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Hello. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Saved. Not so what's going on, everybody? Hope you're having a great day, y' all. Rising shine, rising grind. Good morning, good afternoon, y' all. New episode of say Not Soft. And I'm. Let me look at my phone. I'm 99 days from becoming a wife. That's how I'm feeling today. I hit my first two digit countdown today, so I'm feeling very exciting. Life is becoming a wife. Life is becoming a little bit too real. Malik and I solidified where we're staying. Furniture is coming in, furniture is going out. It's going bye bye. And it's kind of one of those seasons where it's so interesting because I'm going through the motions. I'm clarity clocking in and out on my cricket, making wedding invitations and all these decals and etc, and then I'm moving and then I'm doing all these things and it's like, oh, wow. Like, I'm doing all these things. But I think there's like a lack of an awareness of like, oh, this is actually happening and this is actually becoming true. It's insane. It's absolutely insane this season. And I don't even think this episode is gonna come out on the 99th day because I'm filling it today, obviously. But yeah, I'm rambling. But hey, you guys just talking and kind of giving y' all a little too much, but that's where my head's at. And I'm excited and God is good and I'm excited to be filming. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to talk about Jesus and the topic we have today, which. The topic we're talking about today is one I'm really, really, really exciting for. But first, if you do not know me, my name is Emmy Moore. I'm the host of this podcast. And what is Safe, Not Soft, Safe Not Soft is a podcast that lets you know that you are heard, live, loved and seen by God. And this path and this way of life is not easy. It's actually really hard. This is why the Bible says that the way to eternal life is narrow. It's not broad. And a lot of times we like to take the broad way of life, but it's narrow to get through the gates of heaven. And so this podcast is catered to navigating what that looks like and how to enter the kingdom gates and how to live a life of Jesus that's not compromising to where you're not compromising your faith and you're not compromising your love of Jesus for the things of the world that are so temporary versus things that are eternal and lovely and amazing, which is where Jesus is. Amen. And so, yeah, you guys today, super hyped, super excited. This is a topic of conversation where a lot of people have asked me whether if it's on TikTok or Instagram or whatever it may be, of Emmy, how do I read my Bible? And I thought I would sit down and dedicate an entire episode to this. I was thinking about doing a TikTok video or just like a regular YouTube video, but I thought it would be better to just sit down and really explain to you guys how to read the Bible, how to study. This is what I teach all the people that I disciple. And actually, this is the exact method that was taught to me. And the moment I started to apply all of these things, I my studying journey. The way that I've studied and received the word of God has accelerated and has inclined so much that I would not be a good leader if I did not share this with you guys. So if you do not know how to read your Bible and you're wanting to learn, today is the day you're going to find out. Amen. And we're going to talk through it. I'm going to just really give you some testimonials and go into depth of how important biblical literacy is and how we must read our Bibles and study the word of God. Amen. So let's pray and we're going to get straight into everything. Amen. So, dear heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you, God. Lord, I just thank you for your word. I thank you for your word that never shakes. I thank you for a word that never compromises, Lord. Lord, I thank you that your word has been here from the very beginning, Father, and that your word is what holds us. It's what grounds us to your heart. Into the presence of you, Father God, I just decree and declare that all the knowledge and the wisdom that's poured out in this podcast today, it is completely received and absorbed in our hearts, Lord, that we are able to just absorb every single ounce of wisdom and every word of knowledge, Lord. And that, God, this cultivates and starts a new hunger in our spirits to pursue your word, to be excited, to study, and to come more curious and ask more questions, God, your word says ask and it shall be answered. Knock and the door shall open, Father God. So we're just decreeing and declaring that today that you fill our minds and spirits of curiosity Lord so we can grow a deeper understanding for your word, Father and that God, there is a biblical literacy that is placed upon us. Lord Lord I thank you that Hebrews 4, 7, 12 I actually think I believe it says that the word of God is sharper than any double edged sword it penetrates with between the soul and the spirit. God I thank you that the word of God separates from what is fleshly and what is spiritual. Lord I thank you that the word of God is a weapon and it's a sword and it's the only piece of the armor of God that is penetrative and that is a sword and that is a weapon. Lord. So Lord, we just give you reverence of your word and we we declare our fear of you, we declare our awe of your of your word and what you have to say God and we take this word and we take this Bible seriously Lord so Lord, let it speak to us and God, let everything that is said today complement what the Bible says and your will your way. Lord God, I decree and declare that I speak in confidence, that I do not slur my speech Father that God, you sharpen my tongue, that you give me the wisdom to speak and that God this is not a podcast about anymore. This