August 14, 2025 • 27 mins
Ellen and Taylor dive into Step 3 of the Easy Bible Study Method: Seeking God and His Character. They discuss how to move beyond surface-level reading and intentionally discover who God is through Scripture—even when emotions feel flat or life gets overwhelming. You'll hear practical tips, personal stories, and powerful reminders of how meditating on the character of God transforms our faith and brings peace in hard seasons.
Scripture referenced:
- Ephesians 2:20-21
- 1 Peter 2:6
- Romans 8:38-39
- John 11:35
- James 1:22
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ellen Krause (00:04):
At the Coffee and Bible Time podcast.
Our goal is to help you delightin God's Word and thrive in
Christian living.
Each week, we talk to subjectmatter experts who broaden your
biblical understanding,encourage you in hard times and
provide life-building tips toenhance your Christian walk.
We are so glad you have joinedus.
(00:25):
Welcome back to the Coffee andBible Time podcast.
I'm Ellen, your host, and I'mso glad that you're tuning in
today.
There are so many things webring with us when we study the
Bible.
When we study the Bible ouremotions, our problems and our
(00:50):
distractions.
So how do we cut through thisnoise to get to know God for who
he is?
Today, we are diving into stepthree of the Easy Bible Study
method seeking God and hischaracter.
This is actually one of themost powerful parts of our time
in scripture, because it's wherewe shift from just reading the
bible, gaining all that headknowledge, to truly beholding
(01:13):
god, and when we fix our eyes onwho god is, everything else
comes into focus.
So whether you're struggling tofeel connected in your quiet
time or you're looking for waysto go deeper, this conversation
is for you.
Joining me today to walkthrough.
This is my daughter, taylor,co-author of the Easy Bible
(01:36):
Study Method book Welcome Tay.
Taylor Mitchell (01:39):
Thank you so much, so glad to be here.
Ellen Krause (01:42):
How are you doing with all this wedding planning?
Taylor Mitchell (01:47):
Yeah, so the wedding planning has been
stressful.
Okay, I honestly think that forme, it's the little details
that are hard to not feelstressed about, because there's
like a million and one things todo, right, and a lot of them
(02:08):
are small but have a big impact.
So you don't want to forgetthem.
But I am not a very organizedperson, so I kind of, dare I say
, cling to you, mother, forguidance and to keep me on track
with things.
Just today, we're actuallygoing to be picking up the
seating chart after this, andthat type of stuff excites me,
(02:34):
like seeing things come together, seeing things come in the mail
.
And, yeah, I'm very much excitedjust to be married and to have
the honeymoon and to seeeveryone there and to just have
fun with people.
I'm very much excited just tobe married and to have the
honeymoon and to see everyonethere and to just have fun with
people.
I'm hoping for just a relaxedfeeling and that's what I'm
going for, but I think it's thebeforehand of getting everything
(02:56):
together.
That's kind of like all right,we can get this part over with.
But I don't want to rush thetime away either, because this
is my last like at this point,basically like 10 days at home.
So yeah, yeah.
Ellen Krause (03:11):
Well, I think it's actually going well and you've
done an amazing job so far, soit's going to come together and
it's going to be beautiful.
So, all right, we havedigressed, like good ADHD brains
do, okay.
So, getting back here, I wantto talk about pausing to
(03:32):
consider what happens when wedon't take time to meditate on
God's character.
Taylor Mitchell (03:41):
Yeah, totally, yeah, totally.
Well, let me just start off bysaying a really key part to
having an impactful time inGod's word is being intentional,
and sometimes that meansrewriting the pathways in our
mind of how we have been doingthings over and over and over.
(04:01):
And for me and I'm sure I speakfor a lot of people that's
sometimes lazy Bible study,which is sometimes flipping to.
I know a lot of people don'trelate to this, which is why I'm
going to say it flipping to arandom page, a random Psalm
maybe, and just saying God,teach me whatever you want to
teach me.
I'm going to flip to a randompage and whatever you tell me
(04:21):
I'm going to take as your wordfor me today.
And what that does is itbypasses totally the context of
the passage.
It bypasses everything that'sgoing around in it so you can
have a fuller understanding.
And even as you want to studyGod's character, the context of
a passage is going to reallyshine a light on why the author
(04:44):
has chosen to highlight thosecertain attributes of God and
his character.
And for me, if I don't go intomy quiet time with the mindset
of being intentional to slowdown, I'm going to be doing some
fast food version of Biblereading to be doing some fast
(05:06):
food version of Bible reading,which is going in quickly in the
drive-thru giving all myrequests, like the Lord is a
genie and saying give me what Ineed for the rest of the day
because I'm an anxious hot messand I need you to just give me
something to help me.
