How to get the most out of your Bible reading

Thanks to Steve Camp for bringing to our attention some wonderful and helpful thoughts from Thomas Watson on how to gain maximum impact in our Bible reading and study of God's Word. This is practical stuff. Here is an excerpt. If you want the full version of Steve's thoughts, click here.

1. Remove hindrances. (a) remove the love of every sin (b) remove the distracting concerns of this world, especially covetousness [Matt. 13:22] (c) Don't make jokes with and out of Scripture.

2. Prepare your heart. [1 Sam. 7:3] Do this by: (a) collecting your thoughts (b) purging unclean affections and desires (c) not coming to it rashly or carelessly.

3. Read it with reverence, considering that each line is God speaking directly to you (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Psalm 19:7-11).

4. Read the books of the Bible in order.

5. Get a true understanding of Scripture. [Ps. 119:73] This is best achieved by comparing relevant parts of Scripture with each other.

6. Read with seriousness. [Deut. 32:47] The Christian life is to be taken seriously since it requires striving [Luke 13:24] and not falling short [Heb. 4:1].

7. Persevere in remembering what you read. [Ps. 119:52] Don't let it be stolen from you [Matt. 13:4,19]. If it doesn't stay in your memory it is unlikely to be much benefit to you.

8. Meditate on what you read. [Ps. 119:15] The Hebrew word for meditate' means to be intense in the mind'. Meditation without reading is wrong and bound to err; reading without meditation is barren and fruitless. It means to stir the affections, to be warmed by the fire of meditation [Ps. 39:3].

9. Read with a humble heart. Acknowledge that you are unworthy that God should reveal himself to you [James 4:6]

10. Believe it all to be God's Holy Word. [2 Tim 3:16] We know that no sinner could have written it because of the way it describes sin. No saint could blaspheme God by pretending his own Word was God's. No angel could have written it for the same reason. [Heb 4:2]

11. Prize the Bible highly. [Ps. 119:72] It is your lifeline; you were born by it [James 1:18] you need to grow by it [1 Pet 2:2] [cf. Job 23:12].

12. Love the Bible ardently [Ps. 119:159].

13. Come to read it with an honest heart. [Luke 8:15] (a) Willing to know the entire and complete will of God (b) reading in order to be changed and made better by it [John 17:17].

14. Apply to yourself everything that you read, take every word as spoken to yourself. Its condemnation of sins as the condemnation of your own sin; the duty that it requires as the duty God would require from you [2 Kings 22:11].

15. Pay close attention to the commands of the Word as much as the promises. Think of how you need direction just as much as you need comfort (Psalm 119:9-11).

16. Don't get carried away with the minor details, rather make sure to pay closest attention to the great things [Hosea 8:12].

17. Compare yourself with the Word. How do you compare? Is your heart something of a transcript of it, or not? (James 1:21-25)

18. Pay special attention to those passages that speak to your individual, particular and present situation. e.g. (a) Affliction -- [Heb. 12:7, Isaiah 27:9, John 16:20, 2 Cor 4:17. (b) Sense of Christ's presence and smile withdrawn -- [Isaiah 54:8, Isaiah 57:16, Ps. 97:11] (c) Sin -- [Gal 5:24, James 1:15, 1 Peter 2:11, Prov 7:10&22-23, Prov 22:14] (d) Unbelief -- [Isaiah 26:3, 2 Sam 22:31, John 3:15, 1 John 5:10, John 3:36]

19. Pay special attention to the examples and lives of people in the Bible as living sermons. (a) Punishments [Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, Num 25:3-4&9, 1 Kings 14:9-10, Acts 5:5,10, 1 Cor 10:11, Jude 7] (b) mercies and deliverances [Daniel, Jeremiah, the 3 youths in the fiery furnace]

20. Don't stop reading the Bible until you find your heart warmed. [Ps 119:93] Let it not only inform you but also inflame you [Jer 23:29, Luke 24:32].

21. Put into practice what you read [Ps 119:66, Ps 119:105, Deut 17:19].

22. Christ is for us Prophet, Priest and King. Make use of His office as a Prophet [Rev 5:5, John 8:12, Ps 119:102-103]. Get Christ not only to open the Scriptures up to you, but to open up your mind and understanding [Luke 24:45]

23. Make sure to put yourself under a true ministry of the Word, faithfully and thoroughly expounding the Word [Prov 8:34] be earnest and eager in waiting on it.

