There’s a song I learned while serving at The Way International Headquarters that describes a tender relationship with God. Some of the lyrics go like this: “Close by His side, I will abide. / I love Him better every day.” We want to love Him better every day! One simple way we can build our personal relationship with God is to read our Bible every day.
By reading our Bible, we get to know God and His great love for us.
Psalms 33:11:
The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
God’s Word reveals the very thoughts of His heart to us. In the pages of His Word we learn of His goodness, His faithfulness, and His many other wonderful characteristics. We learn about how He so loved that He gave His only begotten Son.
John 3:16:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
I John 4:9,10:
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
The more we come to know God by reading His Word, the more we love Him. As we learn about how much He loves us, our response is to love Him back.
Another benefit of reading the Bible daily is that we learn of the power available to us as God’s children.
Ephesians 1:18,19:
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.
God wants us to know of His exceedingly great, superabundant power to us who believe, and His Word is a great place for us to start! As we learn of the power available to us, we can grow in “godliness,” which is our true and vital spiritual relationship with God.
II Peter 1:3:
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.
This is what we are building with God when we gain a knowledge of Him and His power to us by reading our Bible every day: a relationship that is genuine, vital, and spiritual. As a result, we can live with confidence in our day-to-day lives and can see results in life as we believe God’s Word.
What are some practical ways we can make reading the Bible a part of our daily life? When I first made the decision to read the Word every day, I started small to build the habit. I decided to read ten Bible verses every morning. Being faithful to this simple plan built success, and soon I increased to fifteen verses a day. As I built faithfulness to set aside consistent blocks of time, I found I no longer needed to count my verses. Instead I would set aside thirty minutes, or however much time I had, and just enjoy reading my Bible.
Making a plan can help us stay consistent in our reading. We might plan to read a certain book of the Bible over the course of several days, or we might choose to read the same passage every day for a period of time to really build certain truths in our heart. Currently, I am following a plan to read the Bible in a year. This has been a helpful way for me to build my relationship with God as I read about His love and faithful care throughout the ages.
The Way International Bookstore currently makes available a daily reading plan to read the Bible in a year. And there are also many apps available for smartphones, tablets, and computers that provide daily Bible reading plans. You might enjoy trying one of these. Or perhaps you would like to make a reading plan with a friend that you both can follow, and then meet regularly to discuss your learning.
As we make reading our Bible a daily habit, we can expect our personal relationship with God to grow. By reading the Word, we draw close to God as we learn about Him and His great love for us. We also grow in our knowledge of the power that is available to us as we believe. What a rewarding endeavor! Let’s get started right away, reading God’s Word and growing to love Him better every day.