GROW Luke 2

Go to God in Prayer

Read Luke 2

Observations

The themes of this book are still rolling around in my brain so when I read this chapter I was watching out for activities of the Holy Spirit and prayers.

In verse 25 we are introduced to Simeon and told that "the Holy Spirit was on him"

Then verse 26 and 27 shows how the Holy Spirit is working in him, "revealed to him by the Holy Spirit" and "Guided by the Spirit, he entered the temple complex"

In order for Simeon to be able to see the Messiah, which was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit in v26, the Holy Spirit had to guide him to temple at just the right moment.  This was not a chance encounter, instead specifically guided by the Holy Spirit.

Then Simeon holds baby Jesus and praised God, including him being "a light for revelation to the Gentiles".  

Write the lesson

The Holy Spirit guides us, are we paying attention to that guidance?  Perhaps many of the 'chance encounters' we have every day are not by accident.  The Holy Spirit may be guiding us to be a light in this world so that Jesus can be revealed.  Pay attention to the Holy Spirit!  And if you are not feeling the Holy Spirit guiding you, then get closer, lean in and GROW

Luke 1:47-48 translation comparison

A bit of a departure from the GROW method, but there was a suggestion in the Luke study  I am working on to review Luke 1:47-48 in different translations and note the variances. Let's see if we can fit it into the GROW method anyway...

Go to God in Prayer

Read Luke 1:47-48

Observations

Many years ago I was studying a verse and the book I was working from kept talking about how powerful the verse was. If I remember correctly the specific word in the translation that I was reading from was "rock" and that just did not seem very powerful.  I pulled out another Bible translation and that word was now "fortress" and I could instantly visualize the power in that passage.  I think I ran out and bought a Parallel Bible that very day!

Ever since then I have been fascinated by comparing verses in different translations, so this activity instantly interested me.

And gotta love technology!  The Biblegateway.com actually has an option to view Parallel translations!

I took a screenshot and highlighted the similar words to compare:

All the versions are quite similar but have slight variations:

1. looked/mindful/regarded - I thought mindful and regarded added more context to God simply looking
2. Only the Holman version added that He looked with favor which I think is getting more to the same description as mindful or regarded
3. humble condition/humble state/lowly state/humble estate - the difference here could be in how you are interpreting or reading this: her state of mind or her physical condition.  The key here is to remember this is Mary speaking.  
4. slave/servant/maidservant
5. Surely/For behold

I was a bit stumped by the 3rd point here and went to the Blue Letter Bible for help.  In the KJV the phrase "low estate" only appears in two other places:

In Psalm 136:23 it is again God seeing us in this state.  And the repeating phrase in the Praise Psalm is "for his mercy endureth forever"

In Romans 12:16 it is a direction to not be proud but instead associate with the humble.  

Write the Lesson

So that was fun!  Nothing really jumped out at me to make one version stand out more than the others, instead it was a simple two word phrase that is so rarely used in the Bible that we can only come to the conclusion that we need God's mercy because of our lowly state and a reminder to remain focused on Him so that we don't become proud and venture out of being humble.  Stay humble and GROW.

GROW - Luke 1

In my effort to refocus on Bible Study, I find it fascinating that the creepy FB ads have started to pop up for all sorts of Bible Study sites even though I have not searched for Bible study materials.  Anyway, they are popping up frequently so I browsed through several and even put a few things in the cart.  Then I thought of all the Bible Study material I already have, including many books & workbooks only partially completed.  Rather than spending more money on new material I am instead going to revisit studies that I did not complete.  

After a very quick search, the first workbook I found that has been sitting around collecting dust is Luke - Gut-Level Compassion by Lisa Harper.    So rather than continuing to collect dust, it is time to GROW.  Note that as I work through the workbook I may also post some of the observations on this blog.  These observations are mine, although they may have been guided by the workbook and notes in my study bible and so I will attempt to make note of these as I go to give the credit where it is deserved.

