Here is part three in a series that shares keys to reading the Bible effectively. Haven’t read part one or two?

Reading the Word of God is one of the most important spiritual disciplines that modern-day Christians have at their disposal to grow in their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, this spiritual discipline is often under-utilized and under-appreciated. Many Christians have never read their Bibles consistently or have read it in the past, but now find themselves unable to keep up.

Here’s a few things to consider if you are embarking on your own journey through the Bible, or you’re just picking up where you left off years ago.

Quiet your heart

An aspect of eliminating distractions is asking God to quiet our hearts prior to reading the Word.

We should ask God to help us extinguish the cares and worries of the world that plague our minds and hearts and distract us. We can ask God to help us stop thinking about all of the things we don’t like about our lives; all the things we wish were different.

Instead, we can ask God to help us fix our minds on Him so that we will be better prepared to hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the Scripture. It is often very hard to experience the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the Scripture when our minds are preoccupied with worldly desires and cares. The Devil wants to keep our hearts and minds racing so that we don’t even have a spare second to quiet our hearts and seek guidance from God.

Be patient

It takes time to develop a habit of reading the Bible and to sense the positive impact it can have on our lives. More often than not, when we start reading the Bible for the first time, we don’t like it. We don’t understand it, the messages seem outdated and irrelevant. It’s not fun, it’s not exciting.

Modern culture is so focused on being entertained, and in the beginning, the Bible seems the farthest thing from entertaining. How do we respond when we don’t like to read the Bible at first? When we encounter this, we have to be patient and relentless in our pursuit of the Lord even if we aren’t sensing immediate results. We have to trust that God is working on our hearts even if we can’t feel it. If we put aside our desire for instant gratification, reading with a heart of obedience and humility, sooner or later, we will find that we can no longer live without the Word of God being a part of our daily life.

Nothing can hold you back from an intimate, personal, relationship with God. Daily Bible reading is a fantastic step toward being in relationship with your Lord and Savior in a way you never thought possible. Take it one book, chapter, and verse at a time and believe that God will reveal himself to you and He will. What’s holding you back?

“And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” Deuteronomy 8:3.