When approaching your own personal study of the
Bible, I invite you to consider this. There is no other writing that is
"living and active" and as such we must come to our study of God's
Word with a level of consistency that might equal an athlete training for
a season of competition. For though the athlete knows his preparation will
not be easy he remains steadfast on his course. Certainly there will be days he
senses a strong desire to simply give up, but he presses on confident that
his training will pay great dividends when it matters most. And
when the time comes to face his opponent he is ready to stand firm.
Similarly, we must ever hold the Bible in the highest regard. Our adversary,
the devil does. He knows its power all too well and prowls about like a roaring
lion seeking to devour whoever may not be "sober and alert" to the
truth of God's Word. So as you come to your study I encourage you to consider
three things:
1. Pray fervently that God
would open your eyes and ears to what He wants to say to you during your time
in His Word. Ask that He give you wisdom and insight into the truth found in
the passage
2. Repeat your reading of the
passage a few times and notice that while you are re-reading, new truths are
illuminated each time as God deepens your understanding of what you are
reading.
3. Memorize what you
have read. Of course, you may not be able to memorize the entire passage each
day, but perhaps a key passage or just the first verse is a good place to begin
committing Scripture to memory. As you do so, you will be able to take it with
you and think about it during the day. Then, no matter where you are
or what you are doing the Word of God is there to feed your heart, soul
and mind.
My prayer for you is that the Word of God
manifests itself in your life to the point that you are "like a tree
firmly planted by streams of water" moving toward fruitfulness in all
aspects of your walk.
For His glory