Pick A Number

The Game

This game as a precise set of rules. Before explaining strategy, the simple rules are in order.

• Calling the Game Pick-A-Number is always "called" by someone. This is the person who’s Bible will be used to play the game. The caller is responsible for running the game until it is finished.

• Picking Numbers Everyone in the group around the caller supplies a number for the game. This should be the first number that comes to mind after the game is called. Occasionally someone will know that the game is coming and will have been given a number earlier than it is called. This is perfectly acceptable to use a number given in prayer earlier.

• Everyone has a number Everyone present when the game is called contributes a number. For young children they should be asked to pick a number and say whatever comes to mind first. For infants or people incapacitated in some way they are arbitrarily assigned the number 1. This includes, for example, people who are asleep when the game is called.

• Finding the Page The numbers given by everyone present are added up. The total number is considered to be a page number from the Bible of the person who called the game. The person who called the game goes and looks up the page in their Bible.

• Handling Big Numbers If the number is larger than the total number of pages in the caller’s Bible, the number wraps back to the beginning and continues. Typically this means subtracting the page number of the last page of the Book of Revelation from the total earlier computed. This allows page 1, typically Genesis 1:1, as a target for the game, even when there are more than 1 people playing the game. It is perfectly fine for the number to wrap several times before a final page is found, though if this happens there is something else going on, see below.

• Finding Scripture The number selected by the team will produce a particular page. The caller turns to that page. The first chapter that starts on that page is the scripture that starts the game. If there is no chapter on the page, the scripture is the first section break on the page. If no section break then it is the first full verse that starts on the page. (Though this is quite rare. Usually the scripture is the chapter that starts on the page.)

• Reading Scripture The person who called the game reads the indicated chapter to the rest of the team. Depending on the context of the game, ie: why it was called, that person or else the team, must then explain what the scripture means.

Why Play

The Apostle Paul, start out unsaved and studied the Bible under Gamaliel.1 2 This was the equivalent in his day to having gone to Bible College. Under Gamaliel’s teaching Paul learned the letter of the Law, he learned the stories that made up the canon of scripture in his day.

Paul eventually had a power encounter with Jesus and had to go learn all over again. This time he had to learn from Jesus how to apply scripture in a preaching situation to an audience under Jesus’ leading through the Holy Spirit. This cannot be learned in school. It can only be learned from Jesus’ directly. The following is one of Paul’s accounts of this process:

In Paul’s case it was three years in Arabia and Damascus when he was transformed by Jesus into a preacher. He took the base knowledge of the Scriptures and could now apply them under the leading of the Spirit to particular situations.

Note that there are two steps in order to be able to preach the Gospel. The first step is what Paul learned under Gamaliel’s teaching. Paul learned the text as written. Chances are good that the application taught by Gamaliel was incorrect. Gamaliel was a Pharisee and today that would any non-spirit-filled teacher of the Bible. This didn’t matter much then, nor does it now, because the point of this phase of training is simply to learn the Bible.

The second stage in the training, what took Paul 3 more years, was to develop a relationship with Jesus that was strong enough that he could listen to Jesus’ explanation of the Scripture and then apply it to specific groups. Often with little or no external knowledge as to what might be going on with the group.

The pick-a-number game is a training exercise for people who have substantially moved through at least the first stage of this development process.

Because the game picks a Scripture from somewhere in the entire canon of the Bible, the person calling the game should know the entire Bible well enough to be able to at least explain any passage. People who have not themselves at least read the Bible cover-to-cover are ill prepared for the public exposition of the entire Bible, which is what this game demands.3

All Scripture

I occasionally get objections about the game. The thought that a Bible Study could be taken to any scripture, instead of, say, the New Testament alone, is often anathema to certain Christian sects. This is also the objection raised, it turns out, by Bible study and small group leaders who don’t know their own Bible and are afraid to play. The foundation scripture, that explains what this game is doing is supplied as part of Paul’s writing to Timothy.

Here Paul explains to Timothy why he needs to learn the entire Scriptures. It will cause Timothy to be complete, and thoroughly equipped for every situation that can come along. The thought here is that the entirety of the Bible is needed in order to fully cope with every situation in life that occurs now. Ie: every situation that can be encountered while in ministry is every situation recorded in the entire Bible. If you don’t know the entire Bible then you are not yet equipped for dealing with life in the world around.

Study Bibles

When I was saved a Lutheran friend of mine gave me a simple NIV translation of the Bible bound in hardback. Several years later I joined a small group Bible study and everyone else there had a leather bound NIV study Bible. I wanted one just like them and went out and spent perhaps $70 on a green one.

