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40 DAYS IN THE WORD

RICK WARREN: Hi, everybody. Welcome back to 40 Days in the Word. I hope you had a great time
this last week with your daily devotions, practicing the Pronounce It method of meditation. You know,
as I said, we’re teaching you one method of Bible study, called the Devotional Bible Study Method.
It’s the simplest method, which is essentially six different ways to meditate on scripture.

Now, before I show you the second way to mediate, I want to give you some tips on how to have a
meaningful daily quiet time with God, because this is where you’re going to do your devotional
method of Bible study.

First, let’s talk about the time. Now, I hear a lot of people say, “I just don’t have the time for a quiet
time with God everyday.” It’s the excuse I hear all the time. But, you know, every person in the world
has exactly the same amount of time each week, we all have 168 hours. You will spend some of
those hours on things you think of as important. You don’t have time for everything, you have to
make time for the things that really count. It’s not really a matter of time, it’s really a matter of priority.
It’s a matter of value. It’s a matter of what’s important to you.

Now, the key to making time for daily devotions, daily time with God, is your commitment to Jesus
Christ and to His kingdom. Now, Jesus stated it this way in Matthew 6:33: “Seek first,” that means
you don’t give Him your leftovers. “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these
other things will be given to you as well.”

Your quiet time should be the number one priority commitment of your life, getting to know God,
because you weren’t put on the earth just to mark things off your to-do list.

Let me just give you four things that happen when you have a quiet time.
These are the four great privileges of spending time with God.

The first thing we do when we have time with God is we give devotion to God. We give devotion to
God. This is the first privilege; and it is our privilege to give not to get. Now, you’re going to get
something out of this, but the first privilege is to give devotion to God because God deserves our
devotion. He’s your creator. He’s your redeemer. He’s your provider. He’s you sustainer. He’s your
counselor. He’s your comforter. He deserves to be worshipped. You would have nothing if it weren’t
for God.

Now, we’re also to give daily devotion to God because He desires it. He just doesn’t deserve it, He
desires it; did you know that? In the book of Revelation, Chapter 3, Jesus says this: “Here I am
standing at the door of your life and I’m knocking.” He says, “If anybody hears my voice and
opens the door, I’ll come in and eat with him and He with me.” In other words, we’re going to
celebrate. We’re going to spend quality time together.

So, Jesus deserves your devotion and He desires your daily devotion.

Now, the second privilege is when you spend time with God, you don’t just give devotion to God, you
get direction from God. Now, believe me, you need direction. You need direction on a daily basis.
This was David’s attitude when he writes in Psalm 25: “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me
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your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me. You’re my God. You’re my Savior. My
hope’s in you all day long.”

What we do in a daily quiet time is an opportunity to get a mid-course correction in our lives on a daily
basis. You get counsel from God and then you say, “What do you want me to do with my life today?”
You submit your schedule to Him. I do it every day of my life, I’ve done it now over 40 years.

The Bible says it like this: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He’ll make your paths straight.”

As long as you’re in touch with the Lord on a daily basis, you’re going to see life’s problems and life’s
opportunities from the right perspective. We often can’t see the forest for the trees, but God can see
what you can’t.

So, I give devotion to God. I get direction from God.

The third reason you want to have a daily time with God is we gain the light in God. It actually makes
you happier. A quiet time is actually a time to enjoy God and simply bask in His presence.
David writes in Psalm 16:11: “You fill me with joy in your presence.” The secret of joy is knowing
God. The more you know God, the more joyful you’re going to be.

Do you really know Jesus or do you just kind of know about Him? To know Him intimately was Paul,
the Apostle Paul’s number one priority in life. In fact, Paul says in Philippians 3:8: “I consider
everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

So, you make it your goal, not simply to read the Bible, but to meet with Jesus in your quiet time. It’s
conversation. You make it a date. You don’t just learn about Him, you actually meet with Him, and
you expect to meet Him in the morning because He’s there waiting to meet with you.

I give devotion to God. I get direction from God. I gain the light in God. Now (fourth), there’s one
other privilege of a quiet time, and it is this: We grow more like God.

