Bible Study 1.30.11

LIFE WORDS learner guide, p. 76: the "inestimable value of the intangible asset of the truth of God's Word"

What would you consider the top five things that keep people from spending time alone with God?

What resources do you/believers you know use to meditate upon/study God's Word?

Psalm 119:11-16

--storing up God's instructions so that they might determine behavior

--What can meditation accomplish in a believer's life?

--Share specific verses you memorized that have been especially encouraging to you.

--How can you consistently declare "all the judgments of [God's] mouth (v. 13), "meditate [on God's] precepts," and "respect [God's] ways" (v. 15) without having a Bible in front of you all day long?

--What needs to happen in your life for you to develop the same kind of attitude and commitment the psalmist had toward focusing on God's Word?

--Biblical meditation in the Psalms results in faithful performance or application of the principles learned.

--Why should Christians treasure and value Scriptures?

--reflecting on divine truth makes it increasingly part of my thinking and overall perspective on life...."transformed by the renewing of [our minds]:

--meditate so that we can provide milk/spiritual nourishment for someone else

--Rather than emptying our mind, we are to FILL them with the truth of God.


Mark 1:35-39

--Describe your time alone with God.

--Prayer and meditation will require us to say no even to GOOD things in order to focus upon the BEST thing.

--Identify a place where you do or could begin to spend regular time alone with God in prayer.


Psalm 1:1-3

--Our lives will increasingly take on and reflect God's character.

--ways believers can
(1) delight in God's Law
(2) meditate on God's revealed truth continually
(3) take in spiritual nourishment available to us

--Whom do you know whose life demonstrates the truth of these verses?

--What do you think the psalmist meant by "whatsoever he doeth shall prosper?

--What is the one thing that most often and most effectively distracts you from God's Word?

--Francis Cosgrove of The Navigators: "'Our spiritual development is revealed by how we pray.'"

--If someone discovered for whom and what you pray and upon what verses you meditate, what would he/she learn about you?

--"First I fell in love with my teacher; then I fell in love with my teacher's Bible; then I fell in love with my teacher's Lord."

--Will people fall in love with the LORD and His Word by following your example?

--Say no to good things in order to focus on the best. Develop/maintain important habits.