Know God’s Truth
If we’re to stand in the battle, we must really know God’s gospel truth for ourselves in the deepest places of our hearts. We must be convinced that God’s word is true, truer even than what our circumstances and our hearts’ longings are telling us. Think of Isaiah’s warning to the king of his day:If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. (Isa. 7:9 NIV)In other words, when there’s crisis, danger, or threat, then that’s the time to be sure that God can be utterly relied upon, because his truth has already won our trust. We need to have the truth of the word so deeply in us that we are deeply convinced that it is true.This means, quite obviously, that if we’re to stand firm, we need to be committed to engaging with God’s word. We need to develop habits that bless us so that we get the word of Christ dwelling in us richly. We can only walk with Jesus if we’re listening to his guiding voice (John 10:3–4). Those listening habits need to be put into place, which impact us weekly, daily, and moment by moment.Before we explore helpful ways to get into the Bible, let’s think about habits. Good habits are usually really hard to pick up—our lives are already so full of bad ones! Many people think that dieting or exercise or early mornings aren’t that hard, until they try them. Picking up bad habits takes no effort at all, and usually we don’t realize we’re doing them: negative moods, proud words, or carefully hidden and sinful use of money, internet, and phone. We obsess about things, habitually and destructively. Even what feels like impulse behavior—splurging money on purchases we don’t really need, wrong ways of using food or alcohol—are often habits we’ve slowly given into over time rather than sudden urges that came out of nowhere. And yet, growth in loving Jesus more and becoming like him comes down to the power of Spirit-shaped habits of living well. Yes, good habits are incredibly hard to form. Disciplined habits with eating, exercise, screen-time, all take effort and intention. But they’re far from impossible by God’s grace, and the joy and freedom they bring are incredible. Reading God’s word is a habit, and its effects bring more joy and freedom than anything else we could do. It takes time to form this habit into our lives, but the Holy Spirit is the power of God to make this habit stick for our great good.So if your Bible reading has been a disaster, or at least far from what you want, don’t despair: the Spirit who gave the word longs to bring the word to us. We need to find the ways we can open ourselves to that word, and do so again and again, until tentative steps become the habit we acquire, maybe without even realizing it. He will help us with just that. Here are five simple steps to great Bible reading:Read More – Go to SourceNeed a prayer? Prayer RequestsPlease subscribe to our main Ministries daily scripture study – Koa Sinag MinistriesHave a Testimony of how God has changed or intervened in your life? Tell us your story! Give God Praise!Need some inspiration? Check out others Testimonies!Have you checked out our online store? We have a tonne of fascinating and colourful PDF books, toys, kids’ apparel, and much more, including complimentary PDFs for home schoolers!