is a podcast about Jesus Christ. So God, tear down every false motive, take down any ounce of pride even in our hearts. God. God thank you Jesus. God I even ask in the mighty name of Jesus to the believer who is on the other side of the screen or on the other side of this phone who is listening to this episode thinking that they know it all. I ask that you humble them, Father, I ask that you humble them and I ask that they come like a brand new clean sponge ready to soak in everything that you're wanting to teach us. God. So God, we put away all pride, we put away all self understanding and we put away all ignorance Lord and we come as if we're brand new because we just want to learn for what you have to say and not indoctrinate bring our own doctrine into the midst of what your truth is Lord. So we put everything to the side and we come with bare hands ready to receive you. Lord, we thank you, we praise you and let your love be evident above all else in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You guys, man, I'm really excited about this because this is one of the first things I learned when I first became Christian. Which is really exciting because when you first become Christian you're learning all these things about the Lord and How he's loving and gracious and merciful and all these things which are amazing. And then when it comes down for you to actually sit down and read your Bible, you're like, what does this say? I don't understand what any of this means. And when it came to me, my. I guess my relationship with the Bible really started in 2020. I became a believer in mid. Late, excuse me, 2019. And then later in 2020, early in 2021, that's when I actually started reading the Word for the first time. And I went to the Passion Conference in Atlanta, which is actually where I met my soon to be husband. But I went with a group of actually really great friends that I still have to this day. And we went to Passion. And I remember that conference really just sparked something in my spirit to read my Word. And I never read my Bible leading up to that conference, that was like the first time I've read Scripture. And I remember the first Scripture I actually got and Understood was John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God, right? And so we're. In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Word was God. Amen. There we go. And so that was the first revelation that I got on my own reading the Bible of like, wow, in the beginning, the. The Word Jesus was quite literally dwelling with God and the Word was God. And that was the first time I was like, well, the. The Bible is living and it's active, and it spoke to me. And, you know, how did I get there and how did I continue going to a place of Bible study and coming out of my closet biblically literate, which is great. And I think one of the things that I really appreciate and that I love is that there's a. Just from what I hear from you guys, is that there I try, which I try to be as much as I can, I try to be as biblical, Biblically literate, and theologically sound as much as I. As. As much as I possibly can. And I love the Bible. I love the Word, I love theology. And so I'm always in the Word, and I love learning so much about it. And I kind of hear a lot all the time of like, Emmy, like, how'd you get in your Word? How do you know all these Bible verses on the top of your head? And how does this come so custom to you? And I think I just developed such real love for the Word of God that it has never really departed from me. But when I First got that revelation of John 1:1, I was like, man, I still want to have this feeling and I want to continue searching and seeking the word of God like this and let the word speak to me and just figure out more about Jesus in his heart. And when I started to get mentorship, one of the pastors that was mentoring me during the time gave me a really structure of how to Bible study. And this is what I've been using for the past three years of me reading my Bible. And so I wanted to sit here and share it with you guys today because even when I mentor and I disciple young woman, this is one of the first things I teach them. And so I wanted to bring this to you guys today as if it's like a one on one discipleship class. Amen. So you don't have to rely on my podcast for a revelation. You could go and find that revelation for yourself. Amen. Which, by the way, if you're only getting spiritual revelations through a podcast, that should give you more of a reason to step away from the podcast and go into the Bible yourself. Podcasts and sermons, watching them on YouTube shouldn't be the main place where you're seeking revelations from the Lord. Where you should be seeking the most revelations from God is in your secret space. And whenever you're in your alone consecrated time with the Lord. And we'll go to these podcasts and we'll go to these sermons and we'll do all these things and we'll be like, man, like, this is surely where God is speaking. And it's like that same revelation that fell upon your pastor, he got that in a secret space. And you could get that same word if you were also in your secret space. Amen. Because God speaks to all of us. God dwells amongst all of us. And so I think if we rely on other, all these other things to give us a revelation that only God could give, I think we would be more quick to run to our prayer closets more than to a sermon on YouTube. And I've been there too, where if something tragic is happening in my life, the first thing I run to is a sermon on YouTube or a podcast or my favorite evangelist. But over the past few years, when I've learned how to read this Bible, I actually know where to turn now, but it's because I learned how to read it. So let's, let's get into it today. So I'm going to teach you guys a structure of how to Bible study, which is