The Bible is more important than you know, yet the average believer doesn’t read the Bible. Why is it so important to read your Bible and why don’t people regularly do it?

2020 Was a Good Year for the Bible. More people read the Bible regularly that year than in the last 10. More than half of America believes the world would be worse off without the Bible. About 11% of America reads the Bible every day according to Barna Research (2021). I believe Bible reading and reflection are VERY important to a healthy and balanced faith. Without it, faith becomes internal, and only a creation of one’s own mind. The Bible is filled with new ideas, new approaches, and fresh thinking. It’s challenging. And we need to be challenged – don’t we?

Psalms 119:105 (NLT) Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.

The Bible is Our Guide

What is Your Moral Authority? What determines right and wrong for you? Are you the final authority for your life? Because that is the world’s doctrine. Be anything you want to be. Do what makes you happy. Find your power. You decide who, what, where, why, you will be. You decide.

But, is that really true? Did you pick your parents? Nationality? Place of birth? Gender? Your appearance? Birth order? Siblings? Your time in History? Your mental capacity? Your lifespan?

So you do command the universe? Do you command your own life?  

Psalms 119:130 (NLT) The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand.

The Bible Is Our Connection

What is God Like? You can’t just invent a Jesus, a God, or a Spirit of your own making. 

Romans 11:33-34 (NLT) Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! 34 For who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice?

The desire and hunger to know God is the greatest and most satisfying pursuit of all. There is always more of Him. There are infinite depths to everything about Him. And, your Bible is the only revelation of Him that is fully available to you. Sure, others can testify, preach, write books, but the Bible is first hand.  The Bible is personal witness/testimony of what God has done, is doing, and will do.

Hebrews 12:25 (NLT) Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!

How Do I Know God’s Voice? This glorious God has SO MUCH to say to you. But, your Bible is the beginning. It teaches us what God’s voice sounds like. The Bible reveals God’s character and nature. So much of what is attributed to God these days is not consistent with His character or nature; people don’t know what God is like.  We tend to only reflect upon His words until His spirit, and the mind of Christ opens those words to us. 1 Corinthians 2 and 3 have much to say about it.

Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing. The New Testament, as well as the Old, was primarily heard. People would gather and the scriptures would be read aloud. Listening to preaching which is filled with truth and hope is powerful. Sharing testimonies of ways God has revealed himself to us is very encouraging. And, honest discussion of the things God is showing us helps us hear God’s word. 

Hebrews 4:12 (NLT) For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

The Bible Is Our Weapon

Your Thoughts are Killer. You have a lot of stuff in that head of yours that isn’t true or helpful. Much of it was shaped in seasons of fear, trauma, or misunderstanding.

2 Corinthians 10:4 (NLT) We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 

Your Bible is your best weapon to remove ‘stinking thinking’ from your life. The thinking that is sabotaging your life and family can be uprooted and replaced by better thinking, through truth. And, truth will set you free. 

The Bible Gives You Victory. God’s word beats the Devil. Jesus demonstrated how to resist the Devil with God’s word in Luke 4 and Matt 4. So, how are you going to deal with your life’s most vicious enemy  if you don’t have time for your Bible?

Hebrews 1:3 (NIV) The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. …

God’s Word Is Powerful

Let There Be Light… When God speaks, when Jesus speaks, and when the Holy Spirit speaks, it is powerful! God’s word can never return empty, it can’t fail, it can’t be destroyed, and it can’t be corrupted. God’s word is beyond powerful.

What happens when that word is in your mind? In your mouth? On your tongue? God’s word, spoken under Jesus’ authority, and empowered by the Holy Spirit causes things to happen – IN you, and AROUND you.