Week 1 - Pronounce It

Happy Monday Morning!

 "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philipians 1:6

It is Day 1 of our 40 Days in The Word experience. As you step into your devotions this week on your own and with your students, I wanted to send you some encouragement and tools for this first week! 

For parents we’ll be using this blog, theParentsPulse, to get you helpful tools and insights for 40 days. We’ll upload message summaries, devotional method explanations, and the student devotions for each week.  

For students we’ll use our Facebook page – www.facebook.com/thepulse.jacobswellec.org , to offer message summaries, devotional method explanations, their devotions for each week.

Last night, we took a look at 'the word'. We read from the first chapter of John and looked at what is being described when Jesus is described as 'the Word'.

What is the Word?
     We talk about the word as if it is the Bible.
     The Bible talks about the word as Jesus.
     Jesus is called the word because his life summarizes what God is saying.

We also looked inwardly at ourselves to discover how we currently use the Bible. There are three ways we typically read the Bible.

Overuse - We think the Bible is an end in and of itself
                 This leads to a small view of Jesus.
Underuse - We think the Bible is weird and doesn't really speak to us.
                 This leads to apathy and confusion.
Proper Use - The Bible's main purpose is to reveal Jesus.
                  This leads us to know him, worship him, and become like him.

As we discussed last night, the next 40 days is an opportunity to look at where we currently are, and where God is calling us to be as we learn to read what God is saying to us, and discover new ways to make his messge come alive to us and in us.

Each week, we will focus on a different methodthat we can use to interact with and understand God's word. We have devotional sheets that will lead you through a different verse each day and then ask you questions that will help you practice reading it with the method of the week.

As you begin your journey this week, the first method we're going to learn is the 'Pronounce It' method.

What is the 'Pronounce It' method?
In the 'Pronounce It' method, we read the verse over and over again, even reading it out loud to help us digest each word and the whole verse piece by piece.
Read the verse over and over again, but emphasize each word in the verse one at a time. After each word, stop and write down your thoughts, even if it's just a word or two.

Start with our memory verse for the week.

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." Colossians 3:16

LET the word of Christ dwell in you richly
        Let the WORD of Christ dwell in you richly
              Let the word of CHRIST dwell in you richly
                    Let the word of Christ DWELL in you richly
                          Let the word of Christ dwell IN you richly
                                Let the word of Christ dwell in YOU richly
                                       Let the word of Christ dwell in you RICHLY

Now look at your life through the lens of the verse. How does it apply to your life today? What are you going to do about it? It's okay if nothing jumps into your head right away. You will have to sit and think about it for a few minutes. After you have thought about these questions, write them down. Then spend some time talking to God about what he said to you in his Word. Now, as you work through this week's devotions, practice this same method with the verse given in your devotion.

John