Glass Being Filled with Water God has definitely been trying to drive home a point with me these past couple weeks. He is telling me that I need to give significantly more time to the study of His word. Yes, maybe I spend half an hour to an hour a day in quiet time, praying, reading, and meditating, but it isn’t enough. I need to set aside larger chunks of time once or twice a week to study the Bible in depth. Here are some snippets of what He has been revealing to me:

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. – Revelation 3:19-20


If I want to hear His voice, open the door and dine with Him. I am sure that there are many different ways we can hear His voice, but I know that the Bible is definitely one of them. Do I listen intently?

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. – Psalm 32:8


God is willing to teach us, are we willing to learn? He gave us the ultimate textbook, do I spend time skimming parts or open it up for serious study?

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. – 1 John 4:1-3


How can I “test the spirits”? Christ when He was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4) answered with scripture, but the devil also tried to use scripture. If I don’t spend time to really understand the scripture, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, how can I test spirits and resist temptation?

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. – Matthew 6:25-33-34


By now, I am convinced that I need to set aside time for in depth study of the Bible, but then I begin to stress about how busy I am and all the work that needs to get done. This verse was comforting, if we are doing His will, He will provide. Now I am more comfortable with giving up significant chunks of time. I also began to realize that it was my pride and lack of faith that was telling me that I have to be the one to get the work done and that if I didn’t do it wasn’t going to get done.

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. – John 17:3


We get to know God thorough His word. If I can’t spend a few hours a week studying the Bible, how can I spend eternity with Him?

For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me. – 1 Corinthians 4:15-16


I began to pray about how God wants me to delve into His word, I know there are many different methods of doing so. When I read this, I began to think, how can I imitate someone I don’t know. I decided that I would begin with doing biographical studies of characters in the Bible to see examples of how they imitated Christ.

Yesterday, we got to spend some time with Bishop Paul, our Bishop of Mission, He was sharing with us about what makes a great disciple of the Lord. He began with a verse from the gospel of John:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. – John 14:12


He was asking why don’t we do greater works than Christ? It is because we aren’t filled and led by the Holy Spirit. He use the example of Saint Paul, who was smart and intellectual, yet this is not what led to his fruits, it was sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. The only way to produce the great work is spending time getting filled and being obedient to His leading..

Now for action on my part. I had started using Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods as a guide to studying the Bible before, but only made it through the first method, “The Devotional Method of Bible Study,” so I picked it back up today and read through the fifth method, “The Biographical Method of Bible Study.” He recommends several different characters to study if you are just beginning. I think I will begin with my namesake, Andrew. I have scheduled in several hours on Monday to take the plunge. I’ll post an outline when I’m done.