Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21, NIV)
For the past couple of weeks we have been looking at some different techniques in how to read the Bible, not only for yourself but in the hope that when you get together with others, in either a group setting or just one on one, you will be equipped to open your Bible and read through the text in a way that will help you have meaningful discussion, some thoughts on application and prayer points. We first looked at the C.O.M.A method and then last week at the Swedish method (both techniques can be found on our website under the resources tab). Today we are turning our attention to another acronym; namely R.E.A.P. So in like fashion to the acronym C.O.M.A (Context, Observation, Meaning, Application) we will look at what each letter stands for.
Read. As stated with the above verse from 2 Peter, we know that we are not just reading the words of men but the very words that came from God and were breathed through certain selected people to write them down for us (2 Tim 3:16). In other words when we read the Bible we can say in a very real sense that God is speaking to us. So when reading your selected passage don’t just read through it like you would anything else. These are God’s words to you which have been given to thoroughly equip you (2 Tim 3:17). So we really want to understand what is being said, so ask questions of the text like; “what’s the context? Which words are repeated? What stands out to me here?” It’s always great to not just read but to wrestle with the text in front of you.
Examine. This is where you enter into a bit of a conversation with the text (and by implication God) by asking questions like; “what does God expect of me here? How does Jesus fit into all this? Where have I thought wrongly about this? What does God show of me here?” This is what we call renewing our mind (Rom 12:2), as we are not relegating the text just to the original audience but examining our own lives by the very inspired words of God and correcting our thoughts in its light (Ps 119:105). And this is vitally important for what is next and that’s
Apply. After reading the passage and examining yourself by thought provoking questions and feeling the weight of what you’ve just meditated on, it is time to now apply what God has been speaking to you about. So ask yourself; “where do I fall short of this? What false beliefs do I need to turn from? What do I need to confess to God and others to help me through this? How does the gospel give me confidence in this?
Pray. Even though prayer is the last letter in the acronym, it is always good to start your bible reading with prayer so that you begin by asking the Author to enlighten the eyes of your heart and to steady your thoughts on what He has said to you (Lk 24:45, Eph 1:18). But as the acronym suggests, end your time with prayer as well because as it’s been said, this is not just words you are reading from men but words from God that carried the pens of those men to give His very words to us. So we want to end our time in confessing where we fall short, praising God with how He has answered the standard in His Son and asking our Father in heaven for wisdom and help in obeying Him in all areas of our life.
For an easy breakdown on R.E.A.P please visit https://www.fwcitychurch.com/resources-1/reap-bible-study. Also there is a R.E.A.P journal to keep all your notes and prayers in that can be purchased at Koorong.