Working through Ephesians

I've been reading very slowly through Ephesians for the past few days and I am amazed at the awesome stuff in this book.  It's amazing that God leads us to the right stuff at the right time to speak to us Clearly and Boldly through His Word.  I'm trying a new study method with this because I've read Ephesians a bunch of times and we have a tendency to breeze through stuff we've already read and think we know... but here's what I'm doing... I'm reading one section at a time... it's taking me a few days to read even one chapter... I still have a desire to read more, but I'm holding off and spending more time meditating and thinking more about  what Paul is saying to the Church @ Ephesus and then I'm spending more time thinking about it through the lens of my personal spiritual journey, then, and only then will I allow myself to see it as an sermon opportunity.  Over the years, we preachers can get into bad habits when we read the bible and just  look at everything we read as a possible sermon/message.  It's been refreshing to stretch and retrain my brain and thought patterns to look at it through a different filter... As I've done that, I've seen some AMAZING things that I've read hundreds of times, but now it's so incredibly fresh.  We're probably going to do a series on Ephesians sometime next year, but for now, I'm soaking this stuff up and it's challenging me like crazy. 

How do you study and read and apply the Bible. Do you have a method?  Do you have some sort of routine?  I'd love to know how God is speaking to you through His Word.  Leave me a comment. 

Comments

[Jay]

I might add that often times I think we study and study and study but never apply. Somehow we've come to believe that we need more knowledge to be drawn closer to Christ when in reality we simply need to act on the truth we already acknowledge. It's easy to discuss information; it's very difficult to acknowledge our failure to apply.

[Jay]

Hey Eric. I like to read things slowly as your describing. Perhaps one chapter 3 or 4 times in a week. Once I think I have a sense of what's being said, I really enjoy reading commentaries from past folks. Weird I know but I like St. Augustine, Matthew Henry, Oswald Chambers and even Calvin / Luther. I guess as a history buff I enjoy getting a sense of what others have thought about the passage. Usually their thoughts stretch me beyond what I thought I knew. I've also done some thematic study using a concordance. I do this when I'm trying to study a particular topic that's pressing on my mind. My problem is not in the method of study - it's doing the actual studying.