GETTING THE BIBLE INTO YOUR LIFE

GETTING THE BIBLE INTO YOUR LIFE

In a small Arkansas town, there was an elderly lady who lived near the school.  This lady had a beautiful assortment of flowers in her front yard.  There was a group of high school boys who drove around in an old Chevy pickup.  Occasionally, just for meanness' sake, they would back their truck up into this elderly widow's flowerbed and destroy many beautiful flowers with their mud and snow tires.  We called it "peeling out" in those days.  They were "peeling" flowers for fun.  Well, everyone in town knew that this widow had a semiautomatic pistol which her husband had left her.  She would always come out on her porch and wave the pistol at the old truck.  This was not a deterrent because everyone also knew that she did not know how to use the pistol.  Some of the officials from the sheriff's office took her one day to the city dump and taught her how to load and fire her pistol.  No one knew this but her and her helpers. She patiently waited for a few weeks.  Late one evening, here they came in the old black truck.  Just as they were driving across the sidewalk into the yard, she pumped three .45-caliber slugs into the tailgate of the truck.  Needless to say, she never had a problem with a truck in her flowerbed again.  She had the weapon all the time; but because she had not learned to use it, she was repeatedly plagued.  When the “enemies” learned that she knew how to use what she possessed, she was freed from the problem.

That sounds a lot like us today.  We have in our possession the powerful word of God, the Bible and yet we don't know how to use it.  With the powerful word of God, we have the weapon needed to defeat Satan and be spiritually victorious, yet we don't know how to use it.

The Bible is an amazing book.  That book you hold in your hand this evening is indeed an amazing book.  It has one author and yet it has 40 people from every walk of life who were involved in the writing of the Bible.  Shepherds, kings, fishermen, and farmers.  It has 66 books in it and yet it is one book.  It was written by these 40 authors over a period of 1600 years on 2 continents in 3 different languages.  Yet, it is still just one Book.  It is a book which has one main teaching and it is a book which has one central personality, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We need to learn how to use our Bible the way Jesus used the Bible. In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus whipped the devil by using just the book of Deuteronomy!

In Psalm 119:17-20, you find what we should all do with God’s Word.

VS 17 – Live your Bible

VS 18 – Learn your Bible

VS 20 – Love your Bible

You do those things and your life will be revolutionized! You’ll become more and more like Jesus!

But how do we, as God’s children “get” the Bible into our lives? How can we properly apply it to our daily life?

Here are six things to do with your Bible that will help get the Bible into your life.

1.       HEAR IT

Hear the word as much as possible. Here it on Sunday’s, on the radio or the internet. Expose yourself to the teaching of God’s word.

2.       READ IT

Just read it. Read the Bible more than your read magazines, newspapers and your email.

3.       STUDY IT

What’s the difference between reading it and studying it? When you read it, you just hold the Bible in your hand, but when you are studying it, you usually have a pen, a highlighter and a separate sheet of paper where you write down insights and locate verses that connect other verses together—you go a little bit deeper when you study God’s word.

4.       MEDITATE ON IT

That means think about it. The Bible says, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the way of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2)

 Let the word of God saturate your mind and your heart.

5.       MEMORIZE IT

Why should you memorize the Bible? So you can brag about how many scriptures you can quote? No. The Bible says in Psalms 119:11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” The more of the word you hide in your heart, the less likely you are going to be to sin, because the Word will be there ready and prepared.

6.       QUOTE IT

Of course you can’t quote it if you haven’t memorized it; you can’t memorize it unless you meditate on it; you can’t meditate on it unless you study it; you can’t study it unless you read it.

If you want to become skillful in God’s Word and have the Word of God change your life, try doing those six things.