Tend Your Soul Like a Garden

A Simple & Effective Bible Study Method

Like a garden, our souls go through seasons. Planting seasons, dry seasons, fruitful seasons. And like a garden, we need to allow the Lord, the Gardener of our soul to tend and weed and prune and nourish us.

It happens little by little and day by day as we spend time drawing near and listening to His still, small voice.

We try to find devotionals, pre-written Bible studies, books, commentaries from which to gain the refreshment our soul needs.

But the reality is, only time soaking in the Word and hearing the Gardener for ourselves will provide the real tending to that our soul yearns for.

Finding myself desperate for the Lord's nourishment set me on the course to develop the simple method "TEND." It is an acronym for how I listen to the Gardener each morning.

Tending is a fresh approach to Bible study. TEND is an acronym to guide you through a method of engaging with God's Word for yourself. It will help you observe the facts, interpret the meaning of these facts in context and respond to the Word based on what it is teaching about God or the lessons therein.

How to use the TEND method

(you can also download a free guide HERE)

Context is key when studying the Bible, so be sure to read the book or passage you have chosen in its entirety before Tending through it.

T stands for Take the time to pray. The Holy Spirit of God is the Helper and Reminder. He teaches us what the passage says and will bring it to our remembrance when we need it most (John 14:25-26), so ask Him to teach you before you start.

E stands for Examine the facts in the Scripture. What are the subjects and verbs in the verse? The bare facts of what is happening. It helps me to write those facts down, phrase by phrase and verse by verse, slowing down to examine the verse.

N stands for Notice the lessons that were intended for the original audience of the Word. I ask myself: What is being taught here? Is there a characteristic of God revealed? Is there a sin, a promise, an action, a command, or an example? Write down the lesson being taught and/or the attribute of God displayed.

D is for Doing what it says. We want to be doers of the Word, not hearers, or readers only. So respond to the lesson, the example, the sin, the attribute of God. It helps to turn the lesson into a question to ask yourself respond to with action. Whatever stood out to you, whatever the Holy Spirit highlighted for you, is for the purpose of conforming you into Christlikeness. How will we respond to that today? There are days where our response is to worship God or pray for someone. There are days where our response is to call someone or forgive someone. We will never look like Jesus with a head full of learning but no applied knowledge, we will instead remain weak-willed and vulnerable to the enemy (2 Timothy 3: 1-7).

I challenge you each day to approach the passage first with prayer. Then TEND a verse or two per day in turn and let the Holy Spirit of God work as the Gardener on the soil of your soul.

May this be the most fruitful season of your life!

(Get your free download to tend your soul HERE.)