• [00:10:12]
  • Scripture references:
    • Psalm 78:2-4, ESV
    • Galatians 6:7-9, ESV

• [00:15:17]
  • Scripture references:
    • 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, paraphrase, ESV
    • Colossians 3
    • 2 Timothy 3:10, paraphrase, ESV
    • 2 Timothy 3:12-17, paraphrase, ESV

• [00:30:04]
  • Scripture reference:
    • Psalm 119:9-12, ESV

Selena:
“But he answered, ‘It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Those are the words of Jesus!

Ryan:
Mm-hm.

Selena:
And we are talking about the words of Jesus and the word of God and why we need scripture in our marriage, why we need to read it together, why it needs to be a huge part of our relationship.

Ryan:
Hm. A huge part of our relationship? Or maybe the foundational—

Selena:
Okay…

Ryan:
[Laughing] The very—

Selena:
That’s what I mean.

Ryan:
The very roots and the foundation of our entire lives.

Selena:
Yes.

Ryan:
[Chuckling] Yeah.

Selena:
Of course.

Ryan:
I know what you mean, I know what you mean. But I think when you say, “Being a great part of our relationship,” I th—

Selena:
I said huge.

Ryan:
“A huge part of our relationship.” I think you’re more saying that it’s about making it a priority, and how do you specifically make it a priority and let it hold the authority that it should hold in our lives?

Selena:
Just busting around the winner.

Ryan:
Right? [Laughs]

Selena:
Yep!

Ryan:
Priority and authority! Anyway, this is going to be an important conversation. And so often, before we go to the other side, all that kind of stuff [Selena chuckles], I think so often we tend to turn on a marriage podcast, and you’re like, “Okay, I need something to help me now. I need something practical! I want something interesting. I want something that is entertaining.” Okay? And I think right now, I hope that we’re entertaining, but honestly, the point is [Both chuckle] that we are trying to really cast a compelling vision for why God’s word is so absolutely foundational. And it is really the only foundation worth building a life and a marriage on. So, this is an important episode. I hope you’ll stick around. And we will see you on the other side.

[00:01:32]

<Intro Sequence>

[00:02:03]
Selena:
So, whenever we’re starting a podcast episode or doing a rundown here, we are always kind of just praying and like, “God, when do you want us to talk about? What’s on our hearts? What are the big felt needs that people are responding or telling us about?” And I was just like, “Ryan, I just want to talk about the Bible. I just want to like…”

Ryan:
[Chuckles] Yeah.

Selena:
“Read the Bible, exegete scripture. I just want to dive into it. And I just want to read the Bible.” And he’s really good at, “Okay.” [Ryan chuckles] “Yeah, that’s good. But what’s the felt need?” [Both chuckle] And I’m like, “The Bible!”

Ryan:
[Chuckling] Yeah.

Selena:
“We need the Bible!” So, and he agrees with me, obviously.

Ryan:
And the felt need, and I don’t mean to… The Bible’s not a means to an end, right? God’s word is an end in itself.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
Because it’s how He’s revealed Himself to us. So…

Selena:
We’ll dive into that.

Ryan:
I want to be very careful to not treat the Bible as just kind of this… It’s just something in our tool belt that we—

Selena:
Right, right.

Ryan:
Pull out to get to a greater end!

Selena:
Just kind of what this whole episode is about.

Ryan:
Yes, but at the same time—

Selena:
Yeah!

Ryan:
Okay. We realize that you’re listening to this podcast, you’re investing time, and we know that to get someone to invest time and energy into going into a topic like this, we need to make it clear what—

Selena:
Yeah.

Ryan:
What the felt need is we’re trying to address. In this case, the Bible’s good for every felt need we have. [Both chuckle] So.

Selena:
Especially in marriage. [Laughs]

Ryan:
So, that’s kind of where I’m coming at. So, we try to find the balance between those two things without sacrificing God’s word.

Selena:
Yes, yeah.

Ryan:
So.

Selena:
So, we’re going to get into why we need God’s word—

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
Why we need to read it together, why we don’t maybe read our Bibles together. Maybe there’s some lies that we’re believing in there. And then we’re going to get tangible as we always do towards the end of how to begin reading scripture together. If that’s not something you’ve done or it’s been a while since you’ve done as a couple, there’s a few fun, tangible ways to do that! But before we get started, would you like to go through all our little checklist things that we do?

Ryan:
Yeah! Yeah.

Selena:
‘Cause you’re so good and fast at that.

Ryan:
Yeah. By the way, I woke up sick this morning. Sorry, listeners. I’m going to do my best to be on my game! But it’s—Selena, I’m mentioning it. I’m sorry. I’m a little bit stuffy! All right? [Selena giggles] She’s looking at me like, “You’re supposed to just act like it’s not happening!” [Selena laughs] You know what?! We live transparently here! [Selena laughs harder] Quit trying to put me under a rock! [Both laugh] Okay! Housekeeping. First off, we launched Fierce Parenting last week.

Selena:
Ohhh, baby!

Ryan:
And man, I’ve been so encouraged by the response! We had, I mean, thousands of people…

Selena:
It’s crazy.

Ryan:
Have jumped on board with that. I mean, just on Facebook and on Instagram and on Twitter and through the email. It’s an email list, but really, it’s a way for us to ask people what you care about. If you’re wondering about that, you go to fierceparenting.com. There’s a little form there. But, man! It’s been so cool to see, and how people have rallied around it. This really is something that I think God is going to use.

[00:05:00]
Selena:
Absolutely! And I feel like this is going to be much more of a collaborative effort. When we started Fierce Marriage—

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
It was kind of just us, and we’re like, “Okay! Okay, God, use it how you want to!” Which we still are like that, but I think because we’re not seasoned and experienced, we’re not empty nesters or anything like that, there’s going to be a lot of opportunity for other voices to kind of speak into…

Ryan:
Yeah! Nah, I think that’s what—

Selena:
Into this arena.

Ryan:
I think that’s a really good point. And so, anyway, if you haven’t heard or if you’re just hearing now, Fierce Parenting is a thing, so make sure you find us on all the socials that you’re on. Well, just Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Selena:
Mm.

Ryan:
And go to fierceparenting.com to fill that form out. We would greatly appreciate it! Anyway, we’re excited. Other housekeeping— I’ll make it fast. Patreon: thank you so much for all your patreons! You’ve made this possible.