also. Well, there's. There were Two structures that I wrote, but I'm not going to go over the first one because I wrote two structures of how to put together a sermon and how to articulate the Word of God, which I think we'll do a different day. But how to read and study the Bible. If you've been to seminary or if you've been under some sort of discipleship, you've probably heard of this structure which is called poima. It's P O I M A and that's prayer. Its observation, interpretation, meditation and application. And when you combine all of these characteristics together, you're going to find really effective results in your Bible studying. And so first one being prayer. And I'm going to go by each of these one by one. Again, it's poima. Prayer, observation, interpretation, meditation and application. Prayer, observation, interpretation, meditation, application. You can write it down. I highly advise you to take notes during this podcast. So the first one is prayer. Why is prayer so important when it comes to reading the Word of God? So every time, just to give you a visual, right before I'm about to read the Word each and every single day, the first thing I do is pray. And there's a few things that I pray. Of course, I could have my generic prayers like adoration and love and gratitude and thankfulness, and then petitioning requires request and then also consulting with God. And so there's a lot of layers to prayer. But when it comes to specific, specifically Bible studying, I will pray a certain way for the Scriptures to come to life, if that makes sense. And usually why prayer or why prayer is so important in the first place is because prayer is you having a conversation with the Lord. Right? And something that we have to understand about prayer is that prayer is not a monologue, it's a dialogue. A lot of people will treat prayer like it's a one person, one sentence thing. So a lot of people come to the prayer closet or pray right before they go to sleep and they'll say, thank you, God, for this day. Thank you for breath in my lungs. Thank you that you bless me and my family, God, I hope to get this job tomorrow. Love you tons, hugs and kisses, good night. And that's a monologue type of prayer life is people will just talk and yippity yap on their, on their own and they won't give space for God to come in and join the conversation with them. So prayer isn't just a space for you to monologue. It's a place of dialogue where it's a communicative structure. It's a structured communication, not just between one person and one person only, but between another party, which is the Lord. So when we pray, we have to cultivate space for God to speak. Because why are we coming to the table when all we have to say is this and that and this and that? And the most eternal and ever wise Father is sitting on the other side of that table, and we're not giving him room to speak. And that God happens to be perfect and on your side and on your team. So if we're not letting God have any say on anything, how are we inviting him into our lives? And so it's understanding that prayer isn't just a. Isn't just a place of you venting, it's a place of you conversating. Prayer is highly relational, and it's also highly intimate. It's not just, I'm gonna vent all my problems and God, here it is, I'm gonna lay this and I'm going to come back and expect all this to be taken care of. It's not a place for you to vent. It's a place for you to be relational with the Lord. It's a place for you to grow intimacy with the Lord. And I actually believe that a lot of growth spiritually comes from mature prayer. And you become very mature in prayer when you intentionally seek the heart of God and you're intentional in that intimacy that you're spending with that time with Him. You're intentional with the intimacy with. With the intimacy that you're spending with Him. There we go. And so miss the mark spiritually when it comes to Bible reading and all these things is because we're not positioning ourselves spiritually to receive him, even if it's just conversational. Right? So it's essential to read the Word of God with first prompting it with prayer, because prayer gives access for God to speak. So this is the thing about the Word and Word of God. I quite literally read this book as if this is God's literal words coming out of his mouth. Even though, you know, you read the letters of, like Paul, it's Paul's perspective in preference, and he's writing it. But every author of this book has been inspired by God and it's theologically backed up as so. So whenever I read this Word, I'm reading the Word as if God is saying it Himself, since this Word is inspired by Him. And so I'm going into prayer and I'm going into this time of Bible studying of I'm not going to read this B in this book to fill my own agenda and personal, personal needs. If anything, I'm going to expand this space for God to come in and minister to me and tell me what he wants and what his will is and not me trying to take what his will is and pervert it and stretch it and warp it into what I think his will should be. Does that make sense? Are we catching what I'm throwing? And so when, when I pray, there's three things I pray for whenever I'm reading the Bible. Super simple. Which usually whenever I read the Bible I'll be pray longer. But in the very beginning, these were the three things in the beginning, these were the three things I prayed for before studying my Bible. The first thing I prayed, not coming to the Bible with any preconceived ideas. So right before I open up this Word and I'm about to study it, I say, lord, I come to your book. I come to this Bible, Lord, and I take off any false doctrine, I take off any false motive that I may have and God, I even just, just take off any sort of mindset that is trying to pervert your will to fit my standards and my needs and my