When you're seeking God'scharacter, it does have the
impact to be extremely profoundon the way that you go about the
(05:29):
rest of your day, the way thatyou handle even mental health
struggles.
Honestly, knowing the characterof the God that you serve and I
can say this from my ownpersonal experience of going
through just major seasons ofanxiety when I read God's word
intentionally to focus on hischaracter, not to get something
(05:52):
out even for myself, I didn'teven get to that part a lot of
times about okay, well, what canyou teach me for my life?
I said no, god, I want to knowabout you.
I want to just focus on you,focus on who you are, focus on
your power, because I know thatis what's going to get me
through the hard times.
It's not actually even learningabout me, but learning about
(06:14):
you.
Ellen Krause (06:16):
I love what you said and I do think it's very
important to be intentional.
I also think that a lot oftimes our expectations for what
that quiet time looks like feelslike emotes is important to
consider because when we sitdown for quiet time with the
(06:37):
Lord, we're hoping to meet withhim in some real and meaningful
way, and oftentimes we walk awaywithout this strong emotion or
a clear answer to something thatwe're facing and it can even
feel like we've missed him.
So help us understand.
(06:57):
Let's talk about when you don'tfeel anything.
Taylor Mitchell (07:03):
I love that you said that.
I think that's extremely key,especially for those of us who
maybe do rely more on theemotional side of us for
motivation, for inspiration, forhope, that really rely on a
feeling, and when those feelingsaren't there and I'm sure many
(07:24):
of you guys can relate it'sreally hard to feel motivated
and to lean into the rationalside of things.
Christ is the cornerstone ofour faith.
He is honestly supposed to bethe bedrock, the foundation that
we're building our life upon,everything that we hope for,
(07:46):
everything that should instillin us peace to go throughout the
day.
But I'm going to say thisbecause, like I said, everything
that I say on here that I'mcalling out I'm saying because
it's true of me Is sometimes wego through seasons where we're
less emotionally available withGod.
(08:08):
Maybe it feels like there areseasons where God is being
silent in terms of the way hereaches us emotionally and we
can sometimes take that as likewell, the Bible's ineffective
for me right now, and I'm notgoing to go to God's word
because I'm not motivatedanymore.
The way that it used to reachme in a certain season just
(08:29):
isn't there for me now.
I've tried praying and eventhat's not really working for me
.
Going to church doesn't workfor me anymore.
Do you see how it can be aslippery slope of okay, I don't
feel these things anymore.
They just don't work for me.
And I was even sitting down onmy bed the other day I was going
to bed at night and I wasthinking I was kind of.
The other day I was going tobed at night and I was thinking
(08:50):
I was kind of nostalgic, but ina little bit of a melancholy way
, of how exciting it was for methe first time I read through my
Bible.
I had so much excitement.
I felt like very motivated tokeep going and it took me a long
time to finish.
It wasn't like I got donereading my Bible in like a month
, but I felt like I had thisfire, this goal.
(09:13):
The Lord was meeting me intangible ways.
It was a very emotionalexperience and even the second
time I'd say yeah.
After the second time I readthrough my Bible, I went into a
long journey in the desert and Iwould even say I'm still in it
where I don't have as manyemotional reactions to God's
(09:36):
word.
And it can be discouraging, butI know.
I know for a fact that ouremotions should not be the only
lens that we view the world.
Just like we know it's good toeat healthy food, does that mean
we have to feel like we want toeat a salad in order to eat a
(09:59):
salad?
No, sometimes you just do itbecause you know that it's the
best for you.
Do you have any thoughts onthat?
I know I rambled.
Ellen Krause (10:08):
No, I love that, and I think spiritual maturity
plays a very important part ofthis and helps us ground
ourselves, that we can't lean onour emotions to understand
God's character, but really whenwe meditate on God's word,
(10:30):
about who he says he is, thatthat can be very impactful.
How does meditating on thecharacter of God help you, tay?
Taylor Mitchell (10:42):
That's a great question and I love that you're
saying this, and I thinksomething that the Lord put on
my heart to just share brieflyas we talk through this in this
podcast is the importance ofunderstanding that we are made
in the image of God and God madeus to deeply connect with him.
(11:06):
He's a relational God.
He wants that connection withhim.
He's a relational God.
He wants that connection withus and also, as human beings
made in his image, we're made tofind our satisfaction in him.
We're made to find oursignificance in him and who he
is and our security in who Godis.
