Holy Hunger & Satisfaction in Christ

Psalm 63 has been a favourite of mine for a while. 

I have read it over and over and studied it in-depth a year or so ago. 

As I am reading through Psalms at the moment, I reached Psalm 63 and got to take a deeper look at it again.

What never ceases to amaze me, is how no matter how many times you return to a passage of scripture, you can always come away with something new!

So this time as I read the words of the psalmist David, new things dawned on me and in the season I am in right now the meaning of this psalm became more precious to me.

I was so refreshed by what I learned I simply had to share a few points with you. I also highly suggest you study this psalm yourself, especially if you don't feel like getting into the word during this season of your life.

David writes these words when he is in the wilderness of Judah. He was in a desperate situation, he was most likely tired, thirsty and hungry. But instead of complaining about his fleshly needs, he makes holy complaints, pleas for spiritual food & water.

He knows that feeding his soul is more important that feeding his body. So He cries out to God!

There are three main references to the soul in the passage.

My soul thirsts for You

My soul shall be satisfied

My soul follows hard after You

I took a closer look at these three statements and learned some wonderful things!

1. My soul THIRSTS for You

The meaning of thirst is to have a strong desire for something, to feel dry, to have one's heart set on something. 

This should be my heart for God. A constant holy hunger. To feel dry without Him, to have my heart set on knowing Him.

(Ps 42:1-2, Mat 6:33, Hosea 5:15)

I must be diligent in soaking my soul in the water of the word daily. 

2. My soul shall be SATISFIED

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food. (Ps 63:5)

Satisfied means contented, fulfilled, enjoyment, pleasure & comfort.

David knows that it is only in God that his soul will be satisfied. He knows that God alone can satisfy his longing soul.

For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. Psalm 107:9

3. My soul CLINGS to You

To cling means to hold on tight, to remain close, cleave, grasping and embracing.

God never leaves us, so if we 'feel' distant from God it is because we did not remain close, or hold on tight to His promises (one of which is that He will never leave us nor forsake us!).

This psalm paints a picture of what it is to have a holy hunger & thirst. That thirst is for righteousness (Mat 5:6).

I also sensed a sort of cycle depicted in this psalm. 

Our souls thirst or long for something (God) but we often choose to fill it with other things. 

When we chose to fill and feed that thirst with God and His word we become truly satisfied. The more satisfied we become in Christ, the more we cling/cleave to Him because we know we will not experience such peace or contentment anywhere else. We thirst for Him more and more because once we have tasted and seen that He is good, our souls crave more and more. And so the cycle continues!

I hope that made sense! These are real and raw notes from my journal so I'm not sure that they always make sense to anyone other than myself! 

I hope this post encouraged you and please read and study this psalm for yourself!

keep blooming,

On Loving Jesus above all Things // Book Excerpt

Hello darlings!

I was reading The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis during my quiet time the other today (great book by the way!) and this particular chapter just spoke to my heart.
I'm going to be sharing the entire chapter (it is quite short) here in this post with my favourite lines in bold type.

I pray this stirs your heart as it did mine and that you'll pick up this book and be inspired.

Book 2 - Counsels On the Inner Life

Chapter 7

~ On Loving Jesus above all Things ~

"Blessed is he who understands what it is to love Jesus, and to despise himself for Jesus' sake.

You must surrender all other love for His love, for Jesus desires to be loved alone, and above all things. The love of creatures is deceptive and unstable; the love of Jesus is faithful and enduring.

Whoever clings to any creature will fall with its falling; but he who holds to Jesus shall stand firm for ever. Love Him, therefore, and keep Him as your friend; for when all others desert you, He will not abandon you, nor allow you to perish at the last. 

Whether you wish for it or not, you must in the end be parted from them all. 

Hold fast to Jesus, both in life and death, and trust yourself to His faithfulness, for He alone can aid you when all others fail.

Your Beloved is of such a nature that He will not share your love with another; He desires your heart for Himself alone, and to reign there as a King on His throne. If you could empty your heart of all creatures, Jesus would delight to dwell with you.

Whatever trust you place in men rather than in Jesus is almost wholly wasted. 

Do not trust or lean on a windblown reed, for 'all flesh is as grass, and its glory will fall like the flower of the grass'.

