We had seen a trend in churches to have all the scriptures up on the screen and no need to even enquire of the Scriptures on our own during a morning worship service. We wanted encourage people to be going to God’s Word for wisdom and knowledge of who He is.

We wanted to make sure our Bible Studies and small groups were based in and rooted in Scripture and not just “feel good”. “felt needs” psychobabble.

We wanted to yearly encourage the church family to read their Bible’s on their own. Challenging themselves to be students of the Scriptures and grow in their understanding of who God is as He reveals Himself to us in the Bible.

But why? Why this emphasis? Why is it such a big deal or so important for people who claim to be followers of God to read the Bible regularly?

After all—let’s be brutally honest for a moment—do we really feel a need for the Bible? Between Twitter, Facebook, our accountant, and Sunday morning sermons, there’s already a flood of counsel washing into our lives.

What’s the Point?

So why read the Bible? And why every day?

Reading the Bible shows us God’s Character.

Turn To:

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (Hebrews 1:1-3).

The Bible is our definitive source for the answers to our questions about God.

We see in the Bible that God has always wanted to communicate with His creation. He has used various means to communicate who He is and how He loves us. He does this in nature that He so wonderfully created for our enjoyment and to see Him! He also has revealed Himself to us in His prophets. Then, He sent His only Son and in that act, and through the words of His Son, He has continued to speak to us of His character and nature. The Bible is the primary way we can know this God whom we claim to believe in, and follow, and worship.

Reading the Bible is a way Christians receive communication from God. Like checking your e-mail or voice mail for messages, the Bible is where God allowed some of His thoughts to be written down for us to learn from Him.

“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,” says 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

Because the Bible contains God’s thoughts, recorded by men under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it is different from any other book in the world. The Holy Spirit is at work any time a Christian reads the Bible, helping him or her to understand what is written.

2. Reading the Bible teaches us to imitate God.

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children” (Ephesians 5:1).

How can we expect to imitate God, to follow Jesus’ example, if we know so little about Him. It would be like marrying someone we didn’t even know. Our friends would think we were insane!

VIDEO FROM FROZEN:

We claim to love God yet we know so little about Him. If we are going to imitate someone we must first study them and know them. Actors, I have heard, will study their character they are to play with serious intensity. Learning all they can about the character so as to immerse themselves in the character and almost become the character they are playing. No actor would just show up on the set expecting to play a role they knew nothing about. Yet, how many of us, not playing roles, mind you, but calling ourselves followers of God, disciples, children of God, do very little to learn and understand more about who He is so as to be more like Him? The Bible is our means to that end. We can know God more deeply as we read His Word to us!

 Jesus said Bible reading & obeying brings blessing.

Luke 11:27-28 (ESV)

As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

One day Jesus was teaching and a woman in the crowd just yelled out these words, “Blessed is the mother who bore you!” Let’s be honest, there isn’t much in this life that brings more joy than a new life coming into this world. A child taking it’s first breath! Even if its air filled with the fragrance of barn yard animals like it was for Jesus.

The birth of a child is a special and blessed thing.

Yet, Jesus draws a comparison for people when He states that while the birth of a child that goes on in life to make their parents proud is a wonderful blessing, even more of a blessing is the reading and listening to the Scriptures and then doing them!

Jesus knew the value of God’s people reading and obeying the Scriptures. That alone should motivate us to be people who regularly read the Bible.

 Reading the Bible helps us discover our next step.

In a world where every day we have decisions to make and choices that confront us, where do we turn for solid advice? Our friends who are typically just as confused as we are? Just trying their best to make the right decisions based on their own concocted morality they have picked up in life from movies, TV, their parents, and other media?

The Psalmist says very clearly, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105).

With all the confusing and, often times, conflicting ideas of what might be the right thing to do next, we have help provided for us in the Bible. Like a bright spot light shining in the darkness of all the options and opinions out there, the Bible provides guidance and clarity in this journey we call life.

 Reading the Bible keeps us from sin.

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

Can you imagine how hard it would be to play Cricket without knowing the rules? Truth is, I can’t even watch it because it is nonsense to me as I don’t understand what they are doing? I can’t follow it. It seems ridiculous to me and yet millions of people across the globe love and adore the sport of cricket. I’ve even spent time with international students from India and other places that play cricket and they can’t explain it to me.

I think, sometimes, that is how people who are not followers of God see us. Our religion, our claims of faith make absolutely no sense to them. It is so foreign and strange they think it it just stupid.

