How to Make Your Love for the Word Contagious, with Courtney Doctor

How do you become a woman who helps other women know and love God’s Word? Find out in this episode of Grounded with guest Courtney Doctor. Her passion for Scripture will infuse you with fresh desire to grow into a woman of the Word and to help those around you do the same. 

Original Episode: 

Bible Reading Drought = Big Opportunity!, with Courtney Doctor

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2bvSnySZwA

Website: https://www.reviveourhearts.com/podcast/grounded/bible-reading-drought-big-opportunity/?utm_source=grounded&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=grounded+podcast&se=RZZPD

Connect with Courtney 

Instagram: @courtneycdoctor 
Twitter: @CourtneyDoctor
Website: https://www.courtneydoctor.org/

Episode Notes

• In View of God's Mercy by Courtney Doctor.
• Courtney Doctor's book recommendations: 
  • One to One Bible Reading by David Helm.
  • Growing Together by Melissa Kruger.
• What’s the Goal of Bible Study?, with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.
• Women of the Bible series.
• How to Study the Bible.
• Register for True Woman '25.

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Portia Collins: We still live in a time when most people know what the Bible is, but there are a lot of assumptions about what the Bible says, that it's going to tell you a lot of rules. It's going to tell you not to do a lot of things that you want to do. So how do we encourage people to  just open it and start reading and trust that the Lord is at work in this culture where it's not a given that people understand what the Word is?

Who is the woman in your life whose love for the Bible most inspired you to love and live God's Word? I'm Portia Collins, and this is Grounded, a podcast where we love to hand out two things that we all need: hope and perspective.

This is the last episode in our series that we've been calling Muscle Up for Fall Bible study. Summer is coming to an end, and fall will be here before we know it. So, we hope that means that you and I will all be returning to digging into God's Word with other women.

You know how I feel about studying the Word of God in community. And so, today's episode is a good one. It is a conversation that I got to have with my dear friend Courtney Doctor. I asked her this question, "How do we become women who help other women know and love God's Word?" You are going to love her answer, so stay put.

You also will hear from our very own in this episode, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, and she will help you wrestle with the foundational question, "What's the goal of Bible study in the first place?" And how could we talk about loving and sharing the Bible without opening our Bibles? Erin Davis will help get you grounded in God's Word. This is a good one and a favorite of mine. Let's dig in.   

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Alright, guys. So Courtney Doctor. is here. Can you see the excitement? Oh, my face. Courtney is a wife, a mama, grandmama. She has written a few Bible studies. I'm fortunate to have this. It is her most recent one: In View of God's Mercy. And yeah, I love Courtney. She's a dear friend. She's a coordinator of women's initiatives for The Gospel Coalition. I'm excited to welcome her so hey, Courtney, welcome. 

Courtney Doctor: Hey, Portia, good to see you. 

Portia: Likewise, friend, likewise. So, check this out. I read on your website that your greatest desire is to be able to faithfully study, apply, and teach the Word of God and to help others do the same. So, I want you to coach us up. How do we become women who help other women know and love God's Word?

Courtney: What a great question for sure. Well, I mean, it's our greatest joy isn't it to not only have this love of God's Word increase in our own hearts and minds, but then to watch it increase in the hearts and minds of those people around us—whether they're neighbors, coworkers, children, people at church. I mean, it's just a joy to see that sort of fire and love and understanding, just take root and grow. 

So, there are so many ways to go about it. I think one thing that I was slow to realize in my own life, even in the context of just my family, I didn't really talk about how much I love God's Word. I didn't really talk about what that morning I had learned in His Word or what I had learned in my Bible study. It was happening, but I think when we talk about it, we just share what we read, what we learned, what we saw. 

I just did the impromptu road trip with my adult daughter, one of my adult daughters. She was doing this on the trip. She was saying, you know, Mom, this is what I've been reading. This is what I've been studying. This is the verse I'm memorizing, and her joy was contagious to me. 

And so, I think, first and foremost, if you're somebody who is in the Word and loves the Word, let your joy and your love of the Word show.

Portia: Yes, that is super encouraging and convicting. Because I realized, I sometimes conceal that joy a little bit. I'm in my world with my Bible. And I'm like, yes. But I think our enthusiasm and our joy could be motivators for others. So, I love that. I love that. 

