Your head may age, but your mind can always have fresh new perspectives.

Your muscles can wither, but your experience, insight, and wisdom can be deepened.

Your bones can be weakened, but you can still hold on to and create new hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

Your flesh can wrinkle, but you can develop new knowledge, skills, behaviour, and habits.

In true essence, you don’t have to age and cannot age because you can still unleash the child, the dreamer, and the warrior within you.

Your soul can live young.

Your fighting spirit can go on to enjoy worthwhile pursuits and purposeful contributions.

The sun may be setting, but your dreams can always bring forth a more radiant sunrise.

You’re not old because of the years in your life but because you lose the spirit and verve of living life.

May God watch over you and renew you daily (Rom 12:1-2) as eagles (Isa 40:31)!

1 PREPARE YOURSELF

PRAY. INVITE THE HOLY SPIRIT TO SPEAK THROUGH THE TEXT.

something like this: “Father, anoint me with your Holy Spirit, so that as I read your eternal word, your word may penetrate my whole being and transform me. Grant me the blessing to be a faithful disciple in believing the Word of God and that I may be a light shining upon all who are in darkness. in Jesus’ name I pray Amen.”

LET GO OF YOUR ASSUMPTIONS.

BE AWARE OF WHAT THEOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL BIASES YOU MIGHT ALREADY HAVE THAT ARE IMPACTING HOW YOU READ AND INTERPRET THE PASSAGE.

LET THE TEXT SPEAK FIRST.

BEFORE YOU READ COMMENTARIES OR DO OTHER OUTSIDE RESEARCH, TAKE TIME TO FOCUS SOLELY ON THE WORDS OF SCRIPTURE.
PUT AWAY DISTRACTIONS.

INEVITABLY, AT JUST THE MOMENT THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS ABOUT TO SPEAK TO YOU, YOUR PHONE WILL RING, OR SOMETHING ELSE WILL DISTRACT YOU.

PREVENT THIS BEFORE IT HAPPENS.

2 THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

FIRST: OBSERVE. ASK YOURSELF,
“WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THIS PASSAGE?”

BEFORE YOU TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IT ALL MEANS, SIMPLY
TAKE TIME TO OBSERVE AND NOTE EVERYTHING
THAT IS HAPPENING.

SECOND: INTERPRET. ASK YOURSELF,
“WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? WHAT IS THE TEXT TRYING TO SAY?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLICAL AUTHOR WANT ME TO KNOW?”

THIRD: APPLY. ASK YOURSELF:

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR MY LIFE?

WHAT DOES GOD WANT METO DO?

HOW DOES THIS APPLY MORE BROADLY?
WHAT IS GOD’S MESSAGE FOR ALL BELIEVERS?

3 THE BIGGER PICTURE

WE MUST ALWAYS BE CAREFUL ABOUT READING A SINGLE VERSE OR PASSAGE IN ISOLATION.
WHILE THESE MIGHT BE THE FOCUS OF OUR STUDY, WE SHOULD ALWAYS UNDERSTAND THE
BROADER CONTEXT.
BEFORE READING A SINGLE VERSE OR PASSAGE, REVIEW THE ENTIRE BOOK.

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR EVENTS AND THEMES?
READ THE PREVIOUS FEW CHAPTERS.

ARE THERE SIGNIFICANT EVENTS OR PATTERNS THAT MIGHT INFLUENCE HOW YOU INTERPRET YOUR SELECTED PASSAGE?
STUDY THE TEACHINGS AND EVENTS IMMEDIATELY BEFORE YOUR SELECTED PASSAGE.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO REMEMBER AS YOU STUDY?

4 LEAN INTO CONFUSION

IF A PASSAGE CONFUSES YOU, IT IS OFTEN BECAUSE OF SOME UNFAMILIAR CONTEXTUAL
DETAIL.
FOR INSTANCE, WE ARE CONFUSED WHEN JESUS TELLS US THAT WE MUST “HATE” OUR FAMILIES IN
ORDER TO FOLLOW HIM. BUT THIS IS BECAUSE IN JESUS’ DAY, “LOVE” AND “HATE” WEREN’T
EMOTIONAL WORDS. THEY MEANT TO “CHOOSE” OR “NOT CHOOSE.”
WHEN A PASSAGE CONFUSES YOU, LEAN INTO IT.
SEARCH BOOKS AND COMMENTARIES.

OFTEN, THE ANSWERS YOU FIND NOT ONLY MAKE SENSE OF THE PASSAGE BUT GIVE IT EVEN GREATER
MEANING

P.S.

I advise you to get one or two cheap paperback bibles for the study, so you don’t feel bad writing and making it.