If you look only to men's outward appearance, you will soon be deceived; for if you seek comfort or gain from others, you will often meet with loss. 

If you seek Jesus in all things, you will surely find Jesus. And if you seek yourself, you will surely find yourself, but only to your ruin.

For a man who does not seek Jesus does himself greater hurt than the whole world and all his enemies could ever do him.

What stood out to you from this chapter?

keep blooming,

What Boosted My Study of the Bible

Hello darlings!

Let's face it. Sometimes, studying the Bible can be hard.

It's easy to just skim over it, sigh and then bring up a commentary on your phone to 'help' you make sense of what you just read.

But, this is not the way to do it. This is not true, dedicated study of the Scriptures and it won't lead to a good understanding of the Bible.

In the words of Jen Wilkin, "We're called to love the Lord our God with all of our mind, not John Piper's mind. While what he and others have to say about the Bible can be extremely helpful, it is no substitute for Bible study on our own."

"We must learn to study in such a way that we are not just absorbing the insights of another, but are actually being equipped to interpret and apply Scripture on our own."

A couple months ago I printed out Coffee & Bible Time's free printable annotation & highlight guide and started using it in my quiet time.

Link to their blog post here!

I tried using highlighter codes previously but I never continued for very long and didn't find they worked for me.

But for some reason this one was different and it worked! 

I also found the annotation ideas helpful in digging into a passage. Now I usually only use a study guide or commentary after I've written my own thoughts and only as a way to finish off my study.

My favourite 'colour' from the highlight guide is the purple one which is for who God is, His names, attributes, characteristics and actions.

I think it is so important that we not forget WHO the Bible is about and looking for God in each passage is a great thing to do!

Sometimes after I read a passage, I'm left thinking, "Well, what can I get out of that?"

And the annotation ideas help me there.

For example, one of the ideas is to write a bullet point list of God's attribute mentioned in that passage. 

So I read through it again and make a list of all of the attribute of God that was mentioned.

Or there's the idea of defining words. Are there any ket words that stood out that you don't know that definition for? 

Maybe you know the word but sometimes they can have a deeper meaning when you look up the definition and jot it down.

If you feel like your Bible study has been lacking lately, then I'd encourage you to maybe try using this simple guide.

One last tool that I've also found helpful is a book. Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin is a small book but full of helpful tips and methods to help equip you to better study the Bible.

Purchase Women of the Word

Highlighters I Use

Coffee & Bible Time Blog

I hope you enjoyed this short & sweet post and that it will help you on your journey in discovering the treasures in your Bible.

keep blooming,

P.S

I apologize if my posting is a bit irregular from now on. I will try to get back to Monday and Friday blog posts but for now, I'll just post whenever I have the time(life gets crazy sometimes!).

Bible Reading Tips

I have come to really enjoy doing my Bible reading in the mornings. It brings me great joy and fulfilment. I'm not a pro, no one is. But I have come across some resources and tips that can help you get motivated and get deeper into the Word.
I have a similar post here.

#1 
USE A STUDY GUIDE

Now, I do believe that you shouldn't learn to rely on commentaries, study guides and devotionals. We should be able to study our Bibles without these things, but they can be helpful. I studied Genesis using this devotional from Newspring Church. It was good but when I started read Exodus I wanted to a deeper study.
I found a detailed study guide by David Guzik on Blue Letter Bible. I love it. He shows you some of the historical things you would never know otherwise. He has a guide for each book of the Bible. I highly recommend it and the other resources on BLB.

#2

INVEST IN GOOD PENS/HIGHLIGHTERS

It helps to have highlighters that don't bleed through your pages badly and wreck your Bible.
You could either just go to your local stationery store and buy some good quality highlighters like Faber-Castell and gel highlighters or get highlighter made especially for Bibles.
The Daily Grace Co. has some beautiful ones that I have only heard good thing about. I'm aiming to get some soon.







#3
SCRIPTURE TYPER APP

This is a good app to try if you love memorizing bible verses or you want to start to memorize it.
I have tried it and I do recommend it.

Personally, I would use a different method but it has worked for some people.
Basically, you pick a verse and then type only the 1st letter of each word etc.