You know this is true. You become like the people you hang out with. The more time you spend with
God, the more godly you’re going to be. The more time you spend reading His Word and talking to
Him in prayer, the more your character’s going to be shaped by the character of Christ. You spend
more time with television, you’re going to become like the people on TV. You spend more time with
People magazine, that’s who you’re going to become like.

But if you spend more time in His Word, you’re going to learn to think like God thinks. You know
what? That’s going to solve a whole lot of your problems. It’ll become a whole lot easier to know
what He wants you to do with the circumstances, the challenges, the problems, the trials and
temptations of life. The ultimate goal of a daily time with God is to grow to be more like Jesus in the
way that I think, the way that I feel, and the way that I act.

Now, how do you do this? So how do you have a good quiet time? Well, first, number one, you
have to start with the proper attitude. It all starts with attitude. You can have a quiet time anywhere
but you’ve got to start with the right attitude.

The Bible says this in 1 Samuel 16: “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man
looks at the outward appearance but God looks at your heart.”
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So when you come to meet with God in your quiet time, you need to have the right heart attitude.
You say, “What is it? What’s the right heart attitude if I’m going to meet with God?”

Number one, I come with expectancy. Expect to have a good time, a good time of fellowship with
Him, a good time to receive blessing, a good time to receive inspiration and strength and courage.
So, I come with expectancy.

Number two, I come with reverence. Now, this is important. I am going to meet with God so I don’t
rush into God’s presence, like: “God, I have two minutes, give it to me real quick. I’ve got to leave.
See you later. God bless you. Thanks.” No, I don’t rush into God’s presence. I come with
expectancy and I come with reverence.

Number three, I come with alertness. Now, this is important if you’re going to have a quiet time in
the morning, get wide awake first. I suggest you do not have your quiet time in bed, because you’ll
probably fall back to sleep.

The best preparation for a quiet time in the morning is to begin the night before. If you’re going to get
up a little bit earlier, 15 minutes earlier to spend some time with God tomorrow morning, you’re going
to need to go to bed 15 minutes earlier the night before so you’ll be in good shape to meet with your
God in the morning. He deserves your full attention.

Now, the fourth thing you have to do is you must come with willingness to obey. You don’t come to
your quiet time to choose whether you’re going to do God’s will or not, but you come with the purpose
of saying, “Lord, I’m already saying yes. Now, just tell me what the answer – tell me what the
question is.” Because I’m already saying, “Yes.”

So I come to meet the Lord having already chosen to do His will, no matter what. So I start with the
right attitude; with the wrong attitude, I’m not going to have a good devotional time.

Now, the second essential element to a good quiet time is not just the right attitude, but to select a
specific time. And I suggest that you have it the same time every day. Here’s the general rule. You
say, “When do I have my quiet time?” I’m going to tell you. The best time for you to meet with God is
when you’re at your best.

Now, for most of us, early in the morning seems to be the best time, before your mind fills ups with a
thousand other things. But if you are a night person, then do it at night; okay? I mean, some people
you’re early morning, you know, morning glories, you’re an early bird and you hit the ground running.
Some of you do not believe in God before 11:00 a.m. Well, fine. You’re still rolling at midnight. Well,
give the best time of your time to God.

However, whatever time you set, be consistent in it. Schedule it on your calendars, make an
appointment with God, just like you would everybody else, and then don’t miss it.

People often say, “How long should I spend in my quiet time with the Lord?” Well, that’s really a
matter to be decided between you and the Lord. If you have never done what I’m talking to you about
right now, you’ve never been consistent in a quiet time, I would suggest you start with five minutes,
just a little bit and let it grow naturally. I’m not talking about an hour a day. If you start an hour a day,
you’re not going to be consistent in it. Just start with five minutes a day. Don’t try for a two-hour quiet
time to start, you’re just going to get discouraged and give up.
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But your aim should eventually be to spend with – no less than 15 minutes a day with the Lord. I
mean, what’s 15 minutes? And then see how it goes from there. So, get the right attitude, pick the
right time.

