Jesus on Every Page

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: You and I need to guard against a me-centered approach to the Word of God. Asheritah Ciuciu explains.

Asheritah Ciuciu: If you’re reading Scripture and saying first and primarily, “How does this apply to me?”—you’re missing out on the treasure of Scripture, because all of it is meant to point our hearts to Jesus!

Dannah Gresh: Welcome to the Revive Our Hearts podcast for October 30, 2023. I’m Dannah Gresh. Our host is the author of A Place of Quiet Rest, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. 

Nancy: Did you know there was a time when most Christians didn’t own a copy of the Bible? It’s true. And how different that is from today! In fact, I’d venture to guess that you have multiple copies of the Bible in your home, as I do in mine, and you can access it whenever you want, wherever you are, through your phone or some other device.

Well, tomorrow marks the five-hundred-and-sixth anniversary of the day that an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther posted a document that we would say today, “went viral!” He lived in a town called Wittenburg, Germany.

In 1517, he tacked a handwritten treatise to the church door: ninety-five statements intended to provoke discussion, and that it did! Those ninety-five theses sparked what we now call the Protestant Reformation. 

One of Luther’s passions was to get God’s Word into the language of the common people. He spent decades translating the Bible into German. And other Reformers wrote Bible translations in other languages. Aren’t you grateful that we can read the Scriptures anywhere anytime?!

But if you’ve ever felt like you were struggling to understand the Bible—maybe even you found it boring—I really want you to listen to our guest today. Asheritah Ciuciu is a wife, a mom, a speaker, and an author. She loves to help others get into God’s Word and get God’s Word not just into their heads, but into their hearts and their lives.

Not long ago our friend Bob Lepine sat down with Asheritah to talk about this very subject. Bob is no stranger to Christian radio here in the U.S., but he’s also been a great mentor to me as well as a member of the Revive Our Hearts Board of Directors.

So, here’s Bob Lepine talking with Asherita Ciuciu.

Bob Lepine: If you were sitting down with, let’s say, a women’s ministry director and she said, “We’re thinking about starting a Bible study at our church for women. I’d just like some tips from you on what we should do, because I know this is a passion for you: women studying God’s Word.” Not all Bible studies are created equally are they?

Asheritah: Bob, the first thing that comes to mind is, make it about Jesus! I had the privilege of growing up in a Christian family, and that Sunday school song, “Read your Bible, pray every day, if you want to grow . . . grow . . . grow.” That was forefront on my mind.

But I feel like for years I read and studied the Bible and accumulated head knowledge about God—and I’m so grateful, because that’s given me a strong theological foundation—but I missed Jesus in the text.

And once I started looking for, “How does this point me to Jesus? What does it say about Him?” it moved that head knowledge to my heart. I truly believe that the point of Bible study is not just more information. It really is to lead us to adoration, to grow to worship Him, and love Him more, because then that changes our lives! Not as an application like, “This is what you need to do.” Rather, “Oh God, this is who You are! Jesus, my Bridegroom, this is how You love me! So how will I not live out my life differently?”

Bob: So if the Bible study is the life of Moses, where’s Jesus in that? 

Asheritah: Yes, so with Moses I think about how God called the Israelites to come to the mountain. He invited everyone to come and to be a kingdom of priests—that’s what His intention was. Yet the people were so afraid when they saw God’s glory come down upon the mountain that they told Moses, “No, no, no, we don’t want that! We’re afraid! Why don’t you go? Why don’t you be our intercessor?” 

So Moses got the privilege of speaking to God face to face “as one speaks to a friend.” But the Israelites missed out on that. Joshua was the only one who hung out by the Tent [of Meeting] because he wanted a piece of what Moses was experiencing. 

And what we find in the New Testament is that Jesus came to fulfill that original desire of the Father, that we would all be welcomed to draw near to Him, that we would indeed be a kingdom of priests, because He is our great High Priest.