Selena:
Mm.

Ryan:
We don’t have any ads, and we also can have our podcasts edited and transcribed, and we can schedule interviews and all that kind of stuff because our patreons!

Selena:
Yeah.

Ryan:
So, thank you so much! If you’re a patreon, we really appreciate you. If you want to become one, we ask two things: you pray about it, and then if God leads you, that you would act on that and join us!

Selena:
Mm-hm!

Ryan:
And so, the way you do that is you go to patreon.com/fiercemarriage, all one word! And you can choose any level. They start at $2 a month on up, just depending on however God leads you! And then leave a rating and review on iTunes if you haven’t yet! That helps a ton! And then if you have a question, go to fiercemarriage.com/podcast or call or text this number: 971-333-1120.

Selena:
Well, we are going to talk about scripture, it’s importance, God’s word, its importance and foundation for our marriage. Why we need to read it. And you may want to blow through this, but I’m going to encouraging you not to because this is where we’re diving into the beliefs and getting foundational [Inhales] sometimes where we’re like, “Why are we fighting? We’re fighting over these things,” and there’s just kind of this underlying discontentment when really there’s some roots that haven’t been tended to right in our marriage. And so, the hope of this, again, this episode is to help us dive into scripture, understand its importance, its relevancy, why it’s, again, the foundation and should be the center of our marriage— Well, God is the center, and the gospel, obviously. But it’s God’s word! It’s His very words from His mouth. And if Jesus, in Matthew 4, was saying, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God,” then we can’t ignore that as Bible believing Christians, as gospel saved and all the things!

Ryan:
Yeah!

Selena:
And, I mean understanding that context too, Jesus has been fasting and was out in the desert for 40 days, 40 nights. He was hungry and the enemy was saying, “Hey, just eat this. Here’s this little thing for ya.” And He’s like, “No. Man shall not live by bread alone.” So, in a time of actual deep hunger need, this fleshly feelings and things that he was going through, he was still standing on God’s word. He was still saying, “This is not what I live by. I’m not going to be tempted by you or by these feelings. But I’m going to stand and believe—”

Ryan:
Mm.

Selena:
“Steadfastly, and say this message, fulfill prophecy, and we’re going live on every word that comes from God’s mouth.”

Ryan:
That’s good. So, what is it? Okay. Well, I know we have an outline, but what is God’s word itself? And I want to take a minute to just talk through that.

Selena:
Mm-hm!

Ryan:
Okay. So, what do we mean by the Bible?

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
And how do we know it’s inspired? Obviously, man, these topics are huge! But just quickly, the Bible is 66 books. It’s the Old Testament in the New. The Christian Bible, right? We’re not talking about the apocryphal works or any sort of extra biblical texts that have been added in the last couple hundred years or so, ‘cause there are some of those! We don’t consider those scripture in any way. But the Bible is scripture. Now, how do we know it’s scripture?

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
It’s a big topic. We know, obviously, there’s the ancient texts in the Old Testament, and those have been confirmed over and over again. There’s literary critics that go through and make sure that they’re true.

Selena:
Mm-hm!

Ryan:
But they are self-affirming, right? And that’s the Old Testament. And the New Testament we have basically, as handed down through apostolic authority and it’s self-attesting as well.

Selena:
Mm!

Ryan:
And it will never contradict itself. It’s a fulfillment of scripture. It doesn’t contradict the Old Testament, doesn’t contradict, like we said, itself or other books within the New Testament. And so, that is what we consider the Bible! [Inhales]

Selena:
Mm-hm!

Ryan:
And we believe the canon is closed, meaning that there’s nothing else being added or taken away from it. It is what it is.

Selena:
Mm.

Ryan:
It is the time of God revealing Himself through His word is done. And now we have His word!

Selena:
Mm!

Ryan:
Right? There was a time before the Bible when the people of God did not have the full, revealed word of God, and that is covered in a area of theology called biblical theology, where you’re basically looking at how is it unfolding as history goes on. And now we get to sit kind of at the end of that saying, “Okay, here when we’ve seen the full revelation unfold before our eyes, we now have the full revelation.” Now we look at it more systematically—

[00:10:12]
Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
Which is where we get systematic theology. Now, obviously, there’s a lot of nuance to all this biblical theology, systematic theology. I’m not doing it justice in describing it here! But basically, I just want to paint a broad picture of what all of this could mean for us as we study the Bible as couples. Now, in terms of the role it plays in our lives, it has to be authoritative!

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
And so, you were talking about this with Jesus saying, “Man does not live on bread alone—”

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
“But on every word that precedes from the mouth of God.” The Bible tells us how to live! We don’t tell it how to be read. Right?

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
We let it read us.

Selena:
Yeah.

Ryan:
And I think that’s the marker of a disciple, that’s the marker of a Christian. We submit ourselves to the authority of scripture, all that to be said. Now, if we see scripture for what it is in that view, now, we can say, okay, what does it say?

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
And now how can I change my view of things based on what it says, not how can I make it fit my modern sensibilities.

Selena:
Right, right.

Ryan:
Which is the tendency today.

Selena:
Right. Which I don’t mean to go that way a little bit, but I just want to pose these questions up front, so that as we’re walking through the Bible and scripture and we’re asking these questions, I want us to be thinking about what is the current state of our marriage? What is our relationship looking like, feeling like?

Ryan:
Hm.

Selena:
How are we unified? How are we not unified? Where are those tension points? What are our priorities? Why is our intimacy lacking? Those kinds of questions. You know that look and feel of your marriage in its current state. And so, let’s let God’s word again bear weight and bring us the true instruction on how we can live and to show us areas that we are maybe not being submissive to it and how that can liberate us, I guess—

Ryan:
Hm!

Selena:
To walk in the ways of God and to have that fullness that He’s called us in this life. [Clears throat] And the fullness, again, being walking with God, not that your life is problem free or conflict free or anything like that. There’s a fullness that God gives us—

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
Within those hard circumstances as well.

Ryan:
Hm. That’s good!

Selena:
And His Bible teaches us that.

Ryan:
Yeah. So, where do you want to go from here then? Do you want to read this, Psalm 78? Or…

Selena:
Yeah! I mean, we were reading— Psalm 78 is a long chapter. But the whole title of this psalm is, “Tell the Coming Generation.”

