themselves by saying they can’t un derstand it. The truth of the matter is, they’ve never asked the Lord to help them understand it. Prayerful ness shows a desire to have the Lord speak to our hearts. The Bible re minds us to consider what God says. The term denotes that we should “take time over it; meditate upon it; be thoughtful about it.” How fre quently we will rush into reading the Bible and then rush right out again. No wonder we fail to understand II Timothy 2:7. Some thought should also be given to timing. There are some who feel we should get up early in the morn ing, while others insist the more lei surely evenings are far better for Bi ble study. Suffice it to say no hard and fast rules should be enforced. You know your own circumstances and needs best. With a busy mother, the time may of necessity have to fluctuate from time to time. The same is true of a businessman’s schedule. Sometimes no two days are alike. The basic thing is this: don’t allow any day to go by without spending some time in the Word of God. I never let my eyes close in sleep unless they have been opened on the Word of God during some part of the day. Here’s a good suggestion: The book of Prov erbs has 31 chapters in it. It’s fine spiritual exercise to read one every day, probably as early in the morn ing as you can fit it into your pro gram. Then, as you progress, take the book of Psalms and read five a day. You’ll get through it with un told spiritual blessing in a month. Do it over for three or four times and it will make a lasting impact upon your life. Then why not redeem some of your precious moments memorizing Scrip ture? We waste too much of our days. Ladies, when you’re doing some of the jobs about the house, commit some of these precious verses to memory. Put some on a tape record er. Play it over repeatedly so it will
obtain silver must start digging. Sometimes he has to go quite a way under the surface to get what he’s after. He then benefits from some thing of tremendous value which has been there all the time. As you study God’s Word, ask yourself if you are prepared to obey what He s a y s . Remember James warns of the man who is a hearer only. Jesus said, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if you do them.” You see, blessing comes not only from knowing spiritual truths, but also in following through on them. One reason there are so many un happy Christians is because these eternal verities have not been put into practice. There needs to be a very real rev erence shown for the Word of God. It is not to be treated as some text book for examination. Do you re member, the night before a test, cramming to the last minute? What Should have been studied regularly was condensed hurriedly into a few desperate moments. Things read so hastily are soon forgotten. Don’t let familiarity breed contempt as far as the Bible is concerned. This is the eternal work of the Holy Spirit as He moved upon holy men of old, using them as divine instruments to reveal these blessed truths. Think, too, of those many stalwarts of the faith who laid down their lives so that you and I might have Scrip ture translated into our language. Yes, we should rightly hold a tre mendous reverence for the Word of God. Don’t be bored as you come to it. Don’t treat it as a necessary evil! There should be very real prayer fulness in our attitude as we come to the Word of God. James urges us, “If any of you lack wisdom, ask for it. Don’t ask doubting or wavering but ask in faith, expecting God to give you what you need.” A lot of people never get around to studying the Word of God because they excuse 14
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