I really like using the GROW method of Bible Study:

G - Go to God in Prayer 
R - Read Scripture
O - Observations
W - Write the Lesson

GROW - Luke 1

Go to God in Prayer

Read Luke 1

Observations

I am using a Study Bible that provides extra details at the beginning of every chapter. I enjoy reading through this to provide important context to the chapter. The details in this summary that stand out for me are the key themes of Luke: Salvation for all people, activity of the Holy Spirit, and Prayer.  

Keeping with the theme of the Holy Spirit - observing the Holy Spirit's activity:

John - v15 ...he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother's womb

Mary - v36 ...The Holy Spirit will come upon you

Jesus - v35 ...Therefore, the holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.

Elizabeth - v 39 ...the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit

Zechariah - v67 ...was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied

Write the Lesson

In just this first chapter of Luke we can see two ways the power of the Holy Spirit was received - to be filled with the Holy Spirit and for the Holy Spirit to come upon you.  The lesson for me today is that the moment I decided to pick up this specific Bible study the Holy Spirit was all over it, guiding me and filling me with the power to get back into Bible study so that I can continue to grow in God's word.  Open yourself to the power of the Holy Spirit and GROW

GROW- Daniel 7

Go to God in Prayer

Read - Daniel 7

Observations

This is a chapter filled with prophecy, and there is so much here to dive into that I am going to leave that to the Biblical scholars.  Instead I want to take a brief glimpse into God's court, this is the time to study from a sensory awareness perspective.

Daniel 7:9-10

“I watched till thrones were [d]put in place,
And the Ancient of Days was seated;
His garment was white as snow,
And the hair of His head was like pure wool.
His throne was a fiery flame,
Its wheels a burning fire;
10 A fiery stream issued
And came forth from before Him.
A thousand thousands ministered to Him;
Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
The [e]court was seated,
And the books were opened.

Place yourself in this place, imagine the immense of the clothing and the hair.  So white that it is blinding.

Feel the heat of the fiery throne with wheels of blazing fire.  Then even more heat from the river of fire.

Now watch the flurry of angels - thousands and thousands are attending to God. What are they doing exactly?  What would you be doing if your only job was to attend to God.  

Then there were millions and millions standing before God.  Why were they standing there?  Because they were about to be judged by the all knowing and all powerful God. What would be going through your mind if you were before God waiting to be judged?  Fear of going to hell for eternity or excitement and anticipation of learning what rewards you will receive?

Write the Lesson

I hope and pray that you are a believer in Christ because He has already taken your punishment upon himself when he died on the cross.  Your debt is already paid.  All that is left is to be judged by how well you have lived out your life in Christ in order to receive your rewards in heaven.  

Exodus 20:1-4

And God spoke these things all these words, saying,

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image - not any likeness of anything that is from in heaven above, or anything that is from in the earth beneath, or that is from in the water below under the earth, 

Typing out verse 5 and 6 to try to get the words in my brain :-)

you shall not bow to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.

GROW -Daniel 6

Go to God in Prayer

Read - Daniel 6 

Observations

Most know the story of Daniel in the lion's den and the miracle God performed when He protected Daniel from the lions.  But the reason he was thrown in the lion's den in the first place is just as fascinating.

Remember that the Medes have taken over the kingdom, and Darius, the leader of the Medes has put Daniel in a high position.  Verses 1-2 tells us that there are 120 princes and only three governors to supervise the princes. Daniel was one of these governors.

Daniel 6:3 

Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire.

Verse 3 tells us that Daniel was filled with the Holy Spirit and because of this he was doing a much better job than the other 2 governors.  The king was thinking of promoting him to govern over the whole kingdom!  

From Daniel's perspective, he was doing what was right in God's eyes.  He was filled with the Holy Spirit and very in tune to God.  He was able to be so receptive to God's guidance because of his devotion to the Word and his prayer time with God.  

