In today’s post, we’re going to focus on the art of thought rhyming, or the biblical freestyling. But first an interesting story.
Learn to Rhyme Pictures
In Exodus 17 verse eight, the Bible says,
“Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim, and Moses said unto Joshua, ‘Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.’
So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill, and it came to pass when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
But Moses’s hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there on. And Aaron and Hur stayed upon his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the Sun.”
I want you to get this picture.
Moses stands on top of a mountain, on either side of him is Aaron and Hur. Joshua is below them leading the children of Israel in a battle against the overwhelming forces of the Amalekites.
When Moses’s hands are extended, the children of Israel gain the upper hand, when his hands come down, they begin to lose. So Aaron and Hur stand on either side of him, holding up his hands, and the children of Israel are victorious.
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In the hip hop world, the art of freestyling is the unique ability to rhyme spontaneously.
It means that the artist has a bank of words in his or her mind that he or she can readily call upon to complete the rhyme.
So how does this ability translate into Phototheology? Think of it in this way. In music you rhyme words.
In Phototheology you rhyme thoughts.
The musician brings words together that sound alike, while while the Phototheologist brings thoughts together that sound alike.
In the hip hop world, the rhyming together of lines, in which two seemingly separate thoughts are brought together to form a complete and new thought, often elicits an ecstatic roar from eager and awestruck listeners.
Likewise, when the Bible student brings together two thoughts, scriptures, pictures or stories to form a complete and often new picture, this elicits an ecstatic roar from the eager and awestruck Bible student.
Learning to rhyme thoughts or pictures is going to take practice.
There are simple rhymes and complex ones. Simple thought rhymes take one thought and connect it with another.
Jonah in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights rhymes with Jesus in the belly of the earth for three days and three nights.
Complex thought rhymes take multiple pictures and organizes them into complex patterns but it must start with a simple pattern, simple bars and simple lines.
Build Lines, Upon Lines
As a musician, I walked around with a notepad writing down lines I’d meditated on. When it came time to create the song, I would use these lines to create the song.
As a former hip hop artist, I would put together lines and thoughts to create music. As a pastor and Bible student, I’m still a lyricist, but in a different way. This style of Bible study is truly like music to the ears.
So how does one create the song? It’s simple, by working on the lines.
By collecting the lines, the pictures, the images, the stores, and thinking about their relationship to other stories, even when there seems to be no apparent connection, those are the lines that produce the songs that create the most awe inspired responses.
The power of learning to thought rhyme is that the lines themselves are interchangeable.
Yeah, Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, just as Jesus was in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. But we could add to that song.
Abraham journeyed three days to the place where he was to sacrifice Isaac.
We could add the fact that the butler and the baker in the story of Joseph, both had a three day crisis where one was restored in favor with the Pharaoh, while the other was executed.
We could add to this song that on the third day of creation, the first fruits came forth from the earth.
Rhyming that thought with the fact that Jesus Himself is called the first fruits from the dead. He came forth from the grave, from the earth on the third day.
By rhyming these thoughts, we produce amazing pieces of music. We can remix those pieces or create totally new pieces through various combinations of these same thoughts.
The key is learning how to gather these thoughts and then learning how to bring them together, learning how to rhyme them.
The true musician is always thinking about music, always formulating rhymes in his or her mind.
The true student of Scripture must learn to do the same, right? He or she must always be thinking of the lines, always thinking of what would make an excellent song.
The more you train your mind to think along these lines, the more these thoughts will begin to flow instead of drip.
Flow is what the hip hop artists calls it when words begin to connect to form complete pictures.
Flow is what the Bible student calls when the Spirit begins to bring thoughts to the mind. Connecting these thoughts to form a complete picture.
Freestyle: Master More Scripture in Less Time (By His Spirit)
So let’s revisit that initial thought. Exodus 17 verse eight, let’s read it again.
“Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim, and Moses said unto Joshua, ‘Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.’
So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill, and it came to pass when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
But Moses’s hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there on. And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the Sun.”
Remember, Moses stands on top of a mountain, on either side of him is Aaron in Hur. Joshua is below them, leading the children of Israel in a battle against the Amalekites.
When Moses’ hands are extended, the children of Israel gain the victory. When his hands come down, they begin to lose.
So long as Aaron and Hur are holding up his hands, the children of Israel are assured a victory.
By thought rhyming, we begin to see Jesus standing on Mount Calvary, in order to help humanity in their fight against sin, against the flesh, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
You see while these enemies might seem more powerful than us, it is what Christ accomplished on the cross that delivers us.
