Hearing From God
How many times have you ever read a devotional or heard a sermon from someone on a passage of Scripture that you’ve read over and over before, yet you think to yourself, “I didn’t know that’s what this passage was saying until it was explained to me”? While I recognize that God has given each of us different gifts and abilities, and not everyone is going to be gifted with interpretation and the ability to understand the Bible at the same level, I do think that learning to better understand the Bible plays a critical role in our overall growth and maturity in Christ. The more we understand what Scripture reveals to us about God, and our relationship to Him, the more in love with Him we become. Helping our members to learn to do this better
has been a big emphasis for me lately, and I have tried to be more intentional about doing this. Jared Collins has been teaching a class on Wednesday nights on how to better understand Scripture, and I have been doing a lot of research and prayer for ways we can better equip our church as a whole to do this as well. One of the most simple, practical methods that I’ve found for growing in our ability to understand the Bible comes from Robby Gallaty, the Pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, TN. Several years ago, he started teaching what he calls the H.E.A.R.
method for understanding the Bible. When using this method for studying Scripture, there are 4 clear things that you will be doing:
H-Highlight any part of the passage that stands out to you while reading. If it’s just one or two verses, highlight the words or phrases that jump out.
E-Explain the passage in a sentence or two using your own words. How would you describe or summarize what is being said? In order to do this, you may need to examine further parts of the passage, like who the author is, who the original recipients of the book were, or what the verses before and after this passage have to say.
A-Apply the passage to your own life. Ask yourself questions like, “What is
God saying to me?”, or “How can I apply this passage in my own life?”
R-Respond to what was read. This is where you can write an action statement about how your life will be different because of what God has spoken to you through the passage. You can also spend time in prayer asking God to help you with issues or sins that the Holy Spirit may have revealed to you through reading the passage.
If you are interested in learning more about this method, visit the following website: https://replicate.org/2016/10/25/what-is- a-hear- journal/
