Why Should I Read my Bible?

Why should I read my Bible?

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

Something I have been learning recently has been the importance of being in the word of God daily. It can be so easy to disregard and forget to spend time in the Bible. The verse above declares that the word of God is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. The word of God illuminates. It shows us where to go and guides us in the right direction. If the light goes out, we can easily stray from the path.

Last week I went for a walk through the woods late at night to clear my mind. I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight in order to see where I was going. It was only with my flashlight on that I could see the path in front of me. If the light was off, I would have no clue where I was going. It was during this walk that the verse above came to mind and the Holy Spirit began His teaching session.

First of all, I needed the light on for every single step, if the light were to go out for even the slightest of moments, I would be susceptible to stumbling or stepping off the path. The Bible keeps me from stumbling and falling as it illuminates each footstep along the way. In my day-to-day life, this means constantly meditating on the word of God and coordinating my actions in light of the truth of scripture. To walk apart from the word of God is to walk in darkness.

Second of all, I had to focus on each step as it came without seeking to look down the path towards what was coming. If I sought to look to far down the path, I would end up tripping over a root, or a rock that was right in front of me.

In my life, I tend to try and discover what God is planning for me weeks and months down the road. In actuality, we are designed as humans to walk by faith. We are not meant to see the big picture and that is okay. God will illuminate each step as it comes and we have to trust that He is leading us in the direction He wants us to go. Biologically, even our eyes are only designed to be able to focus on one thing at once. If we seek to focus on two or three things at one given time, we become discombobulated and are unable to fully apply ourselves to what we are doing in the present moment. We need to walk by the word of God one step at a time.

Now I want to take some time to define what the word of God is, I believe John 1:1 helps to clarify this for us.

“In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.” (John 1:1)

This passage tells us that the word is God. Therefore, we can use the terms word and God synonymously. We can substitute these two terms as follows.

God, is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)

So, to live by the word is to live by God. To live by God is to submit to His authority and His Kingship. This means obeying the rules He has given us to follow in the Bible. Therefore, it is imperative that we know the rules he has given us to follow. This means scripture memorization! The proverbs emphasize that we know the law of God.

My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. (Proverbs 3:1-2)

This proverb holds a beautiful promise. If we hold fast to the commandments God has given us, we will experience bountiful life and peace. Two blessings that can be difficult to find.

The problem is that our enemy, which is Satan, is constantly trying to pull us away from God’s word and His plans for our life.

Be sober minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

Now, the devil knows that the Bible is truth. He knows that it contains the words of God. This is why he tries to do everything he can to keep us from reading it. Have you ever wondered why its so easy to play video games, or watch television or scroll through your phone, but when you seek to read your Bible, it feels as though everything in the world is pushing you away from it’s pages? I personally feel this struggle every morning as I seek out God’s word. It is a daily battle to get into the word of God.

Whatever keeps me away from my Bible is the enemy. (A.W Tozer)

The devil devours us by pulling us away from God and His truth in scripture. Now the way the devil does this is by making other things in life more appealing than God’s word. He purposefully sews half truths and lies into our minds that are seemingly good and life giving.

For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (1 Corinthians 11:14)

Light is a characteristic of God. Therefore, Satan tries to disguise himself and his lies as being from God. Often the lies we are told are sugar coated with the good and life and contain everything we want to hear. However, they are always contrary to scriptural truth in some small way and will involve some hook that will keep us chained to darkness. He specifically tries to twist our understanding of who Jesus is, for if he can undermine the crucifixion and our belief in Jesus as being the son of God then he can steal away our eternal life and our inheritance. For our eternal life is found only in Jesus.

And this is the testimony, God has given us eternal life. And this life is in His son. He who has the son has life, but he who does not have the son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:11-12)

The key to eternal life and being restored to the place of unity with God is believing in Jesus as the son of God. The devil knows this and seeks to tarnish our understanding and belief of Jesus and His death and resurrection.