There’s that verse that Paul says that when Moses would come down the mountain, his face would shine because he had been in the presence of God. But Paul says that we with unveiled faces, we reveal God’s glory to this world (see 2 Cor. 3:18). 

So, yes, even the story of Moses points to Jesus and His invitation to us that we would partake in His presence, that we would be with Him, that we would experience that conversation face to face, like one speaks to a friend.

Bob: There’s the interesting interaction Jesus has with the two men on the road to Emmaus following the resurrection, where they’re going home thinking, Well, it’s all over. And Luke tells us that Jesus took them to the Old Testament and walked them through. Imagine an Old Testament survey class with Jesus!

But He kept saying, “Here’s where it’s talking about me.” (see Luke 24:27) And what I hear you saying is when we approach the Old Testament with that understanding—that it’s pointing us to Jesus—it changes how we understand the Old Testament.

Asheritah: Oh, absolutely! For the longest time I thought the New Testament was about Jesus and the Old Testament was just kind of preparing the way and setting Him up. But no, all of Scripture is about Jesus from page one! 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and we find out in John 1 that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word created everything. Jesus was there on page one, and He is there on the last page: “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come’” (see Rev. 22:17). And let everyone who hears, “Come,” come experience what Jesus has for us! 

Specifically with Bible study, I think sometimes we make it so complicated. I understand the desire. I am an inductive Bible study girl. I will pull out the concordance and the maps and the Greek and Hebrew (translated into English, because I don’t speak those languages!). I love looking at, “Okay, what did this mean in its original context?” and “How can we better understand the culture and the times?”

But frankly, I don’t always have time for that. I have three kids ages nine and under, and if that’s the only way I would engage Scripture, it would happen maybe once or twice a month. We don’t need to complicate Bible study.

 

I truly believe (and this has been my heart with our ministry) that we can meet Jesus in the season where we are. If that means that you take one verse and you sit down with that one verse and you say: 

• “What does this one verse tell me about God?”
• And then take it a step further and say, “What’s one thing I want to say to God about this?
• How do I want to respond? Is there confession? Is there worship? Is there an area where I need to trust Him with the next step?” 
• And then, “Is there anything He’s calling me to do in response? How can I walk with Him and walk in this truth?”

Those simple questions are what I have fallen back to in the seasons of sleep deprivation, when my middle child did not sleep through the night for almost four years! And Bob, if I tried to wake up to read my Bible—which I did—I would literally fall asleep!

There was so much guilt and shame and condemnation because, “This is a treasure! This is God’s Word. How can I fall asleep?!” But that’s not from the Father, that is the enemy of our souls speaking condemnation over us, because that will then keep us away.

So instead, if we let go of perfectionism when it comes to Bible study and we invite women to simply come and experience the Living Word of God, even if it’s just one verse, even if you just learn one thing about God, and you walk that out all day—you meditate on that one truth all day, you cling to that promise and rest in His presence—it will transform your entire life! And then, seasons change. My middle child is sleeping through the night. Now I can wake up, and now I can spend more time. I didn’t lose those years.

Jesus looks at those who are heavy-burdened and He says, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-burdened, who are overwhelmed, who have so much going on, and I will give you rest” (see Matt. 11:28).

At the end of the day it’s not about checking something off our list about: “Check, I did my Bible study,” or “Check, I did my prayer time.” It’s, “Did I come to Jesus?” Because all God’s promises are fulfilled in Him.

Bob: Do you remember when a hunger for God’s Word was ignited in you?

Asheritah: Yes. There are two distinct moments in my life. One is when I was thirteen. My family and I were missionaries to Romania for ten years. We went over when I was seven.

I had grown up with my best friend here in the States, and I didn’t see her for years and years. But when we came back here we decided, “Oh, we’re going to get baptized together the next furlough, next time around.”

I turned thirteen, and I realized, “I don’t want to wait to go back to the States to get baptized with my friend. I want this to happen now! I want that public declaration that I am following Jesus, and He has called me, and He’s my Lord and Savior.”

