TAKE THE YOU’VE GOT STYLE TEST HERE
Next Steps This Week:
1. Listen to God Questions Part 2 – Is the Bible True (Click Here)
2. Search www.christianbook.com for an audio or print Bible that fits your style. (Click Here)
3. Take the You’ve Got Style Test (Click Here)
Our theme verse for this series is James 4:8a – “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” So how do we draw near to God? There are 3 distinct ways that I believe we draw near to God: prayer, bible reading, and Godly relationships. In this weeks message we explored Colossians 3:16 – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” (Listen to the message here)
So how do we let the word of Christ (The Bible) dwell in us? Well, that depends on who you are! Over the past 3 weeks we have been working hard to discover our own styles of drawing near to God (See all the blog posts below). This week we explore how each person can effectively draw near to God through our own style of bible reading.
Naturalist – Get a bigger bible that has notes and a concordance. You will need it for all of your outdoor time. You can read your bible in an outdoor setting. You can also download a bible on your phone so that you will always have it with you. You should also read scriptures on nature and the glory of God revealed.
Sensate – The setting is important. Read in places like coffee shops or while you are baking something. You may also try reading out loud and lighting a candle. A good start may be to also have the Bible on video.
Traditionalist – You need to study the WHY behind the scriptures and its traditions. A good study would also be the Christian and Jewish calendars. WARNING: Don’t go to the same passages all the time and spend some time in the New Testament.
Asectics – The time of the day is important to you. You must have a quiet place and setting and turn off all phones and pagers.
Activist / Caregiver – You will need to be disciplined in your quiet time and get the Bible on CD or Ipod. You should study verses that have to do with God’s caring nature. WARNING: You tend to do works of service with or without the Bible. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly before doing acts of kindness.
Enthusiast – You should dive into psalms and songs in the Bible. WARNING: Don’t be too emotional and leave the bible study behind if you don’t have one day of great study time.
Contemplative – Mix up your routine a little and change translations. Always ask yourself, “What will be different today?”
Intellectual – You must dig deep into research of the Bible. PLEASE KNOW: It’s not all about head knowledge, it’s about the heart as well. Find a bible study software that you like. Some suggestions are: http://www.biblegateway.com/ or http://www.studylight.org/
