The Daily Seed: The Daily Seed

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Daily Seed

"The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you ... the seed is the word of God." (Luke 8:10-11)

Welcome. I believe that God gives us His Word because He is a God who wants relationship with us. Just like any other relationship, if we are to remain in touch with Him, we must make an effort to communicate with Him on a regular basis. This means both talking and, more importantly, listening. God gives us prayer so we can talk to Him and He gives us His Word, the Bible, so we can listen. How often do we say to ourselves: "I just wish God would send me a written letter of instruction so I'll know what to do" or "If God would just TELL me what to do, I would do it."

Well, I have exciting news!! He has!!! There is no reason to guess anymore ... it's all right there in front of you. With as many modern translations of the Bible as are available today, we have no excuse not to sit down and read it for ourselves. We do not need a seminary degree. We do not need a commentary or a pre-published Bible study. All we need is our Bible and the Holy Spirit. When we ask The Holy Spirit to come and open the gate of understanding into our hearts so that we might know Him more, He is faithful to lead us!! Our part is to purposefully submit our hearts to His leadership and yield our lives to His teaching.

Before I begin, I should outline a statement of my faith because it will be the cornerstone of my perspective as I write:

I believe in God the Father, who is the Maker of the Universe, seen and unseen.

I believe in Jesus Christ, who is the holy and begotten Son of God. He was born to the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, was buried, and rose again on the third day, in perfect accordance with the Scriptures. I believe Jesus sits in Heaven at the right hand of the Father. I believe Jesus will come again, calling all those who believe in His name to live and reign with Him in glory forever.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, who, at the very moment we ask forgiveness for our sins and receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, comes to us in our hearts to be our Comforter and Counselor.

I believe that the Bible is the holy, inspired, infallible Word of God.

My purpose for this blog is to have a place to record my study of the Scriptures. These posts (which will hopefully become daily) are not prewritten "messages." They are not intended to preach. They are intended to be a public "diary" of sorts -- a diary of my own walk with the Lord through Scripture. I will be sharing my on-going study of God's Word as I seek to know Him, see Him, hear Him, and love Him more. My hope is that by recording my Bible study publicly, I will have a sense of accountability to my committment to daily time in the Word.

I have just one final word in closing: the excerpt from the verses in Luke above say that God's word is the seed. I will be examining the passage from which that excerpt comes in the coming days, but for now, please understand that the title of this blog comes from the idea that God gives us His word -- the Bible -- as a seed He plants in us for a purpose -- these are not random bits of wit or wisdom. These words have purpose -- for us -- for you and for me -- and that purpose is to grow something beautiful and lovely in us; something that will bear fruit in our lives and continue to feed us!! How exciting is that?!

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How I Study Scripture

There are many methods for studying Scripture. My Scripture study is based on a method used and taught by Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Ruth Graham and Dr. Rev. Billy Graham. The method is simple, but yields tremendous insight when we ask the Holy Spirit to first open our eyes to a fresh understanding of His Word.

I am going to keep these posts pure to how I study it. What you will see here on this blog is exactly what I write in my journal. I will give you an outline of the form here, with a very brief explanation of each part.

You will notice that the passages I study are brief. There are certainly no rules for studying scripture, but I'm interested in quality, not quantity. I'm in no rush, so I will take just a few verses each day (4-10 typically) and go deep into them, attempting to understand what they say, what they mean, and how they apply to my life.

Here is the format I will use:

The Scripture

I will always give you the Scripture passage, copied and pasted from Biblegateway. I use the NIV translation, but it's often interesting to look at other translations and compare the words used. This is a great way to increase your understanding of a particular passage.

The Facts

The aim here is to write out the outstanding FACTS from each verse. Do not paraphrase. Do not interpret. Do not insert your own words, not even a synonym. If we are to understand God's Word for us, let's stick to God's words. These are the FACTS of the passage using the exact words in the verses.

The Lessons

This is where I try to see what the facts mean. For each fact, I look for a spiritual principle. Is there a promise to claim? A warning to heed? An example to follow (or not follow)? A hope to cling to? A truth to declare? The numbers here will correspond 1-to-1 with the facts above.

Lessons for Me

Here is where I take the spiritual principles or promises or warnings or examples or hopes or truths and turn them into a reflection. I do this in the form of a question because the intention is to cause me to examine my own life. These questions often become the basis of a prayer time following my Scripture study where I ask the Holy Spirit to help me apply these principles in my daily life.

Facts Outline

Sometimes my posts will include a facts outline, which is a tool I use to help me find the main thrust of a passage.

Conclusion

I will try to offer a conclusion of what I see as an answer to my initial question in the form of a summary. For example, in the post for January 14, 2009, my prayer that morning -- what I was seeking -- was to know Jesus more. By just studying the first four verses in Hebrews 1:1-4, I came up with quite a few characteristics of Jesus that helped me to know Him more, and I listed those there.

The Aim

The aim is the one main application of the passage for my life, summed up in as few words as possible.

This is really a simple format for personal Scripture study and I have been so blessed in the short time I have been utilizing it as a tool for my study time.

Remember, the most important tool we have is the Holy Spirit. It is so important to bathe our Scripture study time in prayer: at the start, by asking the Holy Spirit to give you new insight and understanding; throughout your study, as you come across something that is perhaps difficult to understand; and at the conclusion, in thanksgiving for all that has been revealed and to humbly ask Him to help you apply it in your life.

I hope you will be able to follow along and it will make sense to you. More importantly, I hope that you will also gain insight and understanding and perhaps find an application for your own life.

Do You KNOW You Will Go to Heaven When You Die?

From my earliest days, I grew up going to church and from that experience, I knew that Jesus loved me and wanted to save me from my sin. When I was a little girl of about the age of six, I told my mother I wanted to invite Jesus into my heart and so she led me in a simple prayer. The prayer went something like this:

Dear Jesus, I know that I do things I shouldn't because I am a sinner. I am sorry for those things. Please forgive me of my sin and come and be in my heart forever. I want you to be the leader of my life. Amen.

That's it. That's all it took. No lightening struck. No thunder rolled. But, the moment I prayed that prayer, I became born again into the family of God and because of that moment in time, I KNOW. Because I prayed that simple prayer as a little girl, I KNOW I am going to heaven when I die. Do you KNOW?

Want to know more? Read here.

The Daily Seed

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Daily Seed

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