MAKING SURE YOU HEAR WHAT THE LORD IS SAYING

This is a follow on article to two earlier posts about deciding and selecting a READING PLAN — a schedule indicating what specific scriptures you plan to read on a day-to-day basis. In this article, I want to share five practical steps on how to sustain your bible reading according to plan, and to make it bear fruit each time.

First. Prepare your heart.

Read the bible for the right reason.  Are you reading the bible because it is your #1 desire to seek to know God and to grow in your relationship with Him? Or are you reading it only because someone requires that you go through the motions of reading the bible?  If your soul does not thirst for the living God, like a deer thirsting for water (Ps 41), you will be missing out on the joy and the blessing promised in Psalm 1:2-3.  You want that your mind and your heart is fertile ground for the seed of God’s word to be planted (referring to Jesus’s parable of the sower in Luke 8).

If you’re struggling in this area, may I suggest you pray to the Holy Spirit to purify your heart. Better yet, ask a fellow believer, someone who is more mature in the Lord, to pray over you, and to call on the Holy Spirit to pour afresh on you, so that the Spirit can “open your eyes” that you may see wonderful things in scripture (Ps 119:18).

As you sit down and open your bible, let your attitude be the prayer of Samuel: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” (1 Sam 3:9)

Second. Plan your reading.

Now that you have a plan about WHAT to read, your next step is to make a plan that will actually get you to spend time to read your bible.  By now you should realize that a reading plan assumes that you will have to carve out time each day to read the bible. Great plans are one thing; but it is the execution, and the actual discipline to sit down and read your bible every day that makes the difference.  Therefore:

• Decide on a time and a place for your daily bible reading.  Don’t just do it when you have time, and just anywhere. You need to carve out a specific time each day for this, and you need to make sure you have “sacred space”.
• Devise a defense strategy to protect that time and space and your attention.  How will you deal with distractions, conflicts of schedule, and so on?  What sacrifices are you prepared to make in order for this to work?  If you’re using your mobile device to read the bible, for instance, what will you do with notifications that pop up every now and then?
• Don’t go it alone.  Let someone know you are going through a reading plan.  Someone you trust who will hold you accountable to see it through.  If you are in a discipleship group, then certainly you need to let your discipler know what you’re up to.  Better yet, pair up with someone in your prayer group or discipleship group, someone who is willing to also go through the reading plan with you.  This way you can pace each other, discuss what you have been hearing from the Lord, and encourage one another, and come to each other’s defense.  Especially when you start encountering passages that either are too difficult to understand, or too boring to want to go on, you’ll need a shepherd with a staff to nudge you to keep going.

Third. Do it.

You’re about to sit down at the right time and in the right place, and you’ve protected your time by setting aside all distractions and all communication devices that will distract you. You have your pen and paper ready to take notes and to mark your bible. You’ve opened your bible to the chapter and passage that corresponds to your reading plan for the day. Now what? 

• Acknowledge the presence of the Lord in a short opening prayer, and ask for His protection. You can pray the prayer in Psalm 119:18 “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Or the prayer of Samuel in 1 Sam 3:9 “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
• Start reading the passage for the day, and be attentive because He WILL speak to you in a personal way.  Take down notes.  Mark your bible as you encounter verses that inspire you, instruct you, puzzle you, or even rebuke and correct you. 

Fourth. Process it.

Take note of at least three things:

1. What is the Lord telling you about Himself, His character, His purposes, His plans? 
2. What is the Lord telling you about yourself, your character, your purposes, your plans. 
3. What is the Lord telling you about your relationships with Him, with others, with your possessions, with yourself?

If there are difficult passages that confuse you, or that you want to understand to know better, note these down also, and aim to seek to find ways to get answers from a more mature Christian. 

Though not absolutely necessary for your daily conversation with the Lord, if you desire to study the passages that you’re reading in a more purposeful way and to gain better understanding and additional insights, there are many supplementary guides that can help you. I have written an article about that here: EQUIPPING YOURSELF TO STUDY SCRIPTURE.

Fifth. Pray the Scripture.

End with a prayer.  Better yet, select a verse or passage that you have just read, and turn that verse or passage into a prayer.  “Praying the scripture” is a simple technique, but it is a beautiful way to respond to God’s word, and letting Him know, “Thank You, Lord. I hear You.” This article teaches you how to PRAY THE SCRIPTURE. I encourage you to read this and to begin to practice it.

Remember, God who is mighty and strong, the creator of everything that exists, who rules over everything and who owns everything has just come down from heaven to converse with you.  Rejoice, and consider yourself blessed!