Total Immersion

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” – Psalm 1:1-2. 

One of the ways to develop real faith is to immerse yourself in the Bible. I did not say read or scan or peruse. To get the most of the scriptures, we have to approach the Bible as something much more powerful than just another book, newspaper, or magazine. This is the written word of God, or in other words, God’s side of the conversation. It requires study.   

It means that we stop reading the Bible out of obligation. It means we stop gutting it out because we know we should. It means reading and studying it with delight, even craving it because of the impact it can have on our lives. 

Our culture has conditioned us to skim and speed read for relevant information and then quickly move on. Most media today is sound bites, bits of superficial information designed for a culture that is impatient and has a lower attention span that requires instant gratification. But only looking at the surface of a subject will often hinder us from experiencing the transforming power within the Bible. 

The more we immerse ourselves in God’s word, the more our faith can grow. Romans 10:17 explains, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” That is, you must feed your faith. When we fill our minds with everything but God’s word, our faith will often weaken. According to Romans 12:2, your transformation comes “by the renewal of your mind.”  If we want to increase our faith we must fill our mind with God’s word.

When we immerse ourselves in the Bible we will learn about His love, His justice, His mercy, and His plan. The Bible promises that if we seek God, we will find Him. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7). As God changes us, we will learn to develop the fruit that comes from the Holy Spirit, who dwells in all Christians. “even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:17) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23).

As we walk in the Spirit, allowing Him to control our lives, we will begin to trust in Him. “rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:7).

We know that the measure of faith given to every believer can grow. Your faith can be strengthened by feeding it on the word of God and by exercising it or putting it into practice.

Discussion Questions:

1. What do you think is the best way to read the Bible? Have any of you read the entire Bible yet?
2. How can we move our agenda out of the way and better rely on the Holy Spirit?
3. Can immersing yourself in the Bible deepen relationships? Increase faith? Why or why not?
4. How can you go about getting answers to baffling questions or help with understanding the meaning of difficult passages?
5. What steps can we take this week to immerse ourselves in the Bible?