Casa Victoria

February 4, 2015

It´s been so long since I last blogged for Casa Victoria!  Four years, to be exact...how can I even call myself a blogger when I don´t update, write down thoughts, activities, problems, solutions, my ups and downs...!

It´s 3:54 AM. Can´t sleep....I was exhausted last night and went to sleep at 9 PM!  I am emotionally drained!  And that is the worst kind of ´tiredness´.  When I  am physically tired,  I sleep 7 or 8 hours, I wake up refreshed, ready for the day.

But with an emotional weight, I wake up and it is still there. Unresolved. Painful. Draining. Exhausting.

So I get up and leave my room.  I want to turn to the only and best source of renewing hope and strength.  The only one which I know for sure gives me peace, and joy, and hope. Getting closer to God.  I turn to my Bible.  I am feeling ill equipped to read it by myself, to study it, apply it to my life, so I look up resources online.

I find this site  
 https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/scripture-engagement/main/what-is-scripture-engagement

"Scripture Engagement"....I think this is what I need to make my Bible reading more meaningful, more interactive, more....engaging!
So I read these lines:

Prayer and Scripture reading are foundational to the spiritual growth process of all believers.

"The Bible is the most powerful catalyst for spiritual growth. The Bible’s power to advance spiritual growth is unrivaled by anything else we’ve discovered.” 
Why are the Scriptures so vital to spiritual growth? They are living and active (Hebrews 4:12-13), give freedom (James 1:25), make truth known (Psalm 19:7-11), and equip for service (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Every time we come to the Bible, we can meet and know God. Engaging the Bible is a relational process, the primary means by which God engages the believer.
When we open the Bible, it does not say to us, ’Listen: God is there!’ Instead, the voice of the Spirit whispers through each line, ‘Look: I am here!’” The Bible is the inspired Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16); through it He speaks to us. Through it the Holy Spirit shows us who God actually is. As we come to know Him, we are changed more and more into his likeness.

© Phil Collins, Ph.D., 2014. This material was created in partnership with the Taylor University Center for Scripture Engagement.

 Dr. Collins goes on to say:  "So here is my question, has anyone taught you how to read to the Bible for spiritual growth?
The Bible itself teaches us how we are to approach God’s Word. Words the Bible uses include “meditate” (Psalm 1:2,Joshua 1:8), “reflect” (2 Timothy 2:7), “look intently” (James 1:25), “dwell” (Colossians 3:16), “ponder” (Psalm 119:95), “consider” (Jeremiah 2:31), and even “eat” (Jeremiah 15:16, Revelation 10:9-11) (see the “Scripture Engagement Passages” sidebar↗). The phrase that summarizes this process is “Scripture engagement.”

We need to come to the Bible with purpose and intensity, wishing to catch every word God may have for us that will nourish our hungry souls. Do we too often come to the Bible casually, not really hungry, not really expecting to gain anything we might need? God’s Word is the food our souls desperately need. God’s Word, while always true and good, is not always easy to absorb, it calls us to obey and trust. Meeting with God is not a “tame” process, God is training us for his Kingdom, and training involves work and change. 
So what is Scripture engagement? It is a way of hearing and reading the Bible with an awareness that it is in the Scriptures that we primarily meet God. It is a marinating, mulling over, reflecting, dwelling on, pondering of the Scriptures, resulting in a “transformative engagement” with God.

I definitely want to engage in Scripture!  So I begin....