I'm so sorry that I haven't posted week at a glance, as promised. My days are jammed full these days, and it is all I can do to get one day up, let alone an entire week. Hopefully things will slow down soon, but for now, we'll just take it one day at a time.
Okay, without further ado.....
Week 4 - Day 1
- Pray - Ask the God of the Universe to quiet your mind and heart as you sit before His Word, so that you might learn all that He desires for you to learn.
- Read 1 Peter 4 - Today is our context day. We are getting our footing and establishing the context for our week of study. I suggest you read this chapter aloud, so that you might truly engage with the text.
- Reread 1 Peter 4 with a pen in your hand. Now, mark down your first impressions, your insights, your wonderings, your observations.
- Apply - Work to condense this chapter into a one to two-sentence summary. This will force you to think about "the main thing".
- Comment - Leave a comment and let us know what you deemed "the main thing".
As we work through the next couple of weeks, I'm going to try to suggest several different techniques (i.e. writing a summary sentence) for making Bible study relevant to your life. These are simply tools that I've used for teaching students to analyze various texts, but they have also assisted me in honing my Bible study skills. I hope they are useful to you, too.
Enjoy Chapter 4!
The Main Thing: Love and service are foremost. But, don't be shocked when your love for others and service towards them (though in God's name and His strength) bring insult to you.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I have a tendency to think "why is God making me go through this trial?". I shouldn't be surprised. Christ suffered; why do I think I will be spared?
I just have a moment before I have to get the kids off to school, but I wanted to share how excited I was by something. My oldest daughter is 10, and she has had problems with a girl bullying her at school. We went to the teacher who is handling things beautifully, (Christian school, such a blessing) but I could see my daughter needed more encouragement to continue doing the right thing and not doing something like striking out at this other girl. I thought back to what we had just studied in 1 Peter 3:9, never return evil for evil. She and I read the verses together in the Amplified Bible, how you are supposed to pray for that person who is acting in an evil way, truly loving them. She is not supposed to let this girl hurt her, but she is supposed to pray for her and love her.
ReplyDeleteHow easy it was for my daughter to take that verse to heart - which reminded me of how we are supposed to have childlike faith. Its so easy for me as an adult to really hold a grudge, God used my 10 year old to reveal His Word further to me. I was thrilled that God enabled me to a) know a specific scripture pertaining to a situation b) know where I could find that scripture and c) work on that whole "application" thing again! Thank you again for encouraging us to stick with this study! :) Beth
A day behind, but working to catch up:)
ReplyDelete1 Peter 4: What better way to be like Jesus than to experience suffering for doing what is right (the Message refers to this suffering as a "spiritual refining process")?! God is faithful and we can trust Him even when life gets difficult. Give Him the glory in all things: the way we speak, the way we serve, the way we love and the way we live.