So whether or not peoplerealize that God is truly
(11:30):
central to our lives, which heis, is actually extremely
important in terms of how weview reading God's word, to
learn about him, because he isthe center of our universe and
what our souls need and crave ishim, knowing him.
(11:53):
So, meditating on God, like Isaid, this was extremely
impactful for me when I wentthrough a really difficult
season of anxiety.
I was going through a breakup.
I had a lot of anxiety overhealth issues.
I had a lot of anxiety overhealth issues.
I was totally a train wreck interms of my emotions, feeling
(12:15):
anxiety all the time and I wascraving God's word.
I really was, and when I wentto read the Bible, I think I hit
a moment at rock bottom where Iwas so miserable in terms of my
own life and what was going onin my own life that I didn't
want to even go to the Bible andjust continue to think about
(12:37):
myself.
Well, what can I learn aboutmyself?
When I'm reading the Bible, I'mlike God.
I I actually want to go to yourword.
I want to escape from that alittle bit and think about you.
And ultimately, when I wouldread through and I and I will
say the Psalms were amazing forthis, because I know I've said
this before, but the Psalms area great place to go to if you
(12:57):
want to read about people whowere going through difficult
times, had those difficultemotions depression, anxiety,
people who are running away fromtheir problems and running to
God to help them with theirproblems.
But all that to say, there's alot of attributes of God that
are all throughout the Psalmsabout him being so powerful.
(13:21):
It puts things into perspective.
It truly does, and you needthat, not only because you're
made in the image of God, butalso because he is the
cornerstone of our life, right?
He is the reason for our hope.
He is the reason for all of oursecurity.
(13:52):
We will find, honestly, moresatisfaction and more feelings
of significance in our own lifeif we focus more on God and less
on ourselves, which is why, inthe easy Bible study method, we
have this as the third step interms of seeking God's character
.
Because if our security, oursatisfaction, our significance
all comes from him, then webetter start studying about him.
(14:12):
We better start investing thattime into knowing who he is and
knowing about his character andmentor.
Mom, I'd love for you to touchon this, just about how
important it is to know aboutGod's character so that you can
fight the lies that we sometimesbelieve from the world or just
(14:35):
inerrantly about who God is.
That isn't true.
Talk to us about how learningabout God's character changes
that.
Ellen Krause (14:45):
So if you know exactly what God's word says, it
prepares you, it undergirdsyour understanding, so that when
you hear something that is nottrue, that automatically you
should be having, you know, anaha moment in your brain saying
wait a second, that is not right, that's not what God says about
(15:09):
me, and there's example uponexample of things that the enemy
likes to twist and distort tomake us think that his way is
the right way, the worldly way,and so it's absolutely essential
that you understand what Godsays about himself in scripture.
(15:33):
So let's give some people somereal practical tips here.
What are some helpful questionsthat we should be asking to
uncover who God is in a passage?
Taylor Mitchell (15:45):
That's a great question and I'm just going to
say something real brief herethat we talk about in our book
and if you guys want to read youknow way more in depth and a
whole chapter about seekingGod's character then totally
recommend that you check out ourbook.
It's on our website, it's alsoavailable on Amazon, just the
easy Bible study method.
But something that we talkabout in our book just to make
(16:08):
things really easy, reallysimple is when you're studying
your passage, look for theexplicit characteristics of God
that are said what does the texttell us about God?
Very plainly, write andhighlight that.
That is truly the easiest waythat you are going to begin
(16:30):
honing in on God's character.
And I'm telling you it can beso easy to skip over those
things if we're trying to lookfor specific things in scripture
that we want to get out of itand we miss the beauty of
discovering what the text saysabout the Lord.
So go ahead and highlight thoseexplicit characteristics of God
and then take some time in aseparate journal and write down
(16:54):
what you learned.
Simple phrase that we just sayis God is blank.
So when you're reading there'sso many attributes of God God is
merciful, god is gracious, godis kind, god is slow to anger
All of these wonderfulattributes of God.
Go ahead, write that down andtake some time to prayerfully
(17:17):
journal to the Lord about whatit means to you to know that
that is who he is and that hischaracter never changes.
I can say for myself thatthere's been so many times where
I've been greatly impacted byreading God's word, knowing just
how powerful and sovereign heis and sovereign is a fancy word
(17:39):
of basically saying he is overeverything.
There is not one thing that isout of his control.
And so I know for me, if I'mgoing through a difficult season
of my life and I know that Godis ultimately in control
difficult season of my life, andI know that God is ultimately
in control, I really can rest inknowing, okay, this is really
hard right now, but God's planis greater.
(18:03):
And guess what?
God includes me in the plan forhis greater purpose of
glorifying himself and bringingus all into a saving
relationship with him.
