I discovered today the benefits of one very important tool in Bible Study. Set an appointment and keep it. If possible, don’t let anything take priority over this precious time with the Lord.

A few days ago I was thinking I needed to set an appointment to use the Bible study methods I have been studying on the “Jonah Project”. I had not spent quality time on either project for a couple of weeks and time is getting short. The fall small group semester will start before I’m ready!

As I was thinking of the time to set aside Saturday morning for God and Jonah, my heart hears “7:00 am.” I thought, “okay, that might work I can get up at my normal time like the other days of the week, drink my coffee, read my daily Bible plan from the One Year Bible, and then run a couple of miles before it gets too hot.” I would be back and ready to sit down and enjoy my time  with God and Jonah  before it was time to mow the yard. Good Saturday plan……. wrong!

Saturday is the only day of the week that I do not set my alarm. Sunday through Friday my alarm goes off just before 4:00 a.m.  However, due to a lifetime of being an early riser, I am usually awake early on Saturdays as well, even without an alarm.  But, oh, not today. I wake up at 6:30 a.m. with only enough time for a cup of coffee and the reading plan before it’s “appointment time”. I seriously thought of pushing it back in order to get a run in before the temperature soared.

Thank goodness for sound teaching from people like Pastor Robert Morris in his book Frequency. You make time for what is important. I knew this time with God should take priority. I wanted it to take priority, so I skipped the run and started reading Jonah, again.

I have read Jonah so many times, I’ve lost count, but I knew I needed to use the methods I have learned in order to teach it to others since Jonah is the Book we will use to practice our newly learned skills.  I needed “living proof” that good solid methods change how we read, study, see, and hear God’s Word. By keeping the appointment today and making it a priority over the busy-ness I had scheduled for the morning, I found that God honors the time we set for Him. God showed up for the appointment and He brought Jonah with Him. I discovered some beautiful truth that I had missed in all the other times I have spent reading the Book of Jonah.

We set aside time for things and people that are important to us. We make appointments to go to the doctor and dentist. We make appointments for car and home repair. We make time for necessities such as work and for mundane tasks such going to the store. We set aside time for family and friends and whether we are single or married, we set aside time for dates and gatherings.

There is another appointment that we should make and one that we should never be late to keep. It should be the most important one in our life and it should take priority in our schedules. What is that appointment? It is an appointment with God. Setting an appointment does not make our time so precious that we need to “assign” time to Him. Setting an appointment with God actually honors Him. It shows Him that He is so important to our daily life, that we value our time with Him.

God even sets appointments. He has appointed times for all things. He gave us time and he knows how precious it is on this earth. In Exodus 19:10-11 God set aside time to speak to the people. He gave them time to prepare. God shows up to a prepared people! He speaks to those to who spend time with Him.

Set aside an appointed time with God every day. Bible study doesn’t have to be daily, but time with God, in His Word and in prayer and worship, should be a priority every day. I promise you, He won’t disappoint.

Exodus 19:10-11 (NIV)

¹⁰ And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes ¹¹ and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8  (NIV)

A Time for Everything

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Journaling is one of the cheapest and most effective Bible study tools available. Thoughts just seem to untangle themselves as they travel from the brain, through your heart and out the tip of your fingers.

Bible study requires you to write down what you have observed in the Scripture. It requires you to put on paper your thoughts about what you just read. You can read the Bible without writing, but you can’t study it. If you haven’t written anything down, you really haven’t thought about it.

You might even be surprised after you read what you have written. You will see insights that the Holy Spirit has given you as you think about the verse or passage you have been studying. There may be times when all you write is “I don’t get it”. That is good, too. When that happens, write it down and ask God to give you insight. It might not happen right then, but it will as you continue studying. It might be another verse or another passage, a sermon or a song that causes that “ah ha” moment . God speaks to our hearts, but sometimes we can only hear Him when we write it down.

Journaling isn’t just for Bible study time. I believe everyone should have a personal journal. Unless I’m doing an in-depth study on a particular subject, my personal journal and daily devotional journal are one and the same. One entry may be about the Scripture I read that morning, another one may be about my thoughts on the events of the day, while yet another entry may be a prayer that is on my heart.

God gives us thoughts and insights throughout the day. We should stop and write them down, lest we forget. I don’t mean that you need to carry a journal around with you all day (however, a journal app is very convenient!). I have written down insights on the backs of receipts, post-it notes, important documents (oops), you name it. I have even used the microphone app on my phone when something comes to mind while I’m driving! Sometimes, I just keep as-is, sometimes I transfer them to my journal at a later time.

A journal tracks our emotional, spiritual, and relationship growth.  It reveals our pain and our healing. It encourages us keep fighting for that prize.

So, if you will allow me, I will reveal to you a portion of a very personal side of journaling. In doing so, I hope you see why I believe in this process so much.

Last week, the benefits of journaling became very evident as I skimmed through my journals in preparation for the “Treasure” post. I knew I had written down the words that God placed in my heart about “searching for the treasure”, so I began thumbing through the pages. The timing for this couldn’t have been more perfect. I had been a little discouraged over certain aspects of my life, over changes that hadn’t yet occurred, prayers that seemed to remain unanswered and so on. In reality, I was just down right feeling sorry for myself.

But God, in His wondrous and often not so ordinary way, lifted my spirits through my own words. I saw insights that He has given me and I saw prayers that had been answered. I saw change.

Some of my first entries are actually  quite embarrassing.  They were written by a very emotionally and spiritually broken woman. I saw in these pages a woman desperately seeking love and confirmation.  I saw a woman crying out to her God, a woman turning to the only One who could give her the love and confirmation she so desperately needed.  I wanted to rip the pages from their binding and burn them so that no one would ever see them. But, I couldn’t. They are my testimony of a faithful God who heals the brokenhearted.

As I continued to read, I saw a woman beginning to change. Instead of heartache and, well, whining, I saw a woman reading her Bible, writing down Scripture, applying Scripture. I saw a woman falling in love and conversing with her God on paper. I saw hope for the future and a reassurance from God that everything is a process and that everything happens on His time schedule.

I praise God for all of it!  I am so thankful that I am not the woman I used to be and I know I have a long way to go before I am the one I am meant to be. But, with the evidence of a journal before me, I know God is faithful and I know He will guide me as long as I keep my eyes on the prize.

 “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14