The ASPECT method

The ASPECT method

Quiet time is one of the most essential aspects of your Christian life. Many Christians take some time reading the bible everyday. While it is very useful, just reading the bible will not lead you to much fuller Christian walk with Christ. You need to spend time in his words, study and learn from it everyday. Without daily regular quiet time, our spiritual life can be seriously malnourished just as our body can be mal-nutritioned without proper food and water! I often wonder when people talk about forgetting to do their quiet time due to busy schedule; I have never found anybody who forgot to eat for a day due to work!

Here I am presenting simple steps for how to do your daily quiet time:

Time: Quiet time should be about 10-15 minutes long. You can choose time according to you schedule. For some, morning works better, for others, night may work well. While, I recommend the morning time as you are much calmer and fresh, any time can work fine. It is also important to set fixed time everyday, as it brings discipline and consistency.

What do you need?

Your bible, note and pen. You can occasionally refer to bible commentary or dictionary for difficult passages of bible (Free bible study resources). But I would recommend studying bible as it is and ask God for his guidance to understand the passage. It is a very good practice to take notes in your quiet time. You will be amazed when you will see your quiet time notes years later!

How To do Quiet Time?

Start with prayer:

■ Spend just few minutes in worship and thanksgiving.

■ Spend some time in asking God for forgiveness for our sins.

■ Ask for his guidance in today’s quiet time

 

Passage for Quiet time: It is good to select any book of bible and read it continuously. It will help you to get the whole picture and can enjoy your quiet time more. 

■ Select about 8-10 verses, don’t select whole chapter, as you may not be able to cover it all. Select small paragraph according to passage.

■ Read the paragraph for 2-3 times. This bible study method is also called ASPECT method. From the paragraph, ask following questions.

■ A – About God – What can you learn about God through this passage?

■ S – Sin – Does it talk about any sin?

■ P – Promise – Is there any promise in the word?

■ E – Example – Is there any example, I can follow?

■ C –Command – Which command I need to obey?

■ T – Teaching – What can I learn from this passage?

 

Concluding Prayer:

■ Thank God for his guidance in quiet time

■ Worship God for his characteristic

■ Pray for deliverance from any sin

■ Ask for strength for the day.

 

Back to Basics (Hebrews - Day 13)

Elijah (my son) is 20 months old today! Happy whateveritis!!

He is currently learning new words - and each newly mastered word makes Jen and me squeal with delight as we praise his development.

We won't be so excited if he's still saying "STAR!" on repeat in two year's time. By then I would expect him to have an actual conversation with me...indeed, by the time he's four I would like to think he'll even know the letters that make up the words that he says...his ABC.

In today's passage, Hebrews 5:11-14 we are told that the recipients of the letter, the Hebrews, need to go back to "basic principles"...their ABC.

Imagine that...you've been a Christian for a number of years and someone who you respect turns round and says, "...it's like you've not even learnt how to talk...and you should be teaching others by now". Brutal. Harsh. Honest.

Today's passage is very blunt: there are basics we come to learn about the faith (tomorrow's passage will reveal what these are), and then we move on. Furthermore, once you've mastered the basics teach someone else. This is a simple principle most teachers learn - if you want to learn something: teach someone about it.

I find this incredibly helpful in my witness. When I got asked about Ascension Day, of which I knew relatively little, I committed to going away, reading up, and then trying to 'teach' someone else what I'd learnt. You should try it!

When I talk to people about the cell group I facilitate, it's helpful to divide the group into two...into those who are still infants in the faith (not infantile...I stress!!), as opposed to those who are mature in the faith. Typically, you would expect a mature Christian to be one who has walked with Jesus for a long time - typically, in our cell, from birth. But that's not always the case - some new Christians quickly move to maturity. And this passage explains how.

A mature Christian is one who:
- Has understanding of the basics (again see tomorrow for a definition)
- Teaches others the ABC
- Has skill when dealing with the 'Word of Righteousness' (The Bible), and
- Is able to distinguish between good and evil

This is such a challenge!

Surely the writer is expecting too much?!?

But as ever I don't think this is beyond us. In a sense this simply points to the two elements of our daily walk: the Spirit and the Word.