wants. I release that onto you and I decree and declare that whatever your word says, it is yours and it is your will. And I will not allow my flesh and my understanding to come in the middle of that. So that's usually, I mean I, I've real life prayed right now, but that was just, that's something I pray is God, I'm not going to allow my will to bleed into yours. And I think that's essential when it comes praying and reading the word of God is this is what happens when a lot of people read the Bible is they'll read the Bible and their will will bleed into God's will. So they're starting to read the Scriptures and they're thinking, okay, I already have this preconceived idea of what I think is righteous, what I think is holy, what I think God's will is. So I'm going to read the Scriptures and form and mold this and, and, and construct this into what I think is holy and righteous and what aligns with my understanding. But the thing is, is when we release our understanding and when we release the, the pressure of knowing it all and actually being the judge and holding that weight and that tension and we allow the Scripture to testify for itself, we actually get to see and witness the will of God. And a lot of people aren't understanding what the will of God is. And they're not actually breaking free from the chains that they're in because they're starting to read this book and they're trying to satisfy and fulfill a need that they have in hearts. But it's not ordained by what God's will and word says. And that's a spiritually dangerous place to be in. When you're reading a book for the sake of fulfilling your own sanity and your pleasure and your will and what you think God or how you think God should act and how he should be, let the Scriptures testify for itself. It says it all, all here. Amen. And so we have to read the Bible knowing that there is a will, there's a way, and there's a truth. And I have to make every effort in my human bone and body pursue that truth. Instead of my truth. I have to pursue the real truth which is found in the Scriptures. Amen. So that is the number one thing I pray for, is God, loosen my understanding. I give you all control and any other preconceived idea I may have coming into reading your word. I writ it in Jesus mighty name and I send it to the pizza. Amen. The second thing I pray for, I pray for understanding. Because the Bible is massively hard to understand. Especially, I mean, I could even just flip to a random page. Let's go to. Okay, let's go there. Psalms 39, verse 1. I said, I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue. I will restain my mouth with a muzzle. Okay, pause. What do you mean? I'm gonna restain my mouth with the muzzle? What are we talking about? So when. When I go into the word of God, because some people, some people will do this too. People are like, oh, I don't know how to read the Bible. They'll turn to a random page and they'll be like, surely God wants to take me to whatever random page I turn to which. Which sometimes that does happen. I'm not knocking that. But like, for an example, I turn to Deuteronomy, chapter 18, verse 9. When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the ambitions of those nations. There shall not be found among anyone who may. If. If you don't know how to read the Bible, this is going to make no sense to you. Does this make sense? So we have to pray for an understanding. God, help me to understand the Scriptures, which we're also going to talk about in the rest of this video, in the rest of this podcast of how to understand and observe biblical text. So but pray for understanding. Pray that God imparts wisdom and understanding into your mind. Okay. And then the last thing, number three, pray for scripture to reveal itself and not a self agenda. Kind of like the first one. Any self agenda you may have for the scriptures, throw it to the side in Jesus name. But those are the three things I pray for is God. I pray to not come with any preconceived ideas. I pray for understanding and I put away all self agenda and I decree and declare that your will and your word is going to come to life in Jesus name. And so that is prayer. We got past the first one, we got four more to go. Okay. Second one is observation. So a lot of people don't know how to read the Bible because they're like oh man, there's just so much going on. I don't know what's happening. A huge answer that something that could really help you in your Bible studying. And you're like man, I don't know all these questions and I don't know how to read the Bible because I don't understand what's going on. The more questions you prompt, the more questions are going to be answered. So a lot of people don't know what the Bible says because they're not actually asking questions on where they're confused. So let's take, let's take the book of Hosea for an example. Who the heck is Hosea? Hosea was a prophet in Israel, one of the most obedient ones. Okay, what was his mission? Why does he have a book? He has a book because God gave him a really intentional request and a mission to marry a prostitute. Well, why did he marry a prostitute? He married a prostitute because God wanted to show Hosea what it was like for God's loyalty towards Israel even though Israel was unfaithful to God. So Hosea was a living parable that and God wanted to teach something through the prophet Hosea. Well, what was Israel doing? Israel was giving their bodies and self sacrificing to BAAL and they were also giving their allegiance to Assyria and like all these things. Right? So this is, and I know that's like really deep but. And that has nothing to do with what we're talking about today. But it's like if you don't understand a text, probably don't understand the text because they're not asking questions and you're not making any effort, effort to get the questions answered. Do