Bible reading is an essential part of building spiritual intimacy, and today’s discussion emphasizes the transformative power of immersing ourselves in God's Word. Jeff and Teresa Fields share their insights on how consistent engagement with scripture can lead to deeper marital connections and personal growth. They explore the significance of not just reading the Bible, but truly applying its teachings to our lives, likening it to looking in a spiritual mirror that reflects our inner selves. The episode encourages listeners to choose translations they understand, meditate on scripture, and keep a record of insights to foster spiritual growth. Join them as they inspire couples to ignite a spark in their relationships through the life-changing wisdom found in the Bible.

The Fields couple articulates the transformative potential of daily Bible reading as a means to cultivate spiritual intimacy within marriage. They argue that spiritual intimacy is essential for a thriving marriage, serving as a foundation for emotional, romantic, and physical connection. By emphasizing the importance of scripture, they illustrate how God's Word acts as a mirror reflecting our inner lives and guiding us toward personal growth. The couple highlights practical steps couples can take to incorporate Bible reading into their daily routine, such as choosing an accessible translation and dedicating a specific time for quiet reflection.

Throughout the episode, Jeff and Teresa engage in a rich dialogue about the necessity of being 'doers of the Word,' referencing James 1:23-25 to underscore the difference between merely reading scripture and actively applying its teachings. They share anecdotes from their own lives, demonstrating how spiritual practices have positively impacted their relationship and strengthened their bond. The couple encourages listeners to create an environment conducive to spiritual growth, suggesting tools like journals for recording insights, thoughts, and prayers that arise during Bible study.

The episode resonates with couples seeking deeper connection and understanding of God’s purpose for their marriages. By sharing their experiences and insights, the Fields illuminate the transformative power of scripture, advocating for a lifestyle that prioritizes spiritual engagement as a means to build not only individual faith but also a robust partnership grounded in love and mutual respect. Their encouragement to meditate on and internalize biblical teachings provides a compelling call to action for couples aiming to enrich their relationship through spiritual intimacy.

Takeaways:

• Daily Bible reading cultivates spiritual intimacy, transforming our hearts and minds for deeper connections.
• Choosing a translation of the Bible that resonates with you is crucial for understanding.
• Meditation on scripture allows us to apply God's Word, thereby influencing our daily lives.
• Writing down insights from your quiet time helps reinforce what God is revealing to you.
• Being a doer of the Word is more important than merely reading it superficially.
• Engaging in consistent Bible study can guide us through life's challenges with peace and purpose.

Links referenced in this episode:

• inspiringmarriages.net

Welcome to the Inspiring Marriages Podcast. We are Jeff and Teresa Fields and we are thrilled to have you with us today.

The incredible music that you heard in our intro was the incredible work of our very own son, Joseph Taylor Fields.

We've been happily married for 33 amazing years. Along the way, we've been blessed by three incredible children and we have a fantastic son in law and the most precious grandbaby you could imagine.

Get ready to be inspired as you open up about our journey. Our mission is to ignite a spark in couples everywhere.

We're all about nurturing deep friendship and cultivating marriages that throw thrive in every way spiritually, emotionally, romantically and physically. Join us on this incredible adventure.

Be sure to check out our website@inspiringmarriages.net Dive into all our previous episodes with detailed show notes that will enrich your listening experience. Plus scroll down to find our keep in touch section where you can sign up and receive our latest offsprings absolutely free. That's right.

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God wants to transform your marriage to reflect the relationship of Christ and the church.

Amen.

We are on a series of spiritual intimacy, one of the four areas of intimacy. But we believe spiritual intimacy is the pathway to deeper marital intimacy. Today we want to talk about consistent feasting on God's Word.

How our loving Father reveals himself through His Word. Reading the Bible daily is a powerful practice that offers numerous benefits for our spiritual, mental and emotional well being.

As we immerse ourselves in God's Word, we invite transformation into our lives. The Bible is just not a book of stories, but a guide that will speak to our heart, providing wisdom, comfort and direction.

Amen. Amen. So a physical mirror has a purpose. We use it to change ourselves.