The third essential element to a good quiet time is choose a special place; okay? A specific time
and then special place. And I mean special meaning it should be unique to your quiet time. The
Bible says in Luke 22: “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and His disciples
followed Him.” Jesus had a regular place where He went and prayed.

Now, your place needs to be two or three things. It needs to be secluded where you can be alone,
where it’s quiet, where you’re not going to be disturbed or interrupted, but not where kids are running
through the room and interrupting you.

You need to try and make it the same place every day where you can get alone with God. I suggest
that you get a place where you can pray aloud. It’ll help you think better. And, also, when you
pronounce the scriptures, as we talked about last session, you’ll have less hesitancy, because
nobody’s out there to hear you wherever you are. Maybe you’re in your car.

Now, as the days go by, I’m going to tell you that that place where you meet with God, it’s going to
become a sacred place to you. It’s going to become holy ground because that’s where you meet with
God, the living God. It’s where you meet with the Lord, and you can be – that place, wherever it is:
Could be your backyard; it could be in a Lazy Boy recliner; it could be in your car; it could be in a
park; could be wherever; Starbucks, wherever. It’s a place where you actually get alone with God,
and you’re meeting with the living God. That’s going to become as holy as the place where Jesus
met with God.

Now, the fourth essential, once you know the right attitude and once you choose the right time and
choose the right place, you need to follow a simple plan. Now, let me give you just a rough outline for
what you do in a quiet time.

First thing I do when I’m having a quiet time is I just be quiet; okay? The Bible calls that waiting on
God. You just be still for a minute. You don’t come running into God’s presence and start talking
immediately. You be quiet for a little while, two or three minutes, just to kind of rev down your
engines, put yourself into a reverent mood. So just, first, be quiet, wait quietly.

Number two, next thing I do, is I pray briefly. This is not my prayer time where I’m talking to God
about all the things in my life that I care about. It’s just kind of a short opening prayer where I ask
God to open my mind and to guide me and to cleanse my heart and to really have His Word come
alive to me.

Let me give you a couple of scriptures, and I would suggest you actually memorize these verses.
The first one is: “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious
thoughts, and see if there be any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”
That’s Psalm 139:23 and 24.

And then there’s another good verse, Psalm 119:18, it says this: “Open my eyes that I may see
wonderful things in your law.”
“Lord, help me to open my eyes to see things I’ve never seen in your Word before.”
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You’ve got to be in tune with the author of the book in order to understand this book.

So, here’s what you do in a quiet time: You be quiet, you just be silent. Then you pray a brief prayer.
Say, “Lord, cleanse me of anything in my life that’s keeping me from hearing you, and open my eyes
to see your Word.”

Number three: You read a section of scripture. Okay? Now, this is where your conversation with
God begins. He starts speaking to you through His Word, and then you’re going to speak back to
Him in prayer.

Now, the most important thing to remember is to read the Bible slowly. Most people read the Bible
too fast; and, as a result, they don’t let the Word sink in. It’s not how many times you get through this
book, it’s how much this book gets through you. So it’s not how much text you cover that matters,
what matters is that you get it in you. So you don’t be in a hurry, don’t try to read so much that you’re
racing through it, just read it very slowly.

And then the fourth thing you do is you meditate and you memorize a verse. In order to have
scripture speak to you meaningfully, you’ve go to think about it. We talked about that a little bit. In
each of these sessions I’m going to teach you a different method of meditation. You read it, but you
don’t just read it. You think about it seriously. And if there’s a verse that you really go, “Man, I could
use that verse,” you write it down on a little card and try to memorize it. That way it’s being filed away
in your mind and God can bring it back when you need it.

The next thing you do, you write down something God has shown you. See, when God speaks to
you through His Word and you write down what He said, it means you care enough about it to write it
down. It says Lord, “I care about what you’re saying to me.” It enables me to remember what God
has said to me; it allows me to check up on what God has said to me; it allows me to record the
discoveries I’ve got in my Bible reading. It’s Bible study. You see, recording what God has shown
you is one way of applying what you see in the Bible.

Now, the fifth thing, and this is the last thing, you have your time of prayer. Okay? I be quiet. I say,
“Lord, show me your Word.” I read the Word. I meditate on the Word. I record something down.
And now I have my own prayer time.