• The online study book I use is the Logos Faith Study Bible (it’s free)
• I also use for quick reference the online Blue Letter Bible (also free)

2 Timothy 4:5

In his charge to Timothy, the apostle Paul encourages a similar urgency and dedication to selfless evangelism. Affirming God’s constant presence and the inevitable return of Jesus, Paul charges Timothy to preach with patience and precision (2 Timothy 4:1-2). The apostle reminds the young preacher to remain focused, though some people will reject Jesus.  For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. ⁴ They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. ⁵ But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Our days are limited, so every moment counts. We can be confident that our Father has secured our spot in heaven as we proclaim, “Jesus saves!”

Jesus, please give me opportunities to share Your love with others.

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us – so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. Psalm 67:1–2, NIV

Lord, Almighty God, you are our Father and we are your children, who want to live for you through Jesus Christ our Lord. Strengthen and renew our hearts. When discouragement and fear try to mislead us, may your Holy Spirit help us again and again to hold fast, for no matter what difficulties arise, your will is being done and your will is good. Your name will be honoured. Your kingdom will come for all nations. Your reign will come over all peoples, for they are all yours and must acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to your honour, O Father. Amen.

or put in another way:

He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Ephesians 2:17–18, NIV

Dear Father in heaven, we thank you for all your goodness and for the peace you give us. Unite us as your people, we pray. Unite us as one people with all your children who have ever lived, as one people with all who want to serve you. The more faithfully and joyfully we are your people, the more blessing you can give. Let the material world come under your hand. Guide your children on earth. Lead us in such a way that others may be helped. When we suffer, grant us strength and understanding of your will. Protect us today and every day. In Jesus’ Name we pray Amen.

Dear Father in heaven, 

in your Word we trust, in your Word of eternal life, given us in Jesus Christ our Savior. We build on this Word of life in these days when it seems that everything is losing strength and value, and yet there is so much longing in people’s hearts. You will not let our hope be disappointed. What you have spoken must be fulfilled. What is promised in Jesus Christ must come into being, not only for a few but for the whole world, for which he died and was raised from the dead. Be with us. Keep us so fully alive that our lives reflect all the goodness we are allowed to experience and we overcome all the evil which tries to attack us. We thank you for calling us to life and for renewing us again and again. May your name be praised among us forever. Amen.

We must realize and understand the power carried by our thoughts and words. They’re so powerful that they can bring either blessings or curses into our lives, depending on their nature. Our thoughts and words are like the rudder of a ship—they may seem small, but they affect the very direction of our lives.

Many years ago my life was in a state of chaos because of years of wrong thinking and speaking. I had encountered so many disappointments because of all the devastating things that had happened to me. I was afraid to believe that anything good might happen. In fact, my philosophy of life was, “If you keep your expectations low, you’ll never be disappointed.”

Over the years I became very cynical and negative. I often said that if I had two positive thoughts in a row, my mind would’ve gotten a cramp. My thoughts were negative, which caused my words to be negative…which all reflected poorly on my life. Finally, I decided to change my ways and stop talking so negatively. After a while I realized that I needed to do more than just not talk negatively. Cutting out the negative wasn’t enough; I had to begin to think and talk positively!

For example, a person sneezes and says, “Oh, I’m probably getting the flu.” Or someone hears a rumour that the company he works for is going to lay off some employees, so he thinks, That’s the story of my life. Every time things start to go well, something always happens. Then he says, “I’ll probably lose my job.” These types of negative statements seem to come so naturally to all of us. We need to discipline ourselves to be more positive—it’s not so easy!

When we react negatively, we allow fear to take over our thinking. We begin to dwell on things that haven’t even happened and may not happen. Our negative thoughts cause us to speak the words that’ll shape our future.

We’re constantly tempted to think wrong thoughts, but we don’t have to accept them! We have a choice! We need to purposely choose right thinking and speaking.

In the Bible, Proverbs 18:21 says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue…. We must choose life generating thoughts. When we do, positive, powerful, life-giving words will naturally follow.

I think some people try to control their mouths but do nothing about their thoughts. That’s like pulling off the top of a weed—unless the root is dug up, the weed always comes back. You’ll never control your mouth unless you first learn to control your mind.

Believing is the first important step to switching our thinking from being negative to positive. Remember, what’s in our hearts and minds will come out of our mouths. If our soul (mind, will and emotions) is full of negative things, we’ll find those things coming our way. On the other hand, when we hear, read, think and talk about God, the Truth and more positive things, we’ll find that those good things will come our way. The choice is ours!

Two are better than one

The three-strand cord is a picture of the power that takes place when two people agree for something in line with God’s will for them. As two people become one in agreement with each other, there is a tremendous amount of power.

You can have such fun in your marriage when you begin to agree with each other. Do you know that God did not put you together to be miserable? He didn’t put you together to fight, pick on each other or try and change each other. The Bible says that a woman is to enjoy her husband. (See 1 Peter 3:2.) Think about that. I rarely hear a woman say, “You know what? I really enjoy my husband.” And God wants us to enjoy each other. He wants us to have fun together. You need to laugh and have fun together.

