Passage
[James 3:17-18]
“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
[Proverbs 9:10]
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
Proverbs 6:6 says, “Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise,”
The following verses Proverbs 6:7-8 explains the reason.
It says, “Which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest.”
It is faithfulness that can strengthen the high IQ, good environment, and one’s own study know-how.
This session is the 10th and last session on the Keys to Studying Well.
Now, you have your part to play to breathe life into the messages on ‘Keys to Studying Well’ and bear beautiful fruit.
God is truly faithful.
We can understand it by considering how much He loves you, and how delicately He is fulfilling His providence of human cultivation.
You are sons and daughters of God, aren’t you?
So, I hope you will also have God’s faithfulness.
You can do that because the Holy Spirit is in you.
If you practice the word of God with faithfulness, these messages on ‘Keys to Studying Well’ will work in your lives and give you abundant harvests.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will cultivate faithfulness so that amazing changes will take place in your lives.
Main
In the last session, I talked to you about the first know-how in studying— to enjoy studying and find it fun.
The second know-how in studying well is to do the previews and reviews.
Look at the four different types or ways of forming of memories.
If you do the previews and reviews, you can hold the things that can easily slip away, and you can plant more deeply what you casually stored in brain as memory.
You can also plant what you stored in memory deep in your heart.
To the extent that we see or hear about an object, our brains will remember it more deeply.
If you do the previews and reviews before and after class, it means you learn the lesson three times.
Of course, everyone knows it is important to do the previews and reviews of classes.
But how many students actually do it?
Mr. Seung Duk Ko, a lawyer and a journalist, passed the bar exam, Higher Civil Service Exam, and the Foreign Affairs Service Exam during the 3 years of his college life.
He says the secret was the ‘review’.
Those who fail the exams do not even read the books three times, but he read them five to ten times.
You might become afraid thinking ‘how can I find the time to read such thick books’, but if you actually try it, it is not as difficult as you initially think.
As the number of times you read the book increases, the time needed to read the book decreases, and it becomes much easier to finish the book.
The power of review is truly amazing.
Now let us think of specific ways to do the previews and reviews.
When you prepare for the class, you can skim through the parts that will be covered in the class, and check the things you don’t understand.
You can understand the parts you checked after listening to the teacher in the class.
And you have to review whatever was covered in the class on that day itself.
According to the research of a psychologist called Hermann Ebbinghaus, 64% of what people remember will be thoroughly forgotten after 9 hours.
Therefore, if you review what you memorized within 9 hours, you can keep it in your memory much more strongly.
So, you should have the habit to review all your classes each day.
You should not just review each day’s classes, but you have to repeat them until the contents are deeply planted in your heart.
Reviewing is like locking the door of the memory so that whatever was input cannot escape.
The more you repeat, the more firmly the door of memory will be locked.
If you do your previews and reviews all the time, preparing for exams becomes easy.
If you don’t do any previews or reviews and if you have to prepare for the exam, you have to begin to study all the way from the beginning.
Also, that kind of knowledge that you cram will be very quickly forgotten.
You will have to study again later.
Therefore, you should develop a habit to do the previews and reviews regularly.
Doing previews and reviews is very useful when you study the Bible.
I believe many of you are already doing this, but why don’t you try the following?
Before the worship service, you read the reading passage of the sermon.
And you worship in spirit and truth.
It’s just like being faithful to your class.
After the worship service, you try to remember the message you heard and put it in your heart.
If you are so busy the whole day that there’s no time, then you can meditate on the message you heard when you go to bed.
If you are greatly touched by the message or if you realize something within yourself through the word, you can input the message even better.
And if you cultivate in your heart what you’ve realized, then that word will completely become yours.
It will be cultivated as spirit in your heart.
On the other hand, however, if you just hear and forget about the message, it is of no use to hear the word thousands of times.
You should review the message, and it is better to listen to it again during that week.
If you read the summary after a week, it will remain in your memory for a longer time.
If you continuously keep the word of God in your mind, you will have richness of the word of God in you.
In case of pastors or workers, if you are asked to deliver a message impromptu, you can do it by the help and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
You also need to do the reviews when you memorize Bible verses.
You memorize the verses everyday, but you will forget them as time goes.
If you go over the verses you memorized every week, you can remember them even better.
I urge you to make up your mind once again to arm yourself with the word of God so that you will come forth as faithful workers who are well prepared spiritually and physically.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and students, lastly, let me talk about your life habits.
Why would life habits be counted in studying know-how?
In order to study well, you should manage yourself.
You have to manage your fitness, time, and habits to increase the effectiveness of your studying.