We HAVE to learn to know, read and study God's word, to listen to sermons, to let the "oracles of God" seep into our thinking. God's word doesn't answer every situation, but it certainly directs my path, and sets before me examples of Holy living that inspire and encourage. (I want to, once again, remind people of the helpful pneumonic I use when studying the Bible: ASPECT. I'll blog about it here. In that approach we are encouraged under letter E, to think about the example in each passage...what can we learn from others). Most chiefly the Bible points us to Jesus!

- Have you stopped and read God's word today - for yourself - even for a few minutes?

- Do you need help learning how to read the Bible? ASK SOMEONE...please!

And then there's the Spirit, which is given to every believer. The Spirit comes into our heart and transforms us. In relation to mature Christians the Spirit gives us the strength to resist temptation, and the awareness to notice when sin is creeping up on us. The Spirit also inspires us when we talk to others. When we 'teach' others we shouldn't think of a teacher in front of a class of unruly teenagers, no! When you think of teaching someone think of how you might show someone how to bake, or sew, or play piano, or better yet...think of the baby you are encouraging to speak!

How many times do we go, "Say...Daddy.....go on.....say 'Daddy'..." etc

We devote time and effort into one person, simply helping them master a task.

- Are you aware that the Spirit is in you - guiding, leading and inspiring you today?

- Who might God be setting before you to whom you can teach the ABCs of the faith?


I encourage you today to commit your life with God to one where you won't ever have someone say to you..."you need to go back to Basics!"

Ascended on High (Hebrews -- Day 10)

¹² For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. ¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. ¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,^[a] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 4:12-16

At the end of Hebrews 4 we have five verses packed with dynamite...God's word is commended; God's eyes are X-ray; God has been tempted in every way; and I am invited to approach God with boldness. BOOM!

And nestled in the middle, in verse 14 is another reference to the somewhat mystical, misunderstood, marginalised historical detail of Jesus life - his ascension.

If we are to fully grasp the nowness of God's invitation to approach him we have to understand that this is ONLY because Jesus is in heaven...now.

I wrote a blog on this some time ago and I'd like to encourage you to have a read. It explains why ascension day is important, but also what the ascension is all about.

Your Heart - Hard or Huggable? (Hebrews - Day 7)

¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3:12-13)

A big old block of stone...hard, cold and very VERY dead.

On Sunday I was sat in front of a beautiful old war memorial in church - man it was cold - it was an anti-radiator - it gave off this chilliness which made me and a friend move away. We wanted to be warm but were made cold.

The passage from Hebrews today - 3:7-13 - is very clear:

DO NOT LET YOUR HEARTS GO HARD!

Our hearts can go hard for all sorts of reasons...bad habits, time away from God, deliberately avoiding doing what we know deep down is right to do, allowing resentment and anger to fester in our hearts, and on it goes. Rarely do we intend to be hard-hearted, but so often we look back and realise what we thought was 'growing up' or toughening up, has actually been a deadening. Do you notice what happens to make us die? In the verses above it says we turn away from the "living God" (v.12).

Turning away from something living implies, I'm afraid, that we might well turn to something dead - to something that won't give life, but take it.

How might you have been turning from God?

So what are we to do??

1. Encourage one another to live for God
2. Do it daily!

We are instructed to stand together.

I love our cell (small midweek church fellowship group that meets to get to know one another more, worship God, challenge one another from His word, and think through how to live in service of others)

Cells are the opposite of stone - they are alive, living, breathing, active...

And this is how we have to be: alive, soft, fragile, vibrant...

But notice - cells work together - I need other people to help me, to encourage and to exhort.

Please - this day think about your Christian brothers and sisters - how are they doing? Are they struggling? Would they benefit from a supportive word, a hug, a text?

We do not do this alone.

Fix Up Look Sharp (Hebrews - Day 6)

There are two key phrases in yesterday's passage that set the tone for chapter 3 and 4 of Hebrews:
FIX YOUR THOUGHTS
and
HOLD FIRM

As I wondered around the house I couldn't help but start singing Dizzee Rascal's song, 'Fix Up Look Sharp' (WARNING: Contains offensive language). It's got a great big beat, but more importantly it represents Grime’s anti-bling clarion call: a call to authenticity. Be who you really are...
...well that's my rushed attempt to sense its meaning!