Ryan:
Hm.

Selena:
Right?

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
So, as parents, and not to step into that role too much because we will talk about this on Fierce Parenting, but as parents or people who are mentoring and teaching and stewarding loving young people, we are responsible to tell the next generation about God, about… It says, verse 4, “We will not—” Or, verse 2, “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.” Verse 4, “We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.”

Ryan:
Hm.

Selena:
And through each generation He’s established testimony! So, the things of God were passed down verbally and through narration at first! Right? And then they were written down. And so, understanding that we can’t shirk this responsibility! If we’re not reading our Bible and in our Bible—

Ryan:
Hm.

Selena:
And we’re not teaching that to our children or we’re not modelling that, there’s going to be a harvest that’s going to be coming with that. And…

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
It’s important for us to just understand, I think, the weight of the Bible here and now and there and then. We are sending our children into a place that we will not be! And God’s word is alive, and we’re going to get into that. It stands the test of time. It is the authority—

Ryan:
Mm-hm.

Selena:
That we are basing and trusting!

Ryan:
Yeah. You said something yesterday when we were talking about this, that so often we expect the harvest without ever sowing the seed, right?

Selena:
Right, right.

Ryan:
And we do that with God’s word! We think— I’m really bad at this, too. I’ll procrastinate on reading. I know I want to go deeper in a certain book. I’ll read and then I’ll get distracted.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
It’s never what I want it to be. Right? But if I trick myself…

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
I can say I’m going to reap a harvest even though I haven’t cracked my Bible in three weeks or—

Selena:
Right. And Galat—

Ryan:
In our kids’ lives.

Selena:
Right!

Ryan:
Or in my wife’s life.

Selena:
And in Galatians, I mean, we can just jump in right here. Galatians 6:7-9. It says, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” So, this whole if we’re not in God’s word, if we’re not sowing those seeds, we won’t see any growth in God or in the gospel. We won’t see the Holy Spirit at work in our lives, and we won’t be able to really understand how we can deal with sin in our marriage. We won’t be able to understand how we can… love each other when we’re imperfect, right?

[00:15:17]
Ryan:
Mm-hm.

Selena:
Towards each other.

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
1 Corinthians 3:5-9, again, under this theme of sowing seeds for today for our harvest tomorrow, he says… So, this is Paul. He’s writing. And the Corinthians are like, “Well, I believe Paul! I believe Apollos!” They’re saying, “Who’s better?” and “I believe this one.” And he says, verse 5, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God gives that growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.”

Ryan:
Mm…

Selena:
And so, again, we see we need to— I don’t want this to be this prosperity thing, but when we sow the seeds, when we are doing the things that God has led us and instructed us to do, He will provide the growth! He is the only one that can do that. We can’t make ourselves grow, but we can plant the seeds. [Inhales] And planting seeds of reading your Bible, being in His word, being around His character, absorbing and dwelling, like in Colossians 3, it says let God’s word dwell richly among you. There will be fruit of that time spent.

Ryan:
That’s good. And that’s fine! When we say, “planting seeds,” I don’t want…

Selena:
No, please clarify. [Chuckles]

Ryan:
I don’t want you kind of like— I feel that you kind of cringe because of our kind of past and having been through some of that word of faith stuff. And that’s a biblical concept, the seed time and harvest.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
That’s a biblical thing. I mean, those cycles are how God has chosen to make the world function!

Selena:
Right!

Ryan:
And so, the thing is, is when we plant seeds, we should expect that those seeds will create some sort of harvest.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
Now, we can go sideways and prosperity gospel, we start kind of applying it to areas that it’s never meant to be applied to, right? So, it’s talking about God’s word, specifically sowing God’s truth, holding fast, and reaping what? You’re not literally reaping more words because you sowed words into your life, but—

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
You’re reaping righteousness!

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
And that’s the harvest. And so, oftentimes we expect, or we take for granted our righteousness, and we don’t actually live out…

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
What it means to be a person regenerate, to be made new by the blood Christ. And so, that’s represented by our lack of reverence or our lack of desire to read more of God’s word.

Selena:
Right. And again, if we’re looking at the current state of our marriage and we’re seeing some tension points, we’re seeing some disconnect, maybe you are going to God’s word and you’re like, “I don’t feel like it’s helping me.” [Laughs] Maybe you’re just like, “I feel like I’m…”

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
“Not reading. I’m not absorbing anything. I’m just…” Let’s keep walking through this, friend. Don’t leave us yet. Like…

Ryan:
Yeah. And the—

Selena:
We got—Sorry, go ahead.

Ryan:
And that’s what we’re going to get into, right, is…

Selena:
Yeah! What—

Ryan:
So, hopefully we made a compelling case for why God’s word is important. [Chuckles]

Selena:
Right!

Ryan:
If the case needed to be made.

Selena:
Well, and I think it’s just good for us. I mean, it was very encouraging for me to do this study of God’s word is God breathed. Right? In 2 Timothy 3, he’s talking about godlessness in the last days, which is again why we need to read scripture and have it dwell in us. It’s to ward off sin and god— godlessness, not godliness.

Ryan:
Mm.

Selena:
Sorry. Godlessness in the last days. And it says, “If you have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my patience, my love, my steadfastness.” I think this is Paul talking. “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ,” verse 12, “Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.” And, “All scripture,” verse 16, “is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and training, and for righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” So, here again, we see God’s word is instructive. I mean, look at Psalms 119. It’s talking about how His word is a lamp unto our feet.

Ryan:
Mm-hm.

Selena:
It’s authoritative. It’s profitable for training and righteousness! Or each other, training each other, training our children. The man of God may be complete! I often feel that I am not equipped to share the gospel with people, especially or to even share spiritual walks—

Ryan:
Mm-hm.

Selena:
With our spouses. Sometimes we don’t do that!

Ryan:
Mm-hm.

Selena:
We’re very isolated in those ways.

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
And the word, God’s word, is saying that when we understand that God’s breath, His very words, are in this book, there’s power in there.

Ryan:
Wow.

Selena:
And it equips us. It completes us. We’re lacking in nothing!

[00:20:04]
Ryan:
I wanted to hover on one point you made, that it’s profitable for training and righteousness.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
And I think that’s where we hit on the marriage stuff. Okay? Because there’s a lot about marriage that it’s not explicitly said.