So how do two people with very different personalities—who don’t think alike, who don’t feel the same about a lot of different things, who don’t even like the same kind of food—become one? We know that it doesn’t just happen when you both say, “I do.” Becoming one is a process that just takes time.

Many times the longest part of the process of becoming one is in the mind. Couples are sometimes slow to agree in the way they think about things. How does this process of mental agreement take place? Most marital problems include strife from communication problems, sexual misunderstandings, money issues, different goals, and disagreements about parenting. All of these things get worked out between us within the soul’s realm of our union—our minds, wills and emotions. They don’t have as much to do with the spirit or the body as they do with what we think about those areas. We can know spiritually what the right thing to do is, but that doesn’t mean we will end up doing it.

The Bible says we are supposed to be in agreement. My husband, James, and I have personalities that are about as opposite as we could get. Yet, God has brought us more and more together so that we are starting to think more alike and want more of the same things every day. We still have two different personalities, and now we can see that God brought our differences together on purpose. It was not an accident. God knew each of our strengths and weaknesses would complete the other when we became one. The idea of saying, “Why aren’t you like me?” is no longer a question in our hearts. We realize that we need each other to be exactly who God created us to be. We no longer pick on each other’s weaknesses. Instead, we partake of our strengths and enjoy one another.

There are no two people who need to get in agreement more than a married couple. God has done so much for James and me since we have gotten out of strife and learned to humble ourselves to the point that we don’t have to be right all the time. Many wars are started in our homes over unimportant issues that don’t matter, such as whether to turn left or right out of the neighbourhood when both streets go to the same store. If you want to have power in your marriage and in your prayer life, then you have to get along. You can learn how to “disagree agreeably” without causing strife.

The big question is: How do people who are not of one mind learn to agree? Agreement comes when the people involved stop being selfish. A lot of adults still deal with selfishness. All that selfishness amounts to is, “I want what I want when I want it, and I don’t really care what you want because I want what I want.” Selfishness is an immature inward focus. If each one of us will learn to voice our wants, but choose what best serves everybody in the family, then we will find peace. The key is to care about what the other person needs, be willing to humble ourselves, and do what we can to meet those needs.

No one is immune from depression or its crippling effects. People from all walks of life—doctors, lawyers, teachers, housewives, teenagers, small children, the elderly, singles, widows and widowers, and even ministers—suffer from depression. I believe the reason so many people suffer from depression is because they haven’t learned to deal with the disappointments that are a natural part of everyday life. Everyone on the face of the earth has to deal with disappointment, which can easily lead to depression, despondency, and even despair if it is allowed to persist.

A depressed person may feel sad and not want to talk to anyone or go anywhere, preferring to be left alone with the ever-present negative thoughts and sour attitude.

The despondent person, on the other hand, has similar symptoms of a depressed person, but the symptoms are much deeper, with dejection of the mind and a failing spirit. The despondent lose all courage, and a feeling of hopelessness quickly leads to despair.

Despair is different from depression or despondency. People in despair have given up, and they no longer want to do anything to help themselves. They simply don’t care anymore. People in despair are prone to developing an underlying rage, which could even result in violent action.

Recognizing the destructive effects of the process, we must understand the importance of dealing successfully with disappointment and depression in the early stages. The good news is that God can help us deal with it and even overcome it if we just ask for His help.

Once, as I was preparing a talk on depression, I saw very clearly that God has given us His joy to fight depression. As a child, I believe I was robbed of joy. For as long as I can remember, I lived as if I was an adult because everything in my life was so serious. I was brought up in a bad situation, surrounded by negative circumstances. I thought if I stayed serious, maybe I could stay alive. Obviously, with this type of attitude, I didn’t develop a bubbly, giggly kind of personality. I developed a serious attitude, and because of it, people sometimes misunderstood me.

Once I told one of my friends that I needed to talk to her before she left work. My plan was to ask for her help in making preparations for an upcoming meeting, but because I had approached her so seriously, she thought I was going to do something to her. She thought she was in big trouble!

That incident helped me realize that I had a problem. I knew my serious demeanour was alienating me from people instead of making me more approachable, so I began asking the Lord how He wanted me to deal with this “seriousness” issue. I really felt that the answer from God was simply to allow the joy that He had put in my heart to show more on my face. God wanted me to smile more!

Everyone knows how to smile. It’s one of the greatest gifts God has given us. A smile makes people feel good, and people look so beautiful when they smile. When the joy in your life is obvious, it rubs off on others. But when you keep God’s joy locked inside you and don’t allow it to show on your face, you’re depriving those around you of a pleasant and refreshing experience.

Most people really don’t understand how expressing joy will change their circumstances and, perhaps, the lives of others. Living your life with the joy of the Lord will chase off negative, depressing circumstances. I never would have thought that smiling was such a serious matter, but God spent several months trying to get this point across to me. Expressing joy through the calm delight of smiling brings good things into your own life and shares the joy and light of the Lord with others.