For several years I was a part of this group and we used the NIV study Bible in all of our reading and study together. It was a good experience and I doubt I would do it any other way.

At some point I was called out of that group. Jesus had other places for me to go. Soon after I was in prayer and reading my study Bible when I was hit with the Holy Spirit. I was done with the Study Bible. It hit as strongly as any message I’d received to that point. Later in the day I set out and found a slim line NIV in a blue cover. This one had only the translator’s notes, otherwise it was pure Bible text and nothing else.

At the time I switched Bibles because I was doing what I was told, not because I knew why, though I quickly realized the footnotes were a heavy distraction. I could read far more text far faster without the clutter provided by the footnotes.

I soon ran into someone else who had been told to drop his Study Bible in favor of simple text. In his case he was given a complete explanation. He was told that the notes in the Bible were given to someone else at a different time and that Jesus would explain his text himself now. My friend did not need revelation given for someone else, so he was to drop the Study Bible.

Years later a second friend who operates strongly in the prophetic explained her own experience of switching away from a Study Bible in favor of a simple bible. It was the same lesson: Jesus would now reveal his word himself. She didn’t need Jesus’ revelation to someone else at an earlier time. She too switched to a simple text.

Think back on Paul’s experience of learning under Gamaliel and then learning under the Spirit. In the three Study Bible cases covered here, each went through the same experience. The NIV Study Bible in my case was my Gamaliel training. My two friends, each with other types of Study Bible’s also had to graduate from Gamaliel to Jesus so they could complete their spiritual development.

The footnotes in Study Bible’s are often elementary, often bordering on the idiotic.4 This is true for all brands of Study Bibles, not just the NIV mentioned here.

A Study Bible is equivalent to how Gamaliel trained Paul. We each must go through this, but hopefully not stay at this stage of spiritual growth. The point of training under Gamaliel was simply to learn the text, not what someone else said about the text. Gamaliel was likely wrong more often than not. The shame comes on people still using Study Bibles when they start quoting the footnotes as they would inspired text. This is as ugly as swearing in Church.

Take it as a sign that someone is still under Gamaliel’s training if they are still using a Study Bible.

In the case of the Pick-A-Number game, it is possible that someone playing the game will have a Study Bible. The page number may, at times, be a map or more commonly an introduction to one of the books in the Bible. When this happens, bear with your weaker brother, and consider the target to be the entire book so indicated, or the first chapter thereof.

You are being warned by this type of target page that you should consider this person not an advanced player. Notes in Study Bibles are not inspired text and they are not Jesus speaking. Don’t ask someone to give a sermon about them. (As many people do.)

Pick-A-Number in Bible Studies

The pick-a-number game can be used as a personal challenge, to see if someone can "exegete"5 any scripture. It can also be used with excellent results in small group Bible studies.

In this case the leader of the Bible Study calls the game. Everyone there gives a number the leader takes the group to the indicated passage. Many, many times I’ve watched as an otherwise obscure subject is applied to the immediate needs of people in the group. Remember Paul’s admonition to Timothy? This is exactly how it works.

Because the numbers are dependent on everyone present the game eliminates personal biases towards certain Bible topics, sections, or stories. It forces people to branch out and study and apply a broader set of Bible stories than would normally happen.

Pick-A-Number is also the strongest form of testimony when the someone gets a rebuke. Since the leader did not simply take the group to the passage, no human was responsible. Jesus must have done it through the Holy Spirit.

This works best in Bible studies when the group leader is clearly through at least their Gamaliel training.

I don’t ever recommend regular use of Pick-A-Number in small group Bible studies. If everyone in the group is still under Gamaliel, then use Study Bible’s or commentaries6 and rotate the leadership role. If there is a clear leader, someone who hears the Spirit, then they should prepare lessons as they are lead by the Spirit. Pick-A-Number should be used only occasionally.

I’ve also found in working with High School age new Christians that they often want to play the game as they try and push on their group leader. They are really learning about the depth that is possible in spiritually mature Christians, something they might not learn any other way. This is great if the leader is well equipped. If someone wants to come to a Bible Study in order to stump the teacher then so be it. Better than coming for cookies or cake. In this case the Pick-A-Number game should be played after the regular lesson is over.

Pick-A-Number in Prayer Drives

In early 1996 I started prayer driving every Sunday after church. I was part of a team that went out into the community in order to pray for whatever the Spirit might indicate. Over the course of two years this included churches, government buildings, visitations with people, and a range of other things. The team was made up mostly of elders from the church as well as a few others who were going to Bible College. Everyone was past the Gamaliel stage of spiritual development.

