In our last time together we were considering Psalm chapter one: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, or sits in the seat of scoffers or stands in the way of sinners. His delight is in the law of the Lord and on this law he meditates day and night.
Regarding this, our focus was upon how time for most people who say they are Christians spend such little time in God’s word. That is a real problem.
It would be very similar to me saying to Tina, someone that I love, “I love you, but please do not speak to me.” That would be crazy right?
Yet, that is what we do when we say, “I love Jesus,” or “I love the Lord,” but then do not spend anytime in His word. He speaks to us through His word.
So today I what I wanted to focus upon is a couple of ideas to help you in reading more, getting into the Scriptures and reading more.
The first thing I would like for us to consider is having the word read to you. There is, for no cost and totally free, and there are other options where the cost is minimal, a whole bunch of phone applications and web sites where the Bible can be read to you.
For some people, reading is difficult. Some are slow readers and this can be a source of discouragement. There are other people that are distracted easily. They begin to read something and then the mind begins to wander off and there is no focus.
Having the Bible read to you is one way to combat these issues. You can block out a time to have the Bible read to you (which is what I prefer one do), or you can do it while you are driving on commute or working out.
DO not consider this cheating. The literacy level for many early Christians was very low. Not only that but there were not the number of copies of the Bible therefore they would read the Bible when they came together in assembly. This is how the Bible was shared back then.
Another idea and suggestion is that you do not start your reading time by carving out 30 minutes or an hour everyday. If you are not currently reading, start small. Start with like ten minutes a day. Do this for 21 days and you have a habit.
Lastly, pray over this, like the strength to get this done is outside of you. Hint: it is. Ask God to help you and I can guarantee you that He will help you. Pray, “Give me success in loving your word.”
You will start out with ten minutes, but then before long you will want more. You will want 20 minutes even more.
S.D.G.