Read The Word Daily
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 11:18, 19 KJV)
The Struggle
It is no secret that the enemy, Satan, or thief comes to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10)!
He comes to steal our possessions, our joy, our peace, our goodwill, our families.
He comes to decimate or disconnect us from anything that is alive in our lives—our spirit, the Holy Spirit, our families, our plants our garden.
He comes to destroy anything we value—our relationships, our church, our brotherhood, our youth.
The Bible states that the serpent was [and continues to be] more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made (See Genesis 3:1, 4-5 KJV). Subtle means sly; artful; cunning; crafty; insinuating. He often influences us to say, “I’m tired. Do it later!” when it comes to reading the Word of God.
In the same manner that a person needs a balanced physical meal, we need a balanced spiritual life. It is hard to avoid the lifestyle that our world demands today. Many times we are rushing to get to work or to accomplish our goals without remembering to have a serving of the Word of God. Amid the rush, we must devise ways to still get a balanced spiritual meal.
In this session, we present some basic practical points to help us make reading the word of God more practical.
How to Make Reading the Word of God Practical
- The same agenda cannot work for every one
- We can adopt principles to help us
- We must realize when the enemy is trying to separate us from the love of God
Many of us sleep with our mobile devices close beside us—either on a night stand or even on our bed. If your phone is the first thing you reach for in the mornings, put your Bible closer to you. While it is acceptable to study the Bible on our mobile devices, many times the enemy may send us distractions while reading the Bible on a device.
- Put your Bible closer to you
If our Bible is closer to us, it is more likely that we will read it. Some public schools have realized that when they put the main course meals at the entrance of a cafeteria line, students are less likely to make healthy choices such as choosing a healthy serving of fruits and vegetables[1]. Administrators have revamped the way they serve children. They put the fruits and vegetables at the entrance of the canteens and they have found out that this strategy encourages students to make more healthier choices. A similar approach could help us read the Bible more.
- Put the Bible app in your most popular icon set
Which app do you use the most? Rearrange your icons so that the Bible app is closer to your favorite app. This could encourage you to open the Bible app more often.
- Set up electronic reminders for reading your Bible.
- Have the daily Bible verse sent to you either via text messages or notifications and read the full passage containing the verse.
- Place a printed Bible at strategic locations in your house.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Joshua 1:8
- Make it a priority to ask friends and family, “did you read your Bible today?”
- Have goals for reading and write them down.
- Take notes from your reading.
- Cross reference the scriptures, not just verses, but contexts, paragraphs, and passages.
References
- http://daily-iowan.com/2016/04/27/growing-smarter-cafeterias/
Written by Fitzroy Nembhard