Priorities that Make a Difference – Part 4

If you’re just joining in, I hope you’ll check out my previous blogs in this series (here, here and here ????) for a quick catch up. This series is for anyone who wants to gain more from their time in God’s Word and prayer.Our priority time is a daily, unhurried time to get to know the Lord through the Bible and prayer. The first of 4 ingredients is Focused Thinking. In my last post, I mentioned our tendency to go too fast. Today, I want to encourage you in what to do as you slow down in your Focused Thinking.The first thing we must always do is understand what’s being said in a passage. This is rough to hear, but we’re often so self-centered that when we open God’s Word, we’re often immediately looking for how it can help us. Rest assured, God’s heart is to help us! But we must first make sure we truly get the point of a passage. This is where spending some time reading the passage slowly and repeatedly can help us. Once you’ve read the passage intentionally, it’s time to start asking some questions of the verses.[bctt tweet="God’s heart is to help us!"]If this is a new habit for you, I encourage you to start at the beginning of a book in the New Testament. Take a few verses each day and slowly move all the way through the book. The idea of opening the Bible to a different place each day robs us of understanding the author’s purpose. So, as you look at the first few verses, begin to look at the verses almost like pieces of a puzzle that you want to study. Put on your reporter hat and begin asking the journalistic questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.Not every passage will require every question to be asked. But begin to ask questions like:

Who is this written to?Who is this passage about?Where were they going?Why is this detail given?How did they respond?When is this occurring?

I often look at a passage and ask, “What questions does this passage answer?” or “What is the main focus of this verse?”One of the best habits I can recommend as you go through your Focused Thinking is to literally write down all your questions and answers. In addition to Focused Thinking, Life Journaling is another element of a priority time and here is where you should begin your journaling. Writing down your questions and answers will help you slow down and learn the passage, as well as remember what you learned. The following day as you continue in the passage, you have notes to glance back over if you need to be reminded.God left us a love letter. Scour over it, digest it, comb through it, so you know exactly what He wants you to learn. But we can’t stop at Focused Thinking. The best parts are just ahead of us. Join me next week as we look at one of the most important elements of our time with the Lord.