A Crash Course in Bible Genres, with Kristie Anyabwile

What does it mean to read the Bible literarily? And why does it matter? Find out from guest Kristie Anyabwile in this fascinating episode. You’ll see how learning the different genres of the Bible transforms the way you read and study God’s Word. 

Connect with Kristie

Instagram

Facebook 

Twitter
 

Episode Notes

Donate to help those in Ukraine

Literarily: How Understanding Bible Genres Transforms Bible Study by Kristie Anyabwile

Listen to Revive Our Hearts Weekend on our website, app, or anywhere you get your podcasts

Sign up for True Woman ’22 (early registration ends April 30!)

-------------------------------

Erin Davis: What do the numbers 5, 12, 5, 5, and 12 have to do with loving your Bible? Find out in this edition of Grounded. I'm Erin Davis.

Portia Collins: We’re here to give you your infusion of hope and perspective. All right, Erin. I know you ain't a numbers girl, you’re a word girl. 

Erin: You’ve got that right. 

Portia: Tell me what’s up with these numbers you just shared?

Erin: I will tell you, but first I'm gonna make you clap. So clap with me. Here we go: 5, 12, 5, 5,12; 5, 12, 5, 5, 12. Okay, you can quit. But those numbers mean something and the clapping will help you remember it. One of the things, Portia, you and I have in common is we're both seminary students right now. And this semester, I'm taking a class called “The Story of Scripture.” And every class, I'm not kidding you every class, the professor makes us go 5, 12, 5, 5, 12; 5, 12, 5, 5, 12. Because those numbers mean something. Yeah. He wants us to never forget it, and I don't think I ever will. 

Those numbers reflect the genres of the Old Testament. So here you go, Portia seminary student pop quiz. I'll give you the first one. First Five is the Pentateuch. What's the 12? Do you know what genre? 

Portia: History. 

Erin: History, you got it. Alright, the next five is poetry. And then there's a five and a twelve. Do you know what that last five and twelve are? 

Portia: Ah, no. 

Erin: That's all right. The first five is the major prophets and the other twelve is the Minor Prophets. So, I know it kind of feels like we're geeking out on you a little bit. But this idea of understanding and caring about the genres of Scripture has really grabbed my heart as I've been studying it, because it doesn't change God's Word. God's Word doesn't change. But it has given me a new lens through which to see Scripture that's been so helpful. 

So, you don't have to know the numbers, but you might want to know the why. Why did God choose to include different genres in His Word, which we believe is inspired by the Holy Spirit and necessary for the Christian life? Why is there poetry in there? Why is there history in there? Why is there narrative in there? Because it changes the way we read and study.

Kristie Anyabwile is with us, and she says she would agree. I don't know if she would clap her hands. But she says, understanding Bible genres transforms the way we study the Bible. And I've got a promise for you this morning. You don't have to be a seminary student in order to care about this concept of understanding the way Scripture was written and how that applies to our lives. 

So, I know you're gonna get a whole lot out of this conversation. I think you're gonna step away with a fresh dose of passion for studying your Bible. And so, we are excited to bring Kristie to you. 

First, we need some good news. The bad news is, we lost Portia. I hope she'll be back soon. But we've got Dannah waiting in the wings. Dannah, give us something to smile about this morning.

Good News: Ukraine, Lemonade Stands, and Little Girls (9:01)

Dannah Gresh: Well, Erin, I am not a seminary student. But I can clap in rhythm with a friend and you too. All right. We're not very good at that. You guys need work. That's the bad news from there. 

I do have some good news. Of course, all of our eyes are still on Ukraine and Russia. I hope that you're praying for them as I have been praying for them. I'm saddened every day by the stories I hear, by the pictures I see. Is there any good news? Yes, there is. It's this. People are doing what people do. They're helping. Some of the helpers are our very own little women. 

In fact, I've had a front row seat to see some of them in action. Every spring, my True Girl team hosts an online Bible study. Now, if you don't know, True Girl is the ministry I lead for tween girls and their moms to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus. Well, we have thousands of moms and 8- to 12-year-old girls right now diving into the life of Miriam to learn about biblical courage. And one of our True Girl teachers, Janet Mylin, is a former missionary to Ukraine. 

