Deepened

"I want to be deepened, not pepped up," she said to me this morning.

It got me to thinking.
How are we deepened?
How do we equip others to be deepened?
The first step is to be striving for depth ourselves.
Why be a mile wide and an inch deep?
Surface water gets brackish.
We need to make wells and dig deeper,
where the water is sweet.

A short time later, I was reading from 'The Celebration of Discipline'
by Richard J. Foster.
Chapter 5 is on 'The Discipline of Study.'
I think this holds the answer to being deepened.


"Many Christians remain in bondage to fears and anxieties
simply because they do not avail themselves
of the Discipline of study.

They may be faithful in church attendance and earnest in fulfilling their religious duties, and still they are not changed.

I am not here speaking only of those who are going
through mere religious forms,
but of those who are genuinely seeking
to worship and obey Jesus Christ
as Lord and Master.

They may sing with gusto,
pray in the Spirit,
live as obediently as they know,
even receive divine visions and revelations,
and yet the tenor of their lives remains unchanged.

Why?

Because they have never taken up
one of the central ways God uses to change us: study.

Jesus made it unmistakably clear that the
knowledge of the truth will set us free.

"You will know the truth,
and the truth will make you free."
(John 8:32)

Good feelings will not free us.
Ecstatic experiences will not free us.
Getting "high on Jesus" will not free us.
Without a knowledge of the truth,
we will not be free."

He went on to say that study involves four steps.

1)Repetition-"Repetition regularly channels the mind in a specific direction,
thus ingraining habits of thought."

2)Concentration-"Concentration centers the mind. It focuses the attention on what is being studied."

3)Comprehension-"Comprehension focuses on the knowledge of the truth. It leads to insight and discernment...providing a basis for a true perception of reality."

4)Reflection-"Although comprehension defines what we are studying, reflection defines the significance of what we are studying. Reflection brings us to see things from God's perspective. Jesus speaks often of ears that do not hear and eyes that do not see. When we ponder the meaning of what we study, we come to hear and see in a new way."
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Sometimes, I study a topic, like fasting.
Then I read everything I can find on it.
I look up scriptures and read good books.

Other times, I read a chapter or a book in the Bible,
and pray, 'Lord, show me something new.'
He usually does.
Sometimes,
I go through a time where I don't seem to 'get' much.
But I keep reading.
I keep plowing the soil,adding bits of nutrients
and fertilizer to my garden, so that when I do get
an understanding,
my soil is plowed and ready to receive
the good seed.
The fields produce more when the soil has been primed.

If you are not a good reader,
just read a verse or a psalm.
Don't let the feeling of
inadequacy keep you from the very
source of adequacy.

I believe,
that the more you hear,
the more He will entrust you
with more to hear.

Also, you could get CD's or tapes of the scriptures
and listen to them.
Studying does not always involve
a desk, a pen, and some paper.

Focus on a well of study that you are interested in.
Why be a jack of all trades and a master of none?
You don't have to know deeply about everything.

That's what the body of Christ is for.
We give cold cups of water from our wells to each other
and so nourish our body with living water.

Sometimes, I read the Scriptures
like I eat a box of chocolates.
I nibble a bit from the top of each treasure,
enjoying the flavor,
and getting an overall taste of what is good.

Other times,
I read the Scriptures
like I eat a single Dove chocolate.
I let it melt in my mouth,
savoring every bit of
it's sweet dark deepness.

The important thing is that we taste
and see that the Lord is good,
and then sit down to eat.