Lectio Divina.
Sounds mysterious, right?
Actually Lectio Divina means Divine Reading and is an ancient way to study God’s Word. I shared about the details of the method a couple of days ago, but I thought it might be helpful to see an example of the method. Take a few moments and try this way of listening to God for yourself. I have chosen Ephesians 3:14-21 for the reading today.
Preparation (Silencio): Before you read, take a moment to close your eyes and become aware of God’s presence with you. Let God know you are ready to hear from Him.
Read (Lectio): Slowly read the passage, pausing between phrases and sentences. Ask God to show you a specific word or phrase He is speaking to your heart today.
14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
When I recently read this passage, the word that God highlighted for me was “home.” I love this passage and know it well. I expected that the word God would choose for me would be “wide,” or “long,” or “high” from verse 18, but the word that I felt the biggest emotional response to was “home.”
Reflect (Meditatio): Read the passage again while asking yourself: What in my life needs that specific word or phrase right now?
I wondered why God wanted me to think about “home.” As I read the passage again, I realized that home is where you feel most loved and accepted (or at least that is how home should be). Even though I know that God loves and accepts me just as I am, I still often feel the need to perform. I don’t feel I deserve His love unless I’ve done something worthy of it.
Respond (Oratio): Read the passage one more time, listening for your heart’s response. What emotions bubble up when you read that word: love, joy, sorrow, grief, conviction? Be totally honest with yourself and God.
When I read the passage one more time, I first felt God’s sadness that I was still in a performance mode. But then I felt His comfort and peace. I felt a release of all the trying and striving. It was as if God was asking me to sit down in a big, cozy armchair right next to Him and simply enjoy being with Him.
Rest (Contemplatio): Take time to rest in God’s love for you and the words He has spoken. This is a time of surrender and rest in God’s loving hands.
During this time I asked God to help me feel at home in His presence. I continued that mental picture of sitting next to Him in a time of rest.
Resolve (Incarnatio): This step means to incarnate–live out–the Word of God. Write down the word or phrase given to you or think of an image of the word that you can carry with you throughout the day.
I resolved to carry that image of being at home with God throughout the day. Whenever I started to go back into my “try harder” mode, I pictured sitting in that cozy chair right next to a heavenly Father who loves me.
A couple of weeks ago I was with a wonderful group of women where we all participated in Lectio Divina with this passage. Each one of us received a different message very personalized to our needs. I would be interested in learning what word or phrase God spoke to you from Ephesians 3:14-21. Please take a moment to share. (If you are reading this in your email, click here to get to my website to leave a comment.)
Question: What word or phrase did God speak to you today in Ephesians 3:14-21?
I got the word empower! I am empowered through Christ to face all life hands me! This led me to Romans 8-31-38 !
Lori, I love that word! I need that today!
I’ve never heard that phrase for that way to study Scripture. Thanks so much for carefully going over each step. It sounds similar to an approach our worship team has used in the past: SOAP. It stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer. I’ll give this new discipline a try in the future!
I really noticed the roots, and the reason may be that we know we are about to go through a tough time, here. I sat on my front porch, this afternoon, watching a storm blow a huge oak around as if it were made of grass. It was thrilling to watch, although I did not know my neighbors were losing trees, some atop their houses.
I wonder if I will have the strength and depth of root to withstand the next year, to show forth the depth, width, and height of His love, like a mighty oak in a wind…