Divorce the World: Wash in the Word

Divorcing the World: Washing in the Word (PDF Available at end of post.)

Other posts is this series: Introduction and Gaze on Jesus

Engaging with the Word of God pulls us out of worldly thinking. When we search the Bible, asking the Holy Spirit to help us, we place ourselves under the counsel of God—his protection, his provision, his purpose. Staying under his shelter guards us against joining with ungodly counsel. And, when we put into action the principles and precepts we find in the Bible instead of our own wisdom, tendencies, and inclinations, we are divorcing the world.

The imagery of being washed in the word comes from Ephesians 5. Describing how Jesus loves the church, it says he sanctifies her by washing her in water with the word (5:26). I love this picture because it isn’t neat and tidy. It is vulnerable and wet. Washing in the word puts us in contact with Jesus. It’s a complete engagement.

Washing in the Word feeds our meditation times. We can’t gaze on Jesus without having the Word stored in our hearts. So, read the Bible, study it, search it out, and ask the Holy Spirit to read it with you. He is our helper!

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Here are some practical ways to read and study the Bible.

First, check out this great resource written by Eddie and Beth Taylor, Tools for Bible Study. This is gold!

I read and study the Bible in a couple of different ways. Admittedly, part of my livelihood involves extended time studying the Bible. But the following examples are pulled from my secret place/quiet time practices.

Read Through the Bible
I don’t enjoy reading from Genesis to Revelation, nor do I like trying to read through the Bible every year. So I adopted a simultaneous reading plan from Bob Sorge’s, Secrets of the Secret Place. I read chapters or chunks from the different sections of the Bible as a part of my “daily” reading. It gets me through the OT in a year or so and through the NT two times each year. You can move faster. I’m a slow reader. Here are the sections:

• Law and History: Genesis through Esther
• Wisdom Literature: Job through Song of Solomon
• Prophets: Isaiah through Malachi
• The Gospels and Acts*: Matthew through Acts
• The Letters: Romans through Revelation

There are many other ways to read through the Bible. Be you!

Camp Out in Small Sections or Chapters
I take extended time a few days a week to study a passage I’m trying to grab hold of or to do word/topic studies. This is engaging with and searching out the Word of God. No agenda for these times except to ask for more understanding and wash in the word.

Sometimes the passages or topics I choose are inspired by my “daily” reading plan. Other times, the desire comes from something I want to learn or weakness I see in my life. Either way, these campouts always make their way to my “gazing on Jesus” time. For me, this is how the Word of God gets stored in my heart.

For example, I’m currently lodged in 1 Corinthians 2. I used this chapter as a reference in a writing project and realized I didn’t fully understand. I’m so captivated by the Spirit’s work in this chapter! I want more of him!

So those are pretty basic, good starting places. There’s a lot more. Again, I recommend the before-mentioned resources.

Whatever you do, know that every time you read the Bible, something is transforming in you!

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Psalm 119 Study

I’m including a study on Psalm 119 in this series because the entire chapter exemplifies divorcing the world and clinging to God and his word.

For this section, Washing in the Word, I’ve pulled the following verses from Psalm 119 and some others that highlight the purpose and benefits of God’s word and why we should feed on it. We have to make room for it, friends.

Enjoy these promises, declarations, and intercessions: (I limited myself to 12 verses from Psalm 119 on the word itself, but there are more.)

Promise — Your word keeps me pure
How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you 119:9&11

Declaration — I will not forget your word gives me life
I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. Deal bountifully with you servant, that I may live and keep your word 119:16-17

Declaration — I trust in your word
I will have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust your word. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules 119:42-43

Declaration — I love your word
I will lift my hands to your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes 119:48

Declaration — You are my portion
The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words 119:57

Intercession — Speak your word
My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word 119:81

Declaration — Your words are sweeter than honey
Oh how I love your law! It’s my meditation all the day…how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 119:97&103

Promise — Your word lights the way
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path 119:105

Promise — Your word is a shield
You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word 119:114

Promise — Your word impart understanding
The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments 119:130-131

Declaration — Your word is truth and it endures
The sum of your word is truth, wan every one of your righteous rules endures forever. Princes persecute me without cause, my heart is in awe of your words. 119:160-161

Intercession — Give me understanding, deliver me
Let my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding according to your word! Let my plea come before you; deliver me according to your word 119:169-170

Other Verses

John 1:1 & Revelation 19:13
In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Was God…He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which is called is the Word of God

Isaiah 55:10-11
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Matthew 7:24-25
Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

Romans 10:17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by through the word of Christ.

Ephesians 5:26-27
…as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her in the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy…

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

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