As you sense God bringing the time to a close (or your timer goes off!) pray to close the time.Ĭontemplatio (contemplation): Pray that you will be able to respond to God in the ways he’s spoken. It could be an action to take, a truth to discover about God, a way of life to change, someone to forgive, or something to celebrate.
Listen to the Holy Spirit to discover a possible invitation relevant to today, the next few days, or the year to come. Oratio (prayer): Pray what you most desire to say to God, and then listen! Journal and write down thoughts that come to mind, and what you believe God is speaking to you. When you feel like praying, move to the next phase. As these images, thoughts, and feelings come to you, take time to think about them.
Let your imagination be engaged, as well as your heart and mind. This could be a realization, feeling, sensory perception, image, thought, etc. Meditate upon your word or phrase and ask God how this word speaks to your life. Meditatio (meditation): Reread the passage. Focus on spending time with God in his Word. Remember, this is not a performance-driven exercise (spiritual devotions are not meant to be about performance they’re meant for worship of our Most High God!). If nothing sticks out, that is okay just read again! Imagine someone taking a highlighter and pointing out one word or phrase. Begin to repeat this word or phrase to yourself and let it resonate with you. If one word or phrase stood out the first time, see if it does the second time. Listen for a word that sticks out to you (for example, in Psalm 23, it could be “shepherd” or “dwell” or “green pastures”). Lectio (reading): Read the passage aloud (or silently, if you are not in a place where you can read aloud). Start with a simple prayer, such as: “Lord, put me in a place to enter into your presence.” Try, if you can, to put away your thoughts of the day and ready yourself to listen. This time is for you to slow down and focus. Silencio (silence): Prepare to enter this devotional time by singing a hymn, reading a psalm, or praying. Set a timer for 20 minutes (so you don’t think about how much time you have left), and go through the following exercise slowly. To practice lectio divina yourself, select a passage of Scripture (if you don’t have one in mind, start with Isaiah 55 or Psalm 23). In whatever way you interact with the Bible, Scripture is meant to be read with ears open to hear God’s voice through his Word and respond! Practicing this spiritual discipline, in addition to inductive study, opens us up to more ways to hear from, experience, and respond to God-individually and communally. A benefit of lectio divina is that there is less temptation to read solely in order to consume information (a temptation of studying inductively).
Bible study on prayer intervasity how to#
Communities of believers used this method to enable followers of Jesus-with or without a copy of the Bible (or an ability to read it)-to receive God’s Word and consider how to respond.
This practice emerged when literacy rates were low, and accessibility to written texts was few and far between. Lectio divina, Latin for “divine reading,” is a devotional reading of Scripture that has existed for over 1,700 years. Typically in InterVarsity, we love to study the Scriptures inductively-taking into account the context of the text, making observations, drawing reasonable inferences, and applying these truths to our lives as the Holy Spirit guides us.īut inductive study is not the only way to let our lives be shaped by God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures spoke to generations before us, and will speak to generations after us until Christ returns. In InterVarsity, we have a central belief that the Scriptures in the Bible are God’s Word-and these words speak to us.
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