Now imagine how the other 2 governors would react to this.  What is their perspective?  Even though they were also named as governors, they were not performing as well as Daniel.  Daniel is simply doing better than they were and it angered them.

Daniel 6:4

Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. 

The governors found themselves jealous of Daniel and obsessed with finding some fault in him.  They were looking for a way to get him fired.  But because Daniel was so devout there was no fault in him.  

What was left to do but turn his goodness and his faith against him.  They came up with a scheme that tricked the king into making it illegal to show devotion to anyone other than the king. They knew that Daniel was devoted and would continue to pray, which would now break the law. What did Daniel do when he heard about this law?  

Daniel 6:10

But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. 

Did he run and hide when he prayed?  Not at all! He never faltered and never changed how he worship God.  His main priority was to pray to God, to be close to Him, to worship Him.  So when this new law placed that relationship in jeopardy he did what he had always done and he continued to pray.  The priority to worship God remained Daniel's priority. He was willing to suffer the worldly consequences because he was not willing to let man and man's laws come between him and God. 

Write the lesson

The lesson for us in how to walk through life is laid out nicely in verse 4.

• be faithful to God and devoted to Him
• be responsible and always do the right thing.  If you are not sure what the right thing is, ask God 
• be trustworthy, never give anyone a reason to not trust you.  In other words, always be honest and dependable 

The lesson for how to respond to the world around us is in verse 10.  No matter what the world is doing or what laws are put into place, if they are against God we should not follow them.  Nothing should ever come between our relationship with God.  

I have only been doing memory verses here on Mondays but I decided this is not frequent enough for me.  I am using an app called Remember Me and it provides a few verses to review or learn daily.  I am reciting them to myself daily, but I need the extra help of writing them out to see if I am learning them correctly.  I will only type daily what the app tells me is due.

Today the only passage due is Exodus 20:1-17, but I still have only learned verses 1-4

And God said spoke all these words saying  "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness not of anything from that is in  heaven above, or of anything from that is in the earth below beneath, or of anything from  that is in the waters under the earth.

GROW - Psalm 47

Go to God in prayer

Read - Psalm 47

Observations

Clearly this is a Psalm of pure praise.  A psalm of exuberant praise and worship.  The kind that gets you up off your feet and worshipping, not because that is what everyone around you is doing, but because you simply have to worship.   If you have not experienced this type of worship I encourage you to get yourself to a contemporary church service, especially if they have a live band.  There is just something about experiencing the power of the drums in person.  This video is one that has stuck with me for a long time, one that I will revisit when I need the power of the a bunch of Marines worshiping!

Write the lesson  

Learn to worship in the way the Israelites worshipped - with complete joy, unrestrained cheerfulness and holy enthusiasm.  All for the glory of God. 

GROW -Psalm 46

Go to God in Prayer

Read - Psalm 46 

Observations

Let's jump right in and look at the first two verses...

Psalm 46: 1-2

1 God is our refuge and strength,
    always ready to help in times of trouble.
2 So we will not fear when earthquakes come
    and the mountains crumble into the sea.

Here we are given a promise and a response.  The promise is that God is always with us, He is our strength and the only one needed in times of trouble.  Our response to having faith that God is in control is that we do not need to fear.  We don't need to fear natural disasters or persecution or even personal attacks.  No matter what, God is in control so we need not fear.  

Of course that is often easier said than done.  We experience fear and we worry, some more than others.  And that is the point here.  I saw a quote years ago that sticks with me. 

If you are worrying, you are not praying.

If you are praying, you are not worrying.

Keep this close to your heart and I am positive that you too will have less fear because you are too busy praying!

This Psalm also contains one of my favorite verses.  

Psalm 46:10

“Be still, and know that I am God!
    I will be honored by every nation.
    I will be honored throughout the world.”

 

This is a direct command from God - to "Be still",  I have seen other versions use the phrases "Be Silent", "Calm Down" "Stop your fighting".   In my Mama paraphrase I might say "Knock it off!"  God is calling us to stop and slow down.  Chill out and calm yourself.  But why?  So that we can turn off the world and be open to what God is trying to tell us.  Simply that He is God.

