Questions to Help You ‘Chew’ on Scripture By Rick Warren
“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”James 1:22 (NLT)
When you meditate as a Christian, you think about Scripture. You meditate on Scripture in the same way a cow chews her cud—by chewing on it and chewing on it and chewing on it.
To help you “chew” on God’s Word, I’ll share with you one of the strangest acrostics I’ve ever used: SPACEPETS. Each letter in the acrostic reminds you of a question you can ask of Scripture.
1. Is there a SIN to confess? Does God’s Word make you aware of something you need to make right with God?
2. Is there a PROMISE to claim? Ask yourself if the passage you’ve read contains a universal promise. Ask whether you’ve met all the conditions of the promise. Every promise has a premise!
3. Is there an ATTITUDE to change? Is there something you need to think about differently? Do you need to work on a negative attitude, worry, guilt, fear, bitterness, pride, apathy, or ego?
4. Is there a COMMAND to obey? Is there a command you need to obey, no matter how you feel about it?
5. Is there an EXAMPLE to follow? Are there positive examples to follow or negative examples to avoid?
6. Is there a PRAYER to pray? In the Bible, Paul, David, Solomon, Ruth, Esther, Elijah, and Isaiah, among others, pray. You can use their prayers and know that they’ll be answered because they’re in the Bible and in God’s will.
7. Is there an ERROR to avoid? We don’t have time to make all the mistakes ourselves! So what can you learn from the mistakes of people in Scripture?
8. Is there a TRUTH to believe? Often, we’ll read something in Scripture that we can’t do anything about. We simply have to believe what the Bible says about God the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the past, the future, heaven, hell, and other topics.
9. Is there SOMETHING for which to praise God? You can always find something in a passage you can be grateful to God for, like something God has done or protected you from.
Each question in this list is associated with something you do. Write these SPACEPETS questions on a note card to keep with your Bible. Then, every time you meditate on the Bible, they’ll help you be obedient to James 1:22: “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves” (NLT).
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