Establish a relationship with the most popular book of all time. Here are easy ways to spend time with the Good Book and allow it to pour out its riches upon you.
1. Buy a beautiful Bible.
Learn to love the book itself. An attractive copy will feel good in your hands. Using a Bible that has sentimental value–one given you by your mother, father, pastor or Sunday school teacher–will make you want to spend time with it.
2. Pick it up, open it and read it.
It will never do you any good standing on a shelf.
3. Read through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Read one chapter a day, preferably before bed. This will allow you to go to sleep with healthy, happy positive thoughts soaking into your thought patterns for the next day.
By reading a chapter a day, you will complete these four books in 89 days–okay, a little longer, but most of the great principles of Jesus are found in these books. Master them and you will have His rare secret of great living. Then, when you have read them through twice, read them a third time.
4. On the second reading, underline passages that appeal to you.
And on the third reading, memorize one passage every day. The more passages you commit to memory, the more completely you will be carrying the Bible around in your mind. Say the words over to yourself in spare minutes. These passages will serve as logs to cling to when you find yourself adrift on the sea of life.
5. Take your Bible in your hand, close your eyes and pray that God will give you just the message you need.
We are all afflicted by moods. Sometimes we are fearful and worried, at other times we are angry and resentful; sometimes our loved ones are ill and at times we feel very lonely.
But there is an answer in the Bible to every mood. All you need to do is open your Bible. The first statement you see may not be your answer, for God does not work in such a mechanical manner.
Continue reading and you will come to what He wants to say to you. You will recognize it when you see it. Incidentally, this will help you to become familiar with the entire Bible. In time, this familiarity will enable you to know where to look for help in specific situations.
6. Read the entire Book of Psalms without stopping.
When you have an entire evening in which you can read, devote that time to the psalms. When you finish reading them, you will have such an overwhelming sense of the victory of faith over all the troubles of life that you will want to shout for joy.
In cases of grief and disappointment, I have known this practice to revolutionize a person’s entire outlook. It gives one the whole panorama of human suffering and spiritual victory in one dose.
7. Expand your biblical knowledge.
Perhaps when you’ve worked your way through my suggestions, you’ll have become so interested in the Bible that you’ll want to know the entire book as a spiritual scholar. If so, ask your minister for suggested study books to guide you in your search.
