pramsay posted on December 31, 2012 19:48 2456 views

SIX REASONS TO READ YOUR BIBLE

If you can come up with a 7th reason that fits with the format below email me.

So will 2013 be just more of the same for you? Is that what you are going to settle for? If you could have a much better year ‘spiritually’ would you go for it?

Do you agree with this statement: if we were all digging into our Bibles and being thrilled and awed by the Word of God, the results would be nothing less than transformational – even revolutionary? Nothing could hold back a revival in our midst if we started experiencing the Bible as the dynamic, living Sword of the Spirit – which it is. Profitable and powerful!

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable…”
2 Timothy 3:16 ESV
“For the word of God is alive and powerful.”
Hebrews 4:12 NLT

 The Six Reasons:

1.  Develop Your Relationship with God
The Bible is the very Word of God. Everything God wants you to know just now about Himself and His Kingdom and His Purposes, He has given it to us in writing. I can only get to ‘know’ God through the diligent reading of the Word of God.

Every hour of the day we are bombarded with what the world thinks and values. Our minds are conditioned by the influence of unsaved friends and the values and practises of a godless world. If we do not actively and deliberately seek out what God thinks and values, we will become more like the world and less Christ-like in our behaviour.

2.  Deepen Your Devotion to Christ
We will only grow spiritually and manifest the fruit of the Spirit to the extent we become more intimate with Christ. We get to know Christ through the Scriptures. He is found from cover to cover. You cannot enjoy Christ with an occasionally-read Bible.

3.  Determine God’s Will on Life Issues
The Bible contains the revealed will of God. The more we read it the more we will understand what God likes and dislikes. The more we read it the clearer His Will will become as we make decisions and choices in life.

4.  Defend Yourself from Attacks

2013 will be another year of raging skirmishes and battles to damage and destroy our Christian testimony. The attacks come from many different angles. We have three significant enemies – the World, the Devil and our internal traitor – our Flesh! If the Lord Jesus used the Word of God to respond to Satan’s temptations in the wilderness, how much more do we need to be living in our Bibles to defend ourselves in this incredibly stubborn and vicious battle?

Check out how the Scriptures will help you: Romans 15:4, 1Peter 2:2,1John 5:13, Psalm 119:9 and Acts 17:2.

5.  Devote Your Life to Serving and Strengthening Others
If I am going to strengthen and encourage other believers and help them progress as a Christian, I must be able to feed them from the Word of God.

6.  Declare with Power the Word of God
There is nothing more powerful in your Gospel tool-kit than the Word of God. If you want to be effective on the platform or in witnessing to a colleague at work, you need to know your Bible.

Each year we share some helpful hints for effective Bible Reading and the value of following an actual Bible Reading Plan. Scroll below the signature to read a rerun of this material.

So when should you read your Bible?
Read it when you are on a high.
Read it when you are down.
Read it when you are hurting.
Read it when you are feeling reckless.
Read it when you are feeling sorry for yourself.
Read it when you are feeling guilty.
Read it when you are dating.
Read it when you are tense and anxious.
Read it when you are filled with doubts.
Read it when you are angry.
Read it when you don’t feel like reading it.
Read it.

Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today and throughout 2013. May you and your family enjoy the blessings and nearness of the Lord as we embark on a new year.

Warmly in Christ,
Peter Ramsay

Maybe you have mocked others who have made a New Year’s resolution. That’s in your past. Choose today to start following a Bible Reading Schedule.

Now is the time to make the change humbly with God’s help. Commit to a time and place where you will privately meet with the Lord each day. Adopt a plan that will give you a steady diet of the Word of God – a daily balanced intake of spiritual food. There are a variety of reading plans and schedules available. Click here. To make it even easier, download a good Bible app for your phone. For example, the YouVersion app has a number of translations available for free, as well as reading plan options with accountability features.

Are you afraid to start in case you miss a day or two here and there throughout 2013? You’re afraid to commit to a schedule in case you end up quitting in three months time and then you’ll feel like a loser? What do you have to lose? Let’s say you followed the plan until March and then you got off track with the schedule…. what have you lost by following it in January, February and March? Nothing!! Go for it! Try it! Choose a Reading Plan that has you reading each day in both the New and Old Testaments. Stay balanced.

TIPS for EFFECTIVE READING:
1. Before you read, pause to confess your sins to the Lord and ask Him to speak to your heart as you read your chapters.

2. Read prayerfully. Pause at certain verses or phrases and speak with your Lord about what the verse means and how it should affect your own life.

3. Block out a 30-60 minute time slot that is most likely to be convenient for you to read your Bible – the same time every day. Even if you have to set your alarm clock earlier – go for it. If you were training for the Olympics you would make the time to practise. Rigor and discipline are required. Satan will never hand you extra time on a silver platter to read your Bible. If you are going to read your Bible, you will have to TAKE the time.

4. If you miss a day, don’t try to go back and catch up. That’s too difficult and discouraging. If you have lost a day or a week because of extraordinary events, just get back on schedule and read only where the Plan states you should read for that day. You can read the missed chapters next year if the Lord spares you.

5. If you have completed all your readings for the day and you didn’t enjoy anything in the chapters try this: select one verse and mull it over in your mind for a few minutes and pray. Let’s say you selected Job 21:13 out of your readings: “They spend their days in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave.” Think of the wealth of sinners and how shallow it is compared to your wealth as a believer. Think about ‘a moment’. Things happen in a moment: salvation, rapture, death, etc. Thank the Lord for your salvation moment. Think about ‘going down to the grave.’ Your body may go down but you will go up. Praise God! It may not seem like much, but at least, it is some little nugget for you to have in your mind as you go through your day. Underline that phrase or that verse in your Bible. Record your ‘little’ thought in your journal and date it.

6. Convince at least one other friend to adopt the same plan and then challenge each other with the Lord’s help to follow the Plan.

7. Your daily reading according to a schedule is the minimum. Every Christian should also spend time ‘studying’ the Word of God.

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# ejdunn
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 2:46 AM

What believer wouldn’t want to develop and deepen their relationship with God, their Heavenly Father?! What believer doesn’t want to be certain of their Father’s Will or have the certainty of protection from those who would do him/her harm? A true believer wants to sincerely and wisely help other believers in their time of trouble! And, of course, all believers want the ability to spread God’s Good News clearly and accurately to friends, family and others they meet in a manner that leaves them yearning to know their sins forgiven and, through the work of Jesus Christ, enter the very Family of God, and have the peace of knowing heaven is their eternal home! What wonderful motivations to have a regular Bible reading plan for each day. With “One-Year Bibles” and online reading plans, all God’s children should be able to answer, “What have you been reading lately.” One of the most helpful hints given in this concise article is “If you have lost a day or a week because of extraordinary events, just get back on schedule and read only where the Plan states you should read for that day.” This hint helps believers get back into the discipline of reading their Bible regularly, when the Accuser of the Brethren taunts, “There’s no use to try to read through the Scriptures… You have so much to make up, you’ll never do it!” This lie causes many born-again Christians to give up, handing Satan a victory he should never claim. Thanks for all the wisdom in this life-changing article. May God motivate each soul who reads it’s tips!

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