During his presentation on Habit 1 of his series "Six Habits of Spiritually Happy People", Patrick Morley offers three points that surround the topic of Habit 1 - "Spiritually happy men read the Bible regularly", as I wrote in a previous post, they are:
- Why reading the Bible is so valuable.
- What is our goal?
- What are some Bible reading strategies?
In this post we will look a bit closer at the first topic, namely, Why reading the Bible is so valuable. Patrick Morley offers three reasons as to why Bible reading is particularly valuable:
- It works.
- It is true.
- It is how God speaks to us.
Let's take a closer look at the first reason: "It Works." What does Morley mean by this? Well, he turns to a few key passages in the Bible to explain his point.
Isaiah 55:11 says in the
KJV:
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.
Here Morley points out that God is speaking of his Word, that it is
efficacious, it works, it is powerful, it shall accomplish what God wants it to and it will prosper in doing so. He goes on further to read from Hebrews 4:12 (again the the
KJV):
For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Here he notes that the Word of God is full of living power and it exposes us for what we really are. Ponder these points for a bit. In what way has the Bible been "Working" in your life? What has it accomplished in your life? What has it discerned about the thoughts and intents of your heart?
5 comments:
Hello,
good work with the blog.
Just a suggestion: try making it sound more personal, because it sounds uncaring and lecture-like. Otherwise nice writing!
God bless.
Sorry if the above comment sounds harsh. I am sometimes known for my sharp words which make people bleed. I don't mean them, however. Please forgive me.
Noel:
Thanks for the comment on the SPBC Men's Bible Study Blog. I must say that I find it amazing to realize that someone from New Zealand would be reading our little Men's Group study blog. By that I mean that I never really anticipated it reaching out much farther into the world that our small valley here in Utah, USA. I am glad though that you read it and took the time to comment. Your comment is interesting, because it is something that I am thinking about and am struggling a bit with. I mean, on the one hand, the point of the blog is to get the men (including me as I am not the main teacher) of our group thinking and reading on the topic at hand prior to coming to church on Sunday morning. That way when we are all there, we will be able to discuss the topic at a deeper level...you know kind of like a "book of the month club" where everyone reads the same book and then gathers together on a assigned day to discuss it. Therefore, I am trying to be a bit impersonal so as to be more specifically informative in anticipation of more personal topics being actually discussed in the group setting on Sunday morning. On the other hand, I certainly don't want people to think that I am lecturing them or taking a "holier that thou" type of attitude either. Therefore, I suppose I will need to try to seek a better balance. Thanks very much for your input.
Thanks for the explanation.
I didn't realize that it's a private Bible study group, I thought it was some sort of church outreach effort. Sorry about that. Anyway in that case, it won't be too impersonal then, because it suited the purpose :) Thanks for replying.
Noel:
Please feel free to continue to read and comment even though we are using this blog primarily as a local group weblog. If we wanted it to be completely private I suppose we would have limited readership by controlling who could read the articles in the dashboard settings of Blogger. Perhaps seeing comments from people outside of our small group might encourage others in our group to be a bit more active in using this resource. Also, perhaps you might see something here that would help you in your own 'Journey.'
Stay in touch.
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