And my dad actually baptized me in the river with the “firstfruits” of the labor of the ministry with other teenage friends flanking and their dads who had been ordained pastors. It was such an incredible experience!

It was on the heels of that public declaration that God stirred in me a hunger. There’s no other way to explain it. I’d spent my whole life up to that point praying and reading the Bible. But in that season the more I came to Him, the more I prayed, the more I worshiped, the more I studied, it was an insatiable appetite that can only be explained by God!

And I spent (I would say) the next four or five years just digging into God’s Word, memorizing so much, learning to play guitar and spending time in my room just singing my heart out to Jesus! These are some of the most precious memories! They were songs no one will ever hear, but I’m convinced that it was a sweet, sweet sound in His ears.

Then I came to the States and I was in my senior year, scholarship applications, looking for jobs, learning to drive . . . all the things. I became busy. I’d still wake up to meet with Jesus, but I felt dry. I would say even throughout college, even though I went to a Christian school, that hunger wasn’t there anymore.

There were moments of seeing Jesus and being touched by Him, but it wasn’t that fellowship that I’d experienced as a teenager. After I got married and I was in my twenties, I just started crying out to God. I said, “I don’t want this anymore! I’ve tasted and I’ve seen that You are good, and I know what You offer those who seek You. I don’t want to just live this platonic life anymore. I can’t do that!” Once you experience the goodness of God, you can’t go back.

It was before I had my first child that I reached out to an older woman and I said, “I’m in a dry season. I don’t know what to do. I’m doing all the things I feel like I should be doing.” 

And she said, “Asheritah, have you prayed and asked God to stir a hunger within your heart? You’re doing all the things, but only God can do that work in your heart. Are you asking Him for it?”

And so I did. I said, “God, would You stir a hunger in me for Your Word, for Your presence, back like it was then . . . even greater now! Would You do that work in me because I can’t do it on my own? I’ve tried and I’ve failed!” 

And God led me to the discipline of worship and fasting as means of showing me the idols in my life, the places I’d been running to for comfort, the things that were between me and Him in fellowship that I had put there. And in that season, He just tore down one after another after another and brought me into the sweetest fellowship and communion with Him again!

And so I want to say to those who have perhaps once experienced the sweetness of God’s presence and they don’t have that anymore, you don’t have to settle for that, and you don't have to beat yourself up that it’s gone.

You can throw yourself on God’s mercy and say, “God, would You do a new work in me again? Would You show me where I’ve been turning aside from You? And would you stir in me a deep hunger for Your presence?” Because that prayer honors God, and He will always, always answer it!”

Bob: And for the woman who would say, “When I go to God’s Word and try to spend time in God’s Word, I’m confused. I don’t understand what I’m reading. I don’t get the meaning. I don’t get the context. I give up because I feel like it’s empty.” What’s your counsel to her?

Asheritah: There’s so much in that question, and I can say that I have experienced each and every one of those! In the season where I just felt bored by the Bible and I felt like good Christian girls don’t confess to that! But there I was—a pastor’s kid, a missionary kid, I’d experienced God’s goodness in my teenage years, and yet—I was reading through Leviticus and Deuteronomy and Ezekiel. I was like, “God, make me hungry for Your Word.” But then another prayer was added to my arsenal. I heard someone else praying this, and I started praying, “God, would You make these words spirit and life to me?”

Moses looked at the people when he gave them the Law and said, “These are not mere words to you; these are your very life!” And he was talking about the portion of Scripture that we find the driest!

And when Jesus looks at His disciples and He says, “I am the Bread of Life! If you come to Me and eat from Me, you will never hunger again! These words that I give you, they are spirit and life to you!” (see John 6:35).

This is not “try harder!” This is, “Cast yourself on your loving Father, who listens to your prayers and who is pleased to give His children good gifts!” So start there.

Say, “God, would You make these words spirit and life to me? Would You stir in me a hunger for Your Word, for Your presence? Would everything else become dull to me? Give me the sweetness of time with You!” I’d say that’s where we start.

