01 Jan Reading through the Bible, along with prayer is the essential way to grow in Christ! – Jan 11

By Diana Turnip

If we want to develop our faith as a Christian, then we must set aside time for prayer and read­ing the Bible. Yet, so few of us do so!

We must ask ourselves the following ques­tions:

1. What gets in the way of my time with God?

2. How much does TV, over working, or hanging with friends take of you and your time?

Reading the Bible through in a year takes less time than you would spend watching one half-hour sitcom of TV each day or playing a half doz­en songs on your MP3 player. You can read the entire Bible in a year in about 20 minutes a day! Is a little TV more important than God in your life? How much of your life will the One who created and saved you get?

The Bible is the most important and essential book in history because it is God’s Word and His revelation of Himself, His precepts and His pur­pose for our lives. As a Christian you cannot and must not function without it! Our church has a Bible reading plan to help you discover the Bible’s full message in a good systematic way. With this plan you can read the entire Bible, all 66 books, the entire Old Testament once and the New Tes­tament twice in one year! An average reader can do this in less than a half an hour each day. We encourage you to join the pastors, leaders, and everyone in the church to follow the yearly bible reading and memorizing verses of 2011 together!

“We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy.” – R.C. Sproul

“Do not let this Book of the Law de­part from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be care­ful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” – Joshua 1:8 (NIV84)