Reading the Bible changed my entire life. I was in the dumps. My father passed away, my girlfriend boke up with me, I was injured, I dropped out of school, and much more. There was no purpsose or direction in my life.
Reading the Bible every day is what made the biggest difference in my walk with Jesus. I'm not even confident I was saved before this.
When I had my big turning point, knowing that God was calling me to live for Him, I tried living a "Christian life". This was pretty much me trying to be nice to people, not cursing as much, and asking God to restore my relationship.
After a few weeks of me being miserable and not getting anywhere I cried out to God.
"What do you want me to do!?!?!"
It was at that moment I realized I needed to read the Bible. I didn't own one myself, but I found one looking through my moms room.
I had no idea where to start, so I flipped to a random page. I don't remember exctly where I landed, but I'm sure it was in Chronicles or something. Quickly I was defeated. It wasn't helping.
I remembered that my mom had this "Daily Walk" Bible. For each day of the year it gave a few pages to read. I will always remember reading Timothy that day.
God spoke to me so clearly and specifically to my circumstance. It was perfect. Exactly what I needed. The next day I woke up early to read some more. Again, the words were so good.
The word of God is our Spiritual food.
Every day after that I would find myseld waking up early to read what God had next. It was almost like I hadn't eaten in days and was trying to fill myself every opportunity I had. That's exactly why we need to be reading the Bible everyday.
Our souls crave the Word of God. He designed us to live off of Him.
"man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God." (Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4)
Are you feeling drained or empty? Does it feel like you are missing something? Are you reading the Bible? Are you being filled? Are you getting the proper nutrients to tackle this thing called life?Your Salvation depends on it.
I had been a "Chrisitian" for most of my life, but I had never read the Bible for myself. When I first started reading I recognized the stories but was blown away at how much I didn't know.
There was so much I learned about God from reading the Bible that it's hard to believe I knew who God was before this. And I knew even less about how He wants me to live my life.
The reason I'm not confident I was saved before is in this next verse. It is also one of the scariest verses in the Bible.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter." (Matthew 7:21)
Only those who "do the will of My Father". How can we do God's will if we don't know what His will is? How can we know what God's will is if we don't read His Word?
We will begin to have a more full understanding of who God is and what His will is as we read the Bible more. The Bible doesn't cover every topic explicitely, but as we get to know God we will have a much better understanding of what He wants us to do in every circumstance. You will begin to see Him in everything because, "In Him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17).
3. It will make you Happy
Not only is it necessary for you to read the Bible, you will be much happier when you do.
"How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked Nor stand in the way of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of Yahweh, And in His law he meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yeilds its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)
The word "blessed" in the Bible is a translation of the greek word makarios, which literally means happy. It is a congradulatory word because of one's good fortune.
Happy is the person who is constantly reading, studying, and thinking about Gods commands. In the morning and at night he is in the Word. What is the first thing you do in the morning? What is the last thing you do before you go to sleep?
"His delight." It should be a desire of yours to read His Word and learn about the Lord.
This can be a grown desire. If you haven't read the Bible in a long time, your Spirit has been drained. You might not notice because you have spent so much time living this way.
When you start again, you will realize that you need it and it is good. You will see how it transforms your life in the most amazing way. This will increase your desire to read more. You will desire to fill yourself with heavenly food.
If you stop, you will instantly notice the negative effects. If you supress that desire to read the Bible then the desire will slowly fade.
It is much like sin. When you sin you should feel convicted, but if you run from that conviction, sinning won't feel as bad. You'll be more okay with it. You'll get comfortable in sin.
"Like a tree planted by streams." v.3
The tree needs the water to live. The tree stays close to the source of life. The tree is firmly planted and not easily shaken by the elements of this world. The tree grows and reaches up toward the sky and the Sun. The difference is where the tree is planted.
I challenge you to make reading the Bible a priority in your life. Stay near to the Lord. First think in the morning and last thing before bed.