Summer Bible Study

“What are you going to study in the Bible this summer?”

Several people have asked me this question in the past week. With summer right around the corner, the activities that occupy our days are rapidly coming to a close. It’s a delight to have longer days (well, in terms of day light anyway) and less structure to our week. At the same time, much of that “structure” is what kept me in the Word and in prayer.

BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) has a rule (or “guideline”) that says if you want to participate during the discussion time then you have to have completed your lesson. If you wanna talk, you gotta do the homework. The principle behind it is that the people who have worked on their lessons have presumably prayed, studied, and thought about the questions and should be the ones primarily involved in the discussion time.

Well, if you know me AT ALL, then you KNOW I always have my lesson done. The guideline/rule is a very effective one for me. :) It does have the side benefit (unintentional, I’m sure) of getting me in the Word every week. Despite the goals I set for myself (every year!!), I don’t usually do my lesson on a daily basis (ducking here as my wonderful BSF leader reads the blog) but throughout the week, whether it is over two or three or four days, it is completed. I am reading and studying the Bible. Hopefully even applying the principles to my life. Powerful stuff.

Then there is my Moms In Touch prayer group. Every week I meet with 4 or 5 other homeschooling moms to pray for children. We focus on an attribute of God and pray scriptures over our children. Very powerful stuff here.

joshua

Nothing like having a teenager in your life to bring you to your knees in prayer, if only for the funds to feed him.

Now along comes summer. Ah, sunshine, warm days, perhaps pool time and vacations. Although we continue a good bit of our schooling throughout the summer, the atmosphere is more relaxed. We tackle some inside projects. We meet friends at the park. The kids have camps they attend.

Where is the accountability of a weekly Bible study? I am a shallow person, I admit it. I am flaky and lazy and often content with “life as it is.” Maybe calling me happy-go-lucky, contented, and optimistic puts a better spin on my character. How about sinful and self-indulgent? That probably puts me in the same category as, oh, all humans.

“What are you going to study in the Bible this summer?”

This is a very real and pertinent question. My heart’s desire is to be passionate for the Lord, to long to know Him better, to be changed and transformed into His likeness. The people who ask me this question know that studying the Bible is the only way to accomplish these things. If I want to live life to its fullness in joy and truth and faith, if I want to understand who God is and what He desires for my life, if I want to know how to raise my children and love my husband, if I want to find salvation and freedom from my sins, then I MUST remain a diligent student of God’s Holy Word. This isn’t an option, a recommendation or a vague possibility; it is a necessity.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (I Timothy 3:16-17)

So, when my mother (an amazing Godly woman who blesses and encourages me every time I speak with her) says she and my Aunt Kate are going to do a study on grace this summer and asks if I want to join her; I immediately write and say, “Send me the book! I’m in.”

aunt kate and mamie

Aunt Kate and Mamie in Texas, August 2006

When a friend says the church is going to have a women’s summer Bible study starting in June, do I want to help her lead it; I say, “Yes! Let me know what I can do.”

Kirsten and Michelle

Kirsten and Michelle at the Women’s Retreat this April.

When another dear friend says she wants to meet this summer and do some sort of informal Bible study with a few of the women in our neighborhood; I say, “Absolutely! Let’s go for it.”

I am not a super, spiritual mighty woman. I am more like a Bible study/prayer serf (aiming to be a prayer warrior one day). I do, however, know that I have to surround myself with people who encourage my faith. People who want to keep themselves in the Word during the busy summer months. I’m not trying to over commit myself or appear self-righteous and holy by agreeing to all of these different studies. Summer is busy. The church group will only meet every other week. The study time with my neighbor will constantly be interrupted by vacations and family schedules. My mom, aunt and I are separated by thousands of miles so we obviously won’t be meeting on a regular basis.

My hope is that all of these different groups and studies will come together in a way that brings me the accountability and motivation and encouragement I need to remain in the scriptures. The words in Romans 12 whisper in my ears often these days:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

If I am going to renew my mind and resist the world’s constant subtle (and not so subtle) pressure, then I have to be consistently filling my soul and heart and head with God’s truths. How am I going to recognize God’s will if I don’t know who He is? If I don’t ever read the Words He has spoken to me? If I don’t have a living, real relationship with Him?

For our anniversary (Wednesday), Tim gave me the cd, Glory Revealed. I first read about it on Boo Mama’s blog. She even included a youtube clip of one of the songs (click on her link and scroll down the page a bit to listen to the song). I fell in love with the title song and played it over and over. The artists and writers of the album wanted to produce a collection of songs directly from scripture. They succeeded in making a very powerful, moving cd. It is blessing my soul already.

rachel

Rachel memorizes songs almost the second time she hears them. She loves music and is constantly stealing my cds. I have to watch her all the time. We’re working on this obvious character fault.

I am passionate about making our home a place that honors and glorifies God. I fall and falter and fail ALL THE TIME but I try to be obedient and faithful as best I can. One thing Tim and I both desire is to fill our house (and therefore our ears and hearts) with music that worships the Lord. I’ve already written about the Seeds Worship cds that our family loves. Tim strongly encourages the children to find Christian music that they enjoy. He regularly buys us new music from Christian artists. There is almost constantly music playing in our house. This week I showed the older children how to create their own playlist on the kitchen computer (where we have most of our music loaded). What words and songs are they singing? Songs full of worship and wonder of the Lord. Truths about Him.

sarah, david and daniel

These rascals have been building forts again. No doubt they have been reading Proverbs 2 and are searching for wisdom and insight and other treasures.

