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| HOW TO GET MORE 
OUT OF THE BIBLE
My dear friend of another day, Robert Greene Lee used to say, “The Bible is the greatest of books, it walks more by-paths, travels more highways, knocks at more doors and speaks to more people in their mother tongue than any other book the world has ever known.” Here are some guidelines for benefiting more from perusing it.
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1. Come to the Bible with intention and it will get your attention. If you have a need in your life or a question on your mind you want information about, that will serve to focus your attention and yield something every time. Often people say I get nothing out of the Bible. There is an array of reasons why that may be so, some of them will be dealt with in this paper, but the major one may be a matter of interest and attention. So say to yourself and to God, “Here is what I need to day.” Ask a friend or pastor where to look in the Bible; go there with that need on your mind. You’ll often be amazed at what your focused attention yields. 2. Authorize the teacher to teach you. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is not only the author of every word in the Bible, but also the one who can shed light on its teachings. My friend Ralph Neighbor, Jr. and I were having our devotions once while we were traveling together. As I opened the Bible he said, “Vander, close it and do this.” He then held the Bible between his hands, one on top the other on the bottom, closed his eyes and prayed, “Dear Holy Spirit, teacher of truth, teach us something from your Word today. In Jesus name, amen.” Then, with a smile on his face said, “Don’t ever open the Bible without first asking help from the teacher!” 3. Adopt the Billy Graham mind-set. Early in Mr. Graham’s ministry he came to a crises point in his faith. Great questions and and doubts tumbled through his mind.
I heard him tell that he got on his knees, opened the Bible before him and said in prayer, “Heavenly Father, there are many things I don’t understand and many questions I have about things in your Word, but for now I accept this Book as your revealed word and by faith I accept is as truth.” He said, “From that moment on it became a sword in my hand and; an authority came to my preaching I had never before experienced.”
Come to this wonderful God given book with faith, believing its principles and promises and listen to your faith not your doubts. Doubt your doubts and believe your faith!
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4. Clear away hindering thoughts that obscure its meaning to you. A life filled with wrong doing make one defensive and not open to the truth. Confessions of your wrong doing which is simply a way of agreeing with God’s assessment about sin in one’s life and, repentance, which is changing your mind where it has been wrong will cause a dramatic paradigm shift that clears up many truths you’ve never understood before. 5. Watch out for the wild birds. Seeding a small grassed area near my home has been a challenge because early in the mornings just at dawn, the birds eat the seeds. In the parable of the sower, Jesus pointed out that the seed-thoughts of the gospel are often plucked away bye Satan’s birds and they are gone from us never to germinate in the soil of our hearts. When great thoughts or feelings escape you which came to you while reading the Bible, or listening to a biblical sermon, look for them again. I suggest you read with a ball-point in hand for marking and fro writing little personal observations that come to you. You will, as have I, return to them sometime later to be surprised by the quality of the insights. You then know that “the Teacher” had gotten through to you and you didn’t realize it at the time. 6. Use it or lose it. A spiritual giant in my life once saith that the reason God doesn’t give us information and perfect guidance on the big issues of life which we desire Him to do, is because we haven’t followed the word He has given us on the smaller issues of life. In the parable of the sower and four soils in Mark 4, in the context of the gospel truth an our response to it, Jesus said, “...unto you that hear shall more be given...” It may just be that further understanding may wait on our obedience to what we do understand in the Bible. Everyone has heard Mark Twain’s comment: “It’s not what I don’t understand in the Bible that bothers, is what I do understand that bothers me!” 7. Be a Methodist... Strange suggestion from a Baptist, you’re thinking. John Wesley and his followers had a method to their devotional life. They did certain spiritual exercises at certain times in certain ways. They were so methodical as opposed to spontaneous that they called him and his followers, “Methodists.” We all need a method to our spiritual exercises, even Bible reading, because of the way most of us are. We tend to put these things off or sandwich them in at the wrong time and etc. Here are some components to have in your method. · Choose a good readable newer translation such as the NIV, or The Living Bible, or even The New King James in addition to the beautiful, elegant, accurate old King James. · Have a definite time and place if possible to help you get focused so that when you come there you know its your reading place. It what you do there. Leave a ball point pen with your Bible always for marking, perhaps some sheets of paper folded in the back of your Bible. · Breathe a prayer, choose a passage, short or long and determine to get one thing for yourself before you leave. It may be a verse that speaks to you this day, a promise to claim, or an instruction to follow. Take something away with you. · You cannot master the whole Bible, but you can master a book. Choose one and give yourself to it.
8. Stake your claim to the promises! |
As you read you will discover promises of blessing such as peace and joy, protection and power for life’s battles; claim them for yourself. Claim a verse for yourself for the day. Memorize it now and then, and thus make it a part or your thought processes. The greatest blessing that can come from reading the Bible is what Jesus said. “Search the scriptures...and you’ll find me.” We read the Bible to find the mind of God, the way of God, indeed to find God in Christ Himself. Here is one way to claim the ultimate blessing from reading the Bible. Turn to the book of Romans chapter 10, begin reading at verse number 9. If you believe all you are reading, when you come to verse 13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name fo the Lord shall be saved,” place your hand on that verse, right down on the page, as a sign that your are taking it unto yourself, that is, claiming it for yourself. Then say, “Lord, I call on you in faith, believing in Jesus who died and was raised for my sins. I claim your promise to hear when I call to ask for your salvation, and I take it unto myself as I confess Jesus as my Lord.” Write on the fly leaf of you Bible that you have done this along with the date and sign it. That’s called driving down a stake! | |||||