and watch the Lord work in unimaginable ways through His word!
Again the point is not everyone starts there day with one hour of prayer and preparation of the heart, one hour of study and reading, then one hour of Bible memorization and then go to work and live out the ultimate Christian life. Hey guys we are on a journey of knowing God and there are a few essentials but find your style and what works for you and go for it! Nancy and I home schooled Butner and Anna for a period of two years. One thing that Nancy and I learned about Anna is that she could not sit in a desk with feet on the floor and take notes and listen to instruction. Often times she would be standing and since she is so visual and not auditory the best way for her was to give her the point in some visual way. She did better standing on her head or twisting her body into a pretzel when learning other than the conventional way in which we all came through our school years. Again my point is to learn your style, preferences and what works for you and what you do well then do a lot of it and what you don't do well do little of it.
Now all that said, I will be giving handouts but use them as a tool to help you in your study of knowing God. If it is better for you to take a couple of verses and concentrate on them then do it that way. For others it may be that you want to study and absorb all the notes and again it that works for you then do it. We are on a journey of knowing God and there will be a number of different paths that each of us take along the way. Some will go through swamps, others through a heavy jungle, while others still will hit the wilderness but the ultimate end destination is to know our God.