Now it may seem strange to reference Grime here - and certainly there are lots of values I would disapprove of - but the song (it seems to me) is about saying to the world - this is me - this is who I am - I'm facing you chin up. Regardless of the haters!

And when we say to one another - Fix Your Thoughts on Jesus - Hold Firm in the face of temptation, trials and tests - it's much the same.

Our real deep down attitudes and behaviours are merely the outworking of our thoughts - what are you thinking about today: worries, stress, work, money, your appearance? If you think and fix your thoughts on Jesus then the other stuff is put into perspective. Maybe the issues don't vanish - they rarely do - but instead of seeing the problem...we are reminded to see Jesus over the problems - remember...Hebrews' Christology places all things under Jesus.

3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. ² He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. ³ Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. ⁴ For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. ⁵ “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. ⁶ But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
Hebrews 3:1-6

This blog is part of our cells Hebrews Walkthrough season - inspired by the lectionary's Hebrew readings on Sunday mornings in these last few weeks before Advent, we have committed to reading through the whole book of Hebrews following a reading plan I've devised.

Hebrews - Week 1

So that was a spectacular fail, wasn't it?!

I committed to blogging every day for the eight week's Hebrews project...oops! I managed the first day.

Sorry everyone.

But can I add anything by way of overview of the first two chapters of Hebrews (Hebrews 1:1-2:18)?

I think so...

Firstly - these two chapters, as we heard from Paul Ayers in church, are deeply Christological. (Christology is the part of theology (which is the study of God) which looks at what it means for Jesus to be Christ - the saviour, the King.... what it means for Jesus to be Jesus. When you ask a question like 'Was Jesus God?', or 'What was Jesus' birth all about?', or 'Did Jesus really get tempted?'...you are asking a Christological question). But secondly, these chapters are about worship, which is our response to God.

When I stop and really think about who Jesus is one thing happens - I want to worship him.

I want to worship him because of his NATURE. He is so amazing: so different to me, and yet so like me. In these two chapters we think of Jesus' divinity - how he is God (see my blog on Heb 1:1-4); but we also consider his humanity - how he is a human, like you and me. In Hebrews 2 it says: "he (Jesus) shared their humanity" (Heb 2:14), and "he had to be made like his brothers in every way" (Heb 2:17), and "he himself suffered when he was tempted" (Heb 2:18).

But I also want to worship him because of what he has ACHIEVED. The passage doesn't just say - Jesus was God, and Jesus was human. It says something about what he's done for us.

I don't know how your average week pans out, but there's one rule about every week for me. I will always stuff up, somehow...and usually because I have given in to temptation. These passages tell me that the awesome God, has stepped into my shoes and knows about this struggle - he knows precisely how this feels. And yet he is now "crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death" (Heb 2:9). Yes he was human and divine - but this has had an impact on what he DID.

It's not just about his nature, but about his accomplishments, and chief amongst these is that God "left nothing that is not subject to him" (Heb 2:8b). In saying 'God left nothing not subject', means he has made all things subject to Jesus - everything. There is nothing, absolutely nothing Jesus is not Lord over. The writer to the Hebrews has already said this in chapter one: Jesus is the "heir of all things" (Heb 1:2) - ALL THINGS!

Finally, in this passage I'm told that I am CREATED FOR GOD. The writer to Hebrews slips in the simple, but beautiful phrase, "God, for whom and through whom everything exists" (Heb 1:10). My desire to worship God may, in fact, be something God has hard-wired into me to do...?

WOAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stop what you are doing - please!

In these chapters we are told clearly: that God made us for himself; that his Son, Jesus, is God completely; that Jesus is also completely human; and that as a result his death is for everyone (Heb 2:9) by making us clean - purifying us (Heb 1:3) from our sin (Heb 2:14-17).

This is such GOOD NEWS.

I am made for a purpose.
Jesus made me for a purpose.
And although I've failed to keep myself clean for that purpose, Jesus has come (as a Human) to die so that I might be kept for that purpose.


Can you begin to understand why the writer sticks the following in the middle of the two chapters:
"How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" (Heb 2:3)

Yes, indeed. It is a GREAT SALVATION. What's your response?