24. Pray that you will profit from reading [Isaiah 48:17, Ps 119:18, Nehemiah 9:20].

Natural obstacles You may still be able to profit from reading even though:

1. You don't seem to profit as much as others do. Remember the different yields [Matt 13:8] though the yield isn't as much as others it is still a true and fruitful yield.

2. You may feel slow of understanding [Luke 9:45, Heb 5:11].

3. Your memory is bad (a) remember you are still able to have a good heart despite this (b) you may still remember the most important things even if you cannot remember everything, be encouraged by John 14:26.

Christians must read!

Reading other books should never replace reading the Bible. But reading Christian books is still very important to a healthy Christian today. And you don't have to read a lot of books or even read a lot every day to nourish your soul. Did you know that if you read just a few pages a day, you can read several books a year? Reading just ten pages a day means you can read one solid Christian book a month; that is twelve a year. If you can't read that much then, read a page a day like Don Whitney advised some homeschooling moms to do. (Of course, after one page, you probably will want to read a few more. Half the battle is just sitting down and starting to read. Is anyone's "to-do" list every complete?)

So, after you read and meditate some on God's Word, pick up a doctrinally sound Christian book and read! And also encourage your children at a very early age to read. The world is lamenting that fact that young people aren't reading anymore. Christians can't afford not to be "readers" as Al Mohler points out in this excellent article.

Ryan Ferguson recites Hebrews chapters 9 and 10

Do you need some inspiration to memorize Scripture this year? Here you go! This video is from the WorshipGod06 Conference Aug. 9-12, 2006. Ryan Ferguson is giving a memorized dramatic recitation of Hebrews 9 and 10 from the ESV Bible. God’s Word is powerful. The Holy Bible, English Standard Version is copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Memorizing long passages of Scripture

If you want to memorize and extended portion of Scripture, here is one of the best guides for doing so. I encouraged my congregation this morning to memorize Scripture because Scripture memory will solve 1000 problems before they occur, heal 1000 wounds after they occur, and kill 1000 sins in the moment of temptation. Scripture memory will help you discern the 1000 different deceptions that Satan allures us with to sin which lead to 1000 miseries.

Over at the Family Room, the men are discussing the importance of first things at the beginning of the new year. One contributor in tackling the issue of your time with God in the Word writes,

As you consider your approach to spending time with God how would you evaluate your passion and pursuit of encountering His presence? Here are some questions to get you thinking:

• Do I meet with God daily in His Word?

• Are my times rushed or am I consistently distracted when I spend time with God?

• When I spend time with God do I leave refreshed and reminded of the Gospel?

• Am I provoked by my time with God in such a way that I desire to share with others?

• Do others notice an increasing desire to spend time with God?

Good questions to consider. Read the full post here.

Blog blessing Saturday

Seeing that I will be unable to post tomorrow, I am going to share the blessings from the blog one day early this week

1. "Faith by Hearing" is collecting an incredible amount of good audio content (and categorizing it for you).
2. Ever wanted to see Dr. Al Mohler's library (you will never guess how many books he has). See in it in a video (runs 50+ minutes) for the upcoming Together for the Gospel Conference. I hope to attend this conference next year. I am hoping some of you will join me.
3. One of the pastors of parenting at Covenant Life Church (where C. J. Mahaney and Josh Harris pastor) gave this talk last week on proactive parenting. Here are some follow-up questions for parents to discuss with each other and here are some for you to discuss with your children growing toward adulthood.
4. Abraham urges parents to tell your kids Bible stories like life depended on it.
5. A great quote when "bad" things happen to you and you want to blame God.
6. John Piper writes a stirring piece on the partial birth abortion ban by the Supreme Court. His brief quote (which is included in Justice Kennedy's paper) by a nurse observing the PBA procedure is absolutely heart-wrenching.
   
7. Read this letter that exposes a missionary's heart.
8. Some great deals here on books (and low shipping at that!). But the sale ends soon!