We like to see what we look like in a mirror and find out what can I make look better. Right? As we meditate and apply what we have read in the Bible, we change ourselves on the inside.

James, chapter 1, verse 23 and 24 in the New King James Version. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.

For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he has.

Wow. So it's so important to do what the Word says, right? So the spiritual mirror that we have to use, the Bible reflects who you are on the inside.

So it's very important, isn't it Jeff, to use a translation that you understand, right?

We don't use perpetuation or justification or any a lot of those terms in everyday life. There's different versions. Some are word for word translations, some are thought for thought translations. Some are transliteration.

Is it called something like that?

Some are paraphrases, paraphrases. So you can go from a very little translation, which may be ESV or it could be in a new American Standard Version, or you can go to a paraphrase.

A paraphrase example would be the message translation or the Passion translations or paraphrases. But when you're doing your Bible reading, choose a translation that you understand. You may even look at several translations to get a comparison.

And so there's not one perfect English translation. So you just have to go with something. But when your daily Bible reading, pick a translation that you can understand and you comply.

That's so good.

And what Teresa was talking about, you look in the mirror, oh, I need to fix this cowlick in the back. So you fix it. Well, the Bible, like for example, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.

So if I read that, okay, but to apply that is like it's. To apply that in my life is becoming a doer of the word. So it's not just look in the mirror, okay, I got messy hair, okay, and walk away.

But if you fix it, it's like, so as using the mirror. So if you use the mirror of the word, the Bible, and we apply what we heard. Lord, how can I love Christ? Love my wife as Christ loves the church?

Teach me how to love my wife.

That's right.

And I take the steps to do that, to love my wife, to make her feel loved, thus becoming a doer of the word.

Oh, that's so excellent. Yes, it is. That's so good, Jeff. Absolutely. And I'm going to read Hebrews 4:12. This is also talking about the Word of God.

And if you've ever heard this scripture, you might say, what does that mean? But it's very, very good to describe how important scripture is in our lives. This is Hebrews 4:12 in the New King James version.

For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So this, the word is going to make some impact in your thinking and in your feelings.

And in your intentions and your heart, in your motives, it should be kind of stirring things up that you need to look at and you need to evaluate when you read God's Word.

Right. So the Bible teaches us that the soul is a mind, will and emotions and your spirit is the eternal you.

It's the spirit is the part of you that got recreated when you got born again.

Yes.

And your soul is what we, as we meditate upon Word, we get our thinking and our emotions line up with God's Word.

Yes, yes, we talked about that in the last episode. You know, the purpose is for prayer and for reading the scripture and it's to line us up with God's ways and God's will.

And it takes our thinking being changed in order to do that. Because as we think that is what we become, that is how we behave, that's what our attitudes are.

So it's so important that the Word challenges us to think like God thinks.

Right.

Wow.

In your daily Bible reading, the goal is focused attention, not just getting through the Bible or just saying, okay, I read my chapter for today. Click check off my, my to do list. I'm done for that today. I did it. That's really not the goal.

The goal is read something that you can apply to your life that will, as you apply it to your life, it will transform your life.

Yes, yes. I think that's why a lot of people like to choose a topic and read a devotion on that topic.

You know, whether it's marriage or whether it's, you know, some kind of area you need to grow in other than marriage.

Like a lot of people need help with anger or you know, with just relationships in general, whatever, they can find a devotion or even a book of scriptures on that topic and, and use that to help them make necessary changes and develop and, and of course changing your focus, changing your attention to the way God thinks, way God looks at things. That's so important and you know, we'll talk about this to getting to know God. I love that aspect of reading the Bible.

You're getting to read his thoughts.

Right. If you want to know who God is and how, who he really is and how he thinks and how he acts, you do it by reading the Bible.

Yes.

His will is revealed in the Bible.

Exactly, exactly.

James 1:25 in net Bible says, but one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there and does not become a forgetful listener, but one who lives it out, he will be blessed in what he does. So it's not just being a listener or reader is also more important to be a doer.

It sure is. And that's so good the way it put it. But you live it out. You know, you live out the truth that you're finding in the scriptures.