Write the lesson

As we draw closer to God our faith increases and we get to know Him more and more.  We begin to understand what it means when He says "I am God!"  When we know that, then we simply have no fear, no matter what this world throws at us.   He is God, He is in control, and He has saved from this world.

GROW - Psalm 45

Go to God in prayer

Read Psalm 45

Observations

Clearly this is a love song, written for a wedding.  If you are married, think back to the hours leading up to your wedding.  What were you doing?  You were preparing, you were doing everything possible to look your best for your special day.  You were nervous, but filled with joy.  The day had finally arrived.

I once heard it said that you can find Jesus on every page of the Old Testament.  The church is the bride of Christ, this is a prophetic song written for the church.  Reread the Psalm as if it were you waiting in your chamber (verse 13) to meet your groom.  In what state of mind are you in while you are waiting for Christ to return?  Nervous, but filled with joy, you are preparing.

Although verse 8 is written in the context of the groom, it really gives us practical application while we wait.  

Psalm 45:7

You love what is right and hate what is wrong.
    Therefore God, your God, has anointed you,
    pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.

Don't you want to be completely drenched in that "oil of joy"?!  I know that I am already "anointed" because I am a believer in Christ, but am I fully walking on the "paths of righteousness for His namesake" (Psalm 23)?  What can I be doing differently?  What changes do I need to make in my life or in my heart or in my ways of thinking?  What can I change right this very moment to have more "oil of joy"? 

Write the lesson

While we wait for Christ's return for the church - the bride of Christ, we should be preparing ourselves as a bride prepares for her wedding.  We should be making immediate changes in our lives that place more in the centre of the path of godly living.  

GROW - Daniel 5

Reminder of the GROW method that I am using to study these chapter...

G - Go to God in prayer

R - Read the selected scripture passage

O - Observe such as Who, What, Where, When , Why or use sensory application such as imagining the heat of the fire, the smells of the scene such as the smells on the ark, the sounds of the crowds etc

W - Write the lessons you have learned today

Go to God in prayer

Read Daniel 5

Observations

This was a night of celebration.  Imagine being at a grand royal feast with a thousand noblemen.  The food would be the best you have ever had, the best musicians playing, everyone dressed in their very best.  It would be have been exciting and enchanting.  But it wasn't enough for the king.  He remembered all the treasures that King Neb had looted from the temple all those years ago.  He ordered them to be brought to the feast so that they could drink from them.  This seems to be the first step in his downfall.

They made toasts to their pagan gods and drank from the very cups that had been dedicated to God. In verse 5 it says Suddenly, they saw the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall...  God immediately began to correct them.

The chapter goes on to find Daniel interpreting the writing and explaining to the king what it all meant.  He also explained why King Neb had his downfall and how he recovered from it.

Downfall - Daniel 5:20 But when his heart and mind were puffed up with arrogance, he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.

Recovery - Daniel 5:21 He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he learned that the Most High God rules over the kingdoms of the world and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them.

Essentially, pride is the downfall, and freedom comes from understanding that God is the Creator of the Universe.

Daniel then chastises the current king in verse 22 for not learning the lessons of King Neb.  He goes on to list the four reasons why God is about to cause his downfall as well.

Daniel 5:22

1. you have not humbled yourself.

Three points from Daniel 5:23

2. you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you

3. drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone

4. you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny!

 And the result of his pride, defiance and dishonor is that he was killed later that night.  Babylon was overthrown by the Medes.  The golden head of the statue in King Neb's dream has been toppled.

Write the lesson

We are told in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  We are just like those golden cups that were dedicated to God.  When we allow Satan to fuel pride in us we are defiling God and He has no choice but to cause a downfall so that we may learn the it is the Lord Most High who rules and is in control of everything.