Now, after God has spoken to me through His Word, then I talk to Him in prayer, and this is my part of
the conversation. I talk to him about what He said to me. I say, “Now, Lord, you said this. Help me
remember this. Help me work on it.” Tell Him what’s on your mind. There’s nothing that God is not
interested in. If it’s big enough to worry about, it’s big enough to pray about. If you prayed as much
as you worried, you’d have a lot less to worry about. So the Bible says: “Give your worries and
cares to God for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7. “Give your worries.” It literally means drop, just
let them go, dump them, dump them on God.

Now, let’s look at the second method of mediation on scripture. Remember, the last session we
talked about the pronouncing method, where you emphasize a different word at each word in the
sentence, the Pronounce It technique.

In this session, I’m going to teach you a second simple way, and that’s called Picture It technique of
Bible meditation. Pronounce It, say one word at a time. Picture It, means to picture the scene in your
mind.
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Now, this one, this method of meditation, works best when you’re reading a narrative or a story in the
Bible. You know the Bible is a story book. It’s full, literally full of stories. And what you do in the
picturing method of meditation is you put yourself in the scene, in the event, in your mind.

Now, if you’re one of these right-brained people and you’re the creative type person, you’re going to
love this method of meditation. You put yourself in the situation. Picture yourself as an active
participant.

Now, whether you’re reading the historical stories of the Old Testament or you’re reading the life of
Jesus in the New Testament or the book of Acts, you put yourself in the context. You ask yourself:
How would I feel if I were involved in this situation? What would I say? What would I do?

Let me just give you an example. This example is in your notes in your workbook. Let’s say you’re
reading the book of Mark. And you come to chapter 2 in the book of Mark, and there’s this story
about four guys who have a friend who’s paralyzed, and they want him to be healed, but he’s so
paralyzed he can’t get to Jesus on his own.

So they put him on a mat. The four guys take the four corners and carry him to Jesus; and, when
they get to the house where Jesus is, it’s so crowded they can’t get in. Remember this story? It’s in
Mark 2.

So, they climb up – they’re pretty resourceful – they climb up on the roof of this house, tear the tiles
off, and let the guy down through the roof. Now just imagine, this is an amazing scene. Down below,
dust is falling, particles, you can hear the noise. All of a sudden, the hole in the roof opens up, four
guys are peering down, letting the guy down on a mat in front of Jesus. In the story, Jesus healed
him. If you don’t remember the story, you can read it in your study guide.

Now, as you stop and think about his passage. Obviously, this is not one you would pronounce,
because it’s not doctrinal truth. This is one that you would picture in meditation, and so you picture
yourself.

First, picture yourself as the man on the mat. I’m thinking, I imagine myself looking up, they just let
me down. I’m in a crowded room, and I’m looking up and dust is still coming down. I’m looking up at
the four guys, at the faces of my friends who just lowered me. What expressions do you see on their
faces? Okay. You think about that.

And then you imagine looking into Jesus’s eyes as you just interrupted Him, and He’s looking lovingly
at you, because He already knew you were going to show up, because He’s God. What are you
thinking as He looks at you? What’s the crowd thinking? What are you think as you – after He says,
“Take up your mat and walk. Your faith has healed you.” What are you thinking? Think about that.

And then in application I would ask myself: Hum, where do I feel paralyzed right now? Do I feel
paralyzed in a situation with a child? In my family, do I feel paralyzed in my marriage? Do I feel
paralyzed in my finances? Do I feel paralyzed by a habit that I can’t seem to break out of? Do I feel
paralyzed by the economy? Do I feel characterized by guilt or worry?

I start by saying: How do I feel paralyzed? How do I feel like this man did? Maybe I’m paralyzed
with doubt, maybe I’m paralyzed with grief because I’ve just lost somebody, and that paralysis is
keeping me from connecting to Jesus because I can’t get there on my own.
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Maybe I need some friends like that right now to help me, carry me to Jesus in prayer. That’s your
small group. Who could you ask for help in the areas where you feel paralyzed? See how we just
made that an application? I would picture it, and then I would apply it in my own life.