I sat there and I thought, We're studying courage, and this all this stuff is happening in Ukraine. And I have a woman, a teacher, who's lived there. It seemed like a unique opportunity to get an update on the country of Ukraine each week, and then simply invite the girls and moms to pray during our online Bible study. 

Well, when we did that, they wrote to us and they said, we want to do more. How can we help in a practical way? Now, the week they asked that I had told them about Olesia Dmytriieva. She's a Ukrainian Christian broadcaster that I interviewed a few weeks ago for Revive Our Hearts. 

She and nine of her friends started a Marathon of Hope. In the towns where they're hiding from the war, they found radio equipment, and they're broadcasting the hope of Jesus Christ to very fearful people. They share the gospel, and they encourage people as they get through day after hard day. They even have a phone number Ukrainian people can call when they feel afraid. For example, a young girl called and said, “I'm afraid because my mom's left for bread, and it's been a really long time.” So, one of these Christian women, these Christian broadcasters, prayed with her over the Marathon of Hope hotline, and they comforted her. Ten minutes later, the girl called back and said the prayers worked. “My mother returned safely. But she had to wait in line for bread for two hours.” 

I told my True Girl moms and daughters this story and some others, and I told them about the ten women leading the Marathon of Hope and their need for our prayers and practical help. Then I gave them a link where Revive Our Hearts is accepting donations, 100% of which goes to help these women and their families while they give hope to the people of Ukraine through their radio broadcasts and phone line. 

Now, I didn't know if any of the girls would help or not, because I told them their moms weren't allowed to send money. They had to send their own. But I was blown away when they started sending me stories and photos. Look at this one. This is a girl wrote to me. Her name is Lauren. She's eleven years old and she wrote, “Dannah, I felt like God was trying to tell me to help the Ukrainians. So two of my friends and one of their sisters helped me. We sold lemonade, iced tea, and cookies and raised $84 in total.”

I also got this photo of Caitlin and her lemonade stand. Caitlin is only eight years old, and she wrote, “Me and my parents had the idea of making something for Ukraine. So we had a lemonade stand in our neighborhood and in our church. We raised over $500 for Ukraine.”

Ah, does this not stir your heart? That's just two of the True Girl moms and daughters who wrote to tell us they're having bake sales, garage sales, lemonade stands, walking dogs, so the gospel can be shared on the radio airwaves through the Far East Broadcasting Company—people helping people share the gospel and bring comfort through Christ. We think that is really good news.

Erin: Oh, not just people helping people, little people helping which is always so inspiring. I love that girl, that 11-year-old smile. Yes, she was being obedient to the Lord, so sweet. 

Here at Revive Our Hearts we love calling women to be fruitful. That's one of the things we say is our mission. We call them to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness. And that means we want them to walk out their faith just like those sweet girls Lauren and Caitlin have done. So, it is really important, probably more important during challenging times, that the world is full of women of faith, that we be fruitful and faithful. 

So, we have a special invitation for you to join us this fall for a special conference that will equip you to live fueled by faith and a world full of fear. And guys, early pricing for this conference is ending this week. So that's why we want to make sure you hear the message, check out this short video about True Woman ’22.

True Woman ’22 Video (14:17)

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: We see deeply disturbing things going on around us. You listen to the news, and you get a pit in your stomach. It's so deeply disturbing. And sometimes we feel overwhelmed and sick about it all. We've been placed here by God in this time and in this place. We’re here to serve, while at the same time keeping our hearts firmly planted in His eternal kingdom, living with hope.

Our faithfulness to God, our prayers, our courage, our faith, our perseverance, our willingness even to suffer . . . all of this provides an opportunity for the power of God to be showcased and put on display.

There will never ever be a time and time when God will not be God, when He will not be present, when He will not be in control, when He will not be sovereign over every detail of our lives. Heaven rules.

