Packets of Light

"Scriptures are like packets of light that illuminate our minds

 and give place to guidance and inspiration from on high."         

Elder Richard G. Scott

These words were spoken by Elder Scott at a recent General Conference of

our church.  In fact, this talk on the power of scripture was the first message

of many, over two days and eight hours. Yes, I sat through all eight hours 

and loved every minute of it.  General Conference is a time to hear our church

leaders speak on topics that we need to hear, topics that strengthen our faith

and encourage us to live our lives as disciples of Christ.

This topic of scripture study is one that is dear to my heart.  I love the

scriptures!!  The older I get, the more they become an integral part of 

who I am.  One of my goals this year has been to start each day with scripture

study and prayer and to study the New Testament.  This has been one of the

easiest goals for me to accomplish, because it's a habit that was already

ingrained in me before I ever turned fifty.  In fact, I can't remember a time

when I didn't start my day in this spot.  When the house was full of children,

it might have only lasted fifteen minutes. 

This is "my chair".  The little table beside it holds my scriptures , 

commentaries, notebooks, marking pencils, etc.  Sometimes the stack

gets pretty high and I have to clean things up....but this is where I read, study

and ponder most every day.  I am a morning person by nature, so it's easy for

me to get up and spend time here, before I do anything else.  I'm not saying 

you have to study your scriptures in the morning, but I feel for me, that if I 

want to put God first in my life, then I do that by putting Him first in my day.

I'm better equipped to handle whatever comes my way after having spent

time with Him.  So, early morning it is for me.  During the turbulent years of 

teenagers, this practice was my lifeline.

At a recent Women's Conference, we had a wonderful speaker (you might
like to check our her blog) who talked about scripture study and one of the
things she said, is there is no one right way to study your scriptures.  What
works for me, may not be what works for you.  We all have different lives
and personalities and we need to find what works for our circumstances.  

Some other tips she gave us were:

* Mix things up.  Try different approaches from time to time.

* Learn the historical context of what you are reading.  Isaiah can be

   pretty tough if we are reading it through the lense of our modern day.
* Pray for revelation as you study.
* Use post it notes.  Write your observations and stick them in places
    around the house where you will see them and continue to reflect
    on the scripture.

* Become familiar with scriptural language.
* Find your setting.  Who's speaking?  Which kingdom are we in?
    (Especially helpful when studying the Old Testament)
* Use study guides.
* Talk about what you are learning with someone.  I especially love this idea.

I wanted to share with you a new approach that I've been using that has me 

all excited.   First of all, my goal to study (not just read) the New Testament is

taking me a little longer than I had anticipated.....let's just say it has taken me

nine months to get through the gospels!   Now I am in Acts and am moving

along at a respectable pace.  My problem (maybe it's not really a problem) is

I have a number of things going on at the same time. I have been reading the

Book of Mormon ( a chapter or two a day) and have just finished it.  I also
started an online bible study of 1 John.  This is what I'm really excited about.
I've never done anything like this before, but I'm loving the experience. I'm
five weeks into this study and am in 1 John 2.  We are moving at a snail's
pace and really lingering over scripture.   I found these notebooks that I've
been using for my scripture study on sale after school started and I love the
small size - perfect to devote to a specific subject study. I cleaned the shelf
and stocked up.  The polka dot one on the bottom is a different study I'm
doing on being a godly wife.  I might share thoughts on that another time....

Following along with the reading assignment, each day I do four things.

This is called the SOAP method.

S- Write the scripture in the notebook.  Using different colored pencils for 

      words to study, I mark the scripture.

O- Observations about the scripture are listed next.  These are things I 

    notice myself or learn from commentaries. This is where I tear apart the

    scripture and begin to see things, I wouldn't have noticed otherwise. 

    This is  my favorite part.

A-Application comes next.  This is where I examine the scripture in light of 

    my own life.  How does this apply to me?  What can I learn from it?  What

   would you have me do Lord, as a result of learning this?  What do I need to 

   work on?  The spirit whispers instruction and I write it down.

P- Pray- The last part of the SOAP method is praying over what I've 

learned and asking Heavenly Father to help me live it out.  I've been 

writing these prayers in my notebook.