That's so, so important because the world is going to tell you to live any way you want to, or try this or try that. But God has a proven system of life that always brings blessing.

Like it says, you will be blessed in what you do when you live out what you are learning, what you're getting out of the Word and your time in the Word and your time with the Lord. So we are supposed to meditate or chew on what we have read.

And we apply it to our personal life, to our family life, to our marriage, to anything that God is, is showing you in His Word. Meditate on it. And that's that word. Chew.

You know, it's, it's just, we think about cows that chew over and over on something and they're digesting it in a long, long process. It's not, you know, five minutes and the food is gone and that's it. They, they chew on it over and over and over.

And that's really a good picture of what we're doing with the Word of God. We should be thinking about it all through the day. And sometimes you might have to. I've heard of people doing this.

You know, if it's a scripture that God really has you focusing on, put it on a post it Note or a 3 by 5 card or have it as a reminder on your phone.

Something that comes up over and over during your day or put it on every mirror in the house or any place that you look, like a cabinet door or your refrigerator or something. And you see that scripture over and over. Yes, yes. I've got to think about this all through my day.

So I keep listening to what the scripture is talking to me about and I keep listening to what God is telling me about this. And it is so helpful, right?

That is so important. Teresa. The goal is not to get. It's not whoever reads the most versus wins. It's not that I apply 600 verses to my life this year. That's great.

But did you really apply 600 verses to your life?

Did it change? Did it change you? That's a good point.

You probably missed a verse on pride.

Right? Humility.

It's really the number of scriptures that we read a year or read in a day is not important. What is important is applying what we've read and you're not in a race with anybody else. It's just taking what you read and apply it to your life.

And there are thousands and thousands of free devotionals online that you can, you can search devotional on on fitness and you'll come up with a devotional fitness. You can do a devotional on faithfulness, you can do a devotional on health, you can do a devotional on marriage.

It's just, there's just, there's no limit. And the number of devotionals available on that's so true.

As free, you go to youversion and if you sign up, you sign up with your email and you can sign up for lots and lots of devotions. And that's right, some are like four days, some are 11 days, some are a month. It just there are different ones that you can choose from and you.

And every day in your app there'll be a scripture, a devotion and a scripture, and you can even make notes about what you read right there in the app. Just. And you can share that devotion with your spouse and they can see what you wrote and you can see what they wrote.

So you both can see what each other have written about that scripture for that day.

In John 8:31 in expanded Bible so Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, if you continue to obey my teaching or, or remain abide in my word, you are truly my followers or disciples. It's not everybody that says, ooh, ooh, ooh, I'm a disciple. Ooh, ooh, I'm disciple. I'm assigned to be a disciple. Not all of those are disciples.

I'm talking about students.

Yes, that's right.

Disciplined students. Not everybody is who calls himself a disciple or is. It's those who obey God's teachings from His Word. Those are the ones who are his disciples.

That's right. That's right. It's really following the example that Jesus gave us. Everything he did was based on the Word.

He didn't say or do anything or even think about things or talk about things with his disciples that weren't definitely solidly rooted in scripture, what scripture had to say, not just about his life and what he was supposed to do, but he lived out the perfect example of a believer's life.

Right?

How you walk victoriously in life, how you overcome the enemy, how you, you know, take a stand and you don't back down when you're, when God tells you to have faith about something and expect a good outcome. I mean, he. He gave us so many good examples yes. Taught so many parables of just the.

This is how to live life, you know, in communion with God, remaining in his word, staying close to him, and remain in the teaching that Jesus gave us.

He kind of updated some things for believers of his time to say, well, you know, what the Word says in the Old Testament, and now I'm showing you, this is how it's meant to be lived out. They kind of knew the letter of the law, but they didn't know the heart of the law and the, and the way to walk it out.

So that's, that's so important. He was giving us a living example of remaining in the Word of God.

Yes.

So powerful. And, and this scripture is so good to apply what we're talking about. Someone 19. We think this was written by David.

I'm not sure that's who it sounds like to me when I read it. Psalm 119, verse 11 from the New King James Version, says, he's talking to the Lord. It's like a prayer.

