The Bible is the word of God! Yes, the Bible may have been written by men, but it is all God’s word and He gave it to the authors in order that we may all hear and know His instruction to us. 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
The bible is the best example we have of what God’s voice sounds like. I have spent enough time with my dad that I can pick his voice out of a crowd, but I also know my dad and his heart. I know the type of things my dad is going to say and the things he would not say, I understand his character. If I hear my dad’s voice and it says “you should go play in the street”, I will know that is not my dad but someone who is seeking to cause me harm. In the same way, reading the Word of God teaches us to know and understand the ways of God and not only what his voice sounds like but what his character sounds like. This keeps us from being led astray by the other voices in the world that would mean to cause us harm.
The bible is full of wisdom and instruction on how we are to live out lives. Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Joshua 1:8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. There are not any issues you will encounter in your life that the Bible does not have something to say about. With the technology we have today it would be easy to think things like “the Bible does not talk about Facebook, or all the other things computers and the internet and modern technology has made available to us that did not exist 2000 years ago”, but if you seek God and read His word you will find all kinds of wisdom about how you should present yourself and the things you should and shouldn't be investing your thoughts into. These principles will translate into how you should conduct yourself on the internet. Times may change but the foundational things that the bible addresses about Godly character do not.
Reading the Bible gives us tools to battle against the attacks of the devil. The more we read and become familiar with His Word, the easier it is to combat the things that bombard us every day and try to lead us away from God’s plan for our lives. This is why programs like Awana focus so much on memorizing verses navigating the Bible. The more Scripture we have committed to memory the more tools God has to bring to our mind to help keep us on the path He has laid out for us. Jesus gives us a perfect example of this in Matthew 4:1-11
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.3 The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Deut. 8:3)
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.6 "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:
"'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
7 Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" (Deut. 6:16)
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.9 "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" (Deut 6:13)
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
The devil attacked Jesus and even twisted scripture to try to cause Jesus to go against God’s plan for His life, but God’s word was such a part of him that he used It to fight against the temptations brought before him. 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.
Okay, so I think we have established that reading the Bible is an important part of having a close relationship with God and it will help to keep us on the path God has laid out for our lives. But how do I read the bible, I mean where do I start, and in the past when I have read it is boring and hard to read and understand. The Bible is a HUGE book, and it is boring and full of “Thee” and “Thow” and names even my teachers cannot pronounce. How am “I” supposed to understand it?
Remember it is about a relationship with God, and like any relationship, it will grow and change over time. And sometimes relationships are sometimes hard. I have a much different relationship with my dad than I did when I was six. I understand much more about him and our relationship than I did even ten years ago. But it has taken time and work.
Start somewhere, quit putting it off and just do it. Pick a place and go. There is no wrong place to start reading the bible. Start in Genisis, or Start in Matthew, or start in Psalms or Proverbs, it is not important where you start, just start! Mind you there are harder places than others to start, Revelations or Leviticus are tough places to start, but if you keep reading you can begin anywhere. If you search there are lots of guides to what to read, how to read the bible in a year, plans for reading through a particular book of the Bible in a month ect. Find a plan or just start somewhere random, I do not care, JUST DO IT! Sometimes it is going to be hard, sometimes it is not going to make sense, sometimes you are going to fall asleep while reading. But keep pushing forward, make it a habit. Read it out loud, or read it with others like your family. Start with small bites, if all you can do for a day is a single verse, do a single verse. Don’t make excuses, make it a priority, remember why we are reading His word and make time for Him. Pray! Ask God to guide you through his word and to help you understand it. One of the things that keeps being repeated throughout the scripture is the principle that if you genuinely seek God, He will make Himself known to you. Ask God to help you and then take the action and read!
Some practical things to consider. We as human beings are creatures of routine. We generally eat meals on a schedule in order to keep our bodies supplied with the things we need to keep them alive and functioning properly. We should be doing the same thing to feed our spirit and keep it alive and functioning well. Find a time and make reading the Bible and praying part of your daily routine. Once you really get a handle on it you will find yourself becoming spiritual hungry just as you get physically hungry when it is time to feed your body again. You are probably going to miss your time reading every now and again especially when you first get started; do not beat yourself up about it, just get back into the word. Feeling upset/defeated about missing your time in His word will only serve to cause depression and feed the cycle of missing your reading time and feeling worse. Its one of the tools the devil uses to separate you from God. Just remember why you are reading and continue to make your relationship with God a priority.
Find a translation that is easy to read for you and makes sense! The King James version of the Bible is great, but I do not understand it most of the time and I spend more time trying to understand what the words mean and lose what God is trying to say. There are tons of versions of the Bible out there and, with the internet, there is lots of information about the different translations so you can figure out which one is best for you. Some translations seek to translate as closely as possible word for word from the original texts while others try to translate more along a thought for thought from the original texts. Another way people have translated the bible is what we call paraphrasing, or taking what the bible says and saying it more in a way that an individual or group would say things, I do this sometimes when I teach to try to help get a particular point across. One of the most well known paraphrased versions is The Message. It is important to understand how your version of the Bible was translated and when you get to where you are starting to really study and understand what God is saying it is often good to look at several different translations. When I read I tend to use both the New American Standard Bible (NASB) and the New International Version (NIV).
As you develop your relationship with God through reading His word you will get deeper into the Bible. You are going to find things that you just really do not understand or just makes you think and wonder. Talk to others about what God is telling you through his word and ask what it means to them. There are also a lot of other books and commentaries that have been written about things in the bible and can help you learn to understand what the Bible means and help you see things from different perspectives.
David Winston from Living Word Christian Center in Chicago has some really good things to say to youth about reading the Bible in this 10-minute video
Here are some verses that show what the Bible has to say about reading the Bible, these are the verses we used in the youth group for Bible Drills.
2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness
Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Joshua 1:8
Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Matthew 4:4
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
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.
Romans 15:4
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
1 Timothy 4:13
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 15:7
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
Psalm 1:2
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law, he meditates day and night.
Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.
Matthew 22:29
Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.
Acts 17:11
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
1 Thessalonians 2:13
And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.
Deuteronomy 31:11
when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing.
Nehemiah 8:8
They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.
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