For example, to study well, you should get an adequate amount of sleep.
It is said that some old scholars poked themselves with needles when they got sleepy studying late at night.
But rather than overworking like this, it is more effective to get enough rest and study with a clear mind.
Your brain function will deteriorate if you lack sleep.
Your understanding and memory power will fall.
If you study when you are tired, you will soon become exhausted.
On the contrary, if you get enough sleep and study when your brain is functioning well, you can digest a greater amount in a shorter time.
Those who are taking the college entrance exam must feel impatient and pressed for time.
But you have to sleep at least five to six hours a day.
Of course, if your fitness and health is really good, you can sleep a little less.
The important thing is you should know the amount of sleep that is enough for you and get enough sleep.
It is also important to have a regular, well-balanced diet.
Some students skip their meals to sleep more or often eat fast foods to save time.
But this kind of diet can make your body sick or weak, so you should be careful.
It could rather be a negative point to your studying.
You also need to control the amount of food you eat.
Especially, right before you study, you should stop when you feel like, “I want just a little more.”
If you overeat, you get drowsy and your concentration will decrease.
It is not good to eat too little either.
If you are hungry, you might have idle thoughts.
Other than these, when you come back home from outside, you should wash yourself and clean up your surroundings.
Your mind will be at comfort when your appearance and surroundings are clean and squared away.
If you live a life that gives out the aroma of the Lord, self-management will be done automatically.
If your heart resembles the Lord, your appearance, attitude, and behavior will also resemble the Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and students, until now, I talked to you about the Keys to Studying Well.
But in fact, the secret of studying well is very simple for those students who believe in God.
It is that, “You study with heart rather than your brain. So, you can excel in your studies to the extent that you lead a good Christian life and cultivate your heart into a good soil.”
Nowadays, even the intellectuals of the world mostly agree that IQ is not everything in studying well and having a successful life.
They are interested in raising other quotients such as EQ, emotional quotient or SQ, spiritual quotient.
Recently, they even have CQ, cultural quotient that shows you one’s ability to adapt, apply, and communicate with various cultures.
If you lead a good Christian life, you can increase these quotients to the fullest.
Let me give you the example of EQ, which I introduced in the second session of this sermon series.
Let’s have a look at the five aspects that EQ, emotional quotient, considers.
First, it is the ability to recognize one’s own emotions, respect them and accept them honestly.
If you have good soil in your heart field, you will always have the best condition mentally.
You won’t have ups and downs in your emotions.
You won’t be bewildered wondering why you have certain emotions, or become nervous thinking you shouldn’t be having certain emotions.
Of course, we sometimes have spiritual mourning for the kingdom of God and for other souls, but it is different from being gloomy or bewildered.
Second, it is the ability to control one’s impulses and such emotions as nervousness and anger that cause stress.
Your evil will be removed to the extent that you cultivate the heart of good soil, and you will not have such emotions as nervousness or anger.
You can control your desires, too.
So, your mind will always be at peace like the surface of a smooth lake.
Third, it is the ability to encourage oneself even in failure without getting disheartened.
Not becoming disheartened is one of the most evident attributes of the heart of good soil.
Even in trials of faith, you rejoice and give thanks with your faith in God.
Fourth, it is the ability to sympathize with other people’s feelings, and the fifth is the social ability to have harmony in a group and to cooperate with other people.
Those who have hearts of good soil will pursue peace with everybody.
They always consider the hearts of others and seek others’ benefits first.
Even when there is conflict, they become mediators and peacemakers.
They are on good terms with school friends or coworkers.
We can see that the characteristics of good soil and the abilities in EQ are similar.
So, if you cultivate good soil in heart, you can have the best ability in the items of EQ.
Conclusion
The world is increasingly in need of leaders and workers who are like superman.
There are continuous problems in families, companies, and countries in this ever-changing world.
The leaders try to solve these problems, but they will always be confined within the limits of their knowledge and ability.
This is the era where we need the wisdom from above.
We are in need of people like Joseph who overcame the famine in Egypt through the wisdom of God.
I will fulfill the providence of God in this age through the wisdom and power given by God.
I will give the answers to the kings of the nations who acknowledge God and who rely on the servants of God.
I will drive away disasters and calamities from their countries.
I am confident because of the wisdom and power from above.
Wouldn’t you Manmin members and students join me in this ministry?
Anybody can do it if you study hard, longing to become holy.
James 3:17-18 says, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. [18] And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
If you receive this kind of wisdom, you can become workers who are loved and recognized by others. You can also become good leaders.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will understand the keys to studying well and have this wisdom completely.