The truth is we can’t explain or live out our faith if we don’t know what that looks like and we can’t know what it looks like unless we know what God requires from our behavior. What is acceptable behavior and what is not in God’s eyes? What is a “foul” or an “out” or a “penalty” to God?

And I’m not talking about man-made does and don’ts. I’m referring to what God says in His Word, the Bible. We can’t know unless we read it ourselves and see what it says about how we are to behave and act in this life. Without it, we are just guessing and blindly going along with no real confidence in our actions.

 Reading the Bible allows us to receive the desires of our heart.

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).

Obviously, we are not to confuse God with our own personal “wish fulfillment” machine. This verse isn’t saying that if you read your Bible regularly all your wishes will come true. No, notice again what it says. There is a “cause and effect” here. It is conditional. “If” you do this, then this will be the result.

We must remain “in Christ”. How, by allowing His words to remain in us. We know Him and understand Him as we listen to what He has said as revealed to us in the Bible. Once we are doing that, living this way of knowing Him through His words. Then yes, “whatever you wish, it will be done for you.”

As we read the Bible the Holy Spirit is present as we read the Bible, anywhere or anytime, much like having the author of a book you are reading sitting beside you as you read their words. That makes reading the Bible a very exciting venture for a Christian. You never know what He is going to point out or help you learn next!

The Bible is full of answers about how we are to live. Hebrews 4:12 tells us: “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.”

I can tell you from first-hand experience that the Bible can correct and judge my attitudes, and guiding me in life so that my wants and desires conform more and more to His!

Suddenly, I’m not wishing for a bigger this or that, I’m seeking to know Him better and how I can reflect Christ in my life. It changes me!

 Reading the Bible helps us to be fruitful.

Psalm 1:1-3 (ESV)

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

This Psalm is not first by some strange circumstances. This Psalm is first because it is of first importance, priority one! Everything else comes in second compared to a disciplined daily intake of God’s Word. The first thing that a person must understand is the importance of God’s Word in their life. Turn no place else for truth, guidance and direction!

Don’t even allow yourself to be considered a person who would listen to counsel that is different from the Bible. Don’t be associated with those who laugh at the Bible and what it teaches.

Rather, we are to delight ourselves in the word of God. The same way we delight ourselves in our favorite delicacy. Like a chocolate lover who eats the richest deepest, darkest chocolate and savors it with delight. Like the parent who delights in their child’s first steps. So we are to delight ourselves in reading, studying, and meditating on the Word of God. When we put the discipline of Bible intake as first and primary we will be blessed!

We will yield the normal, expected results of a good life lived. A tree planted by a stream has much less work spreading its root system to seek out much needed water than a tree in a dry arid place. One tree just survives and hangs on for dear life as it struggles to live and maybe produces a little fruit along the way, the other drinks with ease all that it needs and produces an abundance. If you find that life is one big struggle after the next where you are just barely hanging on to say nothing of being fruitful, Then maybe you need to listen to this Psalm and begin to find nourishment in the daily intake of God’s Word!

The Psalm says that whatever you do will prosper!

TRANS: So how do we this?

 Four Practical Ways to Experience Success In Bible Reading.

1. We need to schedule Time!

One of the main reasons Christians never read through the entire Bible is discouragement.

Most people have never read a thousand page book before and get discouraged at the sheer length of the Bible!

Today’s tape recordings of the entire Bible show that it is possible to read through the entire Bible in 71 hours.

The average person in the US watches that much Television in two weeks.

In no more than 15 minutes a day you can read through the entire Bible in a year.

And yet the vast majority of Christians have never read through the entire Bible in their whole life.

So, an important key to reading our Bibles is to make a time every day that we read.

2. Find a Bible reading plan.

It is really no surprise that those who simply open their Bible at random each day soon drop the discipline. There are several inexpensive Bible reading plans available at Christian bookstores.

I’ve used the Daily Bread or Open Windows as an excellent start to getting into the habit of daily Bible reading.

My favorite plan is the One Year Bible. Now I use the Youversion.

3. Learn to meditate on Scripture.

The Hebrew word siach means “to muse,” “go over in one’s mind.

Psalm 119:12-16 (NIV)

Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.

I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.

Whether it is a word, a phrase, or an entire verse, meditate on it!

Then attempt to work it into your day in some practical way. (give an example)

The problem with just reading the words and failing to meditate on a portion of it is that you can close your Bible having read your daily portion and not remember a thing you have read.

Even with a good plan, reading our bibles can become nothing more than a mundane chore instead of a discipline of Joy!

If that happens, then your Bible reading is not likely to change you!

A great tool for helping to meditate is memorization – Psalm 119:11 (NIV)

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

4. Find an accountability partner.