He says, your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. Because David's heart was so strong that if he tried to go against what he knew the Word said, his heart would heavily convict him.

I mean, even one scripture, when he tried to go against Saul, he could have lifted his hand to bring harm to him. He didn't even do it yet, but his heart smote him.

It said in that passage, you know, where he could have done something to retaliate against Saul and his men would have taken it, but he didn't. He didn't even want to bring any harm to him because his heart was so convicted by the word that he put in there.

I can't rise up against the person that God said is anointed to be the king of our country. You know, that was so important to him. And he had been putting that word in his heart. He meditated on it.

He spent a lot of time listening to God and talking to God and going over the scriptures that he knew, Right?

So Saul was chasing David to kill him. And David was hiding in a cave.

And Saul went into the cave to use the facilities, and David cut off a corner of his garment of Saul's garment, came up behind him, came behind him. And David felt so bad about doing.

That, just that cutting off a little.

Piece of his garment, he felt so bad. But Saul caught up with David. David held up the cloth, said, I could have killed you, but here I was this close to you, I could have killed you.

Don't you see, David was trying to tell Saul, I don't want to harm you. I don't want to take your kingship. I don't want to take your throne. And I could have killed you, but. But I didn't.

They were, for a short time, reconciled. We know David had faults and he had Uriah killed, and he had adulterous relationship with Bathsheba. But God said he was a man after his own heart.

And so we know about his flaws. But he had a heart to repent. That's right. When his sins were revealed to him.

Yes, yes.

Instead of becoming hardened and defiant, he repented.

That's right.

So Brother Jerry always taught us this. Brother Jerry Savelle always taught us this, Teresa. So when we go to our. Have our quiet time, have our Bible.

And have a notebook and something to write with.

So in our spiritual walk, a key to spiritual intimacy is quiet time.

That's right.

And our quiet time needs to be every day, usually the same time, every day, the same spot. Someplace where you can focus on what you're. What's going on.

You can play some worship music, you can pray, you can read the Bible, but you should be able write down anything that stood out to you.

Yes.

And it could be a word. It'd be something how the Holy Spirit may be impressed upon you, how to apply that.

Maybe you'll get an idea or inspiration during that time and write that down. Teresa, why is it important for us to write stuff down?

Wow. I know for me, there were times, oh, goodness. Even when God would give me song ideas and I didn't write them down.

I would think, surely I'll remember this. I'm singing it to myself as I go around the house. But I never wrote something down. I forgot it, which is terrible. You know, I could have had a song.

You know, this was years ago, and I didn't even write down the lines that I was thinking about the words or the idea of the song.

And I learned by losing a lot of that over time, that I need to start writing down anything that God inspires me to think about, especially during my quiet time. He is going to bring up things to you. He's going to remind you of things. But especially with the scripture. We learned this when we teach.

You know, whether it's a professional teacher, homeschool, mom, you learn that hand and eye coordination are so important, not just in sports, but it's also when you read something or you think about something, if you write it down, you will remember it. I don't know what it Is. It's the way God wired our brains and our. Our thinking and everything.

If we have that hand involvement and we're looking at it and writing it down. A lot of times I just write the whole scripture out, or I'll write down part of it that stood out to me. I remember that.

And it makes more impact in my life. It impresses me to do something with what I read, not just, yes, that was nice, and then go about my day.

Right. That's so good.

I think Keith Moore said one time that one time the Lord spoke something to him, not in an audible voice, but spoke something to him, and he didn't write it down. And he felt this other impression that wasn't important enough for you to write down, because he thought, well, surely I'll remember this.

This is so profound. This is so important. I'll remember this. And guess what he forgot. What? It. He forgot. He couldn't remember it after. After a while.

It's kind of like a dream.

Yeah.

Sometimes you. You can remember a dream. Most times you can't.

Right.

Some people are in the habit of, you know, being cognitive enough to write down something that they got in the middle of the night, whether it was while they were praying or dream something and they thought it was significant. They wrote it down because they knew it probably just vaporize in the morning when they woke up.