Selena:
Yes!

Ryan:
Right?

Selena:
Yes.

Ryan:
So, there’s nowhere in the Bible that says, “Don’t look at pornography.”

Selena:
Right!

Ryan:
But no one in their right mind would argue that it’s okay, therefore, to look at pornography, right?

Selena:
Right!

Ryan:
We would say we have God’s word that is profitable for training us in righteousness.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
And therefore, we know in good faith that lust is— We know lust is bad!

Selena:
Mm-hm!

Ryan:
We know that that’s what lust looks like. And you can make all kinds of rationalizations for it. Then that’s an extreme example, but there are other ways in marriage where it’s like, “Okay, what does it mean to love my wife well?”

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
“What does it mean to communicate in a healthy, wise way?”

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
When we use the word “healthy,” just always interchange it with “wise.” [Both chuckle] If you have a wise marriage, you’re probably going to have a healthy marriage.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
If you’re a wise husband, you’re probably going to be a healthy husband. And so, God’s word is profitable for training us in those things of righteousness!

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
But not just how to be wise, but how to actually be holy!

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
And how to act as those who are holy, not to somehow earn our right-standing with God—

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
But because of our right standing with God.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
And so, that’s where we get into the marriage piece of it, ‘cause marriage is inherently a topical study constantly.

Selena:
Yes!

Ryan:
We’re not reading through 1st Marriage, chapter 3. [Selena laughs] 2nd Marriage, chapter 3.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
There’s not these books about marriage…

Selena:
But there’s books about the human heart.

Ryan:
But there’s books about love—

Selena:
And the—

Ryan:
About the human heart, bout communication—

Selena:
Soul.

Ryan:
About sex.

Selena:
Yes.

Ryan:
About holiness.

Selena:
Yes.

Ryan:
About forgiveness. About bitterness.

Selena:
Mmm.

Ryan:
About reconciliation. About all these things that matter to us.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
About priorities!

Selena:
Yeah.

Ryan:
About caring about what God cares about! Those are all in scripture! So, but we won’t know those unless we get to the hard work of mining for that truth.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
Until we get off of baby’s milk—

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
And start actually eating some meat—

Selena:
Yes, yes.

Ryan:
For ourselves. So… Yeah.

Selena:
And of course, the obvious verse that most people would probably think about is Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is living an active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight.”

Ryan:
Mm.

Selena:
“But all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him, to whom we must give an account.” So, I feel like—

Ryan:
[Inhales] Ahh, that’s good!

Selena:
This can be a very scary passage [Snickers] of scripture. Right?

Ryan:
Or—

Selena:
But I don’t!

Ryan:
Or it’s one that we gloss over completely, and we’re like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah! We know it’s powerful.”

Selena:
Right! But I’m just like this should not scare us! I feel like it should encourage, motivate, assure us, inspire us to know that we are completely known by God, that His word can divide those parts that seem overlapping and grey, and you can’t—

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
Sort through them. His word is clear on it. And if we are grey, we need to keep reading it. [Laughs]

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
Because it is not unclear. Right?

Ryan:
Mmm. How many times have we been…? I mean, I know if I’ve ever been going through, like I’m confused or I’m just looking for wisdom. If I have the wherewithal and the humility—

Selena:
Mm.

Ryan:
To turn to God’s word—

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
And it’s not this magical thing, okay? So, here’s what I don’t mean. I don’t mean that you’re picking up a big fat Bible and just kind of flipping the pages and closing your eyes and putting your finger on the page—

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
And saying, “This is the gut. This is what God has for me.” That’s not how it works. [Laughs]

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
That’s completely random! Yes, God is sovereign, and providence is a real thing and that God could use that. But more often than not, God uses the providence of your Bible reading plan to help you know what you need to know for today.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
The Bible reading plan that you picked three months ago. [Chuckles]

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
Or—

Selena:
Well, and that’s the whole seed thing, right? That’s the full—

Ryan:
Yeah!

Selena:
We are—

Ryan:
You picked it three months ago, but you happen to read this passage today.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
Because God providentially knew this. And anyways. I don’t want to be so me centered and we just need to go to God’s word and put our weight in it—

Selena:
Yeah!

Ryan:
And let it bear weight on us.

Selena:
Right!

Ryan:
And let it instruct us. And I’m just amazed how consistently I am faithfully instructed when I look to God’s word.

Selena:
Right! Because, I mean, this passage, well, God’s word is living! So, it’s alive and active. The things written in apply to our hearts, our marriage, our feelings, our emotions—

Ryan:
Mm-hm.

Selena:
Our reality today!

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
Yes, it was written 2,000 years ago, but it is still relevant today as it ever was. I know people probably don’t argue that point, but I am amazed! What other living text does that, right? It’s active! It is the best book!

Ryan:
M’kay.

Selena:
It’s sharp and piercing. That’s the thing. When it says division of soul and of spirit… That, I was like, “Oh, man. I kind of glossed over that.” I know there’s a difference, but hearing that, to know that God’s word divides and it shows us how to live in those areas that might be confusing. And it’s discerning the thoughts and intentions of our hearts! What other book does that? There’s nothing…

[00:25:08]
Ryan:
Yeah!

Selena:
There’s nothing that’s hidden from His sight. And we should rest in that and be assured in that.

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
That this is what His word does.

Ryan:
Okay. So… We’ve covered a lot of ground here. And I want to kind of rein it back in ‘cause, well, it’s a marriage podcast. And what is a married couple supposed to do with this information? So, you have a husband or a wife who’s listening to this in their car or they’re working out, wherever you listen to podcasts, and you’re thinking, “Man, I would love to have this affection for God’s word, or I would love with my spouse would have this affection for God’s word. Or I would love it if we could actually have this affection together. And I don’t know how to get there. How do we get there?” And I think the first step—M’kay, I don’t want to be too prescriptive, but I’m just going to describe kind of how this could look, okay? The first starts with understanding why we don’t read our Bibles together in the first place. [Both laugh] Right? So, what is getting in your way, basically? And I mean—

Selena:
Well, I think Psalms, I mean, if we’re not— Psalm 34 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” If we haven’t tasted and we haven’t seen, then we aren’t going to partake, right?

