BIBLE STUDY METHODS - Introduction

THE most powerful disciplines of the Christian life are studying God's Word and prayer. When you know the Word of God you are going to know the will of God for your life. When you know the will of God, you will be able to pray specifically and get specific answers--you will learn to know the mind of God.

This series promises to be another life-changing experience for our class. However, just as with our previous series, Let Us Pray, the promise of a changed life has a premise: You will only benefit to the degree that you apply what you learn during this series.

Each week I will introduce a new Bible Study Method. At the end of each class I will give you several recommended passages to apply the selected method during the up-coming week. You can use one of those passages or choose a different one. When we return on Sunday, we will review that method and then I will introduce a new method. We will start with the Devotional Method. If you are unable to attend every class, I encourage you to follow along on the blog.

Below are the slides from today's class.

LET US PRAY - Five Pointers on Prayer

In our final session in our series "Let Us Pray", we looked at five questions--pointers:

1. How has God given us sufficient provision for prayer?

2. How does Satan try to stop you from praying?

3. Aside from personal prayer, what other kind of prayer must we attend to in accordance with the Word of God?

4. What are the various aspects in the work of prayer which need attention?

5. What is the central objective of prayer?

These five questions led us to the most important purpose of all prayer. God reveals in John 17 that His purpose is not just to answer our prayers, but that through prayer we might come to discern His mind and desire His will. The one prayer which God must answer is the prayer of Jesus:

"...that they may be one just as We are one..." (John 17:22)

We become one with God when we discern His mind. We prepare to discern God's mind and accept His will when we "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

God is not concerned about our plans; He doesn’t ask, “Do you want to go through this loss of a loved one, this difficulty, or this defeat?” No, He allows these things for His own purpose. The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, and nobler men and women, or they are making us more critical and fault-finding, and more insistent on our own way. The things that happen either make us evil, or they make us more saintly, depending entirely on our relationship with God and its level of intimacy. If we will pray, regarding our own lives, “Your will be done” (Matthew 26:42), then we will be encouraged and comforted by John 17, knowing that our Father is working according to His own wisdom, accomplishing what is best. When we understand God’s purpose, we will not become small-minded and cynical.

Jesus prayed nothing less for us than absolute oneness with Himself, just as He was one with the Father. Some of us are far from this oneness; yet God will not leave us alone until we are one with Him— because Jesus prayed, “…that they all may be one….”

Next week we begin a series on how to study the Bible called: "Bible Study Methods: Twelve Ways You Can Unlock God's Word"

LET US PRAY - A Heart for God

Today's lesson was born during the regular morning prayer time (9:15-9:45) I had with some of our men before class. It was not planned and it was unexpected, but I felt deeply that it was inspired. Sometimes we must let go of our plans and let God lead. This morning was one of those times for me.

There is no doubt that God has His hand on this class. I have a great desire for our class to be all that God wants for us--individually and as a group. This requires our complete surrender to His will. It requires that we hunger and thirst for oneness with our Father more than anything else.

Since prayer is so very important to our becoming one with God, and since becoming one with God was what Jesus felt to be of utmost concern, I felt we should each take some time to honestly examine our current spiritual condition? As Watchman Nee said, "Nothing in the spiritual realm reveals our weakness more than prayer."

There are three possible spiritual conditions:

1. Unregenerated (not saved);

2. Regenerated (saved);

3. Carnal (saved but not controlled by God)

UNREGENERATED

Man is unique among all God's creation not because he has or is a soul, but because he has a spirit, and this spirit united with a soul becomes a man. This kind of union causes man to be unique in the universe. According to the Bible, man's soul alone cannot form any relationship with God. Man's relationship with God is in his spirit. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must use their spirit. Only spirit can relate to Spirit. Only spirit can worship Spirit. Therefore, in the Bible we see that only spirit can serve Spirit (Romans 1:9; 7:6; 12:11), only spirit can know Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9-12), only spirit can worship God who is Spirit (John 4:23; Philippians 3:3), and only spirit can receive revelation from God who is Spirit (Revelations 1:10; 1 Corinthians 2:10).

