5 Steps to Soaking in Scripture

I wanted to share with you a process that helped me draw closer to God in a practical way.

It's a simple process that helped me experience the Word of God in a meaningful way that feeds me every day.

Have you read the Bible and it seemed dry and boring?
Have you ever felt the black and white words were NOT exciting?

I can raise my hand on that!

This process brough the scripture to life for me and I hope you does for you too.

Before we start...

TRUTH: You're in a spiritual battle whether you know it or not. Arm yourself. Be prepared.

The devil does NOT want you reading scripture.
It has truth he doesn't want you to remember.
It has widsom and comfort he doesn't want you to know.

Scripture is also a WEAPON...

TRUTH: In spiritual warfare, the Sword of the Spirit is SCRIPTURE.

When you're in scripture...
your clarity and discernment increases.
When you're in scripture...
You can hear, sense, feel God more effectively.
Scripture is a powerful WEAPON.
Here's how to use it.

Step 1) Quiet Place
- Get in a quiet place where you can hear your thoughts.
- Grab paper and pen.
First thing in the morning before everyone is awake is GREAT!
Late at night when you're tired, not so great.

Step 2) Choose One Chapter
- That's right. One Chapter only. We're going for quality not quantity.

Step 3) Invite the Holy Spirit
- Close your eyes and take 3 deep breathes, inhaling for 4 seconds and exhaling for 4.
- Say a little prayer to invite the Holy Spirit. This is to calm and prepare your mind.
- This is key. Without the Holy Spirit, the Bible will feel like a dry book with a lot of flimsy black and white pages.

- Here's a prayer: "Holy Spirit, I invite you into my heart to make these words come to life. Guide me, inspire me to hear and see what You want me to see. Amen."

- (Optional) You can spend time listen to some worship music as also.
- All this is to PREPARE your mind for the Holy Spirit to speak to you.

Step 4) Read One Verse
- Read one verse and PAUSE.
- This is the tricky part. It may seem like a "nothing" verse at first.
- Close your eyes, take a deep breath. Ask this outloud or in your mind "Holy Spirit, speak, Your servant is listening."
- Listen VERY closely to any emerging thoughts, words or phrases.
- It can be a variety of things...
A word or phrase that comforts you.
A thought on something that happened recently.
The Holy Spirit can speak to your heart about anything.
If you sense, hear or see anything, jot it down.
If it doesn't make sense, sit with it. Wait in silence. Ask "Holy Spirit, can you make it clear what you mean by ____?"

Your bandwidth to hear, sense or feel God may be limited at first.
Think of as a skill you can develop.
The more time you spend and grow with God, your ability to sense, hear or feel will improve.
You will start to feel more confident.
You will feel more peace.
You will feel more love.
The messages will become clearer and more robust.
Being in God's presense ONE verse at a time is great quality time.

Rinse and repeat Step 4 for EACH verse in the chapter.

Write down EVERYTHING.
Even if you're not sure what it means.

If you do this right, it may take a 1-2 minutes per verse.
A chapter may take you 20 minutes instead of 5.
It's waaaayyy better.
It's way more intentional.
It's way JUICIER.

Step 5) Read Your God Notes
- Read everything you wrote down on paper.
- All the thoughts. All the words. What memories came up? What do you feel like God was trying to say to you?
- Keep seeking God.
- It may not go perfect the first time, but keep pursuing.
- It may feel weird the first time, keep doing it.
- You may feel silly the first time, keep seeking.

I hope you found this helpful.
I wish someone walked me through this earlier but hey, I hope that this can be a blessing to you.

Thanks so much!}