Getting the Word Into You

"The advantages of a deep knowledge of the Bible are more than can be numbered here. It is the storehouse of God's promises. It is the sword of the Spirit, before which temptation flees. It is the all-sufficient equipment for Christian usefulness. It is the believer's guidebook and directory in all possible circumstances." F. B. Meyer

Here are F.B. Meyer's simple rules for studying God's Word for yourself:

1. Make time for Bible study. "...we should aim at securing at least a half an hour each day for the leisurely and loving study of the Bible. ..it is seldom difficult to find time for business or pleasure appointments. If we mean to, we can."
2. Ask for understanding." No one can so well explain the meaning of his words as he who wrote them."
3. Develop a plan. "It is sometimes helpful to read an entire book of the Bible at one sitting, devoting two or three hours to the sacred task. At other times it is more profitable to an epoch, an episode, or a life, and compare all that is written of it in various parts of the Scriptures. At other times it is good to follow one topic, as faith or love, by help of a concordance, from end to end of the inspired volume."
4. Read with pen in hand. "None, in my judgment, have learned the secret of enjoying the Bible until they have begun to mark it."
5. Seek your personal profit. "Do not read for others but for yourself. What does the Holy Spirit want to teach me?"
6. Turn reading into prayer. "If an example of holiness gleams before you, ask God to do as much for you. If a truth is revealed in all its intrinsic splendor, entreat that its brilliance may ever illuminate your life. If a promise lies on the page as a blank check, cash it. If a prayer is recorded, appropriate it and launch it as a feathered arrow from the bow of your desire."
7. Practice what you learn. "We are taught not for pleasure only, but that we may do."

"The whole of Christian living, in my opinion, hinges on the way Christians read the Bible for themselves. We may measure our growth in grace by the growth of our love for private Bible study; and we may be sure that there is something seriously wrong when we lose our appetite for God's Word." F. B. Meyer

Kathy Withers

Life Action/Revive magazine, Volume 40, Issue 3, page 8-9