There was a time when I found it difficult to read my Bible and pray for any real length of time. Until one day, I was reading my Bible, and a verse hit me like a ton of bricks. My time with the Lord was never the same after that.
The verse was John 16:12, where Jesus tells His disciples, “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” For some reason, that verse played over and over in my head.
I prayed, “Lord, I want to be a person you can say anything to whenever you want and not have to hold back because I can’t bear something.” That verse gave me a hunger to go through scripture like never before. I longed to be someone the Lord could speak with about whatever He wanted.
From that moment on, I began to read the Bible, not to study history or to memorize scripture, but because I wanted to know what my Father was saying to me. I wanted to connect in a way I hadn’t been able to before.
The things we remember most are things we are emotionally connected with. It may be a child’s birth or an unthoughtful comment that exposed an insecurity. Whether the memory is good or bad, it will always be there because we connected to it mentally and emotionally. How much of what you studied in school do you remember? My guess would be not as much as you would have liked. That is because we don’t retain the information we don’t emotionally and mentally connect with. If it is just memorization, it will always seem fleeting.
The Bible is a love story God wrote to His children. He offers us salvation and hope, but he also tells us about Himself. When you read the Bible as though your Father wrote it just for you, (because He did) instead of like a textbook you have to get through, you will retain more of what’s in it. You will experience the love He put in it. God is love, after all.
My children love to hear stories of when I was younger and what life what like when I was their age. I also enjoyed hearing my father’s stories. Why is it that when we read the Bible, we act as if it’s something to get through, instead of taking it as our Father sharing His story with us.
I ask you, the next time you pick up your Bible, imagine you and God are going through it together, and He and His friends are sharing His story with you. I believe you will see things in a new light and be able to connect to the word of God like never before.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Faith through Love
Featured Image by Rod Long on Unsplash