We should, therefore, keep in mind that God always deals with man by means of man's spirit and also accomplishes His plan through man's spirit. For man's spirit to thus fulfill God's purpose, the spirit must continue, without ceasing, to be in living union with God Himself and not for a moment follow the outwared emotions, desires, and ideas of the soul, thus contradicting the divine law.

The living of an unregenerated man is almost entirely under the control of the soul.

First, man has the conditions of anxiety, curiosity, joy, pride, compassion, debauchery, delight, astonishment, shame, love, regret, excitement, and happiness. Second, man has ideals, imaginations, inferences, examinations, analyses, reflections, etc. Third, man has the desire to obtain power, riches, social approval, freedom, position, fame, praise, and knowledge. He can be decisive, dependent, courageous, and have endurance; at the same time, he can be fearful, indecisive, independent, stubborn, and opinionated. These are the manifestations of the soul in its three aspects--mind, will, and emotions. Is not man's life full of these things?

However, man's regeneration does not result from any of these functions. One may repent of offenses, be sorrowful for sin, and resolve to improve with tears; yet this is not salvation. Confession, decision, as well as many other religious feelings are not regeneration. Even the determination of the will, the knowledge of the intellect, and the receptiveness of the mind in deciding to gain that which is good, beautiful, and noble are merely the functions of the soul, while the spirit may remain entirely unmoved.

In the matter of salvation, man's mind, will, and emotion are not the basic or primary items; rather, they are secondary, subordinate. They are servants, not the master. Therefore, regardless whether it is the sufferings of the body, the excitement of the emotion, the demand of the will, or the understanding of the mind working out reforms and improvements, none of these is what the Bible calls being born again. The regeneration in the Bible takes place in a part deeper than man's body and soul. it is in his spirit that the Holy Spirit imparts God's life to him. Our natural abilities cannot cause anyone to be born again. The Christian life must not rely on the power of the soul.

REGENERATED

How can man obtain this regeneration of the spirit?

By faith man must join himself--spirit, soul, and body--unto the Lord Jesus. This means that he must reckon the Lord Jesus as himself, counting the death of the Lord Jesus as his own death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus as his own resurrection. This is the meaning of John 3:16: "That every one who believes into Him...would have eternal life." The sinner must exercise faith to believe unto the Lord Jesus, to be joined unto His death, and thus be one in His resurrection. Then he will be able to obtain eternal life, which is a spiritual life (John 17:3), and thus he will be born anew. He will be regenerated and indwelled with the Holy Spirit of promise.

When man is regenerated, he obtains God's life. This is the starting point of a Christian life. This is the minimum for every believer. Whoever has not believed in the death of the Lord Jesus and received a supernatural life which he originally did not have, regardless of how zealously he may be progressing in the areas of religion, morality, and learning, is still a dead man in God's sight. All who do not have God's own life are dead.

Before regeneration, man's soul ruled over his spirit. His "self" dominated his soul. His lust governed his body. The soul became the life of the spirit, the "self" became the life of the soul, and the lust became the life of the body. After man's regeneration, the Holy Spirit rules his spirit, causing his spirit to govern his soul, then through the soul to rule over his body. Now the Holy Spirit becomes the life of the spirit, and the spirit becomes the life of the entire being.

At the time of regeneration the Holy Spirit revives the human spirit and renews it. In the Bible, regeneration refers to the step in which a man comes out of death and enters into life. This regeneration, like the physical birth, occurs only once, and once is sufficient. It is at this time of rebirth that man receives God's own life, is born of God, and becomes God's child. "Being renewed" in the Bible refers to the Holy Spirit's work of increasingly filling and permeating our being with His life and thus completely overcoming our life in the flesh.