Erin: Heaven Rules is the theme of the True Woman ’22 conference this fall in Indianapolis September 22–24. That phrase, Heaven rules, is not just something Nancy made up. It's not copyrighted to Revive Our Hearts. It comes from Scripture from the book of Daniel. 

As we were talking about loving and knowing our Bibles today, that is where we're going to take our stand at that conference. I'm going to be there. Dannah is going to be there. Portia is going to be there. But the question I want to pose is, Will you be there? And here's the more important question, Do you have your ticket yet? Like I said, this is the last week for early pricing. We are here to give you hope and perspective and discounts. We want you to know when the pricing is the best, and that's this week. So we're gonna drop a link in the chat, or you can head to ReviveOurHearts.com to learn more about how to register. 

Okay, Dannah, get us grounded in God's Word. Before we talk about the genres of God's Word. Where are we turned into?

Grounded in the Word: Habakkuk 3:17–19 (16:54)

Dannah: Oh, all right, we're gonna open our Bibles to a book of poetry—Habakkuk. I want to read some poetry over your heart. I wrote a Bible study on this often-overlooked book of the Bible. Halfway through I wondered, Why on earth is this written as poetry? It was so much harder to study in that format. 

So I called a college Bible professor, and I just asked him for some encouragement. Do you know what he told me? God often communicates His best truths poetically. Then he began to tell me all the things in the Bible that come to us as poetry, the story of creation in Genesis 1 and 2, some of the most important parts—poetry. The Exodus celebration—poetry. Job, Psalms, that takes up a lot of pages in the Bible, Proverbs—poetry. Many of the prophetic books including Habakkuk—poetry.

In fact, over 25% of the Bible page by page is written in poetic form. And let's just say it like it is, when we get to those parts of the Bible, sometimes we're tempted to skip over it, because it can be really intimidating. 

So why poetry? Do you know what else that college professor told me? The poetry bound in Scripture is usually an invitation for us to seek that is to pursue and find God and its truth. Maybe God uses it to obscure the meaning because He wants us to slow down and to really think about what He's trying to communicate to us. 

But why would He do that? Because when we find what God wants us to discover, through the careful ponder of poetry, it packs a punch that prose lacks. That was a lot of p’s wasn’t it. Let me show you how it works. 

Open your Bibles to Habakkuk 3. I'm going to read 3:17–19. To you now this is what the prophet wrote about trusting God to hold him together. When the world seemed to be falling apart . . . does that seem like it could be fitting today? You see, Habakkuk had just heard from God that the nation of Israel was going to be exiled by Babylon. It was one of the most devastating times in ancient history of God's chosen people. As Habakkuk looked forward to that devastation, he couldn't imagine it. 

Let me just sidebar here and say, if you're feeling some devastation in your life right now, Habakkuk is probably a book you need to soak in. 

Now, at the beginning of the book of Habakkuk, the prophet has so many questions about what God has just told him, and he hurls them at God. But by the book’s end, Habakkuk is making a bold declaration of faith. Again, let me read to you Habakkuk 3:17–19. It reads, 

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.

Aren’t those beautiful words? That's one of the things about poetry. It's beautiful. And that's one reason it's so powerful. It awakens our senses with beauty, not just the facts. And another reason, poetry is memorable. You've probably heard those words before, at least you've probably heard hinds’ feet on high places. That's how it's commonly phrased. That's another reason poetry packs power because the syncopation makes our recall of it and memorization of it easier and more likely. 

As short and as complex as the poetic book of Habakkuk is, we have several poetic phrases that we often repeat and many of us have memorized. This is one of them. And that helps us recall God's word, it makes it accessible for us when we need it. 

Now, here's the key. Just be sure you know what the beauty and the syncopation is all about. Make sure you understand it. Make sure you seek and find the truth that God is trying to communicate to you. 

So, what is the prophet declaring with these empty stalls and fields and no olives on the trees? Well, Habakkuk was declaring that if the entire economy shuts down and there's no food to be had, even then I'm going to choose to rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in God then and there in that hard place. What a lesson for us as the grocery stores are low on supplies and the prices are so very high. I mean, our cupboards aren't completely empty. But the challenge to stretch the budget right now is very real. 