So you know what?
I'm actually not going to worrytoo much about the issues that
are going on in my life rightnow, because I know that God is
in control and I know that he isall powerful, there's nothing
(18:27):
that can separate me from thelove of God that is in Christ
Jesus.
There's nothing and that is thepower that you can unlock when
you read God's word isscriptures that have the ability
to transform your situationsfrom looking extremely bleak and
depressing to, I mean, hope,undeniable hope that he does
(18:50):
instill in you.
I mean, that is a fast pass tofocusing in on seeking God and
his character.
Highlight.
Look for it, be intentionalwhen you're reading God's word.
Ellen Krause (19:02):
Absolutely, and you know.
Those are the very obviousthings.
I think another thing that's socool is that when you are very
intentional, you can actuallysee characteristics of God in
the text that aren't directlyexplained.
Taylor Mitchell (19:22):
So for example, if the text says something like
God gives generously to, or Godgives to his children
faithfully, you can also discernthen that God is a very
generous God, because you knowthe text isn't telling you
(19:44):
exactly that, but you can figurethat out, you know right when
you look at God's actions, and Iwas even thinking about a
passage in John, and I know alot of people say the shortest
verse in the Bible is Jesus wept, and the context of that is
that one of his good friends,lazarus, had died, and a lot of
(20:06):
the people that were around himwere in complete and utter grief
.
I mean heartbreak beyondheartbreak, for all of those
that know what it's like to losesomebody.
And Jesus wept.
And yes, the text doesn'tspecifically tell us maybe an
attribute.
It shows us an action.
(20:27):
But there's innumerable thingsthat you can take away from
Jesus, just from that shortestverse in the Bible.
And to just pick right off thesurface, jesus is emotionally
available.
Okay, how impactful is that foryou to know when you are going
through your worst moments?
Jesus is emotionally available.
(20:50):
He has felt all the emotionsbecause he is human, right, and
not only is he human, but he'salso fully God, which means you
have a God who is absolutelyemotionally available and
absolutely perfectly in control.
That is what we need to know ashuman beings going through hard
(21:12):
times, and we wouldn'totherwise know that if we
weren't trying to seek God'scharacter in the passages that
we're reading.
Ellen Krause (21:22):
So important.
So, once we've kind of rootedout those details of God's
character, what's the next stepsomeone's going to take?
We need to then apply it.
We need to.
How do I say?
We want to live it out, be adoer of the word, as James says.
(21:45):
So when you see something trueabout God in scripture Tay, what
are your next steps that youtake regarding application?
Taylor Mitchell (22:00):
That's a great question, I think, to end on.
Actually, and I hate to leaveyou guys on a cliffhanger, but
that really goes into the laststep of the easy Bible study
method, which is why Yearningfor a heart change and deeper
intimacy with Jesus.
So that's the place where wetake everything that we've
learned from the context to themain idea, to God and his
character, and we go ahead andtry to apply that to our life.
(22:25):
So I am not going to go intothat in too much depth in this
podcast, because we're going tohave a whole other podcast where
we talk about this and I don'twant to steal that thunder.
But for the sake of justclosing this one off with a bow
and you want a practicalapplication step, like I said,
the next time you're readingGod's word, go into a passage
(22:47):
and look for God's character.
Have that be the goal of yourBible time is to focus on him
and nothing else, and take whatyou learned and go ahead and
journal it and journal itprayerfully to the Lord, and
that in and of itself is areally, really beautiful and God
honoring way to spend your timein God's word and in prayer.
Ellen Krause (23:09):
Wow, that was such a rich conversation.
Thank you so much, taylor, forjoining me, for walking through
this together.
I hope for those of you thatare listening and watching,
you're walking away not justwith ideas, but with real
encouragement and a renewedsense of what it means to slow
down and see God in scripture.
(23:31):
The more we learn to look forwho God is in scripture, the
more we start to recognize hispresence in our daily lives too,
and slowly but surely, we'reshaped more into his likeness.
If you're looking for more helpputting this into practice, our
new book walks through the full, easy method with examples,
(23:53):
questions, prompts, everythingyou need to guide you every step
of the way.
We'll be sure to have a link tothat in the show notes.
So, taylor, one last goodbye tothe audience.
Taylor Mitchell (24:06):
Goodbye everyone.
So good to see you, and if youwant updates about I don't know
photos from the wedding orthings like that, because I mean
, heck, this is coming up fastand it might even be I mean,
I'll be married by the timeyou're listening to this Go
ahead and look at our Instagram.
I'm sure we'll have it postedthere.
It's just at Coffee and BibleTime and then we're also going
to be posting some videos to ourYouTube channel.