Some people criticize us for saying, write down something that you heard. They think we're trying to add to the scriptures. We're not trying to add to the scriptures. We're trying to add application of the Scripture.

Yes, it's application.

It's not that you will hear an audible voice, but sometimes it's just an impression that you feel. I would term it an impression that you feel.

You might even hear it in your own own voice, or you might hear it in your pastor's voice or somebody else's voice. Parents voice.

Oh, yeah.

So don't think it's too creepy for us to say, write down something that you heard or something that you're impressed with.

Right.

Hebrews 2. One new king James version says, therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

Wow.

So we have to give heed to things we've heard. Unless we'll drift away when we drift away from.

If we're not a doer of the word, the more we're not a doer of what we've heard, the more we'll drift away from the truth.

That's so true. Yes. This is a lot worse than just forgetting what you read. This is actually walking on a path that's not the one God has for you.

If you keep going in this direction, I mean, it can get to where you are getting distracted or pulled away actually from where God wants you to be. You know, how he wants you to be living. And that can happen in the world that we're in. That can happen more easily than we recognize sometimes.

And it's so good, you know, to have a spouse to say, I know this isn't like you, you know, what's going on, how come you have kind of this attitude or how come you're talking this way and usually you can get back to the the spouse has probably not been reading their Bible as much as they usually would or praying or you may not be talking together or praying together as much as you could. And it's drifting away is easy. What takes effort is staying focused and making these things a priority and, and giving them earnest attention.

Like it says, to heed something is not just to hear it, but to value it enough to say, I'm not going to forget this. I'm going to make sure this becomes a part of me and part of my life and part of my thinking, part of my attitudes and my behavior.

So that's, that's how we give heed to the Word.

Amen. That's so good.

Through daily Bible reading, we gain a foundation that supports us spiritually, mentally and emotionally, helping us navigate life's ups and downs with a sense of peace and purpose.

That's right.

By by setting aside time each day to read, we open ourselves up to the life changing power of God's Word.

Whether we're facing a difficult situation or simply seeking to grow in our walk with God, His Word is a constant source of guidance, strength and hope.

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To tune in this week's Friendship Builder this week on our Developing Intimacy Friendship Builder, we're going to say, during your quiet time, read one chapter in the Bible and write down something that you read that stood out to you. Like we said earlier, it could be a single word or it might inspire you to do something or change. Change A habit or change your behavior.

That's right.

Do something different. It just something that stood out to you in that Bible reading. And.

Yeah, you might have an aha moment. Like this is something I've been wanting to know. You know, I finally found it in the wor.

You know, a lot of times you like to have a scripture for something, but if you read the Bible enough, you will come across things that, well, you kind of heard about it, someone taught about it maybe or mentioned it. But like I didn't know where that was in the Bible and then you find it.

Right.

Oh, this is so exciting. Now I know it's really in here.

Right. So if you're brand new to reading the Bible, start with St. John.

That's the Gospel of John.

That's the fourth book in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Just go with John and find a translation that you can understand. And just take your time.

You don't have to get through the whole thing in one day. Oh no, just take your time and go through it and let God reveal his thoughts and his ways to you.

That's a great.

Write down something that stood out to you.

That's right.

Even just write down a part of this. Just one scripture from that reading. That's fine too. You don't. It doesn't have to be profound that no one's ever heard before.

You just might want to write down scripture that that was, that stood out to you, which is fine. You can't go wrong with just writing down scriptures, right?

No, and I love that, you know, Jesus is quoted so much in these gospels and one thing that you mentioned, Brother Keith Moore, that he's a pastor and really, really excellent Bible teacher. He says you can say this when you're going to read your Bible. God's word is God speaking to me.

You know, take this time as reading that chapter as I'm going to see something that God is speaking to me in this chapter, something he wants me to know, something he wants to help me with just giving me wisdom and insight and sometimes giving you a solution to a problem. I really love that.

That's so good.

Read the word. Sometimes it's like, wow, I need this because I've got a problem and this, this is addressing it right here.

It's like how to think about this or how to make a decision. It's so helpful.

So helpful.

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