I wanted to talk a little more about why it's so important for us to study the Bible; and I DO mean study, not just "read" it. First let me quote a bit from that devotional I posted before:
[QUOTE]What next?
Determine to know more than others. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. John 13:17.
If you do not cut the moorings, God will have to break them by a storm and send you out. Launch all on God, go out on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and you will get your eyes open. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the smooth waters just inside the harbour bar, full of delight, but always moored; you have to get out through the harbour bar into the great deeps of God and begin to know for yourself, begin to have spiritual discernment.[/QUOTE]
I cannot begin to tell you how many times throughout both the old and new Testaments that God tells us to know His Word, to teach it to our children, to discuss it with each other, etc. He tells us it is to always be on our minds and in our hearts. There is simply no way to get around the fact that God's number one requirement or command to us after we are saved (besides spending time talking with Him) is to read and study His Word. There is nothing more important then this is, other then spending time with Him talking to Him, but that should be done while we are studying His Word too, not just separately.
I've heard people ask if it's so important, then what about people who live in the third world countries where Bibles aren't available. (Isn't it amazing how easily we can come up with excuses to not do something we're supposed to? The Lord will provide for them, and give them what they need. But just as in the parable of the Talents, God gives to each of us a different amount. Those of us living in the US could be considered like the man to whom He gave 5 Talents, while someone living in desperately poor country could be considered like the man He gave one talent to. The question isn't why we got more or they got less, the question is what are we going to do with what we have? Will we be like the one that doubled what the Lord gave him, or will we take what He's given us (His Word) and bury it?
Those who do not read, study and reflect on His Word are doing exactly that. They are burying the tremendous treasure they've been given as a gift by Him.
God's Word isn't just another book, and we don't read it just to accumulate knowledge. When we read and study His Word, and ask His help in understanding, it deepens our relationship with Him, and it changes us on the inside, making us more and more like Him every day. I'm not talking about changes that we make ourselves, like you might do when reading a "self help" book. No, these are changes made to us by God to conform us to His image.
So when we study His Word daily, it brings us into a deeper, closer relationship with Him, it strengthens us for whatever we have to face that day, like an immunization shot. It teaches us about God's Ways so that we will know what he expects of us, as well as know when we are going off the path. It trains us and equips us both for our life here and now and for our future life throughout eternity. Most importantly too, God's Word feeds the new nature that He gave us at our salvation. Without this spiritual food, our new nature becomes weak and impotent, but when we feed it ever day from God's Word, it becomes stronger and more capable and able to fend off the attacks of the enemy! It renews our minds each day giving us all we need so that we can discern what God's Will for us is, and enabling us to grow in grace.
Here are some verses for you to reflect on but after I post them I just want to add one final thing about this.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Deuteronomy 8:3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
2 Timothy 3:15-17 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
When we study God's Word, we see lives or ordinary people totally transformed. We see how powerful God is and how He has worked in their lives. I know that when I read about all this a long long time ago, that I wanted that power in me. I didn't want to just be changed, I wanted to be transformed! Just as it says in the verse above from Romans, that transformation comes from renewing our minds every day and that only comes from reading, studying, and reflecting on God's Word in communion with Him every day! And with that last thought let me include a few more verses to reflect on this weekend:
1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
Ephesians 3:16-21 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Read the whole study here