Ryan:
Hold on.

Selena:
There’s—

Ryan:
Okay. That’s a big bomb to drop.

Selena:
Sorry.

Ryan:
‘Cause basically you’re saying [Selena laughs] that if I don’t want to read God’s word, it means that I’ve never experienced God Himself.

Selena:
No. And I’m sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t just say that. [Quickly laughs] You know me. [Both laugh] I’m dropping bombs and walking away!

Ryan:
[Laughing] Okay. And I know what you mean.

Selena:
Okay.

Ryan:
I don’t want—

Selena:
No, no, no. That’s good, that’s good! Because I’m very guilty of not wanting to read my Bible, and then I’m like, “God, I know that I should want to read my Bible, but I still don’t want to read my Bible.” Right? I still have those hard moments of just battling my flesh.

Ryan:
Mm-hm.

Selena:
And saying, “You know what? I feel this way. My desires are not towards this. But this is why it’s called devotion, right? This is why I’m still going to go to God’s word—”

Ryan:
Mm!

Selena:
“And I’m just going to read over it. Let it read me.”

Ryan:
So, here’s, and that maybe sort of the—

Selena:
So, doing something you don’t want to do. [Scoffs]

Ryan:
This is where that taste and see thing comes in, is you know, like, [Chuckles] okay! So, we, on Thursdays when we record the podcast, we get to go out to eat. It’s kind of like our date day. Right?

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
Well, I had the most amazing hot wings about a month [Selena laughs] and a half ago! With this Louisiana thing going on.

Selena:
Uh-huh.

Ryan:
And it was just like a party in my mouth. [Both laugh] I tasted it! I saw it was good! And you know what happens?

Selena:
You want to go back.

Ryan:
I don’t remember what it tastes like, but I want that taste again. [Selena laughs] And so, what do I do? I place an order. [Both laugh] I place an order because I know it’s “gonna be good!” And I just wait for the goodness to arrive!

Selena:
Are you comparing God’s word to hot wings?

Ryan:
It says taste and see! [Selena laughs] I mean, tasting is something—

Selena:
It’s like it is— Okay, okay.

Ryan:
You put something in your mouth. So… [Selena cackles and Ryan chuckles] So, I think it’s an apt comparison or an apt analogy anyway. So!

Selena:
That’s true. It’s true.

Ryan:
I don’t know! So, that’s part of it, is there’s a faith aspect.

Selena:
Absolutely.

Ryan:
I’m faith, I’m trusting!

Selena:
Yeah.

Ryan:
That those hot wings are going to be good. [Selena chuckles] I’m serious! [Ryan chuckles] I’m trusting that they’re going to be like they were last time. I’m trusting—

Selena:
They’re going to be hot and good!

Ryan:
That they will sustain. [Selena laughs] I’m trusting they’re going to sustain me in some level.

Selena:
Yeah, yeah!

Ryan:
And so, obviously, God’s word is different.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
It’s set apart from that. But we go to it knowing that I tasted it before.

Selena:
Yeah.

Ryan:
I know it’s going to be good. I don’t have an appetite for it right now—

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
But I know it’s going to be good.

Selena:
Well, and if there are any new believers, sometimes there is also, I mean, even I have a fear that I’m not going to be able to understand it well, or I’m not smart enough to really draw out what it’s saying all the time. Like going into the Old Testament or going to that scripture plan and reading through the different—

Ryan:
But, I mean, even the smartest theologians would say it’s still alive!

Selena:
For sure! That’s what I’m saying.

Ryan:
And I’m still learning…

Selena:
That’s why I’m saying. It’s a lie that we kind of believe or we fall into.

Ryan:
Right, right, right. Got’cha.

Selena:
Is saying, “Hey, I’m afraid. I don’t think I can understand this enough, so I’m just not going to read it. I’ll just read a Psalm or a Proverb every day and just call it good.” Right? [Clear throat] There’s—

Ryan:
And I think sometimes we can be afraid to approach hard passages that we— It’s basically with what you’re saying, but specifically hard passages. Read the book of Numbers. [Selena chuckles] And try to understand what’s happening there.

Selena:
[Draws out the word] Lamentations. [Snickers]

Ryan:
Well, Lamentations is—

Selena:
Leviticus!

Ryan:
Yeah, and those are tough…

Selena:
Yeah!

Ryan:
Books to read!

Selena:
But there’s lessons, there’s themes, there’s—

Ryan:
Uh-huh! And if you read—

Selena:
Godliness.

Ryan:
The beginning of Romans and you have to deal with what’s happening in the beginning of Romans. And what weight that bears on our culture today.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
And you have to say, “Okay, I have this dissonance between what culture says is right and what the Bible says is right.”

Selena:
Mmm.

Ryan:
“What am I going to believe?”

Selena:
Mm!

Ryan:
So, a lot of times we have fear around it, or if we don’t trust God’s word, we’ll read those passages and say, “Something’s wrong with this.”

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
“Something’s wrong with this book, ‘cause that’s not the God I know.”

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
And I have news for you. You might not know God as well as you think you do at that point.

Selena:
Mmm…

Ryan:
And so, that’s where we need to look at God’s word and submit our self to it!

Selena:
Yeah.

Ryan:
And maybe let it change us instead of us changing it!

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
I’m on a soapbox. But this is what tends to happen. And as certain factions of Christianity try to be more like the world for the sake of—
[00:30:04]
Selena:
Mmm.

Ryan:
Winning the world, they lose the truth of God!

Selena:
Aw, man.

Ryan:
And so, anyway. We can’t be afraid—

Selena:
Right!

Ryan:
To approach God’s word, even the hard stuff.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
And all I can say is that He is faithful. His word is true. And it is completely consistent.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
So, don’t shy away from it, ‘cause it doesn’t need you to defend it.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
All you need to do is let it be the authority.

Selena:
And mine through it together, right?

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
This is what we’re trying to do. So, I think there’s three lies here. They’re things that we tend to not believe.

Ryan:
Yeah. Yep!

Selena:
I’d say four. So, fear can inhibit us. “No time!” We don’t have time to read it, which it sounds kind of silly, right? We’re either too distracted or we’ve had too many things going on and we have no margin.

Ryan:
I—

Selena:
And that’s a priority question right there.

