This week at Elevate we are discussing the dreaded S-Word. That's right. "Study" It's a word that is often on the lips of parents everywhere. It's a word that causes students to shudder at it's sound! 

But when it comes to spiritual disciplines what does it mean to study??

“Study” in this sense means to focus your mind on God so that you train your mind to regularly think about God over time. " ~from my talk on Wed night.

For most of us thinking about God doesn't happen naturally. In fact we think about Him at church, before we eat, and when someone we know is sick. Through the spiritual discipline of Study we aim to train our mind so that God is at the forefront in everything we do. But how do you study?  Do you sit and try and force yourself to think about God? Nope. Because honestly, when you try to force yourself to think about something, you almost always think about something else. 

For example. Think about Elephants. 

You started thinking about Elephants but then you started thinking about ice cream. I'm not sure how you got from elephants to ice cream but you did none the less. That would be fruitless when you tried to think about God. 

You can Study in a couple of ways. 

1. Books - You can read about God or following God. This may include the Bible but also include other books about following God and faith. For example I've been reading the book "Celebration of Discipline" By Richard Foster (which is what we are using for this sermon series), In reading the book I find myself thinking about God and what it would be like to follow Him more closely. Just by doing this I find myself longing to be close to God and as a result growing closer to Him.

2. Observance - The Bible says that we can see God's glory through nature. Have you ever seen something in nature that just screamed that God made it?  Perhaps the mountains or the grand canyon? Maybe the beach even. When we take a few moments to slow down and see life around us we begin to see God pop up in our minds. "He made that" "That is awesome. God did a good job there". 

I also observe people. Although if you are at the mall or walmart, watching people can quickly become "judging people" so be careful. But in high school I begin to look around at all my friends. They all were longing to be accepted and loved. Except they turned to drugs, sex, and alcohol to try and fill that longing. It was at that time that I saw that everyone needed God's love. That's when He called me to be a Youth Pastor.

These are a couple of the ways that you can practice the spiritual discipline of Study. Here are a few questions for you to think through or ask your student.

1. How often is your mind focused on God?

2. Do you ever spend time studying God using one of the methods above? (remember that people watching at Walmart doesn't count!)

3. What are some ways that you can free up time to read more about being a follower of Christ?

4. What are some books that you can read?

(don't know the answer to the last question? Email me at jon@hrbcrichmond.org and I'll help get you started in that direction!)

Until next week!

Meditate, Fast, and Study!

Jon