In this section every month we feature how God is using Thru the Bible in some part of the world. This month our focus is in North America—where you most likely live. So, we’re turning the tables and asking you—what is God doing in your life through His Word?
Here are some ideas and encouragement from Dr. McGee on how to “be doers of the Word and not hearers only” as you listen to Thru the Bible this month.
“The Bible—know it in your head, stow it in your heart, show it in your life, sow it in the world.” -Dr. J. Vernon McGee
Know it in your head
“Read the Bible. Over and above what any teacher may give you, it is all-important to read for yourself and see what the Bible has to say. Don't be weary in well doing, friend; just read the Word of God. If you don't get it the first time, read it the second time. If you don't get it the second time, read it the third time. Keep on reading it. Sometimes I take a passage and I kneel down and ask the Lord to show me what it means. Most often He answers me by showing me how it relates to another part of His Word. We are to get the facts of the Word of God in our heads.”
Stow it in your heart
“Plenty of folks write to us saying that a husband and wife listen separately to our Bible study by radio and that evening at the dinner table they discuss the Scripture that was covered. That is meditation; it is going back over it again. Riding along in the car alone is a good place to take a passage of Scripture and really give thought to it. Think about it over and over. After you hear or read something in His Word, ask God to bring it to your mind and listen to it again in your heart.”
Show it in your life
“To understand Scripture, you must be willing to obey it. God appeared to Abraham when He called him out of Ur and along the way in the Promised Land. But when Abraham ran off to Egypt when famine came, God had no word for him. Not until Abraham came back did God appear and speak to him again. Why? Until Abraham obeyed what God had already revealed to him, God was not prepared to give to him any new truth. So it is with us. When we obey, God opens up new truth for us.”
Sow it in the world
“You will reach a saturation point in the study of the Word unless you share what you’re learning with others. For some reason, God won't let you withdraw yourself from everyone and become a walking Bible encyclopedia, knowing everything, while the rest of us remain ignorant. I think that is the reason He said ‘not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together … but exhorting one another’ (Hebrews 10:25). Do not bury God's truth in a notebook. God has told us to be witnesses today, therefore we ought to pass it on to others.”
What is God teaching you through our lessons together? Share your story at [email protected].