Spiritual Practices: Keyword Listing
Keyword listing is a method of observational Bible study. It doesn’t require any special skills, tools, or training. You can read more about the process of keyword listing here. You can choose any word or short phrase to study using keyword listing. For this passage, we suggest the following keyword(s) to start your study.
Starting Points
Keyword listing is a method of observational Bible study. It doesn’t require any special skills, tools, or training. You can read more about the process of keyword listing here. You can choose any word or short phrase to study using keyword listing. For this passage, we suggest the following keyword(s) to start your study.
Starting Points
- Said - explore the creative power of God's voice
- Saw - explore what came into being at God's command
Spiritual Practices: Imagining the Text
Sometimes passages in the Bible need to be observed and absorbed with awe and wonder instead of analyzed, dissected, and categorized. Read the passage over in its entirety a few times. As you do, imagine that you are a participant in the scene. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
David Dalton
Sometimes passages in the Bible need to be observed and absorbed with awe and wonder instead of analyzed, dissected, and categorized. Read the passage over in its entirety a few times. As you do, imagine that you are a participant in the scene. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
- Imagine that you are at creation, aimlessly afloat on the chaotic sea. Imagine that you hear the voice of God as he begins to speak and the drama of creation takes place before your eyes for the next several days. What would you see? What would you hear? What would you smell? How would it make you feel?
- Put yourself in the place of Adam or Eve. Imagine that you are newly brought to life and it is just the two of you and God. Imagine that you are exploring the newly created world with him. What would you want to know? What would you want to discover? What would you want to ask?
David Dalton
Spiritual Practices: Questions Only
One way of studying and reflecting on Scripture is through the use of questions. Questions are good because they invite us deeper; they invite us to think, to wonder, to explore, and to experiment. The purpose of asking questions is not always to find answers. Instead, they open us up to new ways to experience the wonder and majesty of God. To learn more about using questions to explore and encounter God, click here.
As you read this passage, look for questions that may arise. Don’t look for quick answers. Instead, sit with and ponder the questions. Here are a few to get you started.
Starting Questions
David Dalton
One way of studying and reflecting on Scripture is through the use of questions. Questions are good because they invite us deeper; they invite us to think, to wonder, to explore, and to experiment. The purpose of asking questions is not always to find answers. Instead, they open us up to new ways to experience the wonder and majesty of God. To learn more about using questions to explore and encounter God, click here.
As you read this passage, look for questions that may arise. Don’t look for quick answers. Instead, sit with and ponder the questions. Here are a few to get you started.
Starting Questions
- Why did the Spirit of God hover over the waters? Are there other things that the Spirit of God hovers over? What might happen if the Spirit of God was hovering over an area in your life or in your community?
- Why does God create simply by speaking? ? If God can create the entire universe simply by speaking, what else might he be able to create by speaking to it?
- Why are days defined as evening and then morning?
- Why is it significant that God rested on the seventh day?
- Why does God suggest that they make man in their image? Why is it important that we are made in the image of God?
David Dalton
Spiritual Practices: Breath Prayer
Overview
The Bible begins with the Spirit of God hovering over the chaos, confusion, and darkness that the world was in. God was not put off by the state of the world. He did not abandon it in its disarray. Instead, as the Spirit of God hovers and ponders, God begins to speak and bring order and life out of that chaos, confusion, and darkness.
There are times that we feel like our our lives are nothing but chaos, confusion, and darkness. Yet if we trust God, His Spirit will hover over our lives and he will begin to create something amazing and life giving out of them. That is what this short breath prayer is about.
Prayer
Spirit of God, hover over my life.
or
Voice of God, speak into my life.
David Dalton
Overview
The Bible begins with the Spirit of God hovering over the chaos, confusion, and darkness that the world was in. God was not put off by the state of the world. He did not abandon it in its disarray. Instead, as the Spirit of God hovers and ponders, God begins to speak and bring order and life out of that chaos, confusion, and darkness.
There are times that we feel like our our lives are nothing but chaos, confusion, and darkness. Yet if we trust God, His Spirit will hover over our lives and he will begin to create something amazing and life giving out of them. That is what this short breath prayer is about.
Prayer
Spirit of God, hover over my life.
or
Voice of God, speak into my life.
David Dalton