Why You Should Read And Study The
Bible!
Those of you who know me or read my blog know that I preach:
read and study The Bible. As an individual Christian this is the most important
thing you can do for your personal growth and relationship with GOD.
If you do not know GOD’s Word you cannot keep and obey it!
If you do not read and study GOD’s Word you cannot know GOD’s
Word!
If you do not ask GOD’s SPIRIT, The Holy SPIRIT to teach you,
to open your mind to receive the knowledge and understanding of GOD’s Word,
then it will not mean very much if anything to you.
I know this from personal experience; I always remember
believing there was a GOD, but I did not know anything about Him, just that
there was a GOD. When I was 6 or 7 we went to a Church one Sunday and in the
Sunday School I learned that JESUS had twelve Apostles, I had no idea Who JESUS
was or what an Apostle was. When I was about 15 or 16 I went to my friend’s
Pentecostal Church for an evangelistic meeting, it was very good and when the
altar call was given, I along with many others went to the altar to give my
life to JESUS. I did not know what I was doing and there was no immediate effect
on my life, but I was sincere. When I was 21 and in the Navy on deployment I
decided to read my pocket New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs. I was sincere
in my desire to read it and I read the whole thing even though it was dry and
lifeless; I did not receive anything from it at all. Also on that deployment I
had a dream about who I was going to marry (not related to my Bible reading).
After I got out of the Navy I moved to California where my
mother’s family was. On my twenty-second birthday, while living with my aunt
and uncle I decided to go to my Aunt’s Church, a small country Church of about
40 adults and children. My aunt did not attend that day, she dropped me and my
12 year old cousin off and my grandparents picked us up after the service.
My cousin went to her Sunday School class, and I was greeted
by a couple of people and sat by myself during Sunday School, the Worship, and
the Main Service (The next day I could not tell you what the Pastor taught). I
couple of people greeted me at the end of the service and we left.
But what GOD had been preparing me for all my life happened,
I felt like I belonged there! So I kept going, soon I understood that I was a
sinner and JESUS died for me to redeem me to GOD. Within two months I was water
baptized and one week later I was Holy Spirit Baptized. GOD gave me two dreams
right away, the first was about a passage in Proverbs, it was about 2 chapters
long, I read it, but it did not click in me, I did not understand it. The other
was about meeting someone which happened, but I did not know how to minister to
him. It was during the first month of my attending the Church that I met my
future wife, she visited the Church on a Friday night Bible Study.
Charlene was already a Christian and we got married 5 months
after we met; I started Bible College 9 months after I got saved. During the
time leading up to Bible College I did not really read The Bible, I was a full
time student for 2 years, I went back 10 years later to complete a third year.
Over the next twenty years Charlene and I were very involved
in The Church; we were leading a weekly Marriage Encounter meeting, and a
weekly home group meeting; I was a member of the Board of Directors and a
Pastoral Assistant. During this time I tried to read and study The Bible
regularly, but never really did, I just did what I needed to do.
Then we both made bad decisions in our ministries and at a
time when we needed the support of our pastor and church they were not there.
Feeling hurt and abandoned I stopped serving GOD. Over the next seventeen years
we attended several churches and participated in home group meetings, but never
locked into GOD’s Purpose and Place for us.
Then about 37 years after I became a Christian, GOD started
dealing with me about the sin in my life (some of which I had had the whole
time). We started going to a small Church and attending their home group
meeting. For two years we were on and off again, then GOD really convicted me
using Matthew 7:21-23, if you do not know this passage, you should!
“…Not everyone who says to Me. ‘LORD, LORD,’ shall enter The
Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the Will of My Father in Heaven. Many will
say to Me in That Day, ‘LORD, LORD, have we not prophesied in Your Name, cast
out demons in Your Name, and done many wonders in Your Name?’ And then I will
declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice
lawlessness!’”
How can people who are doing the work of GOD’s Kingdom in
JESUS’ Name be cast into hell?!
In my repentance I started reading and studying The Bible
like I never did before. Ten years later, GOD opened the door for me to teach
The Bible to people in Kenya, Pakistan, and India; just last month He added the
Church where we attend.
No matter what your Gift and Call is from GOD; and every
person alive has them; the foundation of your knowledge and understanding is
GOD’s SPIRIT and His Word! Make or find a program that works for you.
My reading plan: I divide the Old Testament into 3 sections,
Genesis through Job, Psalms and Proverbs, Ecclesiastes through Malachi, and the
New Testament into 3 sections, Matthew through Acts, Romans through Jude, and
Revelation. In the first and third sections of The OT and the first and second
sections of the NT I try to read at least 1 chapter each day. I read 2 pages of
Psalms and the Proverb of the day’s date, and I read a chapter of Revelation
daily. My reading fluctuates daily based on my schedule and how the chapters
and themes lay out each day. But I strive to read daily.
My study plan: when I do my reading I ask HOLY SPIRIT to open
me to understand what He is teaching me that day; when I’m praying or trying to
listen to The LORD sometimes He quickens a thought that starts me meditating
and searching The Scriptures. Sometimes someone will say something or ask me a
question that will cause me to research and study. There are many ways that GOD
stirs up our mind and heart to cause us to search for His Truth. JESUS said,
“…If you abide in (keep) My Word (Commandments), you will be My disciples
indeed. And you will know The Truth, and The Truth will set you free.” John
8:31b-32.
If you do not know and abide in GOD’s Word you cannot know
Him; if you do not know Him your works, no matter how great, are just works and
we are not saved by our works!
Samuel told King Saul, “…to obey is better than sacrifice…because
you have rejected The word of The LORD…” 1 Samuel 15:22-23
GOD told the Israelites, “For I desire mercy (faithfulness)
and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of GOD more than burnt offerings.” Hosea
6:6
JESUS said, “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire
mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.” Matthew
12:7
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