(24:28):
That'll be kind of fun.
Ellen Krause (24:31):
Thank you.
All right, we will be back soonwith another episode, but until
then, keep showing up, keepseeking God's word, and don't
forget he is always eager tomeet you there in his word.
Thank you.
At the Coffee and Bible Time podcast.
Our goal is to help you delightin God's Word and thrive in
Christian living.
Each week, we talk to subjectmatter experts who broaden your
biblical understanding,encourage you in hard times and
provide life-building tips toenhance your Christian walk.
We are so glad you have joinedus.
(00:25):
Welcome back to the Coffee andBible Time podcast.
I'm Ellen, your host, and I'mso glad that you're tuning in
today.
There are so many things webring with us when we study the
Bible.
When we study the Bible ouremotions, our problems and our
(00:50):
distractions.
So how do we cut through thisnoise to get to know God for who
he is?
Today, we are diving into stepthree of the Easy Bible Study
method seeking God and hischaracter.
This is actually one of themost powerful parts of our time
in scripture, because it's wherewe shift from just reading the
bible, gaining all that headknowledge, to truly beholding
(01:13):
god, and when we fix our eyes onwho god is, everything else
comes into focus.
So whether you're struggling tofeel connected in your quiet
time or you're looking for waysto go deeper, this conversation
is for you.
Joining me today to walkthrough.
This is my daughter, taylor,co-author of the Easy Bible
(01:36):
Study Method book Welcome Tay.
Taylor Mitchell (01:39):
Thank you so much, so glad to be here.
Ellen Krause (01:42):
How are you doing with all this wedding planning?
Taylor Mitchell (01:47):
Yeah, so the wedding planning has been
stressful.
Okay, I honestly think that forme, it's the little details
that are hard to not feelstressed about, because there's
like a million and one things todo, right, and a lot of them
(02:08):
are small but have a big impact.
So you don't want to forgetthem.
But I am not a very organizedperson, so I kind of, dare I say
, cling to you, mother, forguidance and to keep me on track
with things.
Just today, we're actuallygoing to be picking up the
seating chart after this, andthat type of stuff excites me,
(02:34):
like seeing things come together, seeing things come in the mail
.
And, yeah, I'm very much excitedjust to be married and to have
the honeymoon and to seeeveryone there and to just have
fun with people.
I'm very much excited just tobe married and to have the
honeymoon and to see everyonethere and to just have fun with
people.
I'm hoping for just a relaxedfeeling and that's what I'm
going for, but I think it's thebeforehand of getting everything
(02:56):
together.
That's kind of like all right,we can get this part over with.
But I don't want to rush thetime away either, because this
is my last like at this point,basically like 10 days at home.
So yeah, yeah.
Ellen Krause (03:11):
Well, I think it's actually going well and you've
done an amazing job so far, soit's going to come together and
it's going to be beautiful.
So, all right, we havedigressed, like good ADHD brains
do, okay.
So, getting back here, I wantto talk about pausing to
(03:32):
consider what happens when wedon't take time to meditate on
God's character.
Taylor Mitchell (03:41):
Yeah, totally, yeah, totally.
Well, let me just start off bysaying a really key part to
having an impactful time inGod's word is being intentional,
and sometimes that meansrewriting the pathways in our
mind of how we have been doingthings over and over and over.
(04:01):
And for me and I'm sure I speakfor a lot of people that's
sometimes lazy Bible study,which is sometimes flipping to.
I know a lot of people don'trelate to this, which is why I'm
going to say it flipping to arandom page, a random Psalm
maybe, and just saying God,teach me whatever you want to
teach me.
I'm going to flip to a randompage and whatever you tell me
(04:21):
I'm going to take as your wordfor me today.
And what that does is itbypasses totally the context of
the passage.
It bypasses everything that'sgoing around in it so you can
have a fuller understanding.
And even as you want to studyGod's character, the context of
a passage is going to reallyshine a light on why the author
(04:44):
has chosen to highlight thosecertain attributes of God and
his character.
And for me, if I don't go intomy quiet time with the mindset
of being intentional to slowdown, I'm going to be doing some
fast food version of Biblereading to be doing some fast
(05:06):
food version of Bible reading,which is going in quickly in the
drive-thru giving all myrequests, like the Lord is a
genie and saying give me what Ineed for the rest of the day
because I'm an anxious hot messand I need you to just give me
something to help me.
When you're seeking God'scharacter, it does have the
impact to be extremely profoundon the way that you go about the
(05:29):
rest of your day, the way thatyou handle even mental health
struggles.