CARNAL

The apostle in 1 Corinthians 3:1 classified all Christians as either spiritual or fleshy. A spiritual Christian is one who has the Holy Spirit dwelling in his spirit and ruling over his whole being. What then is a fleshy one? The flesh in the Bible signifies all of the nature and life of an unregenerated man--the totality of the unregenerated man, including all the matters belonging to his sinful spirit, soul, and body (Romans 7:18). Therefore, a fleshy Christian is one who having been reborn and having received God's life, is unable to overcome his flesh, and is instead overcome by his flesh. A fleshy Christian therefore, is one who follows his soul and body to sin, act, and behave.

If after regeneration, a believer remains for a prolonged period of time in the flesh, God's saving way will not be manifested to be perfected in him. It is when he grows in grace to become spiritual that salvation is perfected in him. The saving way of the Cross is that God has already prepared salvation for every sinner to be regenerated, and that every regenerated one  may attain to the status of a spiritual man who is able to overcome the "old creation."

(the above was taken from "The Spiritual Man - Volume 1" by Watchman Nee)

LET US PRAY - Prayer That Resists Satan (Part 3)

Is your life too busy for God? From morning till night are you consumed with the "cares of the world"? Is it often only when crisis strikes that you turn to God and offer up a selfish prayer?

"And the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." Mark 4:19

Are your days zipping by leaving you wondering "Where did the day go?" Is your life so full that you have no time to connect with God? Do you go to Him with ALL your daily concerns, every hour, in every situation? Is He the first One you talk to about even the smallest issues in your day?

We will be crushed when we believe that we can somehow make it through each day living out our lives in the power of our own will; doing what we think is best - our own agendas; our own plans; pursuing our own desires. God has shaped each of us for a very special purpose. When we push away from God and succumb to the rush of emotions the flood into our lives every minute urging us to pursue fruitless, self-absorbed goals, we will grow old lacking in wisdom and knowledge of God. Fear, anxiety, stress, worry, and a complete lack of peace with be the norm.

"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

Satan's job becomes easy when you are too busy, distracted, and self-absorbed. With one of his many tactics, he can easily ambush you. It might not be a tactic of pain he chooses to pull from his arsenal of tricks, or perhaps a tactic of pleasure. Either way, his intent is to devour you and leave you as "road kill" in your journey to fulfill God's great purpose He has planned for you.

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8

Our most effective weapons against the devil's tactics are: PRAYER, FAITH, WISDOM, and KNOWLEDGE. We must be quick to confess our sins and restore the power of the Holy Spirit over our soulish lives. We must desire a friendship with Jesus as our most trusted friend in all situations and circumstances. We must make time in every day to get to know our best Friend. We must learn to make prayer a natural part of our entire day. When we don't pray, we are saying we have no interest in getting to know our heavenly Father. You might be a fan of Jesus, but are do you really know Him.

Jesus prayed, "I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one--as you are in me, Father, and i am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me." John 17:21

LET US PRAY - Prayer That Resists Satan (Part 2)

Last week we looked at the first of the three aspects of prayer: YOU. Today, in a shortened lesson (due to the tornado alert), I focused on the remaining two aspects of prayer: God and Satan.

1) You - Praying for your needs and wants.

2) God - His will be done for His glory.

3) Satan - The evil one who opposes God's work, will, and interest.

The carnal Christian (the believer who is living in the flesh and trusting in the power of his own will) even his sensible prayer lays stress solely on the one aspect of his own welfare. His motive in prayer is to benefit himself. What he has in mind is merely his own needs and wants. If only he can have the Lord answer his prayer and give him his heart's desire, then he is satisfied. He does not recognize that there is such a thing as the will of God, nor is he aware of what the glory of God is. And of course he does not have the remotest concept concerning the aspect of making Satan suffer loss. Most, who pray, rarely pray for the sole purpose of asking for God's will to be done for His glory. Nor do they pray for the sole purpose of asking God to bind Satan and his army of dark angels and demons.

