“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." - Jesus (Matt 4:4)

Week Three is all about handles. Give yourself a way to hold onto and live with all you have been learning. Key word is application. A Roman scutum was heavy, bulky. Good handles are key if we will survive the battle. Here are some tips for handle-building:

The Bible is a practical book, for it is concerned with practical godly living. Bible study without personal application can be just an academic exercise with no spiritual value. The Bible was written to be applied to our lives. In his succinct way Howard Hendricks (great Bible teacher) has said, “Interpretation without application is abortion!” We want to note here that application is necessary for our Christian lives, that it is hard work, and that good applications are possible if we follow some basic principles.

Rick Warren, Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods: Twelve Ways You Can Unlock God's Word (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 34.

Did you notice Rick's phrase, "that it is hard work"? Application is very hard work. Rick Warren goes on to note that it is hard because it requires serious thinking, that Satan fights it viciously, that we naturally resist change.  All too true. 

Here are some simple steps (also suggested by Rick Warren) as you work to get a handle on your understanding of the Bible's priority in your life.  

1) Ask the Holy Spirit to help you apply what you learn. It is His book and He knows your heart. Profess your willingness to obey and confess your inability to go forward alone. Perhaps a part of Psalm 119 could be your prayer guide, "...deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live to keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderous things out of your law." Psalm 119:17-18 

Pastor Tip: I read and pray over a part of Psalm 119 every week, before I prep my sermons. I want the Bible to remind me what I am about to do and how to go about it.

2) Reflect on your list of verses. You ought to have gathered 6-10 Bible verses over the last two weeks. Go back over them and sit with them. Chew on them a bit. Identify one that stands out the most. Use the following questions to press into it. Within your selected verse is there any …

• Sin to confess? Do I need to make any restitution?
• Promise to claim? Is it a universal promise? Have I met the condition(s)?
• Attitude to change? Am I willing to work on a negative attitude and build toward a positive one?
• Command to obey? Am I willing to do it no matter how I feel?
• Example to follow? Is it a positive example for me to copy, or a negative one to avoid?
• Prayer to pray? Is there anything I need to pray back to God?
• Error to avoid? Is there any problem that I should be alert to or beware of?
• Truth to believe? What new things can I learn about God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, or other biblical teachings?
• Something to praise God for? Is there something here I can be thankful for?

3) Write Out a Personal, Practical, Possible, and Provable application.

• Personal: “I need to …”
• Practical: “I need to lose some weight.”
• Possible: “I need to lose 10 pounds.”
• Provable: “I need to lose 10 pounds before the end of the month.”
• Pass on your application to a brother in the faith to keep you accountable.

We aren't about just learning about being godly men. We want to ACT like godly men. Application is where that happens.

Challenge: pass on to the W&P class your personal, practical, possible, and provable application.