#4

THE BIBLE PROJECT

Visual Storytelling Meets the Bible
I have mentioned them before but I have to again.

The Bible Project has helped me a lot when it comes to studying the Word.

They have a little video for each book of the Bible giving you an overview of what to expect as well as word study videos and videos on biblical themes.

I absolutely love what they do and I would like to support them in the future. They are a non-profit organization and money you donate goes toward whatever video they're working on at that time.




#5
ACCOUNTABILITY

Another thing that could help you stay on top of your Bible reading is having an accountability partner.
Find a friend and check in with each other to make sure both of you are reading your Bibles and praying daily.
I have never tried this but I think it would quite fun and helpful.

#6

DO IT OUTSIDE

I don't know about you, but personally, I feel closer to God or more focused and connected when I do my quiet time outside, which to be honest isn't often.
Especially this time of year, the mornings are too cold and dark to do it in the garden.
Sometimes I like to pick up my Bible, pen and notebook and read some later in the day though so then would be a good time to get outside.
Plus, you get some fresh air!






#7
BEGIN AND END IN PRAYER

Disclaimer: I do not do this but I want to work on it!

I believe and know that I should be opening and closing my devotional time in prayer but it often gets overlooked or forgotten.
"I don't have time", "Oops, I forgot", "Oh, I do it next time".
(Anyone else?)
I'd like my 'before' prayer to be just asking God to open my heart to his truths and to reveal Himself to me in the Scriptures and my ending prayer to be a prayer over my day.
#goal

#8

MAKE USE OF YOUR MARGINS (OR STICKY NOTES)

If your Bible has large spaces/margins, that's great!
Utilize that space by writing some of your thoughts and note right next to the passage you just read.
If you have a smaller bible, like me, it doesn't have much room for notes. Sticky note to the rescue!

I sometimes write a short sentence or a few words in the white space at the bottom of my page but sticky note are my friends when it comes to this 'sticky' situation!






I hope and pray that these tips might help and inspire you in your quiet time.

xoxo
Hannah

Ways to get into Bible Reading / Up your Bible Reading game!

So a while ago I was really struggling with reading the my Bible.
I knew it was important in my walk with God but I just didn't know how to approach it.
What should I read? When should I read it? For how long? Will I understand it? Do I have time for it?
All these questions were circling through my head and I knew I had to pray about it.
This was around the same time I attended the Christian conference I talked about in this post.
The conference gave me a lot to think about and it helped a lot but I still didn't quite get the boost I needed.
Then I found Coffee & Bible Time. A channel on Youtube that is run by sisters, Ashley and Taylor Krause. Their videos encouraged me a lot to go a start reading my Bible more. Once that got me started I became filled with this wonderful urge to read it more and more. That was truly an answer to my prayer(s). Not only did I want to read it  but I also understood it well.
It was a few days before I realised this was God answering my prayer and when I realised I was so happy!

So since I know the struggle I thought I would write this post to hopefully help any of you who are experiencing the same thing.

1. Pray about it
This is the number one thing to do because ultimately only God can help you.


2. Find some inspiration
For me this came from Ashley and Taylor's channel and my wonderfully inspiring Christian friends.
It can come form anyone or anything, a Bible verse, a sermon, friends, songs and people.

3. Get a journal
A journal will help you because while you read the Bible you will be able to write notes, thoughts and do art in your journal and these things will help you to understand thing more and think about what you read. You can also get really creative if you're that kind of person. Like me!


4. Use a devo book
Devotional books can be a great way to start getting into your Bible. Even if you are great at reading your Bible, a devo is sometimes nice to use in your quiet time.

5. Drink some coffee or tea
It goes well with Bible reading!

6. Don't feel like you have to read heaps
You don't have to read 4 chapters, it can just be a few verses. As long as you read some! You may start reading. intending to read a only few verses, and suddenly find you finished the chapter.

7. Prioritise it
When you wake up, instead of going on your phone or reading a book, grab your notebook and your Bible and read that first.

8. Open your quiet time by singing & praising to God
Speak O Lord, 10,000 Reasons, and Lord I lift your Name on High are great ones to use.




So those are things I do/use personally and they help me so they might help you too!

What do you love about the Bible?
What has God been teaching you lately?