But I’m a very practical gal, and practically I would say, “Don’t give up.” In those seasons when I was praying that prayer, it wasn’t an overnight transformation in my heart. I still would show up and read. Sometimes it was that one verse, sometimes it was just one paragraph. Sometimes I’d have more time to dig in.

But never once have I read God’s Word and deposited that treasure in my heart and have had it be time wasted. I don’t know if you’d had this experience or not, but I can go back and see seasons where I’ve seen a connection to my life. Years later there would be something said in a sermon or something said in my Bible study or something in my personal life, and the Holy Spirit would snatch that deposit out of that treasure chest and say, “This! You studied this. You memorized this for this time right now, because this is when you need it!” So don’t give up.

And also, be creative! If you are bored with your Bible study and with the time that you’re spending in God’s Word, chances are you are trying to do it “the right way” that someone else told you you should do it. That may be “waking up early,” and you’re a night owl! It might be that you might need to “sit quietly with your Bible in your room,” and God created you to come alive in nature, outside! Why don’t you take the Scriptures on a walk!? Go in the forest. Read the Sermon on the Mount on a hillside, and see how that text comes alive as you hear the trill of the birds and you see the clouds passing over the sky. It changes things!

Maybe you’re a visual learner. Well, pull out the coloring pencils and sketch out what you’re learning, or maybe do the doodling. I can only draw stick figures. That’s not how God has gifted me. But some of my sisters, they need that, and it’s a no less sweet time with Jesus if you’re meditating on His Word.

If you’re someone who’s an auditory learner, then maybe you need to listen to Scripture as you read it as well. Or maybe you go for a walk through your neighborhood and you listen to a passage on “repeat” over and over again and then talk to Jesus about it.

There are so many ways for us to soak in the richness of Scripture that, again, I think we do ourselves a disfavor when we box ourselves in and say, “This is the only way it can be done.” Our God is a creative God, and He invites us to come to Him in creative ways.

Bob: Talk about the difference between reading the Bible devotionally and studying the Bible. How do you interact with both of those ways of reading Scripture in your own experience?

Asheritah: Personally, I lean toward study, because that’s how God wired me. I’m the one who will geek out on the original meaning of a word, but again, I don’t necessarily have the time for that every day in this season. That time will come; that season will come.

So, reading the Bible devotionally, I guess that could mean different things to different people. One thing I’ve done this year . . . For the longest time I’ve wanted to memorize the Sermon on the Mount, it’s the longest passage of Scripture that I’ve ever tried to tackle.

I kept getting mixed up with the Beatitudes. I could remember, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” (Matt. 5:3) but I couldn’t necessarily remember what spot that was in.

Like, “Is it number three, or is it number nine? Where are we in the Beatitudes?” And so one thing I did this year is that I would play the Sermon on the Mount while I was making my coffee every morning. It’s about seventeen minutes long; it’s not too long. It feels like a long passage, but not when you listen to it.

So every moment Jesus’ words were the first words that I would listen to. I had to fight the guilt of not sitting down inductively, not doing that deep dive and the deep study every morning. And yet what I found was day after day, listening to the same three chapters, the same words of Jesus, different words, different phrases would stand out to me.

As I’d go about my day, whether I’m shopping or picking up the kids, there’d be a verse that would come to mind. It was a whole different experience for me to simply dwell in a passage of Scripture for months at a time.

And now I have a holistic, big-picture understanding of where Jesus started with the Beatitudes and where He ended with the house built on the rock and one on the sand and how the one who builds his life on “these words of Mine” will never be shaken though the storms would come, though the earth be moved! 

The psalmist says when we make God our Rock, when we dwell in His presence—even if it’s just listening to Scripture—we will stand firm because He’s our Rock!

Bob: Talk about studying the Word with a God-centered perspective versus a me-centered perspective.

Asheritah: I’m so glad you brought this up, because it’s one of my pet peeves! (I don’t know if I can say that!) But there are so many verses that get pulled out of context that look good on the t-shirt, or it looked good in the sports center: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper and not to harm you” (Jer. 29:11). These are all familiar to us, but we need to go back to the truth that every word and every verse points to Jesus. It is primarily about Him! Every promise of God finds its fulfillment in Him!

So when we try to strip that verse out of that context—not just historically but theologically, that it points to Jesus—we’re left with a watered-down, feel-good verse. Some verses are not feel-good at all! And we tend to avoid those when we only read for the verses that make us feel good.

But it’s in the whole counsel of Scripture that we find the whole picture of Jesus. “You’re missing out!”—I mean, that’s what I would say—if you’re reading Scripture and saying first and primarily, “How does this apply to me?” You’re missing out on the treasure of Scripture because all of it is meant to point our hearts to Jesus.

And if you think of it, if you’re a believer, your promise is that you get to spend eternity with Jesus. As part of the Bride of Christ, we will have that glorious wedding day when we finally see Him face to face!

And in that moment you’re going to want to know your Groom, you’re going to want to have personally experienced His presence in your life. Otherwise, you’re going to be completely unprepared for what’s coming!

It’s not sitting on clouds with harps. That’s what I thought for the longest time, and it sounded so boring, almost like, “Why would I want to go to heaven if I’m just going to sit around all day! Just leave me here on earth.” 

I think we have a weak theology of heaven if that’s what we think it is. Everything good and beautiful and perfect on this earth is but a foreshadow of what we will experience with Jesus! And taking time to study God’s Word, again, is not primarily about how it benefits me today in my life with my problems. It’s not primarily about checking something off a list. It’s primarily about getting to know Jesus, the One who knows you and loves you and has called you by name. What an awesome privilege we have!

Bob: You have recently started a podcast about prayer. Why that subject?

Asheritah: I think sometimes God picks out the subjects for us, and we get to choose if we’re going to walk in obedience, and that’s what it was for me. It started two weeks into the covid lockdown, when it just felt like the whole world had shut down. There was so much unknown, so much anxiety and worry.

I love my husband and children dearly, but I need my alone time! My husband was working from home and my kids were doing school from home, and they needed to be fed three times a day—plus snacks—and all the dishes and all the laundry, and I was still trying to keep up with my writing assignments. . .

The kids would argue all the time over whose toy or whose turn or . . . who knows what? We were all going stir crazy! About two weeks in, I was standing out at the kitchen sink, the kids were yelling about something over there . . . Again, I love them dearly, but they’re children. They need to be trained in the ways of God and in godliness. So here I was a the kitchen sink and my heart started pounding and my palms got sweaty and my vision started darkening. I’d never experienced this before in my life! It felt like my body was betraying me. “What is happening right now?”

And in retrospect, “Dr. Google” says it was a panic attack. I’d never experienced that. All I know was it felt like my world was coming to an end! So I withdrew myself to the only quiet place in the house—the laundry room—and I slid to the floor and as my heart’s pounding. The only thing I could think was, I can’t do this anymore! This whole thing, this unknown, this global pandemic . . . What are we going to eat for dinner!? I just can’t do this anymore! And in that quiet space, with that soundtrack running in my mind, there was a truth that pierced that said, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

It was a verse that I had memorized many years ago, not knowing that I would need it most in that moment, but that’s how God’s Spirit works. He brings to mind those gems that we’ve treasured away, not knowing when we’ll need them, but He knows.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. And I thought, Yes, Lord, that’s true. But I can’t do this anymore! I just can’t! I can’t do this anymore!” And again His voice, “God is our refuge and strength!”

And over the minutes that passed, the soundtrack in my mind got quieter and quieter, and God’s Word spoke louder and louder until finally it was the truth of HIs Word that was speaking over my life, “God is my refuge and strength, He is a very present help in time of trouble.” 

And on that laundry room floor I realized that if I don’t purposefully set aside time to meet with God, to make Him my refuge before the headlines of the day rush in, before the kids wake up, before who-know-what-will-happen-next, I’m not going to make it!

I mean, it’s true. I can’t do this anymore in my own strength! But with God all things are possible, because He is our refuge and strength! So I got on my Instagram channel and invited my community. I said, “Listen, I know I need a time of prayer, and I need accountability. So I’m going to be getting up at 7:00 every morning and praying here. And if anyone wants to join me, if you feel like you need some time to pray before you start your day, you’re welcome to join me.” 

And the next morning I got up and set up my camera in my closet. I remember my finger hovering over the “go live” button thinking, Why am I doing this?! Like, all my friends are staying up late and watching Netflix and sleeping in. Because when else will there be a global pandemic keeping them at home? And here I am waking up extra early. Why!? But it was God’s Spirit that pushed me forward, and I said, “Even if no one else shows up, I know I need this! I need this time of prayer.”

So I hit the “live,” and dozens of women around the world joined in. We prayed through the RESTprayer format that I had developed—again, years before—not knowing it was for this season and for this time that God would use it. 

We recited God’s goodness as we read Scripture, and then when we expressed our needs to Him. And then we took time to be still, to seek His stillness. Then we’d end our time of prayer by trusting His faithfulness; that God is who He said He is, and He will do what He said He will do in the world and in our lives. 

And so day after day, week after week for eight weeks straight, we met together every morning to pray, to rest in God’s loving presence. And the consensus of that group—the dozens that gathered live and then the hundreds that watched it on replay—said, “Yes, we’re all going through a global pandemic, but we are experiencing this differently. There is a peace in this pandemic. There is God’s presence that is anchoring us in this storm. He is our refuge! He is our hiding place, and we know it’s going to be okay.”

And at the end of those eight weeks, because of how many people had wanted to join in and the replays would disappear after twenty-four hours, we transitioned to a weekly podcast. I said, “Okay, it’s going to be a summer experiment. I’ve never done a podcast before. I don’t know if this is going to be worth our time really. But okay, God, here it is, the next step of obedience.”

At the end of the summer, Bob, the podcast had been downloaded in over 110 countries around the world! I looked at the map in disbelief! We were praying with brothers and sisters in countries that are closed to missionaries—places where I could not go and hold a public prayer meeting, and yet we were joining in prayer and resting in God’s presence!

It’s been amazing to hear stories of moms who are listening to the prayer podcasts with their daughters while they’re driving them to school, or those who battle insomnia and listen to the prayer podcasts as they’re falling asleep resting in God’s presence. 

And it is so sweet to me that Jesus would take that moment of brokenness on the laundry floor and redeem it for His glory—because when we are weak, He is strong. And so, any accomplishment will point to His power and His strength and His glory, because He’s worthy!

Nancy: What an encouraging word from Asheritah Ciuciu! Her podcast is called Prayers of Restand you’ll find a link to it in the transcript of today’s program at ReviveOurHearts.com. Isn’t it refreshing to hear that others sometimes struggle with appreciating and valuing their time in God’s Word?

I’m grateful for Asheritah’s honesty and also for the practical suggestions she gave for creative ways to soak our hearts in the Scriptures.

Dannah: Yes, and one practical way you can keep God’s Word in front of you is through the Advent season tabletop cards. They’re based on Nancy’s devotional book Born A Child and Yet A King. These are five inch square cards, and there’s one for each day in December.

They come with a stand to set them somewhere visible in your home or office. As you change the cards each day, you’ll see a new passage of Scripture and a sentence or two out of Nancy’s Advent devotional. You can see photos of what I’m talking about at the ReviveOurHearts.com website.

Right now we’ll send you your own set as our way to say “thank you” for your donation of any amount. Check it out at ReviveOurHearts.com, or ask about the December tabletop card set when you call 1-800-569-5959.

Well, in the same way that a ship in a storm needs an anchor to keep from being blown away, you and I need to be sure we’re anchored to something—or Someone—solid. Tomorrow we’ll hear more about what it means for our souls to be anchored to Jesus and the Word of God. Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth wants you to see Jesus on every page of your Bible as you discover freedom, fullness. and fruitfulness in Christ!

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