getting out the good stuff cont . devotions
Topic : The Bible Scripture : Psalm 119:103 questions
1 . The first two things you can do to get the good stuff out of your Bible are to read it and study it . What is the difference between those things ?
Answer : When you read a passage of the Bible , you only go through it once . But when you study it , you dig a little deeper , maybe reading footnotes and articles that go with it , using a dictionary to look up words you don ’ t understand , etc .
2 . The next thing you can do to get the good stuff out of your Bible is to think about it . Some people call this “ meditation .” How do you do that ?
Answer : You can ask yourself questions like “ Why did the person in this passage do what he did ?” and “ What is God teaching me in this passage ?”
3 . Another thing you can do to get the good stuff out of your Bible is to memorize it . Of course , you don ’ t have to memorize the whole thing ! But it is helpful to memorize key Scripture verses . Why is that important ? Can you think of some fun ways to make Scripture memorization easier ?
4 . A very important thing you must do to get the good stuff out of your Bible is to believe it . This time , that does include the whole thing ! But what if part of the Bible seems hard to believe ? What should you do then ?
Answer : Trust in God . He says that the whole Bible is true , so you can have complete faith in it .
5 . Another great thing to do to get the good stuff out of your Bible is to pray it . How do you do that ?
Answer : Many parts of the Bible , such as the Psalms , are prayers to begin with . So it ’ s easy to read those passages out loud , making them your prayers . Other parts of the Bible can be turned into prayers . For example , Joel 2:13 says , “ Return to the Lord your God , for he is gracious and compassionate , slow to anger and abounding in love .” You could pray , “ God , I praise you because you are gracious and compassionate and loving , and you don ’ t get angry very quickly . And I ’ m glad that I can always come back to you when I make a mistake and sin .”
6 . Finally , there is one more thing you can do to get the good stuff out of your Bible — live it ! That ’ s very important . What are some ways you can do that ?
Some answers : you can ask God to tell you how you can apply a Scripture passage to your life , and ask him to give you the ability to do it ; you can make a commitment to God that you will live according to what the Bible teaches , and then do your best to keep that commitment ( asking for God ’ s forgiveness if , at times , you fail ); you can ask a friend to keep reminding you to do something the Bible says you should do ( such as tell the truth ); etc .
Do the “ Live It !” activity together as a group , or read the instructions to children and suggest that they try the activity at home . live it !
Buy some honeycomb , and try eating the honey right out of it . Then do the following things to get the good stuff out of your Bible : Read it . Study it . Think about it . Memorize it . Believe it . Pray it . And live it !
Copyright © 2011 by Zondervan
Material taken from the NIV Adventure Bible Book of Devotions