I am excited because I just discovered another series of worship music written strictly from scripture, Word of God Speak. There are three cds in the series. My birthday is right around the corner (okay, it’s in July but I believe in really stretching birthdays out so we could start with the gifts now), maybe these new cds will head this way.

What are you going to study in the Bible this summer?

What are you going to do to keep yourself grounded in the Word and your spirit alert and ready to hear the Lord? Do you recognize His voice when He speaks? What words and images and sounds are filling your home and workplace? What songs do you find yourself unconsciously singing throughout the day? Is your conversation more animated about the latest season finales or the truths God is teaching you right now?

Kathy (humble, flawed servant seeking after her Master)
Project 365 – Day 144

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13 thoughts on “Summer Bible Study”

  1. Kathy,
    I do miss living in town when I hear all of my friends making summer plans similar to yours. Some of them like to get together for BIble Study followed by a walk or shopping or something. I tried to meet with some of them one year, but our busy work schedule in the summer and living 40+ minutes from town made it impossible to do for more than a few weeks. Anyway! Sounds like you have a great line up for the summer.

  2. Great post!! BTW, church bible study will be ‘every’ week oh, informed co-leader of mine!!! hehehe Love ya!

  3. I am in the process of setting up a WordPress Blog that we will hopefully be using for the HOPE Homeschool Co-op Summer Reading Challenge … I could set up something like that for a collective Bible Study blog if there is any interest. Kathy — maybe you and your Mom and Aunt Kate could moderate it and I could add in anyone else who was interested as Authors (so they can post articles and not just comments).

    The way I envision it is that you could take turns ‘leading’ and post on a particular passage/topic, and then others could comment, then the next person takes a turn. Just a thought.

    To a guy armed with blog software, everything can be solved with a blog.

  4. I have to agree with Cynthia…we love living out in the country, but it definitely has it’s pitfalls, like not living near many people! :-p

    I would love to do something this summer, but have to be content with working on my own, which is a hit or miss kind of thing.

  5. YES, Tim, count me in.

    Katherine, I started our Grace study today- so I’m behind your mom, too. It’s going to be excellent!!

    I loved this blog!! I want to be passionate about knowing the Lord more, too-and therefore MUST be in the Word. Your mom is such an encouragement to me, too. Thanks for sharing her with me!!

    I love you E’s. Aunt Kate

  6. I’m going to lead a study on the book of Galatians by Carol Ruvolo. Right now the song in my head is the theme from Pirates (which my 14 year old plays over and over). I’m glad you’ve hooked up with some accountability! Beth

    (PS I’m so excited! I made the blog!) Thanks!

  7. Cynthia – wow, yes, 40 minutes would be a pretty big deterrent. Town can feel far away at times, I bet. Of course, you make the kids sports a priority. Maybe you need to be sure you’re getting fed and suppported as well. We lived out in the country for over four years. The SHS loop was pretty much my support group during those years. :)

  8. Michelle – ahem, that certainly reveals how well informed I am. Ha! Thanks for clearing things up. Is this a new thing? I thought for certain it was only every other week last year. Well, good, there you go, now I’m over committed. That threw me right over the edge. I give up!

  9. Beth – you can be in my blog anytime!! I can’t believe I didn’t take some pictures from our fellowship (especially with all the gorgeous gals in our group). I heard about your Galatians study. Sounds wonderful. Are you all meeting once a week? How many BSF leaders will be joining you??

  10. Debbie – you’re right, living out in the country does complicate things. When we moved to the suburbs from several years out in the country it was quite a shock to my system to have so many churches around. Everyone else just took the large selection for granted (and we’re in WA, definitely NOT the Bible belt–ha).

    You can always study grace with us. I’m not sure what book it is but I think it’s a short Kay Arthur study.

  11. Mmmm…I’ve hardly had time to go to the loo the last few weeks, let alone a Bible study, sadly. But I am fortunate that Jamie is a worship leader and we are surrounded by worships songs day and night round here.

    As I type, waiting for my oven timer to go off, Grace and Jamie are singing and playing in the bedroom above me, a Graham Jendrick song. And after the food is prepared for our dinner tonight, I’ll be practicing my own songs for tomorrow’s worship.

    We only choose songs with strong biblical foundation, so I figure than duiring these busy times of no Bible study, I am getting my needs met in other ways!

    I do look forward to the time when I can go to someone’s (clean) home for a couple of hours of intensive study AND the related fellowship. One day….

  12. Kathy – I LOVED this entry. Thanks for sharing your heart. You know that Bible Study is also a passion of mine.

    This year our women’s group is small and the women want the summer off. I’ve also been considering what to do with the summer. I have some personal goals of Bible study with my daughter that always seem to get put on the back burner (done but not like I’d like it done)….so I’m really thinking this year to do my own Precept 1 or 2 Peter study and then instead of leading a women’s study – do that weekly study with Arielle – and maybe a couple of her friends. It’s been a heart goal for years to have a mother/daughter study. I saw that when highschool girls began attending our Precept studies in AK….but I want to see more.

    Thanks for spurring me to continue praying about this.

  13. Great post, Kathy. I continue to read my Daily Bible, but it’s more like once or twice weekly. We listen to a LOT of Christian music on the radio, it’s the only thing we play in the house or in my car. (Okay, so my dh’s been listening to The Carpenters, and I’m talking Karen and Richard from the ’70s!)

    This has been a year for us to SO see God’s work in our lives. We are abundantly blessed.

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