I want to share this quote that I picked up. It came from an article, and we'll get a little bit more into my question, but I want to share this preface things by sharing this quote. It says, 

Our postmodern culture has produced people who do not know the Ten Commandments, the books of the Bible, or even basic Bible stories. Because of this, many interested women join a Bible study only to be embarrassed that they cannot flip to cross reference their Bibles or participate in discussion that requires previous Bible knowledge.

So, that's the quote. I think this is interesting and begs the question of how can we leverage situations like what is being described here in this quote, as opportunities to better teach and equip women?

Courtney: What can I answer, speaking to both women in that scenario . . . So the the woman who is showing up and is embarrassed to not know, I want to just speak to her first, because that was me. When my husband and I first became believers, I had to take my Bible and put, the tabs there so that I could know where to go? Yes, because I didn't know where to find those books. And I thought I would be embarrassed, too. 

So to that woman who is at that place, where if somebody said turn to the book of Matthew, you would need to go to the table of contents, just be encouraged, go to the table of contents. There is no shame in that. The Lord is not sad by that. He's real, that you're going to the table of contents and finding out where the book of Matthew is.

To the women who are in the study who know where the book of Matthew is, or the book of Amos, and they can turn their way without going to their table of contents . . . Please create a culture in your church that says, “We're not going to assume that we all know where it is. We're not going to be prying people that we were able to turn there without going to the table of contents.” And so, so just explain that we're going to be turning to page whatever, or we're going to be flipping past don't go this way, go that way. 

But just normalize the fact that it's okay to not know at the beginning what the Ten Commandments are, and it's okay. If somebody is showing up and they're wanting to learn, oh, my word, welcome them with open arms. Realize that most of us were in that exact spot at one point. 

But the idea that we are in a culture that no longer just has an understanding of the Bible, I think we still live in a time when most people know what the Bible is, but there is a there are a lot of assumptions about what the Bible says that it's going to be a lot of rules. They are going to tell you not to do a lot of things that you want to do. So I would say to anybody who doesn't know the Bible, but wants to know the Bible, ask the Lord to just open your eyes and pick it up and start reading. I think you guys were talking a little bit earlier, some are easier than others. Find a good study that helps you understand what the Word is saying? And to us, the Lord is at work there. The Bible is different than any other book that has ever been written. It is living and active. 

That's not just something that we say, it actually is alive, and it gives life to those who read it. But it also in being active, it changes us. And the Spirit of God is present in the people that are reading the Word of God. 

And so, how do we encourage people to say, “Oh, open it and start reading and trust the Lord?” In this in this cultural moment that we find where it's not a given that people understand what the word is?

Portia: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. You know, one of the things that I'm hearing you say, as you say all of it is humility.

Courtney: Yes.

Portia: Like we have to have humility in how we teach and how we share and even how we model what we're learning and how we're growing as Christian women. So, I think that that is really, really good. That's really good. 

So practically speaking, because I know our ladies are Grounded sisters . . . They're like, we hear what you're saying, but what does this look like for me? What is one way that we can actually get into our Bibles more, while also helping and encouraging other sisters to get in the Bible more?

Courtney: Well, I think to the woman who knows the Lord and is going through that season of drought . . . If that's where you are, you're just not feeling it. I would say, show up obediently because the Lord is working and push against the idea that the reason I'm in the Word every day is because it's going to make me have a better day, I'm going to get something just for that day. 

That's simply not why we go to the Word. I mean, there are times that the Lord gives us that word for the day. And it's so encouraging and so nourishing. But it really is for the long haul. It's doing today, what we know our future self is going to need because it's growing us. It's strengthening us, maturing us, rooting us, establishing us. I mean, that's what the Word does. 

And so, for the woman who knows the Lord and just not feeling it, I would just say them, be obedient and run to the Word. 

But if you're wanting to help others do that, I think one of the most beautiful ways to invite somebody to know the Word is instead of just handing them a Bible and saying, “Good luck. Let me know if you're in it every day.” That has a place. But what if you read it together? What if you invited somebody to meet with you for 30 minutes a week or an hour a week, and you've read it together and you read it out loud? 