GROW - Daniel 4

Go to God in prayer

Read  Daniel 4

Observations

Even after the miraculous events of Daniel telling King Neb his dream and the interpretation and then the events of the furnace, we see in verse 8 that King Neb is still not fully believing in God.

Daniel 4:8 He was named Belteshazzar after my god,

By stating "my god" King Neb is still holding the Babylonian god in his heart.  God is about to strip King Neb of his kingdom until he knows that God is the one and only God. 

Daniel 4:26 This means that you will receive your kingdom back again when you have learned that heaven rules

After the king tells Daniel his dream, Daniel tells him in verse 19 that he wishes that the prophecy was not meant for him.  Many years have passed since Daniel first knew the king and they now appear to think fondly of each other.  Daniel pleads with King Neb in verse 27 to repent.  

Daniel 4:27 “‘King Nebuchadnezzar, please accept my advice. Stop sinning and do what is right. Break from your wicked past and be merciful to the poor. Perhaps then you will continue to prosper.’

Here he has gone beyond that fond friendship and into a godly mentor type relationship,  When we see a fellow believer that is clearly stuck in sin or refuses to move away from the worldly temptations then we need to take on a mentor role to work with them, to help them break free from whatever it is that is holding them back from prospering in a godly life.

Write the lesson learned

The only way to live a righteous and godly life is to "stop sinning and do what is right".  We often need to break free from the worldly temptations that are binding us to this world,  We often need to break some cycle of sin to move on and be able to prosper.  

GROW - Daniel 3

Go to God in prayer

Read Daniel 3

Observations

Gosh there is so much in this chapter that I could write several posts.  But I think the main observation I found in reading this chapter today was in verses 19-23.  Here are the highlights from a sensory perspective...

Daniel 3:19 

Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face became distorted with rage. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual.

We need to remember from the last chapter that King Neb (I am not typing out his full name lol) was so impressed with these three that he had elevated them to be in charge of the province of Babylon (Daniel 2:49).  This could be part of the reason why King Neb was so furious - he had done them a huge favor and promoted them and now they refused to worship him.

Have you ever been so angry that your face is distorted with rage.  How about yelling so loudly that even your dogs leave the room.  Anger is bad enough, but rage is ugly.

Rage can be irrational and become more harmful to those around you.  King Neb was so enraged he ordered the furnace to be seven times hotter.   What sense did it make to make the furnace hotter?  It was on fire, it was already deadly.  Rage makes you irrational!

Daniel 3:20,22 

20 Then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind

22 And because the king, in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in.

Even though King Neb had given the order to some of the strongest soldiers they were not strong enough to survive the more deadly furnace.  Even being near the results of King Neb's rage had serious consequences.  The soldiers were simply obeying orders, but suffered because of the deadly environment caused by King Neb's irrational rage.

Write the lesson

Being overcome with rage not only hurts you but those around you because of the consequences of rage induced irrational decisions.  

GROW - Psalm 44

GO to God in prayer

Read Psalm 44 

Observations

Most of this Psalm feels like someone who is utterly defeated and in a place where they are feeling abandoned by God.  But there are a couple verses that someone who is in this place can hold onto.

Psalm 44:4

Only by your power can we push back our enemies;
    only in your name can we trample our foes.

God is in control, even when we are defeated, He is in control.  We may go through seasons where we feel that God is not with us or He is not hearing us, but we need to keep our focus on Him because He is there at all times.  He does hear and see all.  He is in control of every situation, no matter how desperate or horrible.  

Who is our greatest "foe"?  Satan!  He is the father of lies and has this world wrapped up in misery and may seem defeated.  But remember that he was defeated once and for all by Jesus.  We can rejoice in our victory.

Psalm 44:26 

Rise up! Help us!
    Ransom us because of your unfailing love.

When you are down in the dirt feeling completely defeated, the only thing you may be able to do is cry out to Him for help. We may not understand the circumstances or why we are in that place, but we can be confident that God is always there.  His love is unfailing and he saved us from this world.  Cry out to Him, this is how to rise from the dust. 