Honestly, knowing the characterof the God that you serve and I
can say this from my ownpersonal experience of going
through just major seasons ofanxiety when I read God's word
intentionally to focus on hischaracter, not to get something
(05:52):
out even for myself, I didn'teven get to that part a lot of
times about okay, well, what canyou teach me for my life?
I said no, god, I want to knowabout you.
I want to just focus on you,focus on who you are, focus on
your power, because I know thatis what's going to get me
through the hard times.
It's not actually even learningabout me, but learning about
(06:14):
you.
Ellen Krause (06:16):
I love what you said and I do think it's very
important to be intentional.
I also think that a lot oftimes our expectations for what
that quiet time looks like feelslike emotes is important to
consider because when we sitdown for quiet time with the
(06:37):
Lord, we're hoping to meet withhim in some real and meaningful
way, and oftentimes we walk awaywithout this strong emotion or
a clear answer to something thatwe're facing and it can even
feel like we've missed him.
So help us understand.
(06:57):
Let's talk about when you don'tfeel anything.
Taylor Mitchell (07:03):
I love that you said that.
I think that's extremely key,especially for those of us who
maybe do rely more on theemotional side of us for
motivation, for inspiration, forhope, that really rely on a
feeling, and when those feelingsaren't there and I'm sure many
(07:24):
of you guys can relate it'sreally hard to feel motivated
and to lean into the rationalside of things.
Christ is the cornerstone ofour faith.
He is honestly supposed to bethe bedrock, the foundation that
we're building our life upon,everything that we hope for,
(07:46):
everything that should instillin us peace to go throughout the
day.
But I'm going to say thisbecause, like I said, everything
that I say on here that I'mcalling out I'm saying because
it's true of me Is sometimes wego through seasons where we're
less emotionally available withGod.
(08:08):
Maybe it feels like there areseasons where God is being
silent in terms of the way hereaches us emotionally and we
can sometimes take that as likewell, the Bible's ineffective
for me right now, and I'm notgoing to go to God's word
because I'm not motivatedanymore.
The way that it used to reachme in a certain season just
(08:29):
isn't there for me now.
I've tried praying and eventhat's not really working for me
.
Going to church doesn't workfor me anymore.
Do you see how it can be aslippery slope of okay, I don't
feel these things anymore.
They just don't work for me.
And I was even sitting down onmy bed the other day I was going
to bed at night and I wasthinking I was kind of.
The other day I was going tobed at night and I was thinking
(08:50):
I was kind of nostalgic, but ina little bit of a melancholy way
, of how exciting it was for methe first time I read through my
Bible.
I had so much excitement.
I felt like very motivated tokeep going and it took me a long
time to finish.
It wasn't like I got donereading my Bible in like a month
, but I felt like I had thisfire, this goal.
(09:13):
The Lord was meeting me intangible ways.
It was a very emotionalexperience and even the second
time I'd say yeah.
After the second time I readthrough my Bible, I went into a
long journey in the desert and Iwould even say I'm still in it
where I don't have as manyemotional reactions to God's
(09:36):
word.
And it can be discouraging, butI know.
I know for a fact that ouremotions should not be the only
lens that we view the world.
Just like we know it's good toeat healthy food, does that mean
we have to feel like we want toeat a salad in order to eat a
(09:59):
salad?
No, sometimes you just do itbecause you know that it's the
best for you.
Do you have any thoughts onthat?
I know I rambled.
Ellen Krause (10:08):
No, I love that, and I think spiritual maturity
plays a very important part ofthis and helps us ground
ourselves, that we can't lean onour emotions to understand
God's character, but really whenwe meditate on God's word,
(10:30):
about who he says he is, thatthat can be very impactful.
How does meditating on thecharacter of God help you, tay?
Taylor Mitchell (10:42):
That's a great question and I love that you're
saying this, and I thinksomething that the Lord put on
my heart to just share brieflyas we talk through this in this
podcast is the importance ofunderstanding that we are made
in the image of God and God madeus to deeply connect with him.
(11:06):
He's a relational God.
He wants that connection withhim.
He's a relational God.
He wants that connection withus and also, as human beings
made in his image, we're made tofind our satisfaction in him.
We're made to find oursignificance in him and who he
is and our security in who Godis.
So whether or not peoplerealize that God is truly
(11:30):
central to our lives, which heis, is actually extremely
important in terms of how weview reading God's word, to
learn about him, because he isthe center of our universe and
what our souls need and crave ishim, knowing him.
(11:53):
So, meditating on God, like Isaid, this was extremely
impactful for me when I wentthrough a really difficult
season of anxiety.
I was going through a breakup.
