#WriteTheWord Baby Steps

How have you been doing this past week?

Have you been able to #WriteTheWord much? I know some of you have and have shared some of your insights. I am really loving this journey together!

If you haven't joined it already, feel free to jump in anytime and take your time as you work your way through it. I have a page set up here that links you to each post in order so you can go at your own pace and invite others along as well.

For those who are up to this point of the journey, let's take a couple of more baby steps together along the way.

By "baby steps", I simply mean I will wait another week or so to go deeper and share more of the optional things you can do with this style of Bible study. In the meantime, for this week's post, I will share some more of what I have written in Joshua, specifically chapters 3 and 4. I know some of you have already written one or both of these chapters, and for that I congratulate you! If you haven't or haven't even written up through chapter 2, no big deal. Remember, this is at your own pace and no pressure.

Now, on to chapter 3...

I absolutely LOVE Joshua 3! Crossing the Jordan...wow...just wow!

So many things to draw from here and parallel to our own lives.

1. What is your Jordan?
• Think of that and pray about it as you read/write through Joshua 3.
2. What does Joshua tell the people to do the day before they are to cross the Jordan?
• v.5 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”
• Consecrate? What does that mean? Well, this is one little baby step you could take at this point. You could look up, as I just did, the definition of "consecrate." I googled it and chose to use Merriam-Webster's definition as I often do. 
• They define it as: dedicated to a sacred purpose. Joshua, the new leader of God's people, is telling them to dedicate themselves to a sacred purpose. So, crossing a rushing river that will somehow be dry ground will have a sacred purpose? I would think so! Doesn't sound run-of-the-mill, everyday-hum-drum to me. Yep, definitely sacred. God's appointed leader said so, after all.  
3. What does Joshua say will be done by the LORD?
• AMAZING THINGS...among YOU! WOW!

Okay, so that's just in the first 5 verses and there are 12 more after that! I could go on and on with my aha moments from this chapter, but instead I will sum it up with the statement I wrote on my page about it.

When we reach the water's edge, 
our obstacles will be cut off so we can proceed firmly on dry ground.

Let that sink in a bit. Read the chapter again. Big stuff here!

Now on to chapter 4...

As you can see in these pics from chapter 4, I underlined several things that stood out to me. I even made a note in the margin in one part (I was actually reminded of a song in verse 11..."break on through to the other side!").

Another thing to notice with chapter 3 and chapter 4 is that I started breaking the chapters down into several sections. I pretty much started writing up to the end of a notebook page then prayed and thought over that section I had just written and wrote what I felt God's Spirit was trying to teach me through it that day in that way. Not just what I had learned or thought about it before, but right then. Breaking it up into sections made that process interesting since it caused me to focus more on smaller sections than I might have otherwise, so different things stood out to me than might have before.

Try it! Oh, and it also makes it easier to process and digest if you break it up like this. Don't worry about how "long" it might take you to get through the book you are studying if you break it down into sections like this. It's not a time thing, remember? It's about quality of time in the Scripture with you and God.

So, as far as what I learned from chapter 4...again, too much to type here. However, I will again type out what I wrote as my section summations. (Remember, you don't have to write these summations. You can just straight up #WriteTheWord and nothing more. You will still learn vastly that was as well.)

1. Chapter 4, verses 1-7
• Keep memorials and tell your children about the LORD's deeds when they ask what the memorials mean.
2. Chapter 4, verses 8-13
• To remain standing in the middle of a potentially fearful situation until everything the LORD commands is done takes the strength of the LORD to endure.
3. Chapter 4, verses 14-24
• As the covenant turns into a testimony, I am to tell others of the LORD's power and I am to reverently fear the LORD my God.

Just soooo much to learn here! And anywhere in God's Word you have chosen to #WriteTheWord for that matter. Soooo much to learn indeed...and soooo much we will learn most certainly.

Now, as you write more and digest more, please do share here and/or on Facebook. I love to see your pics if you chose to share them! Also, another place I and many other Word writers share #WriteTheWord pics is on Instagram. So, if you are on there, please do share pics and use the hashtag #WriteTheWord when you post them (same goes for Twitter, as well).

Looking forward to more of this #WriteTheWord journey! 

Keep it up!