What is Bible Intake?
For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures. (Romans 15:4 CSB)
God’s Word is the Bible, and it is inerrant, which means that it is without mistakes. Nothing that has been on this Earth, except the Bible and Jesus (Who is also known as the Word of God), are perfect. This means that we can learn God’s Word and trust it completely.
Our goals on this earth are simple: obtain salvation, seek to live a life of sanctification, and share the good news of Jesus Christ! All of these things are explicitly revealed and written in God’s Word.
As we start 2024, we at Fulfilling the Ministry want to encourage you to take in God’s Word and make it into a discipline in your life. (Side note, the Latin root of discipline is the same as disciple and it is discipulus, and that merely means pupil). Nothing about the word discipline sounds nice, but the results make it worth it. The same way eating healthy sounds awful, but feeling better makes it worth it; studying God’s Word to the point that it impacts our lives daily, makes it worth it.
So, how do we do it? I’m so glad you asked!
How can I know God by reading and studying His Word?
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (Timothy 3:16-17 CSB)
God reveals Himself to us through scripture, and this allows us to know Him in a way that is impossible otherwise. God shows us how to glorify Him, how to love Him with our actions. God’s Word shows us how to love Him, but most importantly, how He loves us. These are things that we wouldn’t know intrinsically, but instead, something that we learn through searching God out in scripture.
While it’s impossible to miss God’s fingerprints on all aspects of life, it is very possible to miss God’s attributes that we only see in scripture. To see God’s constant plans to help us have relationships with Him. That’s why we HAVE to read His Word. This is why we HAVE to take the time to know Him.
Bible study is a slow process, one that we cannot rush. We have to set aside the time to read, and the time to dive into it to really understand. The same way we don’t understand every slang and phrase that Gen Z uses (since we aren’t surrounded by it like they are), we can’t expect to understand things surrounding the scriptures from thousands of years ago without trying.
This is a process that is prompted on our own by the Holy Spirit, but is also meant to be done in community. We are meant to lean into each other as we learn, and grow together!
How can I live for God by memorizing His Word?
I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11 CSB)
While the author is unknown, they have a point. If we live our life pursuing God and glorifying Him, we have a higher chance of seeing the temptation to sin and avoiding it. We cannot do that on our own accord, but memorizing His Word helps us mold our decisions based on His wisdom.
This makes me think of Cain in Genesis 4. God tells him, “If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7 CSB). We must rule over the sin that comes crouching at our doors. This isn’t something that we do naturally, instead, we lean towards sin by our very nature, but armed with the Holy Spirit and God’s Word, all things are possible, including ruling over temptations to sin.
In a similar vein, I learned most of my hockey knowledge by reading a plethora of hockey romance novels. Because of these books, and the little tidbits they drop here and there, I’ve gotten a pretty firm understanding of how it works. The same way reading God’s Word and learning things with each reading, we’ll get a firm understanding on who God is and what He wants from us. This makes memorizing these things important!
How can I grow in God through His Word?
How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3 CSB)
So, at this point we’ve used God’s Word, Scripture, and now Lord’s Instruction as words or phrases for the Bible. We get to see a juxtaposition of two types of people in these verses: Someone who delights and grows in God’s Word and someone who is not making great decisions on who they’re getting their information from. It makes it pretty clear who is achieving success in life and who isn’t.
When it comes to teaching my kid, I usually word it similar to that concept. “Alright Buddy, do you want to make a good decision and eat your food while we’re having dinner, or do you want to make a bad decision and be hungry later?” It seems like a no brainer right?
Reading this reminds me of how God gave Joshua encouragement in Joshua chapter 1, and it sounded an awful lot like these verses. God told Joshua to “This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.” (Joshua 1:8 CSB). As we can most probably cross Joshua off as a potential writer of this Psalm, we can assume that this was common knowledge for the people at this time. Meditating on God’s Word, learning from it, and doing what it says are great ways to grow in His Word.
In Psalm we get this imagery of a tree flourishing and growing in a beautiful and healthy way, as the result of meditating on God’s Word. In Joshua, we get the promise that if we meditate on His Word, we will prosper and succeed because we will be aligned to God’s will for us.
Now you may be asking yourself what meditating on God’s Word looks like, and I would answer you that meditating on God’s Word looks like slowing down and taking the time to understand. It’s the result of studying and memorizing scripture. It is something that we can love doing because it brings us closer to God.
Practically, this may look like reading through the same scripture for a couple of days, instead of moving on to the next chapters. It may look like writing scripture on index cards and placing them where you can see them or turning them into prayers to God. Whatever works best for you, just spend the time really devoted to learning and knowing Him.
Bible Intake is only what we make of it. If we go into our study focused on what it means for us, or how it will benefit us, it will be self-centered and completely useless. But when we align our Bible intake to God’s will for us to know Him better, and grow in our relationship with Him, we gain so much more.
In 2024, we want to encourage you to spend the extra time, reading and just sitting with His Word, so that we can grow into genuine disciples who love God for who He is, and not for what He does/did for us. We can only truly love Him if we know Him, and His Word is the gateway for that.