you get what I'm saying? So a really easy way to understand the Bible that you're reading is to ask questions. Because people will go to a random page and they're like, oh my gosh, what does this mean? But you're not actually making an effort to answer those questions. So after you pray, you observe. Oh my gosh, excuse me. So there's an observation process, right? So, so there's a few things we want to keep in mind when it comes to this tab of observation. So there's two things called exegesis and eyes and Jesus. So exegesis is exact scripture and eyes and Jesus is reading our opinions into the passage, which was I was kind of talking about earlier about not coming to scripture with a self agenda and et cetera. When it comes to observation, we have to put those things to the side and we have to exegete the scripture. We have to read the scripture for what it is, exact scripture. And so the two questions we have to ask is, you know, what is the authorial attempt and what is the timeless truth that is tied to this scripture? Right? Because every book of the Bible, even when it comes to a lot of the letters that Paul wrote, we could even take like Ephesus for an example. Like in Ephesians, when Paul was writing to Ephesus, you may read a verse and be like, oh man, like this applies directly to me. And it can, because there's a timeless truth. But simultaneously we have to know the context of the author and what he was saying to the people because it was applying to that people, to that certain type of people. And so whenever we observe Bible texts, we have to ask, what is the location, what are the characters and what's the date and time period? Because that reveals a lot of what's happening in the scriptures. For an example, today I learned something that was like, wow, I never even knew that we were talking about John 10:10. I was watching. I wasn't watching. I was listening because I was so many wedding invitations. I was just putting on a sermon in the back. So the word was being imparted into me some way. And Philip Anthony Michael was talking about, he was talking about. Hold on. Philip Anthony Michael Philip Anthony Mitchell. It's M. Caleb. Is it Mitchell? It's Mitchell did it. I'm pretty certain it's Philip Anthony Mitchell. But I think I said Michael. My brain was like, wait, that felt wrong. But am I right? Right? It is Mitchell. Philip Anthony Mitchell. There we go. But yeah, Philip Anthony Mitchell, he said something during one of his services on 2019 and he said that you know, John 10:10 says that the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, and we associate that with the devil. But in the context of that passage, it's actually talking about false prophets. I never knew that. So context, time, date and period and character, verse mean everything. Because understanding the context, the time period where it's being said, how it's being said quite literally dictates the entire verse. And so that's really important. So that was one thing where I was like, wow, that I did not know that was the context of what was being said. Granted, there's probably so many things in the Bible I still don't understand, and that is going to blow my mind. And I'm excited for it to keep coming. But that was one thing that was like, wow, that was really insane. So anyways, observation is all about asking questions. Break down each verse and ask even the ones that you think is super unimportant. So I'm going to take you through. I'm mentoring one of my girls and I took her to Ephesians and I took her. I took her to Ephesians and we started to read. And there was one word that stumped her. And I was like, okay, so a question you could ask is, is what does this word mean? She's like, yeah, because I don't know what that means. And I was like, yeah, I might feel like a dumb question of like, oh, I don't understand this word, but you have to ask those questions. So it gives you a better idea of the context. And also understanding that the Bible is written in three languages and that's Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. And so depending on what chapter you're reading and what book you're reading, the language might shift and change. So in the Old Testament, where I believe it's Deuteronomy and Genesis, usually all the translations of the word submit is translated into the Hebrew definition means to like, acknowledge. And so we think like submission is like surrender, but submission is actually acknowledgment. And so that was like one thing that really changed my perception reading the Old Testament of like, oh, what submission looks like? It's not just like, oh, surrendering. Because there's a word for surrendering. It's surrender. But submission was an acknowledging and irreverence and an awe for God, right? And so stuff like that, where you understand the original language to where you could go back on certain words and be like, oh, that's what it actually means. And that's how I could actually see what's happening in the Scripture. Does that make sense. And so asking those questions is super important. So let's break it down. Poima. First one, one prayer. So you're praying, you're going into the Word with open mind, open heart, open spirit. You rid up all fear and anxiety and pride and all self agendas and motives. Then you go into observation, you're asking all these questions. So usually what I do is after I pray, I'll read the scripture and then all the questions that I have, I'll write them down. Okay, we're, we're, this is the step we're staying on. I'll write down all the questions and then we get to the next step, which is interpretation. Interpretation is you answering all the questions that you just wrote down. That's it. You just answer what you asked. But this is probably one of the most crucial parts of this entire process because this is the part you have to get right. You