
Have you ever been stumped by a verse while reading through the Bible? I know I have on many occasions.
What about your attention? Have you ever been drawn to a particular verse as you read through a chapter? This is one of my favorite ways of knowing the Holy Spirit is guiding my understanding and directing my pathway. I love “attention” verses. I often write them down and focus on one a week to get a full picture of God, His attributes, and what He is personally saying to me.
This month our church is reading through the book of Mark – a part of the Gospel Era showcasing the fulfillment of the promised Seed God spoke of in the Creation Era. The book is a narrative filled with the life of Jesus, His mighty miracles, delivery of parables, and His death and resurrection. Over and over, each chapter reveals the love story of God which gives us all hope and “good news” to share with the world.
During this time of reading, several verses have captured my attention and deepened my understanding of the Lord. Over and over, I see God’s hand working to reveal His goodness and love in markable ways during Christ’s earthly life. I particularly love how Christ addresses the “legal” acts of the pharisees as He separates the difference between head knowledge/rule followers and a heart of love devoted to living by faith in God.
As many of you know, I am a large advocate of elevating God’s Word to the highest level of understanding and saturation. Many of Refining ministries’ workshops, Bible studies, and retreats are geared to helping followers discover ways to absorb Scripture to the fullest. So, I was captivated by this week’s sermon at our church when Chris Lopez shared a simple way to dig deeper into a focal verse.
He directed his thoughts to Mark 6:2 (NLT)
The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?”
Then, Chris shared how he narrowed down his view by noting words that stood out to him: amazed-wisdom-power-perform. He carefully discovered the Biblical definition of each word and then rewrote the verse using the definitions as a substitute for each word. Here’s the video clip.
https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx2GzEzbikZVf4sgqUp4p493zXjxaFJw3h
What a great tip!
I decided to give it a whirl and revisit the key verse for Refining ministry: “I will give them hearts that recognize me as the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly.” Jeremiah 24:7 NLT
recognize means acknowledge
return means come back
wholeheartedly means completely and sincerely devoted
Defined to read: “I will give them hearts that acknowledge me as the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will come back to me completely and sincerely devoted.”
WOW! What a wonderful way to dig deeper into God’s Word and search for true understanding. Thank you, Chris, for sharing!
I hope this tip helps you take your Scripture comprehension to new heights.