Ryan:
It is. And I would argue it’s a desire question, ‘cause you make time for what matters.

Selena:
Right!

Ryan:
To you.

Selena:
And that’s—

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
That’s what I was saying. Those could probably go hand in hand.

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
Was no time, no need and no desire. So, no desire. Of course, you’re not going to make time for what you don’t desire. But if you don’t desire it, you’re not seeing the value in it! We don’t believe that it really connects us to the Lord or helps us understand the things of God in a deeper way. And again, if we don’t value it or desire it, we won’t see the need for it. Right?

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
And aren’t all our marriages good? Life is good. Things are going all right.

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
We don’t really—

Ryan:
Mmm.

Selena:
I mean, I’ll read the Bible—

Ryan:
Okay.

Selena:
When things are going bad, and it’s like…

Ryan:
So, we don’t—

Selena:
We should always be reading the Bible, right?

Ryan:
We don’t go to—

Selena:
I’m preaching to myself, first of all. [Ryan snickers]

Ryan:
Yes, yes.

Selena:
Just so everybody knows.

Ryan:
Well, I woke up this morning—

Selena:
I’m like, “Selena! Why are you not?”

Ryan:
I woke up this morning being like, “Well, I need to read the Bible more. I’m a huge sinner!” [Ryan laughs] “I need the Bible.” [Ryan laughs harder and Selena snickers] So, we’re preaching to ourselves. But we don’t go to God’s word for the same reason we don’t pray. It’s because we don’t think we need it.

Selena:
Yeah.

Ryan:
We don’t think we need Him.

Selena:
Mm…

Ryan:
Or we think we have all that we’ve ever—

Selena:
We’re good!

Ryan:
Or we think we’ve reached kind of this homeostasis of our—

Selena:
It’s like coasting, yeah!

Ryan:
Yeah! And I think that’s a position worth checking.

Selena:
Yes…

Ryan:
In our own hearts—

Selena:
Yes.

Ryan:
In our own pride, in our own self-reliance. And…

Selena:
So, let’s get a little bit—

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
Tangible here of how we can begin to read scripture together. So, maybe you don’t do it—

Ryan:
As a couple. Yeah.

Selena:
As a couple. Yes. We’ve made the case for the importance of it. We’ve made the case for here are some reasons why you may not, to hopefully help you identify some things that, or some areas that you might be believing!

Ryan:
Yeah!

Selena:
And you’re operating in some lies there. So, how do we read scripture together? I think the best way to get started is to read it aloud together.

Ryan:
Yeah!

Selena:
There’s just something. I know it sounds elementary. It sounds childish. But honestly, there’s something—

Ryan:
How? I mean—

Selena:
Awesome about reading scripture aloud together.

Ryan:
I’m going to push back on that.

Selena:
Well—!

Ryan:
Because I don’t think that’s childish or elementary at all!

Selena:
I don’t think it does either! I think it’s—

Ryan:
I think it’s exactly how the early church read scriptures.

Selena:
I’m on your side! [Ryan laughs quickly] I’m just saying there might be some people that think that.

Ryan:
Well—

Selena:
And I’m going to win them over and say—

Ryan:
[Laughing] Okay.

Selena:
It’s best way to read the Bible, is reading it aloud together.

Ryan:
It’s the way it was meant to be read! And that’s the beautiful thing of it.

Selena:
Well, that’s good! There you go.

Ryan:
And so, we tend to internalize it and we think, “Oh, I’ve got my app. I’m just going to sit on this bench for three minutes and read this scripture.” No! It should be read out loud! It should be proclaimed.

Selena:
Yes.

Ryan:
It’s the revelation. It’s the good news!

Selena:
Yes.

Ryan:
Of the salvation of God’s people. Let’s proclaim it! So, I mean, obviously, you’re going to read it by yourself sometimes. [Both chuckle] That’s fine! And that’s the majority…

Selena:
You are allowed.

Ryan:
You’re allowed. [Both laugh] What I’m saying is if anything, reading it silently should feel strange is what I’m trying to say.

Selena:
Yes, yes.

Ryan:
Reading it aloud should feel like the most normal thing for us to do with it.

Selena:
Yes. The next point I want to say is memorize scripture. And I laugh at my notes because I was like, “Oh! Psalm 119.” And that’s like the longest psalm [Both laugh] of all of them. And I was like, “Oh, no! Don’t memorize that.” But it’s Psalm 119:9-12. But it says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.”

Ryan:
Mm.

Selena:
“With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!” So, that whole title of Psalm 119 is “Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet.”

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
So, memorizing scripture is going to bring us back to it consistently, because our minds have to memorize it.

Ryan:
Mm.

Selena:
It’s going to stay in our hearts. It’s going to guard our hearts. It’s going to guard our minds. It’s going to instruct our hearts and our minds. There’s so many benefits to memorizing scripture. And there are apps you can do that on! There are songs that you can do it to!

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
There’s so many ways that you don’t have to just sit there and go through it each day, right? You can. That’s an awesome way! But there are fun ways, I guess—

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
To walk through that.

Ryan:
Okay. So, I’ll just quick recap here. How to begin reading scripture together? The first way: read it aloud. If you’re looking for a place to start, start in John.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
John 1. Just read through the book of John. [Selena chuckles] Or read— Is that part of the chap— Or the— Yeah. [Selena chuckles] Or—

Selena:
It’s good!

Ryan:
Or read one of the epistles, which is Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. And there’s also Romans, and there’s 1 & 2 Corinthians. Those are all good places to start.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
Don’t start with Romans! It’s a little heavy if you’re new to this. Start with… Philippians is a really good place to start!

[00:35:04]
Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
Yeah, so that’s the first one. Sorry, I got a… I got on a tangent there. So, how to begin reading scripture together? Read aloud! Start in those places. Memorize scripture. Start with something that just jumps out at you. And the second one, or the third one, excuse me.

Selena:
Mm-hm!

Ryan:
Is study. So, pick a book or a chapter of the Bible and go through it together. Set aside a part of time. This is discipleship, you guys!

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
And so, discipleship, when you’re discipling each other is, you just sit down and say, “All right. We’re going to pray. ‘God, help us to see Your word for what it is.’”

Selena:
[Quietly] Mm-hm.

Ryan:
“‘Help us to see ourselves for who we are in light of who you are.’”

