Sharing the Journey

What kind of thoughts enter your mind when reading the Bible?

By Janet Page

  • It’s boring.
  • It isn’t going to do any good to just read a few verses. So why bother?
  • It’s so hard to understand.
  • There is so much I need to read and so little time.
  • It’s easier to read an interesting book.

Do these kinds of thoughts come into your mind when you try to read the Bible? It sure happens to me!

I don’t believe they are our thoughts. I think they are from Satan. He is trying to discourage us from reading God’s Word because he knows the power we receive in reading God’s Word.

Don’t listen to Satan’s lies! Even if you only have time to read a few verses, it is still more powerful to meditate on a verse of Scripture than to read many pages in some other book.

“One sentence of Scripture is of more value than ten thousand of man's ideas or arguments” (Testi­monies, vol. 7, p. 71).

In the 1800s, George Muller prayed for God to help him show the world that if we make God our first priority ev­ery day, He will provide for us. He quit his paid job, and through prayer God blessed him with enough money to take care of some 10,000 orphans over the years, with money left over to fund foreign missionary work.

Because of the many needs of the orphans, George would start his day praying for long lists of requests. His experience with God became dry and dull. So he changed things. He decided the first thing he needed to do was get his soul happy with God. He began by meditating on the New Testament verse by verse. As he read, he allowed God to lead him into praise, thanksgiving, confession, or intercession.

When weather was good he would take his Bible and go out in nature to meditate on Scripture. Later in the day he found time to pray through the list of needs. What a dif­ference it made in his life! Many wonderful blessings came from following this format, including great peace and joy in his walk with God.

I have followed this plan for a couple of years and can testify that it is great!

“In daily study the verse-by-verse method is of­ten most helpful. Let the student take one verse, and concentrate the mind on ascertaining the thought that God has put into that verse for him, and then dwell upon the thought until it becomes his own. One passage thus studied until its significance is clear is of more value than the perusal of many chapters with no definite purpose in view and no positive in­struction gained” (Education, p. 189).

Our world church leadership is inviting each Seventh-day Adventist around the world to join in a Bible reading plan called “Revived by His Word.” The goal is for each of us to read and pray through just one chapter daily. We will start with Genesis 1 on April 17, 2012, at Spring Council and end with Revelation 22 at the General Conference Session in July, 2015.

I am so excited! All over the world we are praying together for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit daily at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. in different time zones. And now we have the privilege of joining together in reading and praying through God’s Word. I believe we are going to see amazing things happen in our church. We will soon have more information available on www.revivalandreformation.org. Please join us.