have to get this part right because you could ask all the questions and you could pray and you could read the scriptures, but if you do not interpret it correctly, then that's not going to work. Like you have to get this part right because this part is super crucial to how you receive what the Bible is testifying about itself. So I'm going to give two reliable sources that I really, really love. I'm going to give you my number one source that I love reading and it's Desiring God by John Piper. I love Desiring God. I think John Piper is a brilliant theologian. I love, I actually watch a lot of his old sermons. There's been a few of his sermons that have like changed my life personally. But all of his, his teachings and he even has like a podcast and I mean there's multitudes of stuff, but Desiring God is a, a study guide and it's really great. It's not like Blue Letter Bible or Enduring Word, which I do love Enduring Word, that's my second recommendation. But it's not that structure, it's article based, but it's really theologically present in sound. And so Desiring God is a tool that I really, really like. And then the second one is I love Enduring Word. I love Enduring Word so, so much. Enduring Word is great. It breaks it down verse by verse. Love it very much. And then also another which I feel like people think I like plug this as like an ad all the time, which is like, you know, sometimes I do. But I actually do love the Bible reading app tool Haven. It's AI informative and it's kind of intertwined with Like a Bible reading tool. So if there's some things where I kind of need, like a direct answer, kind of like a AI assistant, that's where I'll go. And then I'll use what I get from that, take it to my trusted resources and kind of confirm it through that. Does that make sense? And so, yeah, just make sure you get that part right of the interpretation. Okay, then the fourth concept, the fourth step, which is an important one that I think a lot of people miss and that a lot of people don't embrace meditation, which I might have lost a lot of people of, like meditation, Like, Emmy, is this witchcraft? Like, what do you mean? Meditate and all this stuff. And it's like, I think people think meditation is like a whoop. They do. Like it's yoga and like it's not it. Like, meditation is not witchcraft. Meditation is not witchcraft. Meditation is intentional deep thinking. And even Jesus went away and meditated and thought earnestly. What it means to meditate is that you're just thinking and you're giving your space to think and to process and for your brain to just do his thing. And a lot of people miss out on what God is saying. And they don't remember what God is saying because they're spiritually downloading so much, but they're not giving themselves a space for that seed to be. Water mattered. And so what happens is when a lot of people start reading the Bible, or actually, I'll take a better example, you go to church every single Sunday, and somehow everything that you're learning every single Sunday never actually registers and sits in your spirit. It's because you're receiving all these words of knowledge. You're sitting down, you're going through the Bible study, you're taking all the notes, but yet two days later, you forget the message that was preached on Sunday. It's because you're not cultivating a space for you to receive what the Word is ministering to you. And I believe that if we implemented a space to think and to resonate and to receive and soak in the things of God and to soak in Scripture, we're actually going to be able to carry God's Word within our hearts. And so the reason as to why a lot of people don't carry God's Word within their hearts is because their hearts is already absorbed with something else. A super quick analogy is I think of a sponge. I even think when I'm washing the dishes, when I don't want to put it through a dishwasher washer in order for you to wring out the sponge, you have to wring everything out so it could pick up more moisture, more soap, so you could go out and wash it. And so you're going to be less receptive and less absorbent if you have moisture taking up all the spaces that God wants to go soak in. And so you have to wring out all those places that's taking up your busyness, your thoughts, your mindset, your time. You have to wring all of that out so you have a space to absorb what the Word is ministering to you. And so no wonder why you're leaving church services so empty. It's because you're going in already filled with something else. And so you receive the Word of God when you let go of all these other things that is taking up your mind, your space, and your time. And so this is an essential part to Bible study because you can know all the scriptures. You can know A to Z, like on Sunday, of like, oh, I know this story. But has it ministered to you and has it hit your heart? Because the whole point of. I'll get to this. Let me pause it. I'm going too ahead of myself. But is you never want wisdom to just remain up here. If wisdom just stays in your mind, it's not wisdom. