Read it! with Keri Folmar
This new series is all about one of our favorite things here at Journeywomen: Knowing and Loving the Bible. Today we’re chatting with Keri Folmar about reading and studying God’s Word. Keri is passionate about encouraging women to enjoy the Scriptures. She’s written The Good Portion: Scripture as well as the Delighting in the Word Bible study series and How Can Women Thrive in the Local Church? Keri is the editor of The Good Portion Series and leads women’s Bible studies at the United Christian Church of Dubai, where her husband, John, is the senior pastor. We hope this conversation encourages you to reach for your Bible however you can, wherever you can today.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
What does the Bible tell us?
Why is it important that we regularly read God’s Word?
How do we come to know and love God more through his Word?
How can we take a Deuteronomy 6 approach to teaching and talking about the commands of the Lord regardless of our season?
How should the Word permeate our discipleship relationships?
What do you do when you don’t particularly feel like reading God’s Word or it feels clunky and difficult to make connections and understand what you’re reading?
Who is at the center of God’s Word?
What does it mean that Scripture is our very life? (Deuteronomy 32:7)
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES
“We think that we’re going to find happiness in the world. But where happiness is really found, where true joy is found is knowing the God of the universe, and the way to truly know him is through his Word.”
“When we go to God’s Word and commit ourselves to knowing him in an intimate way as we spend time in his Word—daily, regularly, consistently—that’s where we find true joy.”
“Often as Christians we go to the Bible as if it’s a rule-book, or maybe an encyclopedia where we can find answers like, “How do I make this decision? How do I get wisdom for this particular circumstance? How do I deal with marriage, parenting, etc.?” And the Bible is full of wisdom for everyday life, but primarily the Bible is a story.”
“The Bible tells of God creating a people for himself and redeeming a people who would know him personally.”
“When we know this story and that it’s all about God bringing us to know him personally, it causes us to really desire to be in the Word regularly.”
“We should think of our time in God’s Word as sitting at the feet of Jesus.”
“We are in the presence of Jesus when we open his Word. We should be reading it to hear from him, and for our joy. God speaks to us through his Word.
We want to think about what we’re reading, we want to meditate on it. We want to figure out what it means, what the original author intended for his readers to understand, and then we want to apply that meaning to our hearts and our lives.”
“We should be asking when we read the Scriptures:
- What do I learn about God’s character here?
- Where does this passage point us to Jesus?
- What has Christ done for us and what does it mean to be united to him?”
- What does this text say about me as a woman who is united to Christ?”
“Jesus reveals the Father. The Son is the exact representation of God. So when we come into his presence, we know God and we can’t help but love him more as we see him as he truly is.”
“If we put the Bible aside for difficult seasons in our lives, then we can become dry and the Word will not come back out of us. In difficult seasons we need God’s Word even more. We need to know his presence with us; we need to know his love.”
“In times of real difficulty, we just can’t put the Scriptures aside, we need to continue seeking the Lord with all of our hearts. It's even more important when we’re going through any kind of suffering.”
“When we see the power of the Lord coming to save his people—which is what we see all through Scripture, from the very first pages in Genesis all the way through to the end of Scripture in Revelation where we see the Lord coming in power to save his people—when we see that, or get a little glimpse of it even, we can wait quietly and with joy for the Lord to come and save us in whatever situation we’re in and ultimately bring us home to glory.”
“Light and momentary affliction happens here, but it is gaining for us an eternal weight of glory.”
“God’s Word is the seed, but it’s also the water and the soil that causes growth.”
“The Word of God needs to reverberate throughout the church — Jonathan Leeman”
“When we’re loving the Word and we’re loving being with Jesus in the Word, then that love overflows into our children in particular, because they see what we’re excited about. Our love for the Word overflows and shows us that love, but the Word also transforms us in a way that we can then actually love our children better.”
“What we are doing when we read the Scriptures is we are beholding Christ, and that’s what the Bible says changes us.”
“That’s what transforms us: beholding the glory of the Lord. And we do that when we’re in the Scriptures.”
“God is actually speaking to us through his Word, so we want to hear what he has to say, not the wisdom of someone else.”
“Jesus is the absolute center of the Word. All of the promises of God in the Old Testament are pointing toward him. He’s the fulfillment of those promises, and we read that in the New Testament. So wherever we are in the Scriptures, we should be looking for Jesus.”
“The written words of the Lord bring us to the living Lord of the Word — J.I. Packer”
“Studying the Bible with other women is phenomenal for stoking our love for the Word.”
“What has Christ done for us and what does it mean to be united to him?”
“We have the joy of getting to study God’s Word for our whole lives. And in eternity we’ll be seeing more and more depth of the truth about who God is.”
RESOURCES MENTIONED
The Good Portion: Scripture, by Keri Folmar
The Good Portion: The Church, by Erin Wheeler
Journeywomen Bible Study Guides
Prone to Wander: Grace for the Lukewarm and Apathetic, by Natalie Brand
Seeing Jesus: Seeking and Finding Him in the Scriptures, by Nancy Guthrie
The Big Picture Story Bible, by David R. Helm
Literarily: How Understanding Bible Genres Transforms Bible Study, by Kristie Anyabwile
A good Bible reading plan
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
SIMPLE JOYS
Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament
Hearing God speak directly to me from the meaning of a text
Studying the Word with other women
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What does the Bible tell us?
Why is it important to you to regularly read God’s Word?
How have you come to know and love God more through his Word lately?
How does the Word permeate your discipleship relationships?
What might you change or implement based on what you learned in this week’s episode?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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