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
“‘Help open our hearts. Open our minds to Your word right now as we read it together.’” And so, then you pick the passage and you read through a set number of verses. It could be a whole chapter.

Selena:
Well—

Ryan:
It could be just a few verses.

Selena:
Yeah. And that’s what I think when we say “study.” So, read aloud together, memorize it, and then study a passage of scripture, either a book or chapter. And stay in it for a consistent amount of time! Set, “Okay. We’re going to go through Colossians for a month.” It’s four chapters, not super long. But the more you go back to it and the more time passes and life happens, the richer it becomes.

Ryan:
Mm.

Selena:
And so, that’s what I’m saying about studying it. And there are different ways to study it, too. Sometimes we just—

Ryan:
Is this like a daily thing, or do you do this… monthly— I mean weekly, or what?

Selena:
I’d say weekly! I would say weekly you set some time aside and discuss it, because that’s more consistent. If you want to do it daily, that’s awesome! I think that a weekly, “Hey, when we’re on a date or when we’re going to have time alone, let’s talk about this.”

Ryan:
Mm-hm.

Selena:
And there’s plenty of studies and questions out there if you really want to ask questions. But I think just being together and being in God’s word together is great. Yeah. If you’re wondering how do we get started? I mean, should we read lots together? I mean, there’s different ways of reading the Bible. You can just— Sometimes you’re just in it and you’re just taking it all in. Reading lots of chapters, taking big, long passages.

Ryan:
Right.

Selena:
Kind of staying shallower, I would say, and just allowing God’s word to kind of pour over you. And then there’s also those moments which I think would be good for your marriage to just dive into scripture, dive deeper into it, which is what—

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
I would say studying it together looks, of picking a book or a chapter and mulling over it over a certain period of time and coming back to it.

Ryan:
So, it really depends on your season of life, too.

Selena:
Yeah.

Ryan:
If you don’t have kids in the house, then you’ve probably got a little bit more calm time to sit and study a book. [Both laugh] And a book of the Bible.

Selena:
Yeah.

Ryan:
If you’ve got— I mean, we have three kids, six and under.

Selena:
Yeah.

Ryan:
And they’re very lively and lovely and we like hanging out with them. And we just— It’s probably not the time for us to sit down for three hours a day [Selena chuckles] and study God’s word! But—

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
It is a good time for us to, after they’re in bed, talk through what God is teaching us.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
And so, I mean—

Selena:
And we can also model it to our kids. And we do read scripture with our children, not to say that we aren’t. I’m sure people know that. But it’s also a good thing to be modeling to your kids. Read it aloud, and maybe just read a few passages and talk about it! Ask your kids about it.

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
Ask them to say it back to you and tell them you’re going to ask them questions. It’s one of the best ways for them to be able to hook their minds onto what is being taught, is when they have to repeat it back to you.

Ryan:
Yeah. So, there are hundreds of ways you could go about this. I think the bottom line is if you’re a couple and you know that you need to rely more on God’s word, and you want to go deeper in God’s word, [Inhales] you’re going to have to do it! You’re going to have to go about the work of sowing those seeds and you’re going to have to go about the work of making the time—

Selena:
Yeah!

Ryan:
And setting aside the energy for the study. And here’s the beautiful thing! Any verse I’ve ever memorized, it’s born so much weight! Or, sorry, excuse me. It’s born so much fruit in my life—

Selena:
Yeah!

Ryan:
In the form of faith, in the form of ministering to you, my wife, ministering to friends, ministering to our kids!

Selena:
Right. It builds—

Ryan:
It’s never been a waste of my time!

Selena:
Right! I mean, where—

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
You build unity, you build your friendship. You’re searching and you’re digging for things together. You’re growing in wisdom and understanding together. I mean, what’s more unifying than that?

Ryan:
Mm!

Selena:
And so, not just, I mean, I don’t want to down—

Ryan:
So, here’s an example.

Selena:
I don’t want to downplay what you say about if you think you need to read scripture. If you’re having problems in your marriage, read the Bible! [Laughs] Which, so, everybody’s having problems!

Ryan:
It’s just always a good—

Selena:
Everybody needs to be reading the Bible.

Ryan:
It needs to be the warm fire that we huddle around.

Selena:
Yes! Yes.

Ryan:
Anytime, for the entirety of our lives!

Selena:
Yes.

Ryan:
We huddle around God’s word. That’s what we do. Now, here’s a quick example, and then we’ll call it an episode, I think. But this Psalm 119, “How can a young man keep his way pure?” Okay, so, we’re reading this together.

Selena:
Mm-hm!

Ryan:
I’m roleplaying right now. [Both laugh] So, we sit down. We’re reading. We say, “Let’s read a few verses out of Psalm 119 together.”

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
“We’ve got 15 minutes. Let’s talk through this.” Okay. How can a young man keep his weight pure? By guarding it according to Your word. “With my whole heart, I seek You. Let me not wander from Your commandments.” Stop! Okay. So, what does it mean for a young man to keep his way pure? Is that obeying God’s law? Is that sexual purity? Is that integrity? What is that?

[00:40:06]
Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
So, you talk through what scripture is telling us!

Selena:
Mm-hm!

Ryan:
In that, based on what you know, or about Psalms, based on what you know about Solomon and David and the Psalmists.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
Okay. “By guarding it.” So, I’ll keep my way pure by guarding it according to Your word. Okay. So, how do we guard our way according to God’s word? How do we keep our way pure by—? And so, we start asking these questions.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
And so, we guard it by staying in God’s word!

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
We guard it by regarding God’s word—

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
As the authority in our lives. Okay! So, “With my whole heart I will seek you.” How do we seek Him with our whole—? So, we just go line by line, just ask these questions.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
And before you know it, you’ve had this amazing conversation! You know this passage better than you ever did, 15 minutes later.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
And you’re in unity about it!

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
Or on it.

Selena:
Mm-hm!

Ryan:
So, I don’t know. I just—

Selena:
It’s amazing how God’s word just, again, comes to life because it addresses all of the issues that we’re dealing with in our marriage. It addresses the lack of intentionality—

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
Lack of margin, wrong priorities, impurity that we’re dealing with. So, we can’t make any more of a case, obviously, to read God’s word. But I thank you for running through that! I think it’s very instructive to model that and to talk about that.

