Read your Bible!!!

I have been struggling to keep up the act of studying my bible everyday, with the desire in my mind, fortunately i stumbled upon these passages, which i merged into one.

This post goes out to all those who desire to spend quality time with God but have difficulty to, its a mind-opener.

Enjoy!

'If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.' JOHN 8:31
You cannot be a disciple of Jesus without a regular intake of God's Word. Jesus said, 'If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.' This word 'continue' means to live each day by its principles. The story's told of a man who came to pick his wife up after church: 'Is the sermon over?' he asked. A turned-on member replied, 'No, it has just begun. Now the rest is up to us!' The common denominator of every great man and woman of God in history is that they disciplined themselves to spend regular time with the Lord in His Word. What made George Muller so successful? During his lifetime he read through the Bible over 200 times; more than half of those readings on his knees, praying over the Word while studying it. When you know God that well, you'll pray specifically and get specific answers. Most of us who say we believe the Bible from cover to cover have never read it from cover to cover! We are more faithful to the advice columnists and the sports pages of the newspaper than we are to God's Word. People who are not professing Christians wouldn't dream of leaving their homes in the morning until they've read their horoscope. Imagine what would happen if you committed yourself with equal vigour to reading your Bible before you leave for work, school, or wherever? It would change your life, and impact those around you! So, read your Bible!

''Continue in...the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise.' 2 TIMOTHY 3:14-15
Why don't we read God's Word more? Three reasons: 1) We don't know how! We hear the pastor preach a great sermon and think, 'Why didn't I see that?' Because the pastor spends hours praying over it and studying the Scriptures; we don't! 2) We're not motivated! That's because we haven't experienced the joy that comes from personally discovering great truths from God's Word. We've become satisfied with getting what we need from somebody else rather than finding it out for ourselves. Understand this: If you ever get serious about studying the Bible on your own, you'll never fully be satisfied with a second-hand knowledge of the Scriptures. Dr. Paul Lyttle once compared personal Bible study to eating peanuts: 'Once you start doing it, you're hooked! When you discover how good Bible study 'tastes' you'll find yourself going back for more and more. Yes, personal Bible study can be habit-forming!' 3) We are lazy! Bible study is hard work. There are no shortcuts to it. It takes time, effort, concentration and persistence. Most of its great truths don't lie on the surface; we have to dig for them. Dr Howard Hendricks describes the three stages of Bible study: a) The 'castor oil' stage - we study the Bible because we know it's good for us, but it's not too enjoyable b) The 'cereal' stage - our Bible study is dry and uninteresting, but we know it's nourishing c) The 'peaches and cream' stage - we are really feasting on the Word of God. Bottom line? 'Continue in...the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise.