As I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to love The Food Network and The Cooking Channel. I love seeing people travel around the world trying foods from different cultures. I love watching cooking competitions and seeing what dishes people create. Between my cooking shows and Pinterest, I’m always getting new recipe ideas. Recently, I’ve been learning a lot about different marinades for things like chicken, fish, and veggies. 

From what I’ve seen, most marinades have a blend of oil, seasonings, and maybe a citrus flavor of some kind. Before cooking, you let your food soak in the marinade so the food takes on the marinade’s flavor. The end result? A flavorful dish that everyone loves!

Ironically, I started thinking about marinades one day while I was reading my Bible. I read a verse too fast and it didn’t really stick. So, I stopped and said to myself, “Man, I need to let that marinate.”

And then it hit me.

Are we allowing our hearts to marinate in the truth of God’s Word?

The same way that food needs to soak in a marinade to take on its flavor is the same way our hearts need to soak in the truth of scripture so we become hearers and doers of God’s Word (James 1:22). 

Colossians 3:16 tells us to “let the word of Christ richly dwell within [us], with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in [our] hearts to God.” 

To dwell means to live in or reside in constantly. If we want God’s Word to dwell in us, then we need to make room for Him. We need to spend time with Him.

I get it though. With our busy schedules, we can easily get in the habit of treating our quality time with God as something to check off our to-do list. And for the time that we are spending with Him, we’re not fully present. But I’ve learned that being intentional about our time with God always results in fruitfulness and spiritual growth.

So whether our quiet time with God is five, ten, fifteen minutes etc. in our day, what’s important is that we’re intentional with the time we have so His truth takes root in our hearts (Psalm 119:11).

And, sis, sometimes we need to spend a few days – weeks or months even! – on the same few verses. It’s kind of like leftovers. No, I’m saying that God’s Word is equivalent to leftovers ha! But when I think of leftovers, sometimes they taste better the next day because the flavors have had time to really settle in. The longer we sit with a verse and allow it to marinate, the more insight the Lord will reveal and the more it will soften and change our hearts.

Here’s a few things that’s helped my heart marinate in God’s Word:

1. Play worship instrumentals. For me, worship instrumentals help me get in the right frame of mind before I start reading scripture or praying. You can find a ton of worship instrumental videos on YouTube!
2. Eliminate distractions. Putting our phones aside helps us to be more present when spending time with God. If we’re reading the Bible or a devotional on our phone, then it may be a good idea to turn off our phone’s notifications. 
3. Pray and ask God to speak to you through His Word. I heard a quote recently that says “when we read the Bible, we shouldn’t be looking for ourselves, but we should always be looking for God.” Sis, we should always ask God to reveal Himself to us through His Word. That He would give us spiritual eyes and ears to recognize what He wants us to know – and for us to be receptive of what He says. Because let’s be honest, sometimes what God says to us doesn’t feel good even though we need it!
4. Highlight, underline, or circle what stands out to you in the verse. Making notes on the pages we’re reading helps us understand what the verse is saying, and it allows us to make note of what God is saying to us through His Word.
5. Define unknown words. Defining words we don’t know also helps us to understand what’s being said. If we don’t know a word in the verse, then the entire verse or passage might not make sense. 
6. Memorize the verse. Writing Bible verses on index cards or post it notes and placing them in areas we frequent helps us to remember the verse, and it allows its message to take root.
7. Get Bible verse coloring books. I’ve fallen in love with Bible verse coloring books. For one, coloring is just relaxing. And two, the longer we look at the Bible verse on the page, the more the verse marinates in our hearts.

Okay, sis. Let’s Recap!

We need to let our hearts marinate in the truth of God’s Word so we can be both hearers and doers of what He says. That means making room for Him, being intentional about spending time with Him, and being present during the time we spend together.

Pause & Reflect

1. Meditate on Colossians 3:16, James 1:22, and Psalm 119:11. Journal what God reveals to you through those verses, and take note of any other verses He leads you to.