Sister, we can take joy in even this hardship. I can confidently say in this hard place, “The Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deer’s. He makes me tread on high places.” 

Now, let's think about that for a second. What is that saying? It’s saying that just like a deer whose hooves were made to grip the side of a mountain and almost miraculously come straight up (look it up google it online, it's amazing). Even as the deer was created for that, I have been created and equipped by God's strength to walk tall and confident in difficult times. 

Now, when you think He makes my feet like the deer’s to tread on high places or the hind feet on high places. Maybe when you think of that, you'll be bolstered in your faith to know that God made us for this. He made us for hard times. 

Why poetry? It's memorable. Many of us need some help remembering because hard times tend to give us spiritual amnesia. But God's Word, including and maybe especially the poetry, restores our faith. Remember that special quality and power of poetry the next time you get to a passage filled with it and you're tempted to skim? It just might be God's special invitation for you to seek Him.

Portia: Amen, amen loved it. Dannah, you said you're not a seminarian, but you kind of sound like one to me.

Dannah: Just a girl who loves the Word, Portia.

Grounded in the Genres of Scripture, with Kristie Anyabwile (24:57)

Portia: Absolutely. Well, today, I'm excited because we're gonna dig a little bit more into Bible genres. We have my friend Kristie Anyabwile. She is a Bible teacher, a pastor's wife. She's a mama to three, and so much more. I'm super excited to have her today. Welcome, Kristie. And guess what? I'm gonna throw a curveball to my girl, Erin, because I know that she has a knack for Bible literacy. We could talk about this so much. So I want to bring you in on this interview as well so that we can all have a great tech conversation. Let's do it.

Erin: Count me in. If we're talking about the Bible, I'm in. 

Portia: But, you know, I've learned so much from you. I’m going to throw in a little bit of a curve ball today. I want my girl Erin to come and join me for this interview with Kristie.

Erin: Okay Portia, I’m in my batting stance. I can hit that curveball, I hope. I’m ready. 

Portia: So super excited. Kristie, where are you, girl? Welcome to Grounded.

Kristie Anyabwile: I am so happy to be here.

Portia: We are happy to have you. Let me just tell you, I have loved this book. The title, since the moment I saw it, I was like, cool. I love the concept of understanding Bible genres. So, tell me what gave you the push to write on this topic?

Kristie: Yeah, that is a great question. I think the big push was that I was walking through the book of Esther and the book of Ruth. You and I talked about Ruth some before, about walking through the book of Esther and Ruth with some ladies in my church—one-on-one Bible study. We were just having a great time thinking about Esther's story, thinking about the full arc of the book of Esther. 

But also, because a lot of times people have heard about Esther and we know the general story. But honestly, I haven't heard many sermons that walk chapter by chapter, verse by verse line by line, through the book of Esther. My husband did it, by the way, y’all can get his sermon series. But I was going through that and one of the girls that I was working with, she has a theater drama background. And so, the idea of story arc and the plot and characters and setting and that climactic moment that you always look for in a good story or a good book movie . . .

We were just enjoying going through that process. One day, she said, “I've never heard anybody study the Bible this way. Have you ever thought about writing a book to teach other people how to study the Bible this way?” You know, that's actually a great idea. That's kind of the end. I mean, there's a lot of other pieces that the Lord has put together over years in the time prior to that, but that was kind of the big push. So I thought, Man, that's a great idea. And then I kind of shared it with a friend. And she was like, “Yeah, you should definitely do this.” 

Portia: I love that this was born from a place of studying the Bible together. It's not like you just said, “Hey, I'm gonna write a book about this.” It was born from just sitting with other women, digging into the Scripture, and seeing a need for the little “c” church, a local church, but also . . .

Erin: We lost Portia. She’s having technical difficulties today, but I'm here, I'm ready to pinch in Well, I am been fascinated by this. Just recently, somebody explained the book of Job to me as maybe a play. Act one: God and Satan. Act two: Job and friends. Act three: Job and God. And I had to pick up the pieces of my brain off the ceiling, because it really did give me an excitement for Scripture that I didn't have before. I think we can sometimes take the “open your Bible and read what you come to” approach. Or we could just read straight through and approach all of it as the same kind of text. How come that's not a great strategy for knowing and loving God's Word?