I'm sure I've read 1 John before.  But never like this.  I remember hearing 

Joseph Fielding McConkie give a talk one time about scripture study and say

we should slow down and ponder.  He said, sometimes all we need to read

is one verse and it can speak volumes to us.  This is the first time I think I

have ever done this and I have to say, Yes!, he's so right!  I'm loving this

study.  

Here's what I'm pondering from the first two chapters:

*Seek for the light in my life.  Continue on the path that leads to

   eternal life. Don't allow Satan to distract me from my course.

   Do I see things in "the light of God?"

*I may have fellowship with Christ as I seek to have the Holy Ghost

   with me each moment of the day.  Seek for fellowship with the Lord.

   What does that really look like?

* Am I experiencing the joy of the gospel in my life?  Does it show?

* Do I pray to have my sins revealed? Do I want to keep that hidden or 

    am I praying to have the Lord reveal to me the things I need to change 

    and repent of?  Do I justify or rationalize my sin?

* One of the great signs of maturity in Christ is a deep and abiding brokenness

   for sin.   Daily repentance.

* Those who say they are Christians, should live their life like Christians.

   Others are watching us.  Are we convincing?

* Those who have the power to overcome Satan are those who have 

   become strong through abiding in the word.  Stages of spiritual growth.

* Anti-christ can be any person or idea or philosophy that teaches against

   Christ.  Do I see any anti-christs in the world I live in?  Identify them.

* Remain faithful to the things you know to be true.

There's a lot of content in those first two chapters.  Like I said before, I'm 

loving this study and learning so much!  

Now, I know there are some readers out there who are thinking, "only in my 

dreams would I have time to study like that."  I used to have young children 

and I remember thinking the same thing. There is a time and season for 

everything and one thing about getting older is you have more time to devote

to pursuits such as this.  So hold on...your time will come.  But just because

you don't have an hour or so to devote to scripture study each morning,

doesn't mean you can't find something that works for you.  And I know that

if you have the desire and take that request to the Lord, he will show you 

exactly how to make it happen in your life - with your circumstances. 

One of the great blessings of my life is working with these women in

the Primary(our children's ministry) of our church.  

We begin our meetings each month, with one of us sharing what she

has been learning in her scripture study.  The last meeting we had, Anne

(my secretary and second from the left) shared some things she had learned.

I have to preface her thoughts with an explanation- she is a very busy woman!

She teaches high school and finds that it takes an abundance of her time. 

She and I have talked before about the frustration she feels in not having

the time to do the things she knows are most important (like scripture study).

She has prayed for inspiration on how to simplify her life, how to make

the best use of the time she has, and how to "make the time" for those 

things which she wants and needs to do.   One of the things she has discovered

is her phone has apps for the scriptures and other church literature.  Last 

month, she "read" the scriptures and the church magazines, by listening

to them on her phone while she got ready in the morning.  She was amazed

at how well that worked out.   She said she just happened to run across the

menu for this app while she was online one day.  I smiled and reminded

her that was probably a direct answer to prayer.   Who would have ever 

thought that we would live in a time when we could use our cell phones

to help us accomplish our goals of personal discipleship?  This is just one

example of how even the busiest person can study the scriptures each

day.  While talking with another busy friend about her "lack of time"

for scripture study, (she is a single mother of five, works two jobs and

is the young women's president in our ward - yeah....very busy!), we 

decided that for her, listening to the scriptures on cd while traveling 

back and forth to work each day might work.  What I love about both

of these women is their desire.  They deeply desire to spend time each

day in the scriptures and are praying for direction from the Lord on 

how to do that. We all need the power and the strength that comes from 

scripture study, and I know the Lord will answer these kinds of prayers.

Once we have established this discipline in our lives, it will become

one of the best parts of our day.  Scripture study will cease to be just
another thing on our "to do" list, it will become a passionate pursuit.
It will be the rare day when we miss our quiet time with the Lord.  

Scriptures are like packets of light and when we undertake a serious

study of them our lives are blessed.  We see things more clearly, we

receive guidance and direction.  We grow closer to our Heavenly

Father and His Son.   We learn how to become more like them.

We will have power in our lives to overcome the adversary.

I need all those blessings.  Don't you?

*MYOF Goals # 14 - Begin each day with scripture and prayer.
                         # 22 - Study the New Testament