Moments of Quiet Truth

      My dad's quote will never get old to me. "You will never know what the Bible means until you know what it says." Understanding it is foundational to know how to approach studying the Bible. You have to know what it actually says!!! I know I keep harping on this but it is sooo crucial! I want us to be grounded in the Word and more loyal to it than to any Bible teacher of any age. I want us to be so loyal to it that we are willing to dismiss and let go of teaching that does not conform to the words in its pages. Now, no preacher will get it right 100% of the time and we shouldn't flush the entirety of their teaching because we find a mistake here or there. If they, generally speaking, are clear, solid, and Biblically grounded teachers who preach the Word of God and hold it up over every other man's (including their own) opinion, then they will be worth listening to. Fill your minds with Biblical truth and grow in your understanding of how to seek it out and fi...

      Ok, so at this point, we have a list of references and a definition. I have to write everything down in order to keep it organized (or copy and paste it into a document). The question now is, what do we do with said information. I know it can look daunting, but let's take it a step at a time, shall we? The definition I found that corresponded with the Strong's number H2451 in the concordance was:  - skill in war; in technical work - wisdom in administration - shrewdness - wisdom, prudence (in religious affairs)  - wisdom, ethical and religious        What can we gather from this definition? (Don't be afraid to pull out a modern dictionary if the words are unfamiliar. Strong's definitions were written at an earlier point in time, so their vocabulary was a little different - we don't use some of the same words today.) What can we learn about wisdom? How would you put these different aspects of this word into your own words? I would say th...

      For those of you who have made it this far without giving up hope, thank you! I have done this for a long time and this is something I am passionate about and am prone to pour out vast amounts of information on it at any one given time. I know it can be overwhelming, especially as you are just starting out. Studying the Bible this way consistently will create a habit that will make it easier to do as time goes on.       Let's begin.       The easiest way begin to structure a word study is to use the 5 "w's" and 1 "h" questions (who, what, when, where, why, and how). Let's start with "what." How do we find out the "what" of a particular word? Another way of asking "what" is asking for the definition of a word. If you're using a paper-bound copy of a concordance, open to the section that is for the first letter in the word (example: "wisdom" - "w" section). You should find a list of references on ...

      Word studies - they are an excellent means of finding out what the Bible says about a particular word, theme, idea. What you are doing when you do a word study is finding the definition, the part of speech, how the word is used (along with its context) and organizing that information into a manageable format that you can take and work from. It allows you to compile the information so that you can then teach others what you have learned and your only source (outside of a Bible dictionary, concordance, and possibly lexicon) is the Word itself. I was walked through how to do this as a teen and was assigned word studies in college, in the hopes that I would be able to take the information I gleaned and teach from it, if necessary, down the road.       Doing this well takes much practice, so don't get discouraged if it doesn't all fall into place on your first try. Start small and grow from there. Even when you don't have all the answers, don't be afr...

       If someone were to ask you what the Bible has to say about a particular topic, word, theme, idea, etc., would you know how to answer them? Would you know how to go about finding out the answer if you didn't already have a solid grasp on it? My dad says that you will never know what the Bible means until you know what it says. Do you know what it says? Do you know how to find out what it says? Do you know what questions to ask to find this out, what tools you'll need to do this? Do you know which resources to pull from and which to avoid? Once you have gathered the information, do you know what is next - what to do with it to arrive at a solid, Biblical conclusion?       I'm teaching my way through the spiritual gifts with my ladies on Thursday nights. Part of my heart in teaching them is to equip them to find answers directly from the Word themselves. Part of my teaching is training them what questions to ask, what resources to use, how to ...