Kristie: That is a great question too. And yeah, like Job is really interesting. We could have a whole segment on that. But when you read, people always ask the question, Is the Bible literal? Like, are you supposed to really read it literally? And that is an excellent question. I actually think the thought behind that question is, people kind of innately understand that in some places, it doesn't make sense for me to read the Bible literally, right? 

And so, for example, we can talk about plenty of examples, but the one I'll always use because everybody's familiar with it is, “Train up a child in the way he should go when he's old, he won't depart from it.” Well, that sounds great. If that's a promise from God, I am holding on to that. What parent wouldn’t hold on to that? But if we understand that the book of Proverbs is a wisdom literature, and this is proverbial. It's kind of a generally true statement. But it's not a command. It's not a promise from God. It's not like if you plug in A you get out B. We know that just from experience. But the problem is, not only does it not help us to put it in its right place of okay, this is wisdom, it's not a promise. But if we do read it literally, for example, it really puts us in a crisis of faith. 

Because if you're a faithful parent, and you've raised your child in the fear and instruction of the Lord were instructed, and you read this statement, and you see that your child is wayward, and maybe not following the Lord, then there's a problem. Is there something wrong with me? Is there something wrong? Like, who messed up? Was it me or God? Right? 

Erin: Right.

Kristie: I've experienced that with friends who have said, “I raised my child this way. I did this, and I did all of these things. And the Bible says, train him up in the way that he should go and when he's old, he would not depart from it.” And so, it puts us in a real dilemma and and can even lead us into this crisis of faith when we don't read portions of Scripture in the way they were intended.

I think it's also helpful when we read, say the law. You read those first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, it has story in it. And there is even poetry in it. There's even bits of prophecy, all kinds of things in it. But the function literally of the law is to lay down God's instructions for His people.

And so sometimes you'll get to a book like Leviticus, and it'll say, “Oh yeah, by the way, don't cut your beard.” Right? But I mean, men all over the world cut their beards. And then maybe the next verse, it says something like, kind of protecting your daughter, and don't allow her to be kind of caught in prostitution. And so, if we say, well, definitely, we don't want to do that. Like, we want to protect our daughters. But then the verse right before it said don't cut off your beard. So, if we say that every verse, every line, we take it exactly, literally, we miss the intention. 

And if the intention is instruction, then what is the general instruction that God is giving to His people in the law? We find in a law that there's lots of things about just obedience to the Lord, being set apart, being holy. Those are big themes that come through the law genre that we want to pay attention to. And the function of a passage or verse may not necessarily be do this or it's against a rule for us today. It could be for us today, protect your daughters. Make sure that you're distinct and set apart from the people around you. Don't do anything with your body that may indicate that you're falling away from the Lord, those kinds of things. 

Erin: That’s so helpful. And we need to be equipped in that way. Because non-Christians will say to us, and I think this is valid, “Well, you guys wear fabric of two kinds of threads on which Leviticus tells you not to do, so you're picking and choosing.” And we could say, when we come back with this literarily versus literally, which I love that play on words that you did. That is a valid answer. 

You mentioned parenting. For me, God is a parent. There are some times when I just want straight repetition with my kids: make your bed, make your bed, make your bed, make your bed, make your bed every day of their lives. And the Pentatuech has a lot of that kind of repetition. And there are other times where I sing songs with my kids, because the heart is my goal. There's a little song we sing about obedience in my house every day. And God does the same thing in Scripture. He is going for our heads, our hearts, our lives. He takes lots of different approaches in doing that.

How would somebody maybe they've been studying the Bible? 50 years? Or maybe they've been studying it five minutes, but they don't know what the genres are? How do they get started in thinking about it through that grid?

Kristie: Thinking about it through the grid or knowing what they are, genre is just a category. It's how we write. Yeah, so it's just it's how we categorize things like genres of music, genres of books, fiction, nonfiction, those kinds of things. And so, if you're just being introduced to genre, I would say, take so and so in the Bible. Those categories, I think, are laid out fairly straightforward in our Bibles. 