Because the time was spent mostly in the car we started playing the Pick-A-Number game as a way to fill the time while driving to various locations. Everyone in the car was qualified as an advanced player and could explain any passage to the group, though often it became a group exercise to find the best explanation. This was great fun and was part of the reason everyone had so much fun on prayer drives.

After several months we noticed something important was going on. The scriptures that came up in this game were not random but they applied immediately to the people, places and things being visiting on the drives. These chapters were the Spirit’s way to prep the team for what was ahead. This happened so often we had to stop and think again about what was going on with this "game."

Casting Lots

The first observation about the Pick-A-Number game that matters to the application in prayer driving is the idea that the numbers selected by everyone playing are logically equivalent to selecting a lot. There are several Bible stories that dwell on casting lots in order to understand Jesus’ will in a matter. For this discussion, consider the account in Acts when the original apostles decide to replace Judas. They felt they needed to replace him, bringing their number back up to 12. They wanted someone who had been a witness as the rest of them had been.

Notice that what they did not do was vote. In nearly all situations, at least in American Christiandom, a group of Christians is likely to vote on the matter. This is not what the Apostles did. The cast lots between the two men they felt were qualified to replace Judas.

Consider this process carefully at various levels. First there was the technical issue of qualifications to be called an Apostle. Though there are many others who are included in this group in the Bible, in this case they are looking for someone who has been close to Jesus, like the 11 who are still together making this decision. This qualification appears to have limited the field of candidates to these two, Joseph and Matthias.

Throughout the field of decision making in Christian circles, technical questions are usually the easiest to answer. There is usually a limited set of possible answers based on the limits of the question. Questions like, "How big of a sound system do we install?" is a technical question that can be answered by people qualified in the technology. Across our experience there are a wide range of possible technical questions that are easily answered by people with skill in the particular area.

In this case the Apostles could answer the question only down to two choices. Their qualification: That it be someone who knows Jesus like we’ve known Jesus isn’t enough to make a full selection. This begs another question. Who, between these qualified people, should be chosen?

Here great problems errupt. The Apostles are a group not known for getting along well together. They often erupted in arguments about various things and at this point the group could just as easily errupt in an argument over personalities. If this is what had happened, the group would have voted on their favorite.

What the Apostles do instead is very insightful. They draw lots in order to discover who Jesus wants as the replacement for Judas. By doing this they are following a principle recorded in a proverb.

However the lot may fall, the decision is from YHVH.

Understand how this proverb is being activated in the lives of the Apostles. They cannot decide who should replace Jesus, at least not decide and know that they have Jesus’ will in the matter.

By taking the decision making process out of the political realm and into the realm of the lot they have put Jesus back into the decision making loop. By casting lots they discover the will of God the father in the matter in question. In this case it is the question of who will replace Judas.

Remember carefully how this developed. They exhausted the technical issues and reduced the field to two known acceptable candidates. Then they cast lots to decide who would actually get the job. This is a general model of how to determine what God’s will is. Provided the technical qualifications were not the result of a political desire to see a certain replacement, this process begins in the field we understand. It ends with God speaking his will in the matter.

The Pick-A-Number game is not random. God determines how all lots fall. The numbers that people "dream up" in their heads are just like lots. They fall exactly where YHVH wants them to fall. It is not a random exercise as some might think. When God is determining the outcome of every cast lot, there is no such thing as random chance as we know it from modern mathematics. It is a handy way to get right to YHVH and his will.

Eliminating Bias

The Bible is a source of inspiration and insight regarding the entire range of human experience. This idea is accepted by nearly everyone, at least nearly every Christian. The problem comes in the area of application. Here, often, Christians apply the Bible like they would a book of theorems in Mathematics.

The application often goes like this. If person A has problem Q, apply Book, Chapter and Verse X,Y,Z. This makes out the Bible to be something like another area of scientific study. It suggests skilled human minds can fully understand all the stories, and how they apply.

The problem, of course, is that this approach completely cuts out the active role of Jesus through his Holy Spirit in the affairs of men. Often, indeed, usually, he knows much better than people ever could what the heart of a matter truly is. By using the Bible as an intellectual basis for understanding the world we miss the spiritual application. We cut out Jesus.

When we are praying for a certain situation we often want to know the Scripture, the Bible Story, that applies here. If we attempt to "think up" a passage that we know that is similar, we risk using our limited, and often biased, human minds to get an answer. The problem is our hearts. It often messes with our minds. Jeremiah put it this way.

