Have you ever struggled to have a daily Bible Study time?  I certainly have but in more recent years I’ve found the best Bible study format and I’ve learned how to study the Bible in a way that is engaging and keeps my interest.  After all, there’s not much benefit to studying God’s Word when you’re not getting much out of it.

I learn a lot from audio and video teachings that are full of scripture.  Zac Poonen’s teachings are very good examples of this.  The reason this has worked so well for me is because I’ve been able to listen to messages at times when reading would have been much more of a challenge.

One thing I’ve learned about myself is that I really learn well by soaking or meditating on a specific subject or topic for a long period of time.  But all of the Bible reading plans I’ve seen are designed to read through the entire Bible in anywhere from 3 months to 3 years. This meant that I was reading one passage every day, and for me, I wasn’t spending enough time focusing on one passage in order for it to become engrained in me… to become a part of me.  I would much rather catch the essence of a passage and allow it to change me, by making it a part of my life, then memorize many verses, word for word.  Bible memorization for head knowledge purposes would do me a little good, but catching the essence of a chapter and doing what it said, over and over again, would do an abundance of good in my life.

So after many years of really focusing on listening to good Bible teachings over and over again, the Lord lead me to a way of actually reading the Bible in a way that will allow me to “soak” in it so that it becomes a part of me.  Before I share how to do this, I want to give you a little background on how I learned about it, AND how this method of “soaking in the word” has changed one man’s life so dramatically that he now has visitations from the Lord.

Yesterday I received an email about a Messianic Jewish community that is having a Shabbat (Jewish Sabbath, similar to most Christian’s Sunday service) today.  The Shabbat is in San Martin, which is about an hour and a half away.  Being that I just returned from Oregon yesterday, I was not planning to attend this Shabbat because of how far away it is.  But I’ve been receiving their newsletters for awhile and I want to attend one day.  I’ve heard wonderful things about this group.

But the email I received last night was a little different in that they announced that there is going to be a guest musician there who is a messianic jew (A jew who has received Yeshua Messiah, Jesus Christ, as his personal savior).  His name is Maurice Sklar and he is professional musician who plays the violin and shares his unique vision for God to restore classical music and the arts to believers for His glory. Maurice is a husband, father, prophet, teacher, psalmist, and master musician to the world!

I wanted to know more about this man, so I went to his website and the first article I read was entitled “A Vision of Heaven” which starts in this way…

“On Wednesday, August 4th, 2010, at about 10:30 AM, an angel came into my bedroom, I had just awakened. He said to me, “I am sent from the Lord to bring you to heaven. You must now come with me. Take my hand.” So I did. Suddenly, I was… (read more)

I read that amazing story of his visit to heaven  and then I started reading another of his articles called The Seven Raptures of the First Resurrection and this is where I learned about this amazing way to soak in God’s word.  Here is an excerpt from that article:

“For the past three years, the Holy Spirit has had me in meditation in the book of Revelation.  As I have done with the sermon on the mount, the book of Proverbs, and all the Epistles of the New Testament, I read it prayerfully through fifty times while praying in other tongues.  I started this practice of meditation of books of the Bible about 15 years ago under the ministry of Pastor Dave Roberson.  The Lord has always blessed me and rewarded me by feeding each book into my spirit with tremendous revelation.  I highly recommend this way of “eating the Word of God.”

The book of Revelation, however, was much more challenging for me and took the most time of all.  I just couldn’t go quickly.  Sometimes I waited several months on the Lord in between readings.  By God’s grace, He has always visited me in a supernatural way during these times of waiting upon Him in meditation.  After my 34th time through Revelation last summer in August, I was allowed to visit heaven…” – Maurice Sklar

I have been yearning for the Lord to reveal more of Himself and His kingdom to me, and as I mentioned earlier,  I’ve always gotten more out of “soaking” in a message or “soaking” in a verse or a song.  When I listen over and over again, it becomes a part of me.

Well reading the Sermon on the Mount or a book of the Bible 50 times, over and over again, while asking God for revelation is just what I need to be sure I’m reading His word daily AND getting as much out of it as I can.

The Sermon on the Mount is the perfect place to start when wanting to know how to live a life that is dedicated and pleasing to God.  A life that is full of love, grace, wisdom and discernment, and a life that is free from hypocrisy.

The Sermon on the Mount is what Jesus taught his disciples, and as a disciple of Christ myself, I want to learn these things and live the way Jesus wants me to live.  The best way I’ve found to do this is by memorizing scripture and soaking or meditating on a teaching both day and night.  Ann Voskamp has some wonderful resources on her site to help you in memorizing the beatitudes and the sermon on the mount. Here’s a wonderful video of Ann reciting the Beatitudes.  It’s so sweet and inspiring that I like to watch it over and over.

I’m going to start with “soaking” in the Sermon on the Mount and I’m going to have my children do this too.  The Sermon on the Mount can be found in Matthew chapters 5-7, and it starts with the Beatitudes.  I will read it 50 times, asking the Lord for revelation each time, and when I’m done, I plan to move on to reading the book of Proverbs 50 times.

Please feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll be sure to read it.

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