So, the first five books are the law. And then you have Joshua through Esther, those are narratives, Old Testament narratives. They're stories, but they're historical. These are historical accounts. Then you move forward in the Bible, and you get Psalms, that's poetry. Then you get books like the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, that's more wisdom literature, and then you move forward in the prophets, and then the gospels, epistles, and apocalyptic literature. 

So, those are the main literary genres in Scripture. And each one of them has a unique function in terms of how we enter into that piece of literature, and what God's intentions are for us in that piece. So, I think if someone's just getting starting, I really would start with the law, because that's the beginning. That's where we find out what God expects of us. And so, I would start there. 

We think about law, we think about rules. The law is really rules, its guidance, instruction, the Torah. And so, I think in the law, that's what we want to be looking for—not rigid rules, per se, but what are these initial covenants, the sustaining instructions that God is giving to His people and what He expects, and how He expects us to live those things out. 

And then the rest of the Bible is showing how people respond to God's instructions. I think each of the other genres are responses in different ways to God's instructions. So, the narratives we get how people lived out God’s structures, and the Wisdom literature is how to live wisely under God's instructions. The prophets are reminding God's people of His instructions and giving them warnings if they disobey and hope for the future. They are also giving them reward or blessing for their obedience or reminding them of that. 

And then of course, we get to the gospels, and that's the embodiment of God's law in the person of Jesus Christ, who perfectly obeyed all of the law of God, and through whom we have redemption. And so, the full suite of the genres is to show us God's redemptive plan from beginning to end. That helps us to see who Christ is, what He has done for us, and how we are to live in light of His person and His work. 

Erin: Hey, welcome back. Portia. I'm glad you made it back. I know you want to be a part of this conversation, so take it away. 

Portia: Look, I'm jumping in because I'm hearing a running theme. The Scriptures are pointing to God. And when we actually study the Bible literarily, we can see God as the main thing. And so, I don't want our Grounded sisters to check out on us this morning because I know that this can be a little bit meaty. Some people are probably saying, “Well, I'm not a seminarian, I just want to read my Bible.”

Kristie: Join the club.

Portia: Right. Right. And that's it. But I really want to encourage our Grounded sisters. What type of word or advice or encouragement would you give to that sister who is maybe feeling intimidated? Or maybe even put off a little bit about studying this way? How does the way that you're proposing, how does that help us to see God clearer in the Scriptures?

Kristie: Yeah, I? That's a great question. I think for sisters who are like I don't really understand. I honestly think that the way God in His sovereignty in His wisdom and His kindness to us. He has given us the Bible in a way that is meant for us to have understanding. And so again, everybody's familiar with instruction, training, expectations. Everyone is familiar with story and what makes a good story and finding tension and relief and stories. 

Everyone is familiar with wisdom, and we desire it, and we give it. We kind of have this base in the Lord's common grace to us. He has given us basic understanding. Every one of us has gone to school to some extent. We're taught in school, and we see in the world how to make sense to people that you're trying to convince of something. 

And so, there's a little bit of innate ability in this. I'm just trying to package it in a way that connects how He has already made us understand things, and connecting that with how God wants us to apply that to His Word. So those innate common grace gifts that God has given to us are meant for us to have an entry point into who He is and what He's done. 

And so, for sisters struggling with that, I would just be like, relax. God’s done the work already and giving you just some basic skills. Then I'm just kind of filling in the blanks. Don't think about it as kind of school or class; that's not really the intent. My intent is to give us tools, skills, training, that will reduce some of the friction we already have when we open the Bible. 

And so, my goal is to reduce some of that friction, to give us an easier transition from what you already said before Erin: head, heart, and then how do I live this out? So, I'm hoping just understanding how to make an argument and how to read an epistle and to see the argument that the author is making, how to find those little layers, that will help you more easily enter God's Word. It’s not so we can have academic, intellectual knowledge, but so that we can help really encounter our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's the goal, right? 

