{"id":28224,"date":"2022-02-18T00:00:34","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T07:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/?p=28224"},"modified":"2023-08-29T11:33:10","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T17:33:10","slug":"10-ways-to-take-in-the-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/10-ways-to-take-in-the-word\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Ways to Take in the Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christians are people of the Book where \u201cThus saith the Lord\u201d and \u201cIt is written\u201d are found throughout.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s Word began with the cosmic, creative speaking of the Father, came to earth in the Living Word that is the Son, and was inspired as the written Word of the Bible by the Spirit \u2014 one matchless revelation! It is to our everlasting benefit that we receive it today, and every day. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Read it silently,<\/strong> just for yourself.Get a reading plan and get started \u2014 just one proverb or one psalm a day will do to begin with. As a teenager, I accepted the National FYC\u2019s challenge to take in a chapter a day, with prayer. I\u2019ve missed more than a few days along the way, but what a difference it has made in my life over the long run! God\u2019s Word has been a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105).<\/li>\n
  2. Read it aloud<\/strong> so you can hear it. This engages more of you\u00a0in the process \u2014 ears and<\/em> eyes. It doubles the likelihood that grace and<\/em> truth get into your mind and heart. Faith, says Romans 10:17, comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. When you read the Word aloud, faith is sure to follow.<\/li>\n
  3. Read and hear it in groups<\/strong> \u2014 like family Bible readings, like interactive small group studies, and in larger meetings where one preaches or teaches the Word while others listen and learn. People do not live well by bread alone, but by every precious word from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).<\/li>\n
  4. Read or hear it electronically<\/strong> on your phone or talking Bible, on radio or television, or on your latest device. Fair warning: Modern electronics come with a million distractions, many of them a hazard to spiritual health. If we don\u2019t use our devices primarily for positive purposes, like taking the pure milk to \u201cgrow thereby\u201d (1 Peter 2:2), we are better off without them.<\/li>\n
  5. Read it in good literature <\/strong>\u2014 like the BA and other faith-based magazines or books in which words of grace and truth are among the main ingredients. To those for whom the Living Word is the true Light of the world, illumination of that reality shines forth in a thousand places.<\/li>\n
  6. Sing it. <\/strong>The Psalms and many other verses have been set to music with familiar tunes. Along with their Bibles, more than a few devout Christians carry a hymnbook with them. Most or all great gospel and church music is Bible based. When the word of Christ dwells in us richly, then singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with grace in our hearts to the Lord happens often (Colossians 3:16).<\/li>\n
  7. Study it.\u00a0<\/strong>Bible lessons for personal growth are widely available. Or do it yourself, like this: With Bible, pen, and paper at hand, read Genesis 1:1-3; John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:1-3. Jot your take on the main teachings of this classic trio of texts. How are they alike? How does each add to the other two? With a concordance, locate other verses with the word word<\/em>; list five from each Testament that speak to you. Then read Acts 17:11 (NIV) to learn why some early Christian believers were \u201cmore noble\u201d than others.<\/li>\n
  8. Memorize it<\/strong>. A basic level of biblical recall is having read and heard a passage often enough that it rings familiar when you hear or read it again. That\u2019s good. The next level is having the passage so fully and indelibly written on your heart-mind by the Spirit that you can say the whole thing without peeking. That\u2019s memorization. Here\u2019s what the psalmist said that the Bible on the inside could do for him: \u201cYour word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You\u201d (Psalm 119:11). Either God\u2019s Word will keep us from sin, or sin will keep us from His Word.<\/li>\n
  9. Meditate on it<\/strong>. After we\u2019ve read and heard the Word to a level of familiarity, then we can recall and re-chew it, mulling it over in our mind. Just as a cow regurgitates her food and contentedly chews her cud for more taste and nutrition, so can we ruminate and meditate on the Word we\u2019ve previously taken. A remarkable Bible promise is that if you consistently meditate on God\u2019s Word with full intent to obey its teaching, \u201cthen you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success\u201d (Joshua 1:8).<\/li>\n
  10. Live it. <\/strong>James, the Lord\u2019s brother, urges that we not be content with merely hearing God\u2019s Word, but follow through to the doing (James 1:22).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Neither reading nor hearing nor singing nor studying nor memorizing nor meditating, nor all of these combined, gets us to the highest purpose of God\u2019s Word. As helpful as each of these may be, they are not ends in themselves but only means to a much greater end. God\u2019s primary goal for His Word will become reality in us when His kids just go do<\/strong> it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Christians are people of the Book where \u201cThus saith the Lord\u201d and \u201cIt is written\u201d are found throughout. God\u2019s Word began with the cosmic, creative speaking of the Father, came to earth in the Living Word that is the Son, and was inspired as the written Word of the Bible by the Spirit \u2014 one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":287,"featured_media":28225,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,1996],"tags":[210,828,2018,810],"yoast_head":"\n10 Ways to Take in the Word - Bible Advocate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"God\u2019s Word began with the Father speaking, came to earth in the Living Word (the Son) and was inspired as the written Word by the Spirit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/10-ways-to-take-in-the-word\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 Ways to Take in the Word - 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