"Safely Home" by Randy Alcorn

I've read this book before and recently read it again. It's a really great book, and it inspired me to think more deeply about my faith. Particularly about how thankful I am, or am not, for what God has done for me, sending his only Son, Jesus Christ, down to earth to die for me. Reading through this book, which follows a Chinese man's story as he is thrown into jail and persecuted for his faith, I thought about how little time I spend each day thanking God for all that He has done for me.
Furthermore, since I have had some problems remembering what I did my devotions on, even from the same morning, I thought a lot about the part in Alcorn's "Safely Home" when 'Ben' was asked to speak at a conference and explain one of the books of the Bible, the book of John. 'Ben' was very taken aback, as he was not even sure if he believed the Bible at this point in time. However, he did as the people asked, and haltingly at first, began to teach the people.
At this point in the book, I started to really pay close attention. 'Ben' started by reading a portion from the first chapter of the book of John. Then he reread that same portion, until he felt able to explain its meaning. Once he had explained its meaning, he continued on to the next portion. In so doing, he taught the entire book of John. Before the end of his teaching, 'Ben' came to a new understanding of his faith in Jesus Christ and turned back to the Lord.
This method of studying God's word is somewhat new to me, and I have decided to try it. Whenever I do devotions, I try to read a portion and then explain it. I don't move on to a new portion until I have explained the portion that I have read. I have learned before that oftentimes the teacher learns just as much from teaching as the student/listener learns from listening.
So yeah, I just thought I would share that method. From it, you can get a better grasp on the portion of Scripture yourself, and you can also become better at expressing your faith to others.