Ryan:
Yeah. And I find it helpful, too, just from a from a big kind of perspective, I find it helpful to pass something going on from the gospels.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
So, like John. And then maybe bounce into maybe one of the wisdom books, like Psalms or— That’s a worship book.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
Or like Proverbs.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
Right? As something really practical. And then get some of the Old Testament stuff, and then maybe sprinkle in the epistles, right? And so, there’s the epistles of the New Testament letters.

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
So, if you’re reading, you’re getting kind of a big overview of it! It’s one thing to say, “Okay, Genesis 1!” [Chuckles]

Selena:
“In the beginning.”

Ryan:
“In the beginning.” And you know what? That’s great. If you have the fortitude to do that, go for it. But it’s hard!

Selena:
[Quietly] Mm.

Ryan:
It’s hard reading the book front to back.

Selena:
Cover to cover, yeah.

Ryan:
Cover to cover, because there are some— you get into…

Selena:
Right! And there’s reading things—

Ryan:
Leviticus. [Chuckles]

Selena:
That you can do—

Ryan:
Numbers. It gets really hairy.

Selena:
You can read chronologically. There are reading plans that I’m actually still trying to continue. I’m continuing in. But I think it was Spurgeon— Was it Spurgeon that said, “Visit many good books but live in the Bible”?

Ryan:
Yeah.

Selena:
Yeah.

Ryan:
But yeah. So, all that to say is don’t get overwhelmed. Don’t think we have to be in five different places at once. I’m just saying that—

Selena:
Right! Right, right, right.

Ryan:
It’s helpful to understand the greater context. It’s helpful to know—

Selena:
Oh, for sure!

Ryan:
When you’re reading Ruth, like where is Ruth happening in the life of the Israelites?

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
And where does Ruth sit in the history of God’s people?

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
If you don’t know that stuff, you can still read it! But it’s going to be so much more powerful if you do.

Selena:
And there are great study bibles out there. I like my ESV Study Bible the best! It also has maps. I know it sounds nerdy, but honestly—

Ryan:
Maps are awesome! You got to know—

Selena:
Geography has brought so much more to life for me in the bible.

Ryan:
Well, for sure!

Selena:
Knowing geography, knowing where ancient boundaries were, where they are today, and finding— It just brings it to life. So, if you’re a map person, if you’re not, look at a map, read the Bible! It’s powerful.

Ryan:
Well, yeah.

Selena:
It’s great stuff.

Ryan:
When you know Paul’s in Rome writing a letter—

Selena:
Yeah!

Ryan:
To another church, it’s helpful to know where the church is!

Selena:
Right!

Ryan:
And you can be like, “Okay. So, this letter somehow travelled by courier,” [Selena chuckles], “from Rome to modern day turkey.”

Selena:
Right.

Ryan:
Right? Or wherever—

Selena:
Yeah!

Ryan:
Wherever Philippi was, or Colossae was.

Selena:
[Clicks tongue] Yeah.

Ryan:
[Inhales] So, it’s really helpful. And but the bottom line is, you kind of got—

Selena:
It’s enriching for your marriage. It’s—

Ryan:
It’s so enriching, you guys!

Selena:
So good.

Ryan:
And but there’s not really a quick fix. It’s easier than it’s ever been.

Selena:
Yeah.

Ryan:
But nothing’s going to replace just making it a priority.

Selena:
Absolutely.

Ryan:
So. [Inhales]

Selena:
All right!

Ryan:
Those are hopefully some practical tools. There were a lot in there.

Selena:
Yeah!

Ryan:
Yeah!

Selena:
Why don’t you go ahead and pray us out?

Ryan:
Yeah. Quick reminder! I will.

Selena:
Kay.

Ryan:
Quick reminder: check out the Fierce Parenting on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Selena:
Ohhh, yeah, yeah!

Ryan:
We’re going to be talking about this kind of stuff—

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
Either through the blog or through another… I don’t know. We’ll see. Another podcast. We’ll see what happens. [Selena chuckles] We don’t know. But we’re going to be talking about this stuff and how to do it as parents, and how to instruct our kids in it, and how to root ourselves in God’s word as parents. But that’s all going to be happening on the Fierce Parenting side of things.

Selena:
Mm!

Ryan:
It’s now there’s two sides! There’s Fierce Marriage and Fierce Parenting. So, anyway! We hope you will join us there. And oh, yeah, let me pray for us. All right?

God, I’m so thankful for Your word. And I’m just in awe of Your goodness and revealing it to us and giving it to us.

Selena:
Mm.

Ryan:
And it’s so accessible to us today, more than ever before in all of history. So, God, I pray that You would help us to seize that realization, to seize this moment that we live in. And to know that there’s no greater opportunity to know Your word, to know You and to see Your face. But at the same time, there’s no greater opportunity for distraction, God.

Selena:
Mmm.

Ryan:
So, I pray that You would make us wise people. Make us into people of Your word! Help us to be hungry for Your word, and we thirst for Your righteousness, God. And I pray that You would give us discernment. And I pray that You would help us to run away from meaningless distractions, God.

Selena:
Mmm.

Ryan:
And all in favor of knowing You more, but also being wise stewards of this life You’ve given us. These moments are fleeting.

[00:45:03]
Selena:
Mm!

Ryan:
So, anyway, I pray for the couples who are struggling. That You would enliven their hope, enliven their faith. And I pray that they would look to You, Jesus, for everything they need.

Selena:
mm-hm.

Ryan:
And that they would find all they need, and all of their satisfaction in You, Christ. And by your grace, God, may you heal marriages.

Selena:
Mm-hm.

Ryan:
May You reconcile spouses, and may You be glorified as a result. In Jesus name, amen.

Selena:
Amen.

Ryan:
All right! Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for joining us for this episode of the Fierce Marriage Podcast! And thank you for enduring my somewhat slow start there.

Selena:
You were kind of stuffy.

Ryan:
I feel like I was a little bit slow out the gate, but… [Inhales]

Selena:
It’s all good!

Ryan:
God is good!

Selena:
Yes.

Ryan:
God is good. So, as usual, this episode is!

Selena:
In the can!

Ryan:
And we will see you in about seven days, and until next time—

Selena:
Stay fierce!

[00:45:50]

<Ending Sequence>

[00:46:09]

Podcast ends.