My last two posts have been about spending time in the Word and prayer while ‘in my chair’. That is, in a focused devotional time.
These are important times and a vital part of a relationship with God.

But a relationship with God is not solely a matter of a short time with him, it needs to be something that carries through into the whole day.

So I want to share three things that may help to take what we learn in our chairs out of our chairs and into the rest of the day.

Meditation

Psalm 119:97
Oh how I love our law!  
It is my meditation all the day.
We are encouraged throughout the Bible to meditate on the Word of God. Notice it is ‘on’ something. It has nothing to do with emptying our minds and/or sitting in weird positions. It’s better described as ‘thoughtful deliberation’.
It is obviously something we can do in our chair, as we think over things we’re reading in the Word, and bring them to God in prayer.
But it’s also something we can do throughout the day, as we recall a verse or a thought from our time in our chair.
There are various ways we can meditate. If it’s a verse, we can repeat it, emphasising different words each time. Or if we’ve read a historical story, we can imagine ourselves in the story as one of the characters, or a bystander, and think about what we might see, touch, taste, smell etc. It’s also good to ask questions – what does a passage teach about God? Why did God include that verse/passage? How would the original readers have understood it? How might it apply today?
Some of this may involve more study, but it’s always good to have the Word of God going through our minds.
Paul writes:
Philippians 4:8 whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 
Thinking is an important part of the Christian life – we are called to worship God with our minds, and to the transformed by the renewal of our minds. But it must be centred on, and in submission to, the Word of God.

There’s much more to say on this (books have been written on meditation!) but this is just to introduce the idea. And you can always look at the word ‘meditate’ in the Psalms!

Journalling

I have to say I’m not great at this. For a few years now, I’ve kept a daily journal of what happens in the day. I started on one holiday so I could remember what we did each day, then carried it on. It proves useful when we want to find out when we went somewhere, or when someone visited us for instance.
But it’s just factual (in the main).
Journalling in a way that relates to our chair is recording the words, impressions, meditations from our time in the Word.

While journalling is normally associated with physical notebooks, I use an app called Day One. For me, the advantage of this is simply having it available (it syncs across phone and laptop).

It also has the ability to keep more than one journal, so I’ve got a ‘Devotional’ journal alongside the main one. Once I came to the realisation that it wasn’t necessary write in it every day, I found that I am putting things in it that have meaning, rather than feeling I’ve got to write something.
Once again, this is something we can do in our chair – but having it on my phone means I can jot thoughts down throughout the day. Bit of a link with meditation!

Of course, there are two sides to journalling. Obviously writing in the journal in the first place. The act of doing that can be really helpful in articulating our thoughts.
But it’s only of real benefit if we read it! And here is it’s great value. Looking back over a week’s notes can often help us see things that God has been saying to us. The same goes for longer periods of course. (The app has an ‘on this day’ feature, but that only kicks in after a year!)

Scripture Memory

Some of you will know that I’m a big fan of Scripture Memory.I’d not long been a Christian when I was sat in a room full of Christians who seemed to know the Bible off by heart. Turned out that they didn’t, but were all working through a system of memorising verses, and were testing and quoting to each other.I asked if I could do this. Apparently that was an unusual request!At the time, the system was small cards in a leather wallet. The fatter the wallet the more spiritual you were. No, not really! Just meant you knew more verses!But by reviewing and meditating on them, they became real – and over the years God has used them many times. when talking to people, when praying, when speaking.

These days I use an app. Yes – another one!
It’s called Bible Memory.It’s very helpful because it automatically schedules review. Review is the key to learning, and keeping, verses. Say them over and over again till they stick – and they’re still there much later.With a new verse, Bible Memory get you to type the first letter of each word, then removes every other word, then removes all the words – so you just type in the first letter. (You can of course alter this so you type in every letter, but the first letter only approach seems to work well). The new verse comes up for review a day later, and as you repeat it, the review interval gets longer – assuming you get it more than 90% right!
I find all this really helpful. I’ve re-learned my original verses now in the ESV (English Standard Version) having converted from the RSV (Revised Standard Version). That’s some 65 verses, and have started adding new ones.
The app allows you to share progress with a friend or group of friends.

I sometimes check my verses when in my chair, but mostly throughout the day.

If you’ve never done this before, I’d recommend this app. And some starter verses (taken from the Navigators’ Lessons on Assurance):

	Assurance of Salvation	1 John 5:11-13
	Assurance of Answered Prayer	John 16:24
	Help in Temptation	1 Corinthians 10:13
	Forgiveness	1 John 1:9
	Guidance	Proverbs 3:5-6

And finally

A couple of other points – as someone who teaches I have to work at avoiding what Charles Spurgeon called ‘ministeriology’. He was saying that anyone who ministers the Word must have time for themselves and not think that every time they open a Bible it’s for ministry. But there’s a balance. If I teach something that does not have significance to me it can be dry and academic.
The other point is that our walks with the Lord are not solo. Time alone with God is vitally important, but so is meeting him in the context of the congregation and the group. Being under the ministry of the Word and talking about it with others. 
And then there’s a friend. Having a close friend to share with is enormously helpful.

And most important of all:
Proverbs 18:24 but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother 
And that is the Holy Spirit – who guides us into all the truth and who brings the Word to life. Otherwise this is all just mechanical.
But with him it is life

Matthew 4:4/Deuteronomy 8:3 
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.