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. So everything that we receive up here. So it starts with prayer, right? Inviting the Holy Spirit into your study in time. Then it comes with observation. Okay, I'm thinking, what are the questions that I need a prompt? And what are the things I'm needing to answer, which is the interpretation? Then it comes to the meditation. So I'm. I'm thinking about these things. I'm asking all these questions, and I'm going to trust Lord, and I'm going to create space for that knowledge to drop down into my heart and become wisdom and let it resonate with my spirit and not just be something that I learned on a Wednesday or on a Sunday, but something that actually has the ability to change my life. Because your Word is quite literally transforming. And I think it's at the end of the day developing a love for God's Word. That space for meditation gives you space to love God and what he's saying. Because you could go to the Word all the time, but if it's not dropping down to your heart, it's religion. Any, any biblical literacy that's apart from a pure heart is religiosity. And so we prevent being religious when we allow knowledge in the things that we're asking to drop down into our hearts and to become actions. Which is my last and final part, which actually. Do I want to go into that real quick? Yeah, we'll talk about that. Because I kind of wanted to talk about meditation, too. Like, it's not just about emptying yourself. It's filling yourself. And also, this is the last thing I'll say about meditation, is that meditation needs to be met with some sort of Holy Spirit. Conviction is whenever you are, are sitting and you're resonating with the word of God, give space for the Holy Spirit to convict you. And conviction does not mean condemnation. Conviction, hear me again, does not mean condemnation. Just because you're giving space for the Holy Spirit to convict your heart doesn't mean that you're giving space for self condemnation. In all these areas where guilt and shame is coming into the picture, create a space for the Holy Spirit to convict teachers, you. Because transformation sprouts from conviction. It's the seed of conviction that leads to a life of transformation. But you get that in a place of rest, in a place of meditation and deep thinking and resonating and soaking in with the word of God. Okay, cool. Last thing. Application. So application is just literally taking everything that you just learned. So you prayed, you observed the text, you asked all the questions questions, you interpreted it, you meditated it, and now you're acting it out. Now you're walking out in the things that you just learned. So if I just read about. I mean, we talked about this when I had my podcast with Amoya, when she called me out on modesty, she called me out on modesty. She gave me a whole bunch of worry of what the Word of God said. I went back, meditated on it, and after I meditated on it, I let the Holy Spirit convict me. I started to walk different because the word quite literally transformed me. And I was like, yeah, I can't go back now. Like, I gotta walk different. I gotta. I gotta, like, have a different, like, pip to my step, you know? And so that's where I started to move a little different. Because I was like, man, because I had that conviction and because God met me in that place of that deep, intimate thinking, I'm able to walk it out in wisdom. So wisdom is the application of knowledge. A lot of people think wisdom is a thing that's just up here. No, that's just head knowledge. Everything is just stuck up here. That's just a place of you knowing things, but not to where it drops down into your heart. So wisdom Being the application of knowledge is understanding that you first start off with all these questions and you read the Bible and you're reading all the parables and you understand all the Levitical laws and whatever it may be. And so you may have all that head knowledge, but if it doesn't drop down to your heart, it's religiosity. But the thing is, if it does drop down to your heart, there is expectation for it to drop down to your heart and come out of your hands. So I kind of see, see the cycle when it comes to Bible reading and our relationship with the Bible. It first starts off with a head knowledge of okay, I. Or actually it starts off with inviting the Holy Spirit. So I'm inviting the Holy Spirit to minister to me and I'm inviting Jesus to actually speak to me and for his word to be transformative. And so from that, from reading his text comes a head knowledge. I'm asking the questions, I'm interpreting the Scriptures. And then from that, when I rest in the Word and in the revelation, it drops down to my heart. And that revelation should convict and transform my spirit and the inner dwelling of me. And it should change me and shift me and transform me. And because of that, that's going to flow out in my actions, right? And so it's this process of head, heart, hands, head, heart, hands. That's the goal of all Bible scripture reading is that you read a scripture that resonates with your mind and there's a knowledge, but it's not a knowledge that just stays in your head. It's a knowledge that drops down to your heart which then becomes wisdom and then flows out of your hand hands, which then is an evidence, I would say, of faith. And so we have to know the structure and this, this tool is so important because it's, if we're reading the Scriptures just to get head knowledge, then what is the point? You know, the Bible says faith without works is dead. Works is the evidence of your faith. How do you get those works? You start reading the Scriptures and not only do you act off of the scriptures based off of what you know, but also of how you're convicted and how the Holy Spirit resides within you and how that flows into your actions. And so basically the application process is to just apply what you've learned. If God showed you something amazing, your responsibility is to walk differently. Like I think the worst position to be in spiritually is when you're reading scripture and when you're reading all these things in, in what the Lord has said and you're like, okay, okay, I'm just not gonna do that. You know, like, it convicted my heart, but kind of sounds, kind of sounds a little hard. It's like, no, like, you got to get past yourself. And you have to trust that this book is in a wall of barriers. And it's not a rule book that is trying to incarcerate you. If anything, this, this is a book that is trying to set you free from the chains of sin. And if we come in with a different perspective and if we