And so, it's not just head knowledge. It is not just learning these tools. The tools are just a way for us to relax a little bit, open our Bibles and say, “Okay, God, let me hear what You have to say today.” So it's for us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, to deepen our love for Him and our understanding of His Word. And not to just merely have academic class markers. 

Erin: High five. 

Kristie: Right, that's my encouragement too. You know what, it's all about communion. You don't have to use any of these tools. Honestly, it's just a way for people who are interested to get in that extra layer of entry points into the Word so that it can help us grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.

Portia: Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you so much

Kristie: God is sovereign, and the Holy Spirit is active. The Holy Spirit is working in us. And so, we have to trust that God is going to give us what we need, regardless of how we get into the Book. But if there are ways for us to grow, why wouldn't we do that? I would just say, depend on the Holy Spirit, even if you use extra tools and resources and guidance to get into the Word of God. 

Portia: Thank you, Kristie, thank you so much for being with us today. 

Kristie: It’s my pleasure always.

Portia: I think everybody can agree that this was extremely helpful, and honestly, not as intimidating to dig into the word. So, thank you for being with us. I hope to see you soon.

Kristie: Yes, thank you. Y'all stay grounded.

Portia: All right, Erin, give us some tools. I think we've got a lot of tools already. But give us some more.

Erin: I feel like that was so helpful. But we want to give you some more. As Portia says, open up those pockets. Let me send you on your way with some good stuff like I like to do and when it comes to studying God's Word, understanding God's Word, treasuring God's Word. There is no better place for me to point you than the Revive Our Hearts podcast. Our mission is to call women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. And the only way for you to do that on a daily basis is through God's Word.

So, if you're already listening to what we call the mothership, the Revive Our Hearts podcast. Today is the day it's probably available on your local Christian radio station. It's definitely available through ReviveOurHearts.com or whatever app you're using to listen to podcasts already. You can say, “Alexa, play Revive Our Hearts,” and she will play Revive Our Hearts for you or Google Home. Listen at the Revive Our Hearts app. But really, subscribe on your podcast app to the Revive Our Hearts podcast. And every single day, you're gonna hear a voice, often Nancy's voice or Dannah’s voice, telling you to treasure God's Word and just encourage you along the way. 

And then one more reminder: I know we've been hitting you over the head with this, and that's by design. That's that repetition I was talking about earlier. True Woman ’22 early registration, it ends on April 30. And somehow, that is this week. April's just flown by. So don't miss the chance to head over to TrueWoman22.com.

Portia, Dannah, I have a question for you. What's your favorite Bible genre? Like, we have our favorite kind of music genre? We have our favorite book genre. Now that we look at the Bible like that, you got a favorite?

Dannah:: No, you are a geek—just even the fact that you asked that question. It's certifiable, now, you are a Bible geek. Erin.

Portia: I want to answer it, though. 

Erin: I am a Bible Geek.

Dannah: Go ahead Bible geek number two, what is your answer? 

Portia: I’m gonna say the letters or epistles are probably my favorite.

Dannah: Can I just say it's the gospels and win?

Erin: You can, yeah, you win. 

Dannah:All right. I want to say this: As we as we finish up today, I've this thought just burning in my head. The Bible says study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed. Can you tell I learned that one in the King James Version of the Bible?

Erin: Yeah, who's the Bible geek now? 

Dannah:Yeah, who's the Bible geek now? Here's some really good news though. I'm gonna read this to you from 1 Corinthians 2. As we finish up today, it says, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given to us by God.”

Listen, when you don't have the tools and you don't know what the Bible says, ask God's Spirit to help you, and He will. He's done it for me over and over and over again. And what a thrill it is. He is our best teacher.

Portia: Amen, take us to church, Dannah. 

Erin: Well, thank you ladies for watching or listening. We love you. We want to drive you to God's Word every single time Grounded  is on, and we appreciate you being here. And listen, if you got something out of this episode, show us some love with that thumbs up. 

Grounded audio is powered by Skype. Grounded is a production of Revive Our Hearts, calling women to freedom, fullness and fruitfulness in Christ.

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.