The Christian who is surrendered and desiring to walk in God's will prays not only for their personal needs, but will pay great attention to the glory and will of God. They expect Him to answer their prayer not because they only want to get something for themselves but because, additionally, God will be glorified in the answer to their prayer. In praying, they do not insist on having what they pray for because they are fully surrendered to the truth that everything they could ever want exist in God's will. Hence their prayer covers the two aspects of both God and man.

Very few Christians consider the third aspect--that of Satan--in their prayer. The aim of a true prayer touches on personal gain, but more importantly on the glory of God and the loss of the enemy. Prayer that resists Satan is highly successful if it will cause Satan to lose and God to be glorified. When God's will is done and Satan suffers loss the believer will unquestionably be profited. The spiritual progress of a saint can therefore be judged by the emphasis to be seen in his prayer.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY: The common image of Satan with pitchfork and horns, or some evil-looking, dark, creepy character is totally untrue. Matter-of-fact, Satan/Devil/Adversary is quite the opposite. Satan was created a cherub and he originally was "the anointed cherub that covered" the very throne of God. He was perfect and "blameless". He was "full of wisdom and beauty", but his pride lifted up his self-worth and he became "unrighteous" before God. Read below how God described Satan in Ezekiel 28:12-15:

"You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone...all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you."

 Today we learned that our most effective weapons against Satan are PRAYER, FAITH, WISDOM, and KNOWLEDGE. As we approach each test (cross), we must turn to God in prayer with faith and search His Word. With a surrendered heart, we search His Word for Truth as it applies to our particular test. Day-after-day, year-after-year, we grow in wisdom through each test (cross) as we are "sanctified through they truth: thy word is truth." (John 17:17)

We learn to pray for God's will and His glory. We learn how to pray for God to bind Satan and immobilized him from causing God's children unnecessary suffering or loss. We pray, as Jesus taught us: "deliver us from evil" while always surrendered to God's will standing ready to accept what He allows for the ultimate purpose of accomplishing His will and glorifying His Name.

Next week we will join with the "Something Else" class for breakfast and fellowship. On May 3rd we will continue with "Prayer That Resists Satan (Part 3).

LET US PRAY - Prayer That Resists Satan (Part 1)

There are three aspects of prayer:

1) You - praying for your needs and numerous requests.

2) God - the petitioned is God, hearing your prayers and ultimately answering according to His will.

3) Satan - The evil one who opposes God's work, will, and interest.

Every true prayer is related to all three aspects. When we come to pray, we naturally pray for our own welfare. We have needs, wants, and expectations; and so we pray. We pray for the sake of fulfilling our requests. Even so, in true prayer we should not simply ask concerning those things pertaining to our own welfare, we should also pray for the glory of God and for heaven's rule over the earth. Answer to prayer gives the Lord much glory, for it reveals the exceeding greatness of His love and power in fulfilling the request of His children. It also indicates that His will is done, because He will not answer prayer which is not in accordance with His will.

We know that the ruler of this universe is God. yet Satan is called "the prince of the world" (John 14:30) since "the whole world lieth in the evil one" (1 John 5:19). Hence we see that there are two diametrically opposing forces in this world, each seeking for ascendancy. God in truth has the ultimate victory; nonetheless, in this age of ours before the millennial kingdom, Satan continues to usurp power in this world to oppose God's work, will, and interest. We who are children of God belong to God. If we gain anything under His hand, it naturally will mean that His enemy suffers loss. The amount of gain we make is the amount of God's will done. And the amount of God's will done is in turn the amount of loss Satan suffers.

Any prayer that does not take into consideration all three aspects is superficial, of little worth, and without much accomplishment.

