Listening to the Lord’s Voice April 17, 2008

     I wanted to share with you all the method of bible study i learned in the “I Saw The Lord” class. I really felt empowered by this method that i could actually open up my bible and truly hear what God wants to say to me in this modern-day world. Once i actually got going on it, I found this to be easy- of course, after a time of serious prayer and asking the Lord to please help me understand, grasp, and use this method. After my success with this type of study i thought everyone ought to know this method. Because who doesn’t want to be able to hear what the Lord has to say to us through His Holy Word.

     In fact, Barry & I are going to do this study together. Me for the second time and him for the first. This will be the first time that Barry’s ever done anything like this so I’m praying the Lord will really help him to grasp it. I pray for the Lord to give him the desperate desire to learn what His purpose for him is. I’m excited because my husband is a really great guy inside and out. He has all the qualities i lack- which is a lot… starting with deep compassion. I know God really must have something awesome in store for Him an I just want to hurry up and find out what it is. “smile” No, I’m not impatient at all! I am i admit it. Mostly i just want Roni (barry) to rely more on God’s word and less on what we are capable of.

     What i am about to repeat is verbatim from Anne Graham Lotz Book & Bible Study “I Saw The Lord.” I owe her all the credit for sharing this method with us. I hope you will enjoy this and try it out for yourself. Should you have any questions please feel free to e-mail and I’ll help anyway I can or I’ll put you in touch with my mother who is the teacher of this class. Be blessed!

Step One- Read God’s Word

Read the passage one verse at a time. You will do each verse separately.

Step Two- What does God’s Word say? List the facts.

Make a verse-by-verse list of the outstanding facts as you see them in the passage. Pinpoint the most obvious facts. Do not paraphrase or put His words into your own but use actual words from the passage itself. Leave out secondary details and start with the nouns and verbs.

Step Three- What does God’s word mean? Learn the lessons.

Go back to the list of facts and look for a lesson or spiritual principle to learn in each fact. Ask yourself, ” What are the people in this passage doing or not doing that i should or shouldn’t be doing? Is there a command i should obey? A promise i should claim? A warning i should heed? An example i should follow?”

Step Four- What does God’s Word mean to me? Listen to His voice.

Take the lessons or principles from step three and put them in the for of a question you could ask yourself, your spouse, your child, a friend, a neighbor, or a coworker. As you do so, listen for God to speak to you personally through His Word. This is the most meaningful step, the one in which I so frequently hear God’s voice. But you cannot do step four until steps one, two, and three are completed. No skipping steps! Don’t e discouraged if it takes a while to develop this ability. The more time you spend in this prayerful, meditative, listening mode, the clearer God’s voice will become.

Step Five- How will I respond to God’s Word today? Live it out.

Listen for God to speak to you personally through the passage. He may not speak to you through every verse, but he will speak. When He does, record the verse number, what it is He seems to be saying to you, and your response to Him. You may wish to not the date, both as a means of keeping a journal and to hold yourself accountable to an obedient response.

     It took me a bit to get myself going on this. But i promise it will come then you’ll be surprised how easy it becomes to remember the steps and do it to every verse you read. There are no right or wrong answers. Each of us are in different places in all aspects of life so the Lord will speak to each of us accordingly. <Which is where the crazy name “Swallowing A Moose” was born out of. The fact that some are like me- slow learners- and the beginning of anything great is one step at a time. Or in the case of the moose- one bite at a time.> I really hope all of you will try this out! It’s great fun to do and fun-er to hear from the Lord. Then the challenge is on because it’s up to you to be obedient and act upon what you learn and what He has to say to you! In my next post I’ll break it down for you and do one so you can actually see what i looks like and how it works.