P4CM Blog

Since the first installment of this article was published a week ago, there has been great feedback and it has been quite encouraging to see the desire women have to go deeper in their knowledge and study of God’s word. In Part 1 we took a look at the example in Acts of the first century disciples who thoroughly studied God’s revealed Truth at that time and how we can follow in their same footsteps today. We walked through what it really means to be a disciple and how vitally necessary our knowledge of His word is to our discipleship. Third, we explored how our interaction with the Text impacts the lives of our fellow sisters in the Faith. Lastly, we considered the implications in being students of the Word where the roles of being a wife and mother are concerned.

Now that we’ve put some of the facts of the matter on the table, let’s discuss how to bring all of this full circle. Without a way of application, knowledge is just information. It is my prayer that you walk away from reading this final installment with a renewed sense of zeal for going below the waterline of Scripture to gain all that you can out of It. For the women who live primarily under the surface of the Text, let’s be sure to do our part in training up the sisters that are newer and younger in the Faith. So, without further ado..

Let’s go deep!

The best investment we can make in our lives is being and becoming more and more literate in the word of God! There are layers to literacy. It’s not just about reading it. Where biblical literacy is concerned it’s also about understanding it correctly, memorization, and picking apart words and phrases to understand what’s really being conveyed. It’s about going deep! It’s understanding that there are timeless principles and truths and cultural principles. It’s understanding Jesus’ parables because His parables teach us so much about how we should live our lives. It’s learning the correlation between the Old and New Testament and seeing the Law be fulfilled in Jesus’ life, and what that means for you and I.

So what does going deep look like practically? It means stocking up on tools that’ll help you dig deeper into the text such as commentaries, a bible dictionary, having more than 1 translation of the Bible (or get a parallel Bible) and most definitely have an Interlinear Bible that shows the original language (Hebrew and Greek) with the corresponding literal English translation. These kinds of resources are also available for FREE on sites like Bible Hub and Bible Study Tools. If you’re a software and app junkie like I am, you’ll love Logos! And by the way, Bible Hub and Bible Study Tools also have FREE downloadable apps for your smartphones and tablets! These tools have tremendously helped me to properly understand the word of God in its right context thus further helping me to rightly apply it to my life. It can and will do the same for you!

Want to get in and stay in the word systematically? Try a biblically solid devotional daily reading plan like She Reads Truth. For those of you reading who have come across another awesome and solid daily reading plan, please leave the name of it and link in the comment section for others to be able to use.

Keep in mind that you NEED community while using these tools. Small group leaders, women’s ministry leaders, and pastors will help to provide clarity where there might be confusion and should be a safe place where you can go to receive coaching especially where interpretation is concerned. I love being married to a pastor! Lol! I bug my husband constantly with interpretation and context questions in the word and love having access to all of his books and resources. Gotta love the perks! 🙂 On a more important note, let me say this though. Seek counsel from different objectionable solid sources. Leaders and pastors can be wrong at times and you want to ensure that what is being explained to you is in the right context, coincides with the whole scope of Scripture, and is not not heavily influenced with their slant of the text.

Exciting times learning the word of God below the surface is NOT just available for the pastor who teaches on Sunday, those in seminary or Bible college, ministry leaders, etc. It’s available to the disciple who wants nothing more than to get to know more intimately their God and Savior, and the one who is hell bent on being a disciple maker in the kingdom of God. It’s available to the disciple who will uncover every opportunity to look more and more like their Rabbi in Jesus Christ. It’s available to the woman who will make sure she’s equipped to live out Titus 2 in her generation and the generations to come. Dig in my loves and step your game up!

Real treasure awaits.

“If we slight the reading of the God-breathed Word, the Holy Spirit is handicapped with dull tools for teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in right doing. Why then should we be surprised that we fall short of godly character, feel spiritually incompetent in Christian witness, and fail at good works? The loop of learning takes us back to the basics. If we want the qualities associated with spiritual maturity, we must be avid readers of the God-breathed Word and serious students of Scripture.” -David L. McKenna

With Love, Morgan-Raquel

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