Focusing On God's Word

With 2010 on it's way I've started making my list of goals for the new year. I will share the entire list one day in January. Today I want to let you in on just one. My goal in 2010 is to be a better steward of my access to the Bible. This will help me grow in my relationship with Christ and be more obedient to God, the Father.

In the past I have not been very successful in actually studying the Bible on my own. As you can read in some of my '09 posts I have learned and grown, spiritually, from listening to sermons and reading books about the Bible. But I've not been very disciplined when it comes to reading the scriptures to discover it's truth for myself.

Like a lot of people probably do at this time of year, I thought about trying to read all the way through from Genesis to Revelation next year. But that would be only quantity not quality.Recently I listened to a sermon by Bible teacher, John MacArthur, in which he recommends a method for becoming familiar with God's word in order to be able to truly benefit from it.

At his suggestion I'm going to read through the New Testament one section at a time (about 5 chapters from one of the 27 books) and read it everyday for 30 days. This will make me very familiar with the text. This is very much like memorizing a song from the radio after you've heard it over and over again for a long time. It's learning by repetition.

This is a very long term project. According to MacArthur this method of familiarizing yourself with the text of the New Testament will take about 2 1/2 years. However he promises that it will be very effective in making the scriptures part of your life and being able to go deeper into the meaning of The Word. It's a very effective way to lay a foundation for studying the Bible and "hiding it's words my heart."

I invite anyone who wants to get closer to God to join me on this course through the New Testament. Because starting in 2010 my goal is to focus on God's Word.