I had a lot of anxiety overhealth issues.
I had a lot of anxiety overhealth issues.
I was totally a train wreck interms of my emotions, feeling
(12:15):
anxiety all the time and I wascraving God's word.
I really was, and when I wentto read the Bible, I think I hit
a moment at rock bottom where Iwas so miserable in terms of my
own life and what was going onin my own life that I didn't
want to even go to the Bible andjust continue to think about
(12:37):
myself.
Well, what can I learn aboutmyself?
When I'm reading the Bible, I'mlike God.
I I actually want to go to yourword.
I want to escape from that alittle bit and think about you.
And ultimately, when I wouldread through and I and I will
say the Psalms were amazing forthis, because I know I've said
this before, but the Psalms area great place to go to if you
(12:57):
want to read about people whowere going through difficult
times, had those difficultemotions depression, anxiety,
people who are running away fromtheir problems and running to
God to help them with theirproblems.
But all that to say, there's alot of attributes of God that
are all throughout the Psalmsabout him being so powerful.
(13:21):
It puts things into perspective.
It truly does, and you needthat, not only because you're
made in the image of God, butalso because he is the
cornerstone of our life, right?
He is the reason for our hope.
He is the reason for all of oursecurity.
(13:52):
We will find, honestly, moresatisfaction and more feelings
of significance in our own lifeif we focus more on God and less
on ourselves, which is why, inthe easy Bible study method, we
have this as the third step interms of seeking God's character
.
Because if our security, oursatisfaction, our significance
all comes from him, then webetter start studying about him.
(14:12):
We better start investing thattime into knowing who he is and
knowing about his character andmentor.
Mom, I'd love for you to touchon this, just about how
important it is to know aboutGod's character so that you can
fight the lies that we sometimesbelieve from the world or just
(14:35):
inerrantly about who God is.
That isn't true.
Talk to us about how learningabout God's character changes
that.
Ellen Krause (14:45):
So if you know exactly what God's word says, it
prepares you, it undergirdsyour understanding, so that when
you hear something that is nottrue, that automatically you
should be having, you know, anaha moment in your brain saying
wait a second, that is not right, that's not what God says about
(15:09):
me, and there's example uponexample of things that the enemy
likes to twist and distort tomake us think that his way is
the right way, the worldly way,and so it's absolutely essential
that you understand what Godsays about himself in scripture.
(15:33):
So let's give some people somereal practical tips here.
What are some helpful questionsthat we should be asking to
uncover who God is in a passage?
Taylor Mitchell (15:45):
That's a great question and I'm just going to
say something real brief herethat we talk about in our book
and if you guys want to read youknow way more in depth and a
whole chapter about seekingGod's character then totally
recommend that you check out ourbook.
It's on our website, it's alsoavailable on Amazon, just the
easy Bible study method.
But something that we talkabout in our book just to make
(16:08):
things really easy, reallysimple is when you're studying
your passage, look for theexplicit characteristics of God
that are said what does the texttell us about God?
Very plainly, write andhighlight that.
That is truly the easiest waythat you are going to begin
(16:30):
honing in on God's character.
And I'm telling you it can beso easy to skip over those
things if we're trying to lookfor specific things in scripture
that we want to get out of itand we miss the beauty of
discovering what the text saysabout the Lord.
So go ahead and highlight thoseexplicit characteristics of God
and then take some time in aseparate journal and write down
(16:54):
what you learned.
Simple phrase that we just sayis God is blank.
So when you're reading there'sso many attributes of God God is
merciful, god is gracious, godis kind, god is slow to anger
All of these wonderfulattributes of God.
Go ahead, write that down andtake some time to prayerfully
(17:17):
journal to the Lord about whatit means to you to know that
that is who he is and that hischaracter never changes.
I can say for myself thatthere's been so many times where
I've been greatly impacted byreading God's word, knowing just
how powerful and sovereign heis and sovereign is a fancy word
(17:39):
of basically saying he is overeverything.
There is not one thing that isout of his control.
And so I know for me, if I'mgoing through a difficult season
of my life and I know that Godis ultimately in control
difficult season of my life, andI know that God is ultimately
in control, I really can rest inknowing, okay, this is really
hard right now, but God's planis greater.
(18:03):
And guess what?
God includes me in the plan forhis greater purpose of
glorifying himself and bringingus all into a saving
relationship with him.
So you know what?
I'm actually not going to worrytoo much about the issues that
are going on in my life rightnow, because I know that God is
in control and I know that he isall powerful, there's nothing
(18:27):
that can separate me from thelove of God that is in Christ
Jesus.