Write the lesson learned

Cry out to God no matter what circumstance you are in.  If you are not hearing from Him, He is still there and hears you.  Cry out to Him, Praise Him.  He will answer.

GROW - Psalm 43

 GO to God in private prayer

Read Psalm 43

Observations

During the first read of this Psalm I thought it was very fascinating that it ended with the same repeated verse from Psalm 42:5 and 42:11.  It is likely that these two Psalms were written as one.  

The words used in the repeated verse 5 in the NLT are discouraged and sad.  Some of the other translations use words like despair, disturbed, cast down, disquieted.  The Message translation uses the terms down in the dumps and crying the blues.  Clearly the writer is in a deep depression. 

When there is such hopelessness the only way to find hope is in God. Verse 3 gives us the path to hope.

Psalm 43:3 

Send out your light and your truth;

    let them guide me.

When we are led out of the dark despair and into God's light then what do we do?  This Psalm tells us that too, in verse 4 where we find joy!

Psalm 43:4 

There I will go to the altar of God,
    to God—the source of all my joy.
I will praise you with my harp,
    O God, my God!

Write the lesson learned

The Word of God is the source of discovering the paths we should take.  When we find ourselves in a dark place then the path out is to go to God and ask Him to send the light.  That path of light leads us to God who is the source of joy and our only response should be to praise Him.

GROW - Psalm 42

 After only a couple days I have discovered a flaw in my approach.  I thought I would keep up my blog posts with the chapters I am listening to Jon Courson preach through Daniel.  Well as it turns out, I am already behind on the listening side because I only listen to these sermons while driving and sometimes it takes more than a day or two to get through one chapter.   To make up this difference I decided I would head back to Psalms.  Several years ago before I even started this blog, I had been posting SOAP posts over on my other blog. I had completed the first section or book of Psalms, so I will start back with the GROW method at Psalm 42.

I also found my old NLT Study Bible that I had been using way back then, so I will be going back to that translation for these studies. Note that I have had this Bible since the late 90's so it will not be the same edition as the link. 

Go to God in Prayer

Read Psalm 42

Observations

The first thing to note is that this is the start of a new section of Psalms.  Book 2 of Psalms is from Psalm 42 to Psalm 72.  According to the notes in my study Bible these 30 Psalms "can help us retain a sense of wonder in our worship". Wonder in our worship!  What a beautiful concept.  If you are not sensing wonder during your worship, then dig deeper and GROW along with me through these Psalms.

The next thing to note is that when we think of Psalms we think of them being written by David.  While he did write the majority of them, he did not write them all.  Psalms 42-49 were written by the descendants of Korah who were Levites that served as choir leaders and temple musicians.

I have heard multiple times from many preachers and Bible teachers that whenever God repeats something that it is important and we should pay close attention to it.  In this Psalm, the middle verse, verse 5,  and the last verse, verse 11 are repeated word for word with the tiny exception of verse 5 that spills into verse 6.  But this is a minor detail in my opinion because God didn't give us the verse and chapters, those were put in much later.

Psalm 42:5 and Psalm 42:11

Why am I discouraged?
    Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
    I will praise him again—
    my Savior and my God!

The first two lines of this verse speak so clearly of depression which can be so very debilitating and soul crushing.  But there is hope to get out from the darkness of depression - turn your focus to God.  There is medical treatment for depression,  and I fully believe that God gave us the knowledge to create medical treatments and they can be helpful.  But they won't be helpful if we also don't change our attitude along with it.  

For me the key words in these verses are "I will praise him again"  How do we praise Him?  There are many ways to praise - that is a study all on it's own, but the simplest way to praise is through worship music.  When you are worshiping you are moving your focus away from yourself and to where it belongs. 

One of the worship songs that came on while I was writing this post was "I Surrender All" which perfectly illustrates this point. What do you need to surrender to your savior?  Everything!  Surrender everything until you are no longer asking the questions "Why am I discouraged?" or "Why is my heart so sad?"