Today we focused on YOU - the first aspect of prayer. As you evaluate what defines your life, honestly ask yourself how you define your life: by a ladder or by the Cross? Are you daily being crucified with Christ? (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:5-7) Are you vigilant as you experience your daily activities and encounters with situations and people and standing ready to deny yourself for the sake of Christ? Is your identity founded in a oneness with God? Is your idea of freedom being surrendered to God's perfect will? Are you living in the world but not of it? (John 17:14-15)

Sanctification is the process of becoming holy and separated. "For this is the will of God, your sanctification." (1 Thessalonians 4:3) We are sanctified positionally, progressively, and perfectly. We are called to be holy as Jesus was holy. (1 Peter 1:13-16)

As you journey down the  road of sanctification there will be many crosses where you are challenged to deny yourself and take another step closer to becoming more like Christ. (Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:23). I have always likened  the pain of "dying to self" as to the pain of removing a barbed fish hook from the flesh. The tearing of flesh when the barb is pulled out is much like the pain we experience when we put our own flesh to death on the Cross.

Becoming one with Christ requires that we face many crosses (deaths to self). The call is tough; the reward is matchless.

Next week, we will continue with "Prayer That Resist Satan".

LET US PRAY - Divine Institutions & Volitions

Today's lesson was an overview of the Doctrine of Divine Institutions, categories of Volition, and the ways God's will is expressed.

The Divine Institutions (Volition, Marriage, Family, and Nationalism) are the most basic practices that God set up for the human race in order to protect them, preserve them, and allow them to enjoy blessings on earth.

The #1 and most important Divine Institution is Volition (which include human responsibility and accountability). All other institutions are designed to protect Volition. It is crucial that one understands the importance of and the responsibilities and accountability associated with volition. When one demonstrates responsible behavior through the exercise of positive volition, then this strengthens the marriage, strengthens the family, and strengthens human government and the nation. But when an individual fails to understand responsibility and accountability it destroys marriage, destroys family, and ultimately destroys government and the nation. That is why it is crucial for parents to teach the importance of volition/responsibility and to have consistent accountability with their children as they grow up. 

Each of these Divine Institutions is under incredible assault today. There are all kinds of attacks on human responsibility from humanistic psychology and sociology—it’s not my fault, it’s my parents’ fault, society’s fault, the education system’s fault, or somebody mistreated me and it’s their fault. It is never my fault that I make bad decisions; it is somebody else’s fault.

Secular humanists are attempting to redefine the #2 Divine Institution, Marriage, as simply being “a loving relationship between two people”. That is not how the Bible defines marriage. Marriage in the Bible is a relationship between a man and a woman to fulfill certain responsibilities under the authority of God.

Next, we briefly summarized how God’s will is expressed (Directive Will; Geographical Will; Permissive Will; Overruling Will; Revealed Will). To know the will of God, we should immerse ourselves in the written Word of God (His Revealed Will), saturating our minds with it, and praying that the Holy Spirit will transform us through the renewing of our minds, so that the result is what is good, acceptable and perfect—the will of God. (see Romans 12:2)

I believe what makes it most difficult for us to understand God's will is our linear view of time (past, present, future) as compared to God's omniscient view of time (complete view of total knowledge and of all time--beginning to the end--as the present). We only see the present and the past. God sees all of time as thought it were the present with full knowledge of the fullness of eternity. We often question God's will concerning events in the present when we only have a finite view of time that includes the years we have been alive. God told Jeremiah (1:5), "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..." In Revelations 22:13 we read, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." In Matthew 10:30 we read, "But even the hairs of your head are all numbered." Every event--good and evil--God allows. There is nothing that happens that is outside of God's sovereign will and perfect plan (Ephesians 1:11). There is nothing that happens that is beyond His control (Job 42:2). We have only to trust Him completely, surrender to Him fully, and love Him wholeheartedly.

In summary, we boiled the lesson down into three main points:

1. God’s ultimate goal is that we love Him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and that everything He wills and permits is to that end.

2. God’s great love for us is the reason He gives us volition (right to make choices). Unless volition is without coercing or force are we free to express genuine love for God.

3. God’s permissive will (allowing us to sin and for evil to exist) is used to refocus us on His perfect will. God will always trump evil and use it to multiply His purposes as He fulfills His perfect will.

Next week we will look at a very important lesson in our study on prayer: “Prayer That Resists Satan”.