pray, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal, reveal what is true and authentic and real about the scriptures that we read about, we're going to understand and empathize with that. More. Amen. And so my biggest last note to take away from this is this book is quite literally the words of God. And if you treat it that way, you're going to take it a lot more serious. A lot of. I say this in a lot of episodes, but if you're crying out to God and you're like, God, I just want to hear you speak. God, I want to hear what you're saying. But you have not opened up your Bible Bible, then you really don't want to hear what he has to say. Because this is a book catered to what God actually has to say. And so if you're crying out, God, I need a sign. God, I need a word. But you got a closed Bible under your bed collecting dust. Do you really think his voice is worthy? And so let us be a generation and let us be a people of God that finds His Word worthy to listen to and to read. And not our prayer life to just be a monologue, but a dialogue between us and the Lord where we're not just venting out how we feel or what we think, but cultivating and creating a space for God to speak. Because God is worthy. And so ultimately, the goal to Bible reading isn't just HUD knowledge, but it's seeing God's voice and His Word as worthy and as beautiful and as accepting. And this isn't my will. This isn't my truth. This is God's truth. It doesn't matter what I think. What does God have to say? Because ultimately, this is what stands strong. Always, always at the end of the day. This is the thing that never fails, that never occurs, that never falls off. This is a firm foundation. And the more that you tie yourself to this and you let go of your own understanding, the more you're going to stay firm in that foundation of biblical truth and literacy. Amen and so that's kind of like my crash course of how to have a intimate prayer life Bible study. Not really prayer life. I'm like, I feel like I could do a, a more in depth video and podcast about how to have a intimate prayer life. But when it comes to Bible studying, I mean, I feel like I just gave you guys a cheat code, but I feel like everybody should know this. And so my request for you guys if you listen to this episode is apply what you just heard. If you're like, dang, I don't know how to read my Bible. And you heard all this, Try it. Please try, Try it. Please try it. Because God wants us to be a biblical, a biblically literate people. The statistics say that one out of five regular church goers have never read their Bible. Don't be a part of that statistic. And also statistics also say that 30% of all churchgoers read their Bible outside of church. So don't be a part of that 70% statistic. Let's be a people who pursues the word of God. God, not just on Sundays, not just on Wednesdays, not when we're reading a podcast, but outside of everything. But I also have to be a wise of enough leader being like, dang, I, I would be doing an injustice of not sharing with people how to read the Bible because again, the goal isn't your attendance to this podcast. That is never the goal. The goal is to set the captives free. This podcast is used as a tool. It's not used as a supplement or a. It's not used. Yeah, as a supplement or a transplant. It's used as a tool. So that's that this podcast means nothing. This, this podcast would mean nothing if you're just listening to me all the time, that you're not opening that word with the Lord. Because at the end of the day, I'm not standing next to you. When we see Abba, I'm not going to be there next to you. It's going to be just me and him, right? And so we have to consecrate ourselves and make that space. Amen. So yeah, that's really all y' all. That's really it that I got today. But yeah, that's really it. So again, read the Bible for yourselves. Take this, resonate with it, Soak it all in and try it. And make every effort to read his word. Amen. You already know the, the announcements. All the links are down below. If you feel led to tithe towards this ministry, there's links down Merch came out, too. So if that's something you're interested in, you could click the link down below. I think Merch probably came out maybe two episodes before this. Yeah, I did, because our scheduling. But merch is out. When we filmed the other two episodes, I didn't know the merch was going to be out by then, but it is out now, and if it's sold out, Emmy, congratulations in advance. Great job. But I mean, I don't. I don't know. We're just going to decree, Niclaire, that that is the case, so the ministry can still be funded so we could help more people. Amen. Which, that's another thing, too. If you read on the website, over 80% of all funds go directly back into the ministry, which then pours out into other ministries. So the other day, Save Not Soft donated about a thousand. What was the exact number? It's like $1,200 just to, like, a missionary for her to be funded out. And I don't even want to say the city wrong, but out in South Africa to minister and spread the gospel. And so Save Not Soft contributes to a lot of missionaries, it contributes to a lot of nonprofits, into a lot of church homes, to expand and build the kingdom of God. And so when you buy from save not soft podcast.com 80% of those funds are going directly back into the people and back into those communities and then obviously back into the ministry. When it comes to, like lights and setup and et cetera, just being super transparent, I don't take a cut. I really don't take anything at all because I don't need it. Amen. So everything comes back into the ministry, just so you guys know. But little fun fact, if you guys don't read the website. Amen. So, yeah, that's really it, you guys. And yeah, I think that's it. Bye. Love you guys. Have a great rest of the week and talk to you soon. Okay, bye, you guys.