​It's easy nowadays to be in a rush.
​But rush rarely leads to results.
​Slow down.
​Especially when it comes to Bible study.
​I'm not talking about Bible study so you can swing your diploma around and beat people over the head with your theological prowess. Not that kind of Bible study.
Rather, I mean the kind of Bible study that helps you to become a student of God and of yourself (the Bible is a mirror after all) and how you are viewing what sits right before your eyes, and equally what cannot be seen but is just as powerfully at work in the invisible places of the heart.
​God's Word searches out the deepest thoughts and intents of the heart, we are told.
​This probably sounds a great deal more spiritual and complicated than it actually is.
​Here's how it works…
​Open your Bible and allow the Holy Ghost to direct you where to begin reading. By that, generally, I mean what book to read, not just a random verse here or there. The Bible was written without verses, and each book was written as a whole. To understand and draw the most juice from your study, I find it's best to approach a book as a whole.
​For me right now, it's the books of 1 and 2 Peter.
​As you're reading through, read slowly.
Let your heart be sensitive to the Teacher who sits by your side. Incidentally, He is also the Author of the book, so he has a pretty good idea what is relevant to you right now.
​You'll find, in the same way as the dove alighted on Christ at his baptism, that you'll sense his presence land on particular verses or portions of the book that you're reading.
The Dove lands on the Word. (Read that statement again, it's packed with revelation)
​You'll be prompted to go back and read the verse or portion again, sometimes again and again.
​Certain words may be highlighted, and that could be an indication that it's worth scratching below the surface to find out the definition of that word, the Greek or the Hebrew original, or how that word is used in other contexts throughout the scripture.
​It may be that a character or a personality stands out, and that God wants to lead you into a more in-depth character study.
​Or a subject. A particular thread of theology may loom large as you begin to piece together the different things the Holy Spirit is saying throughout the book and how it connects to what He has said in other books of the Bible.
​Like me, you'll find that you are stopped in your tracks.
​The Holy Spirit will press the pause button, and cause you to camp around a certain book, a certain word, a certain subject, a certain character, or a certain theme.
​My current campground is the first epistle of Peter, chapter 1, verse 3, and particularly the words "According to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again."
​In verse 23 of that same chapter, he talks about being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God.
​Looks like the Holy Spirit is bringing me back to some of the basics.
​On a side note, there's another verse in chapter one of 1 Peter that's causing me to itch on the inside, and that is verse 14.
This particular verse talks about fashioning ourselves according to things other than the word of God. How we ignorantly seek to shape ourselves instead of yielding to the hand of the potter as He shapes us into the image of His Son. I think there's something there worth digging into.
​How about you? What is the Holy Spirit emphasising when you're spending time with him in his Word?
