The Word is an indepensible part of our lives. The Bible was developed by God for you to learn what to expect from God and what God expects from you.
You make a mistake if you ignore it during the week and don't study it daily, because the Bible was also left to explain your week.
The relationship between the Bible and your life is much like the relationship between a book and a companion CD. My children have books that are accompanied by CDs that read the book to them and give them a signal when to turn the page. They are vaulable in that they help my children learn to read, but they also flesh out the words of the book with sound effects and character voices and make the intent of the book more real to my kids.
Our lives are like that to the Word. You might say, so the Bible is here to explain my life? No...your life was created for God to have further tools to explain the Bible to you. This life is all about knowing God, it's all about a relationship to be established with Him. The Word tells you about Him and as you live your life, God fleshes out what He tells you through the Word as you live together.
Joshua 1:8
Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so 1that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be 2prosperous and successful.
The Bible is important to study and this verse explains this. The command is given, the explanation of how and then the two why's are given straight out in this verse.
The Scriptures speak directly in word and example to us reaching out to others and learning from their life in Christ. There are relationships throughout the Scripture where younger believers or just believers of equal maturity learned and were encouraged by each other in the faith.
Paul told the Church at Corinth this..
1 Corinthians 11
1Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
In Proverbs, the writer speaks of Christians growing by having contact with other Christians.
Proverbs 27:17
17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
Let's learn from each other on the "guts" of how to make studying the Bible work in our day.
A sample quiet time with the Lord:
1) Pray. Confess your sin, make your relationship right with God. Ask Him to show you something through the Word.
2) Read the Bible. Not 8 chapters, but try more like 3-4 verses.
3) Meditate and think about what it says. Ask yourself these questions...
4) Write down what you learned.
5) Pray and thank God for His instruction.
