This One is Going to Sting a Little...

Read the Bible as much as you possibly can every day of your life.  There you go, Ladies.  You have my life’s ministry in a nutshell.  That really is all there is to it.  Just read your Bible, a lot.

Read it Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.  Read it on holidays, read it on vacations, read it when you are tired, read it when you are sick, read it when you are happy and healthy.  Most importantly read it when you really, really don’t feel like it. 

What about going to church, doing good deeds, witnessing, discipling, praying, preaching, and teaching, correcting, forgiving, and loving?  Yep, it’s in there.  If you are reading God’s Word faithfully as a follower of Christ the rest will follow.  If you are making a daily habit of consuming the authoritative, powerful Word of the creator of the Universe, obedience follows. 

Desire a better marriage?  Want to know how to deal with your children?  How to manage your money?  How to deal with a person that drives you crazy?  How to be better at everything?  Yeah, it’s all in the Bible.  Go find it.

Quit your complaining that you never got a handbook on how to live life in this world.  Quit the excuses that you aren’t smart enough to understand it.  Quit thinking that it’s some else’s job to read it and then explain it to you. Quit falling prey to the Devil’s schemes of easy excuses.

Oh, you don’t have time?  You are too busy, I understand.  Have you slept or eaten in the past 24 hours?  Yes?  Well then you had time for the Bible.  Sorry, nice try.

Am I being hard on you?  You bet I am.  Whoever you are reading this, I love you way too much to be anything less.  I care about your eternity as well as the fullness of your life on Earth and how it impacts others for Christ.  I want you to live a life that points to God continually and brings him honor.  You will never be happy otherwise, never.

Not sure where to start?  Pick a gospel (the Good News about Jesus Christ), Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.  Mark is a nice, short and straightforward gospel; John is spiritually rich and a bit deeper.  Luke has the beautiful Christmas story and Matthew the genealogy of Christ.  Pick one, you can’t choose wrong.  After learning about Jesus, continue on with the story in Acts and meet Paul.  Learn about the Holy Spirit, discover the beginnings of the Church and read about Paul’s trials and journeys.  Then continue on to read some of Paul’s letters that he wrote to Churches like in Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians and more.  These words still apply to us today, if you belong to the family of God.  Read them as if they were written for you and for your life today (they were and they are). 

Why do I believe in the Word of God so much?  It has changed my life.  Without the Word of God, I walk in darkness and confusion.  Psalms 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  It’s the only way to illuminate my walkway of life. 

Without the Word of God I starve and have no life within me.  Matthew 4:4 (Deut. 8:3) “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  I need spiritual food that only comes from the Scriptures.

Without the Word of God I fall prey to my enemy, I have no weapon to fight with. Ephesians 6:17 “and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”  I love to win, so you better believe I will have in my hand the mightiest weapon possible.

Without the Word of God I have no standard of truth. John 17:17 “Sanctify them in your truth, your word is truth.”  I won’t settle for less than absolute truth.  I want my life planted on the bedrock of Christ.

Finally, without the Word of God, I am doomed to suffer forever.  John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus is the Word of God, receiving him brings me eternal life.

The Word of God can change your life too, but only if you read it.  You can’t carry it around and hope to absorb it by osmosis. You have to open it up and read the words on the pages.  Don’t believe me, try it and let’s talk.  Need help getting started?  Ask me, you would make my day.