Write the lessons learned

When you are depressed you are focused on yourself.  Get out of your pity party and get your focus on God.  Put your hope in Him by starting to praise Him.  Start with listening to some Worship music. Really listen to the lyrics and focus on what they are saying.  

GROW - Daniel 2

G -  GO to God in private prayer

R - Read  Daniel 2

O - Observations

Typically when reading chapters such as Daniel 2 we are focused on the prophecy that is given.  Today though, my mind was still on Daniel and his three friends who would not defile themselves with the Royal food in chapter 1.  It is important to remember the they had been brought into the kings court to serve the king. Then in Daniel 1:17 we are told what kind of service they were in.

   Daniel 1:17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

    In Daniel 1:20 we are told  he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

Clearly the four of them were in the group that the king ordered to be executed in chapter 2.  But what does Daniel do when finds out the king has ordered them to be executed?  He asks for more time.  This is a bold move that the king surely did not have to honor that request.  But because the king held them in such high regard he did allow them more time.

In verse 18 Daniel directs them in what they should do and they immediately go to God in prayer. 

    Daniel 2:18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery,

In a quick read of the rest of the chapter it is easy to miss something else.  We often think of Daniel as the leader of the group and he is the one to go back to the king with the answer to the mystery.  But take note of the pronouns in these verses....

    Daniel 2:30  As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me,

    Daniel 2:36  This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king.  

Based on the pronouns of these verses God gave Daniel the answer to the first part of the king's request - to tell him exactly what the dream was.  Then God gave all of them the interpretation to be presented to the king.  It may have been Daniel speaking, but think about what was happening in the time between when Daniel urged them to plead for the answers until they presented the answers to the king.  The four of them would have prayed and talked to each other about what God was revealing to them as He was revealing it.

Then there is another element to this.  If they had not refused the royal food in chapter 1 would they have been in a place or an appropriate mindset to even be able to hear God speaking to them?  They were not taken up with the worldly temptations such as the royal food that would have defiled them.  Instead they were so focused on God that they were ready and prepared for when He spoke to them.

Write the lesson - turning away from the world and turning to God allows you to be more open to hearing Him when he speaks to you.  Surround yourself with other Godly people to remain focused on Him.  We should all have a core group of believers to walk through life with.

ps..I have no idea why there is white highlighting.  I tried to take it off and could not figure it out without making a bigger mess.  So I am ignoring it and going to clean my kitchen lol

GROW - Daniel 1

 GROW Method of Bible Study:

G - Go to God in private prayer

R - Read Daniel 1

O - Observe

W - Write

There are so many paths I could go down just by reading these first few verses in Daniel Chapter 1, but the verses that jumped out today are the ones about food.  Maybe because I am so hungry right now and I can smell supper cooking away in the kitchen.  

Observations...with those smells in the kitchen I can easily imagine the table set before Daniel and the others. In verse 5 it is described as the "food and wine from the king’s table".  I recently read about a king who insisted on having hundreds of choices for every meal because he didn't know what item might capture his taste at that moment.  

    The table set before Daniel clearly would have the finest selections.  Literally anything they wanted it was right there before them.  Is your mouth watering yet imagining what would be before you if you were at the same table>

    And yet they remain faithful to their customs and in order to not defile themselves they choose only water and vegetables.  The result after 10 days is that "they looked healthier and better nourished"

Write the lessons learned today...

Maybe these verses stood out to me because I have been struggling to lose weight.  Even though I have been going to the pool consistently I have not dropped more than a couple pounds.  So when something isn't working, something needs to change.  

I also have the book and the study guide on the Daniel Fast sitting on the stand next to my chair...collecting dust.  Ok God, I hear you, time to dust that off and make some dietary changes. 

GROW - remain faithful to God.  When He is clearly speaking to you then you must remain faithful to Him.  If you ignore His guidance you are defiling yourself.