HAVE FAITH! Hebrews walkthrough - Day 1

1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. ³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. ⁴ So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
(Hebrews 1:1-4)

The weather this summer has been truly horrendous - wet, miserable and frequently cloudy. A gloominess pervades the nation still now. I sense it even amongst Christian friends.

Sometimes we are prone to weather-affected faith crises, I think.

We let the clouds of life - the busyness, the stress, the commitments, the family, the chores, the bills, the holidays - crowd into our skies and we are starved of the sun.

When this happens I think we stop believing the sun will shine again - we may even doubt the sun's existence. This week I read about the year of dark (536CE) where there was virtually no sun for a year - its effects were catastrophic. And let's not think this is not a serious health issue - a lack of sunshine causes all sorts of vitamin deficiencies - including Rickets - a condition reemerging in our country.

We become spiritually unwell when we are taken out of the shine of Jesus - if his glory.

This passage is such a bold statement of Jesus, who he is and what he does. It should bring life to our aching and tired limbs - it should fill us with enormous confidence.

Seven characteristics are listed:

He is...
...the heir of all things
...the creator
...the radiance of God's glory
...the exact representation of God
...the sustainer
...the sacrifice for our sins (the purifier)
...and he is seated at the right hand of God

Working backward what does this mean?

He is ascended into heaven - seated with God. This means he is the Lord, the ruler...now! Not in the future - he is King of the universe as I write this. Don't let anyone try and trick you that Jesus' lordship is conditional on our responses or ability to resist - he is Lord now.

He offered himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sin. Do you feel weighed down with guilt, or despondent that your life is in a rut - Jesus redeems your life! It is finished. Yes - you are a sinner - but he has dealt with your sin. Day by day I struggle with my fallenness - my sin. I need to be reminded every day that Jesus has dealt with this. I am morally right with God.

He sustains me, therefore, by the breath of his spirit and the power of his word. Jesus sustains the universe. He wills me into being, sustains my life - but also equips me with his Spirit and Word to live life in his footsteps.

And in case I worry that Jesus is just a righteous man, or I believe those protesting voices - this passage affirms that JESUS IS GOD - he is the "exact representation". He is the Father's son - he is not part God, he is totally God. I'm not worshipping a wanabe, I'm worshipping the one who is worthy of our worship. Sometimes I think people are embarassed by the Jesus-love-in, but given who he is, and what he is in his nature I am profoundly moved to worship - for God is worthy.

In Jesus face we not only trace the nature of God, but the glory of God too. We catch glimpses of it in Scripture - the Transfiguration, the appearance to John on Patmos - Jesus is a heavenly being. John writes that "we have seen his glory - the glory of the One and Only" (John 1:14). What difference should these last two facts make to my day...I should be deeply enthralled. Can you imagine what it will be like to finally stand before Jesus, to see him as he really is, when we compare him to the most beautiful, attractive people, or the staggering beauty of creation...we shall be filled with awe and wonder - my response is to worship. And when I look at the struggle of my life - the challenges and disappointments - I am glad the Bible reminds me that I will not be disappointed when I reach heaven.

And yet... I worship Jesus not only for his nature - his inherent God-ness - but because of his glorious work in creation. Yesterday evening was a perfect autumnal sunset - the misty day giving way to a chilly night, with the light fractured into a myriad shades and colours - beautiful. And he designed it.

Finally (firstly), we are told Jesus is the heir of all things. He came to us - setting aside his glory - and after suffering, death and resurrection was welcomed back into heaven where God has passed everything to Jesus - power, glory, honour, majesty...everything.

And here's the remarkable thing - we share in this:
"If we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17)

We shall in some strange and mystical way share in Jesus' majesty when we attain to glory.

However, Paul says this will be so if we share in his sufferings (Rom 8:17).

 

So what...........

Today - right now - whatever you are doing - STOP!
Are you discouraged?
Are you in despair?
Are you doubting Jesus?
Are you facing challenges to your faith?
Are you thinking of jacking it all in?

Don't!

Look to Jesus - look at his glory, his forgiveness, his nature, his creation - he is above all - the one and the only.

Be encouraged that your faith is not in vain.