Why Read The Bible?

"I'm a busy person with a lot to do. Why should I spend time reading the Bible? I don't have time to do all I need to do as it is."

"I already believe in Jesus Christ. I've already heard the Gospel."

"Why should I read the Bible?"

The following Scriptures should answer the question.

JOHN 8:31-32 RSV
31 Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

JOSHUA 1:8 Beck
8 Don't stop reading this book of the Law, but day and night think of what it says, so you can be careful to do everything written in it; then you will prosper and succeed.

ACTS 20:32 LB
32 "And now I entrust you to God and his care and to his wonderful words that are able to build your faith and give you all the inheritance of those who are set apart for himself.

MATTHEW 4:4 NLT
4 But Jesus told him, "No! The Scriptures say, 'People need more than bread for their life; they must feed on every word of God.' "

JOHN 6:63 ICB
63 It is not the flesh that gives a person life. It is the spirit that gives life. The words I told you are spirit, and so they give life.

ROMANS 15:4 CEV
4 And the Scriptures were written to teach and encourage us by giving us hope.

JOHN 14:23-24 Rieu
23 Jesus replied: 'If anyone loves me he will cherish my word; my Father will love him and we will come to him and make him our abode.
24 He that does not love me neglects my words. Yet the word you hear is not my own but that of the Father who sent me.

2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 NLT
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.
17 It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.

HEBREWS 4:12 NLT
12 For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are.

God's Word is alive! The more you expose yourself to it, the more it will expose itself to you.

To know God better you must spend time hearing what He has to say. The Bible is His message to you. If you want Him to listen to what you have to say, you should also listen to what He has to say.

Although God can also speak directly to your heart, you need to know His written Word so you can judge whether God is speaking to you, or the enemy is trying to deceive you.

God will not love you more because you read the Bible. It's for your benefit -- not required to make God love you. However, without reading the Bible, you will not grow spiritually, and you will be more easily deceived.

Prayerfully reading the Scriptures yourself is the only real defense against being misled.

God's Word is truth (John 17:17). Don't you want to know the truth? Why waste your time on lesser, unreliable things?

Your spiritual life is important. You always have time for what you consider important.

Jesus taught that God's Word is a seed (Luke 8:11). Plant the seed of God's Word in your life and you will reap blessings.

The promise of Jesus in John 8:31-32 is for you. If you continue in the Word of God, you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free!

Only those who continue in God's Word come to the place of knowing called faith. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Here are some articles for further reading:

The Bible Is The Word Of God

God's Word Is A Seed

God's Word Will Make You Free

God's Word Is A Medicine

What's wrong with 24/7 Prayer? How could that be wrong?! - FOTM1

The premise is wrong from the start if you think that many words will get God to move - and that you need to help Him make sure that people are praying. Here are some verses to consider:

Matt 23:14 (KJV) - 14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Matt 6:7-8 (KJV) - 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

2 Tim 2:15-16 (KJV) - 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

Isaiah 1:12-15 (KJV) - 12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

Eccl 5:1-7 (KJV) - 1 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. 2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. 3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words. 4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. 5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. 6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? 7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.

Isaiah 58:1-14 (KJV) - 1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. 3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?

SAVING SOULS

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 5:16



Who hath saved us, and called [us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

2 Timothy 1:9