Christ standing on top of that rock, Mount Calvary, with hands stretched out just as Moses did.
The extended hands of Christ on the cross secures our victory.
We can advance because of what he has done for us on the cross.
Just as Aaron and Hur stood on either side of Moses holding up his hands.
You see, Jesus hands were kept up to save the world, to give everyone a fighting chance, those who would accept him, like one of the thieves on the cross, and those who would reject Him, like the other thief on the cross.
What a beautiful song!
The Holy Spirit flows when our minds open up to him. In the hip hop world, an artist was considered open when flowing or rhyming, the Bible student must learn to be open and allow The Spirit to flow in and through him or her.
You learn to allow the Spirit to guide your thoughts, and thus to formulate the song.
Now, let me talk to you about freestyling.
You see, freestyling in the hip hop world is the art of spontaneously producing those lines and connecting them to form a complete thought.
I like to think of Jesus as a biblical freestyler.
For example, I believe that when Jesus spoke to the masses, many of his analogies, of his parables were freestyles.
When he talked about the sheep and the goats, I imagine the sheep and the goats were right there…
…and he spontaneously comes up with that lesson, the same with the wheat and the tares, or the sower and the seed.
I don’t believe that Jesus was writing these things down beforehand, waiting for the opportune time to use them. I believe that Jesus’ object lessons were spontaneous.
I believe that was so because Jesus was always thinking about the Scriptures.
That’s what we want to learn to master, spontaneity. So how do we do that?
Well, consider this game. The idea behind the game is to spontaneously find object lessons in your everyday activities.
You see in doing this you’re training your mind to always be engaged in Bible study, even when you don’t have the Book in front of you.
For example, you may be at the sink washing dishes: what object lessons can you pull from this activity?
That dirty pot, that dirty plate, that dirty glass will suddenly remind you of your sin-stained life.
Now your sin may be stubborn, right? Like burnt food on a pot. So now you pull out the Brillo pad, and here you begin to realize that the process of cleansing from sin can be a painful one.
Sometimes it might seem like God’s trying to hurt you, when he’s only trying to cleanse you.
But check this out… the end result, when you can hold up that clean dish and see your reflection, you begin to think,
“This is what Jesus wants for me. He wants to be able to hold me up and see his reflection of his image in me.”
As you’re going through this simple process of washing dishes and freestyling, lines begin to form in your mind as verses in the Bible support your thought rhyme.
- You think of 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,”
- Or Titus 2:14 speaking of Christ, “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
All Day: The Way of Bible Study
So look, a famous martial artist once said these famous words, “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water.”
The meaning behind those words is pretty simple.
Freedom is better than rigid approach.
You see, when we approach the Bible with an openness, with our minds emptied of self, and given over to the Holy Spirit to lead.
When we approach the study of the Word of God acknowledging the shape of the study you’re about to embark upon has 1,000 possibilities, yet will always conclude with verifiable truths, then God can begin to show you the way of Bible study.
God as master teacher, and you as student.
The goal is to learn how to study the Bible, even when the Bible isn’t in front of you.
It’s to learn how to freestyle while you clean, while you work, while you sprint, while you lift weights, while you’re driving, while you’re sailing, while you’re flying while you’re eating, while you’re at play, your mind learns to focus on the Bible all day.
Your mind expands, becomes fluid, spontaneous. And God who is fluid, who is expansion, who is spontaneous, will be able to communicate and flow through an open vessel.
Biblical freestyling enables you to approach the word in new ways.
When Jesus approached his disciples on the road to Emmaus, he gave them a Bible study.
They didn’t realize it was him until the end of the study when he disappeared from their sight. The disciples responded with these words,
“Did not our heart burn as He opened to us the Scripture by the way?”
Biblical freestyle causes us to see words and phrases from new angles, new dimensions, and a new light beyond the rigid meaning.
Yes, when we studied with Christ as our teacher, we too will get #holyheartburn.
Heartburn is what happens when the food you eat causes a heat like reaction in your chest.
You see, the Word of God is that which when eaten produces a fire in the bones and in the heart. The Word of God is supposed to set our hearts on fire.
In essence, Phototheology is an approach to the Scripture that is much like a freestyle, except you’re not depending upon yourself in this freestyle, you’re depending upon the Spirit of God.
It doesn’t do away with the need for technique, as we will see in future studies.
Instead, what it does is adds an element of total openness to the Spirit of God.
That’s what you’re after.
That is the biblical art of freestyling.
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By, Ivor Myers