Now, I change the story around. I say, “Now I’m going to imagine myself as one of the friends.” I’m
one of the four guys on the roof, and I’m looking down through that hole and I’m watching Jesus heal
my friend. Because I was courageous enough to do something outlandish and radical in bringing my
friend to Jesus, I would do whatever it takes. What kind of faith would it take for you, if you were one
of those men, to get your friend to Jesus? How would you feel?

And then you think about that. Who do I know who’s paralyzed? Who do I know who’s in a crisis in
life, who doesn’t have any faith to get there, but they maybe need my faith to help get them to Jesus
so they can meet Jesus and be healed: Spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally, financially,
relationally? I have to ask myself, would I be willing to go through the roof for a friend who’s
paralyzed? See what I’m doing here, I’m picturing the story and then I’m applying it in my life.

Then I reverse it again, and I say: “How would it feel if I were the homeowner?” Okay? And I’m
looking up and I’m seeing the roof of my home being torn up by strangers. I’ve invited Jesus to my
house, it’s filled, packed out, and all of a sudden somebody’s tearing up my roof. And I’m thinking:
Who would do such a thing? Why would they do such a thing? What’s their motivation? Who’s
going to clean up this mess? And, most important, who’s going to pay for the roof repair? I’m
thinking about – see how the story comes alive when I picture it?

Now, I watch Jesus. His response to this man is not irritation. His response to the man is to heal
him. He’s just been dramatically affected. So, yeah, it’s costing, but am I willing to pay for that cost?
Is His healing worth it, or am I still angry? Am I more interested in my house than this guy being
healed? And I start asking myself these kinds of question by picturing it.

You know, one of my great friends is Max Lucado, and he has written book after book after book that
are basically books written because he pictured the text of scripture. You want a good example of the
second method of Bible study? Just read Max Lucado books. Because he knows how to picture a
scene in ways that most people don’t even think to do.

Now, you want to be one of the persons in the crowd, and you’re the casual observer. You’re
watching this whole thing third person. You came to just hear what Jesus had to say, but now you’re
confronted with power like you’ve never seen before. All of a sudden, Jesus, instead of being ticked
off at being interrupted, He says, “Your sins are forgiven, take up you mat and go home.” Whoa.
How would I respond if I were one of the people in the crowd?

And who would I tell about what I have just seen. “You’re not going to believe this, Honey, I was over
this house today. You’re not going to believe what I just experienced.” See what I’m doing? I’m
making the story come alive by simply inserting myself into the story.

Now, there are literally hundreds and thousand of stories like this in the Bible that you can meditate
on with the Picture It method of meditation.

Picture yourself with the boat on the stormy sea when Jesus calms the water. Stand next to David as
he takes on Goliath. Take a piece of bread when Jesus is feeding the 5,000 with the loaves and the
fish.
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Put yourself in the Roman jail, sitting there by the Apostle Paul as he’s condemned to death, he’s
awaiting execution, and yet he’s writing a letter known as 2 Timothy and also Philippians where he
says, “I want your joy to be abounding.” How can he do that in that prison? Feel the loneliness that
Paul must have felt in that cell or the triumph that he felt as he wrote, “I’ve fought the good fight. I’ve
finished the race. I’ve kept the faith.”

You want to picture the story in your mind when you’re reading a story in scripture. Then you take a
few minutes to write down your thoughts and your observations and your questions, because you’re
going to want to share with somebody else.

Now, you’ll probably find yourself thinking these things for the rest of the day. As you read a passage
in the morning and start picturing it, that’s where application comes in. Taking the lessons that you’ve
learned from picturing the story, and then applying them in your daily life. That person’s paralyzed.
That person’s paralyzed. That person’s paralyzed. Who do I need to go through the roof for today
when somebody asks me a question? Who do I need to pay for the roof to be fixed so somebody can
come to Jesus? I know you’re going to have a lot of fun in the practice session, in this exercise with
the group that you’re going to go into next.

You’re going to find some additional suggested passages for you to picture using that method of
meditation in your quiet times, in your study guide. And you can use it together as a small group, and
then you can do it for the rest of the week.