I want to share a dream that I had a few months back in order to unveil how deceptive and cunning Satan can be. In this dream, Satan posed as Jesus and attempted to imprint a different gospel into my mind.

In my dream, I was walking along an alleyway when I heard a voice calling from the heavens.

“The stars have aligned and you have an audience with the Son of Poseidon. What is shared with you is for your ears alone. You must not share this with anyone else”

I was immediately whisked away in my dream to a forested place. The dream was so real I could feel the dampness in the air and smell the pine needles on the ground. I don’t know how, but this was my experience. I then found myself face to face with a man who was calling himself Jesus. He was in the form of the King Themistocles from the movie 300: Rise of the Empire.

Reflecting back upon the dream, this was very strategic on the devil’s part as I had recently watched this movie and was amazed at the parallels between this Greek King and Jesus with regards to their passion in fighting for freedom against evil. The fact the devil took this form meant he had been watching my life and was well aware of what form could potentially deceive me.

We were walking along and I remember asking how he could be Jesus and also called the son of Poseidon? To this he replied,

“Well, I walked on water, didn’t I? I calmed the storm with my disciples. The water is my realm of power.”

It made sense in my mind. In actuality, he was simply twisting scripture to make the lie seem more presentable.

He then continued to impart unworldly wisdom upon me. I cannot recall all the details of this. I simply remember being very aware that this being understood things that far surpassed that of any mortal. Through all of this there were two things that the devil couldn’t fake. He couldn’t fake the humility, and most of all he couldn’t fake the love. Jesus is humble. Jesus is loving.

I also recall remembering that all the knowledge that was being shared with me was simply a way of the devil showing his superiority. He was boasting in his knowledge. Something Jesus never does.

We then arrived at a wooden shack hidden way back in the woods. We sat down and he began affirming me in how I had been doing over the past year and how proud he was of me. He then told me that he in fact hadn’t died on the cross. That he was still living here on earth as an eternal being simply waiting for his followers to rally in a final surge against the devil and darkness. He wanted me to continue being a leader for his name but to be ready for his rallying call at any moment.

I then remember asking him for a hug before I left the dream. There was no love in that hug.

I woke up and remembered my dream clear as day. It was 2 a.m. in the morning. I was ecstatic at first, thinking I had just met Jesus. Then I started to have scripture come to mind. I was reminded of the crucifixion of Jesus and his burial and resurrection. I recalled that Jesus said he was the son of God, not the son of Poseidon. I realized that what I had seen and heard had not been Jesus but rather the devil seeking to deceive me into believing a lie.

The next morning, I opened my Bible straight to the following passage.

Whatever I tell you in darkness, say it in the light, and whatever you hear with your ears, preach on the rooftops. (Matthew 10:27)

This verse solidified in my mind that the dream and vision was a lie of the devil as this truth cut straight through the lie I had been told about not being able to tell anyone what I had heard.

From this whole encounter I had two key takeaways.

The first, is that Satan is much more cunning and deceptive than any of us realize. His ability to twist truth in a way that is appealing and sugar-coated with half truths is exceptional.

The second, is that the word of God is the only means to cut through the lies of the devil. The only way I knew that this dream was not the truth was because I had scripture memorized in my heart. It was this scriptural truth that kept me from following a lie. Had I not known my Bible, I could be living out this lie right now and potentially even convincing other people to join me in believing a different Gospel. Knowing and memorizing scripture is SO IMPORTANT.

“Put on the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17)

If you are reading this then maybe God is trying to push you towards your Bible. Maybe He wants you to start making scripture memorization a weekly habit. I can testify that memorizing scripture always proves to be useful. I like to visualize every verse I memorize as a weapon being added to my spiritual armory. A weapon the Holy Spirit can pull out at any moment to counteract a lie that the devil may be trying to fire my way. We are living in a world filled with lies and darkness. Saturate your mind with the word of God, and you will be able to keep your footing and stay on the path that leads to eternal life.