You know, most of these books when they were first read, they were read out loud to groups of people, to the congregations. So read it out loud, meet in a Starbucks and read it out loud. There's a great book by David Helm called One to One Bible Reading that will help you. It's sort of a curriculum for how to do that. Or I think of Melissa Kruger's book, Growing Together. There are resources out there to help us do that. 

You have to encourage someone with more than just words, but with action saying, “Let's do this together. And let's read it out loud.” And then, ask good questions, read it out loud. And then really, I always ask three simple questions of the text. 

What did I just learn about God? Who He is, right? Yep. That's the first thing. I'm in Ezekiel right now. I need to really ask myself, “What am I learning about God” when I finish my reading? 

And then what do I learn about my need or our need for salvation? Usually that's pretty evident, right? And then the third question I ask is, what's a faithful response look like? And so, the faithful response might be obedience to a command, but it might be that I fall on my face and I worship and I praise. It might be that I develop a heart of gratitude. It might be that I go to a brother or sister and repent. 

I mean, there are so many different ways to faithfully respond to what the Word is saying, but what do I learn about God? What do I learn about my need, our needs? 

And then what does a faithful response look like? That's those simple questions to ask of any text that help us do more than just read and kind of do the check mark, like, oh, I just read. But to really, really study to apply, to look for how the Word is going to change us.

Portia: Yes, I love that. In fact, exactly what you said is one of the things that I always recommend that Christ-centered grid to view Scripture through. Those three questions are perfect. It's often a springboard for so much more. Like it actually moves you to even get deeper into the Word of God. And so that's great. It has been a joy to chat with you today. How can the Grounded sisters connect with you or check out your studies or read your blogs or whatever? What can we do to connect?

Courtney: My very occasional blogs, I don’t write them very often, but the website is, CourtneyDoctor.org. Or Instagram, those are probably the best places two connect with me. I would love to connect with you. Portia, I love any chance I get to talk with you. You're so dear to me.

Portia: I love you too. Thank you, Courtney. Have a good one.

Well, what's the goal of Bible study in the first place? All right, one of my favorite Bible teachers, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, says it's not just to fill our heads. It's more than that. Listen to this short clip.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: The purpose of Bible study and Bible teaching is not just to dispense more information. Now, we need information. There's a lot of information in this Book. But biblical illiteracy is rampant today, even within the church. So, we need the teaching, we need the information. But the goal isn't to stuff people's heads full of more information or to give them more notebooks to put on their already crowded shelves. The goal was that they would know God. And that that knowledge would transform their lives from the inside out, that they would be conformed, that they would become earnest fervent disciples of Jesus, spiritual reproducers. That's the goal of our teaching.

Erin Davis: At my house, she mentioned those shelves full of crowded notebooks. I certainly have some of those. But I love that reminder that we're not just after head knowledge. As we get grounded in God's Word. I want you to open your Bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians.

I'm going to immediately implement some of that great coaching we got from Courtney. 2 Corinthians is located in the New Testament. This is an easy one ladies, it follows 1 Corinthians, and we're going to be in chapter 3. 

As you're getting there in your Bible, I'm going to tell you a tale of two Bibles. I once met a woman, and she told me that she owned in her possession the Bibles of both of her grandmothers—her maternal grandmother and her paternal grandmothers. She had both of their Bibles. She told me one of them looked like it had just been bought at the store—pristine. You could tell the binding had barely been cracked, no notes in the pages of that Bible. Again, it looked like a brand-new Bible. The other Bible from her other grandmother was falling apart. The pages were filled with years’ worth of notes that this woman had written in the margins. Prayers she recorded, church bulletins she'd stuck in the pages, the binding was disintegrating. This was a Bible that had been well used. 

I said, “Is there a connection between the state of your grandma's Bibles and the state of their lives?” 

And she said, “Absolutely.” 

You've probably heard it said that if a Bible is falling apart, it is owned by a woman who lived our Bible. You can often tell it just by looking at it. 

Okay, I've got a second story. I was teaching not long ago and a woman in the crowd invited her Buddhist neighbor to come to this event. Now, it was obviously a Christian event. My job was to teach the Bible and share the gospel. And yet, this friend invited her Buddhist neighbor to attend. The friend found me afterwards and told me that while I was teaching, her friend leaned over and whispered something kinda strange. “Can I touch it?” Later she told her friend, “I don't know what is going on. I am just so drawn to your Bible.” She'd never touched one. She'd never handled one. But as the Spirit of God was moving among women who loved the Word, she suddenly wanted to grab it and open it. 