There's nothing and that is thepower that you can unlock when
you read God's word isscriptures that have the ability
to transform your situationsfrom looking extremely bleak and
depressing to, I mean, hope,undeniable hope that he does
(18:50):
instill in you.
I mean, that is a fast pass tofocusing in on seeking God and
his character.
Highlight.
Look for it, be intentionalwhen you're reading God's word.
Ellen Krause (19:02):
Absolutely, and you know.
Those are the very obviousthings.
I think another thing that's socool is that when you are very
intentional, you can actuallysee characteristics of God in
the text that aren't directlyexplained.
Taylor Mitchell (19:22):
So for example, if the text says something like
God gives generously to, or Godgives to his children
faithfully, you can also discernthen that God is a very
generous God, because you knowthe text isn't telling you
(19:44):
exactly that, but you can figurethat out, you know right when
you look at God's actions, and Iwas even thinking about a
passage in John, and I know alot of people say the shortest
verse in the Bible is Jesus wept, and the context of that is
that one of his good friends,lazarus, had died, and a lot of
(20:06):
the people that were around himwere in complete and utter grief
.
I mean heartbreak beyondheartbreak, for all of those
that know what it's like to losesomebody.
And Jesus wept.
And yes, the text doesn'tspecifically tell us maybe an
attribute.
It shows us an action.
(20:27):
But there's innumerable thingsthat you can take away from
Jesus, just from that shortestverse in the Bible.
And to just pick right off thesurface, jesus is emotionally
available.
Okay, how impactful is that foryou to know when you are going
through your worst moments?
Jesus is emotionally available.
(20:50):
He has felt all the emotionsbecause he is human, right, and
not only is he human, but he'salso fully God, which means you
have a God who is absolutelyemotionally available and
absolutely perfectly in control.
That is what we need to know ashuman beings going through hard
(21:12):
times, and we wouldn'totherwise know that if we
weren't trying to seek God'scharacter in the passages that
we're reading.
Ellen Krause (21:22):
So important.
So, once we've kind of rootedout those details of God's
character, what's the next stepsomeone's going to take?
We need to then apply it.
We need to.
How do I say?
We want to live it out, be adoer of the word, as James says.
(21:45):
So when you see something trueabout God in scripture Tay, what
are your next steps that youtake regarding application?
Taylor Mitchell (22:00):
That's a great question, I think, to end on.
Actually, and I hate to leaveyou guys on a cliffhanger, but
that really goes into the laststep of the easy Bible study
method, which is why Yearningfor a heart change and deeper
intimacy with Jesus.
So that's the place where wetake everything that we've
learned from the context to themain idea, to God and his
character, and we go ahead andtry to apply that to our life.
(22:25):
So I am not going to go intothat in too much depth in this
podcast, because we're going tohave a whole other podcast where
we talk about this and I don'twant to steal that thunder.
But for the sake of justclosing this one off with a bow
and you want a practicalapplication step, like I said,
the next time you're readingGod's word, go into a passage
(22:47):
and look for God's character.
Have that be the goal of yourBible time is to focus on him
and nothing else, and take whatyou learned and go ahead and
journal it and journal itprayerfully to the Lord, and
that in and of itself is areally, really beautiful and God
honoring way to spend your timein God's word and in prayer.
Ellen Krause (23:09):
Wow, that was such a rich conversation.
Thank you so much, taylor, forjoining me, for walking through
this together.
I hope for those of you thatare listening and watching,
you're walking away not justwith ideas, but with real
encouragement and a renewedsense of what it means to slow
down and see God in scripture.
(23:31):
The more we learn to look forwho God is in scripture, the
more we start to recognize hispresence in our daily lives too,
and slowly but surely, we'reshaped more into his likeness.
If you're looking for more helpputting this into practice, our
new book walks through the full, easy method with examples,
(23:53):
questions, prompts, everythingyou need to guide you every step
of the way.
We'll be sure to have a link tothat in the show notes.
So, taylor, one last goodbye tothe audience.
Taylor Mitchell (24:06):
Goodbye everyone.
So good to see you, and if youwant updates about I don't know
photos from the wedding orthings like that, because I mean
, heck, this is coming up fastand it might even be I mean,
I'll be married by the timeyou're listening to this Go
ahead and look at our Instagram.
I'm sure we'll have it postedthere.
It's just at Coffee and BibleTime and then we're also going
to be posting some videos to ourYouTube channel.
(24:28):
That'll be kind of fun.
Ellen Krause (24:31):
Thank you.
All right, we will be back soonwith another episode, but until
then, keep showing up, keepseeking God's word, and don't
forget he is always eager tomeet you there in his word.
Thank you.
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