Most groups of Christians if they are even out of Gamaliel’s school, are not yet through their time in the wilderness, and cannot hear Jesus’ voice very well. Their hearts guide their thoughts and prayers.

When in prayer for a situation and someone offers a Book, Chapter and Verse as applicable I usually only assign weak credibility to this address, unless I know the person well and know their track record. Or, unless someone else has a strong confirmation.

What these citations usually only do, is reveal how the person giving the address themselves is dealing with the situation.

Like Book, Chapter and Verse, it is also possible for someone to learn page numbers like a set of Mathematical Theorems. By including numbers from everyone in the group, this source of bias is also completely eliminated. The set of numbers that sum to a page is beyond any one person. It is following the proverb: YHVH cases the lot to fall where it may.

Advanced Uses

Once we realized that the Holy Spirit would be directing us with Scripture ahead of visits on prayer drives we began to make this a regular thing. We started to expect Jesus to show up this way.

Before heading out on a prayer drive, sometimes even days ahead of a drive we would stop to pray about the trip and we would play Pick-A-Number in order to get the scripture for the drive ahead. Eventually we took the game completely outside of prayer driving. One of the most important was as a component of general prayer meetings. "Lord Jesus, what scripture do you have for us today?" would be answered in a session of Pick-A-Number.

Most recently I’ve found that in prophetic dreams that include numbers, I usually check those numbers against the page numbers in the Bible of the person who had the dream. Often these are interpretations.

For an example of this, consider one recent dream: My prayer group had been working through an earlier dream dealing with a word about gambling. We had been stumped on the meaning. I then had another dream that hit on the same topic.

In the dream I was offered a handful of plastic poker chips. The price I had to pay for the chips, if I wanted them, was $30.50. I declined to purchase the chips in the dream.

When I awoke I looked up 3050 in my Bible and found that the indicated scripture included the Parable of Buying a field with buried treasure and buying the Pearl of Great Price. This explained the gambling dream we had seen earlier: Don’t go buy just anything, but if you know there to be buried treasure, then buy.

The Holy Spirit used Pick-A-Number to take me to the application I needed in my Bible for the situation in a pair of dreams. This is one example from a field of many which shows how Jesus uses this technique.

Large Numbers and Groups

After several years of playing Pick-A-Number we began occasionally to get a situation where the total of all numbers were quite large. Before explaining how we deal with these numbers, let me explain the idea of a minium number.

If, say, Jesus wanted to get you to page 495 in your Bible, and you did Pick-A-Number you should get either 495 or the last page in your Bible plus 495. Sometimes the number is several laps around before it finally lands on a final page. What is going on here?

The answer is that this is not a minimum number for the page so there is another Bible with a different passage that is related to the problem..

In other words, big numbers indicate some set of Scriptures that Jesus wants to give, not just one.

These often take a few minutes to compute because each Bible has a different last page. Compute the target page using the last page number in each Bible "in the game." The scriptures will be related to the subject the group is asking about.

Epilog

Now that I’ve used this game for years I must also state that I’ve seen numerous times where a Book, Chapter and Verse is given and then the page number from Pick-A-Number lands in the same place. This shows two things: That that person who heard the Book, Chapter and Verse was hearing correctly, and that Jesus confirms that address.

I’ve also noticed it is nearly impossible for specific individuals to control where Jesus is taking a group. This is nice. Even if there are Mason’s in the group who might want to infect Masonic Theology into the agenda, the Pick-A-Number process will squeeze them out.

It also means that Jesus is able to take his teams beyond the ability of anyone to even comprehend ahead of time where the group should go. In most human endeavor the group is delayed by the slowest member, and what they can comprehend and do. Some groups function smoothly enough to be paced by the abilities of the fastest member. In groups lead by Jesus the group can be taken at Jesus’ speed, often faster and farther than in any other way.

By Phil Stone
Posted Thursday, Issachar 25, 12999

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1 Acts 22:3   
2 Acts 5:34   
3 I do occationally teach this game to new believers so they can have some fun while they are reading the Bible for the first time. It gives an important taist as to what is coming later in their spiritual development.   
4 When I’ve taught commerical computer programming to interns I’ve usually had to explain the use of comments in the code. Good comments add something that a trained coder could not otherwise learn from the code. So it is with good notes in Bibles.   
5 Bible College lingo for ’explain.’   
6 Commenaries are the same as Study Bible foot notes.