Okay, this isn't another story, but it's a slogan. I remember it from my childhood. The slogan was from Smokey the Bear. He said, “Only you can prevent forest fires,” which always made me feel a little afraid as a kid, like I didn't know how to prevent forest fires. 

But I would say to you this morning or this evening, this afternoon, whenever you're watching or listening to this, only you can stop the Bible reading drought. And the way that you do that is by showcasing the impact of the Scriptures on your own life. 

Paul had something to say about this. It's in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1 through 3, I'm reading it this time in my ESV Bible. “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?” Paul wrote, “Or do we need as some do letters of recommendation to you or from you?” Paul would sometimes have a little sarcasm, which is part of why I liked him. Verse 2, “You yourselves are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all.” Verse 3 “And you show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.” 

Paul is saying, “Do I need an impressive resume? No, I don't. But if I did, you'd be it. You are my evidence of God at work. You are my living letter. You weren't written with a pen. You were written at the hand of God. Your life showcases that God is real, the gospel is true, and the Bible is impactful.” 

So let me commission you friends. Now, there's a Bible reading drought going on here in America and in many other parts of the world. You know that we live in a postmodern culture where for the first time in a long time, the majority of people might not know what the Ten Commandments are. The majority of the people might not understand the way that the Bible is structured. We can no longer make assumptions that when we say Noah's Ark, everybody knows what we're talking about. And I'm going to say it again, we've got an opportunity. 

So, which living letter are you? Are you the Bible that looks pristine, because it hasn't been opened? Because the demands of your life keep pulling you away from it and you haven't dug in? It hasn't become a pattern? Are you the second Bible? A Bible falling apart held by a woman who isn't? We are the evidence to the world that the Bible is worth reading. And we are the evidence to the world that the Bible makes a difference. 

So, I'll join in Paul's commissioning and commission you as living letters to a world that needs to know that God's Word is the answer to the dryness that they're experiencing in their heart. 

Okay, one more story and then I'm done, I promise. I met a woman not long ago who decided she was going to have a neighborhood Bible study; she felt called by the Lord to do it. And so, she invited her neighbors. She said, “Erin, not a single one of them is a Christian, but they all come week after week.” She told me about it because they're doing my Bible study 7 Feasts which, guys, is on the Book of Leviticus chapter 23. So, imagine that women who don't know the Lord saying yes to a Bible study on Leviticus, and they're coming week after week, and this woman said, “Ah, they're so thirsty.”

Do you need to start a neighborhood Bible study? I don't know. But you can turn on the hose in the midst of this Bible reading drought. I know what you might be thinking. I'm not a Bible teacher. And not everybody is. And that's why when we point you to some tools this week, we want to point you to the Women of the Bible series from Revive Our Hearts. We've got Ruth, Rahab, Esther, Abigail, and Elizabeth, five studies in the Women of the Bible series. And they all come with a series of videos, so you don't have to teach. You just have to invite and press play. (That makes me sound dated. That's an old VCR reference.” But you just have to get that video going on YouTube. If you subscribe to the Revive Our Hearts, YouTube channel, you'll find there some playlists. There are playlists for the Women of the Bible series. You'll see Portia and I make some appearances in some of those.

Portia: Have you registered for true woman 2025 yet? I'm listening? Okay? Well, if not, check it out: The Word: Behold the Wonder. Just imagine gathering with thousands of other women from around the world to behold the wonder of God's perfect, powerful, and precious Word. We want you to be in the place. Registration is now open at ReviveOur Hearts.com, so go ahead and grab a group of friends and make plans to head to Indianapolis October 2–4, 2025.

Let me just say thank you guys for spending the summer with us. We love you, and we're praying for you to be women of the Word. Let's wake up with hope together next week on Grounded.

Grounded is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts, calling women to freedom fullness and fruitfulness in Christ.  

Aviva Nuestros Corazones website  

Mujer Verdadera 365 podcast 

In View of God's Mercy by Courtney Doctor

Courtney Doctor's book recommendations: One to One Bible Reading by David Helm; Growing Together by Melissa Kruger 

What’s the Goal of Bible Study?, with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

Women of the Bible series

How to Study the Bible

 

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