JUST READ IT.

I cringe every time I am offered a Bible reading schedule.
Why do we read the Bible the way I used to read my "love letters"?

I was in the Navel Air Reserve. When away on a cruise
(Well, we flew.) My fiancee would write to me.
When Mail Call came I tore open her letters. I would
first look at the length. Then determine how many
paragraphs were in it. Then I could plot out how to read
it.  Twelve paragraphs. So today I will read paragraph five.
Tomorrow I will read paragraph three. Then the day
after read paragraph eleven.

If you believe that was the way I read those letters,
you would believe anything the Devil tells you.

But we read our Bibles that way!
Being too simple to understand much, I just picked
my Bible up and started reading. For years now, over
and over, and over. Yes, some times I would go back
and reread, or think about, or study, or memorize.
But the routine was, over and over and over.
Want to read through your Bible in a year?
Just pick it up and read it.

At church lately there has been a "preacher" visiting
with us. You can spot them when they walk in the
door. They have not found a seat before you know
they are either a preacher or a wantabe preacher.
You know what I am talking about. You have seen
them too. And they don't take to long to let every body
know they are ministers. Then as soon as possible
they will begin demonstrating their vast store of
knowledge when given an opportunity. Or even
with out an opportunity.

One night at the midweek Bible study this minister
was back in his full regalia of finery.  He looked as
good as any prosperity preacher.
At an appropriate time he began to wax eloquent,
becoming very emphatic about a certain position.
But the Holy Spirit brought to my mind and obscure
verse that I've never studied, thought on, or
memorized. It of course blew his position clear
out of the water.

I did not say anything. It did not matter that much.
BUT, the Holy Spirit protected me from being mislead
by reminding me of something I have read, over and over.
This is something that has happened numbers of times.

"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, he will teach you
all things, and bring to your remembrance all
that I have said to you."
-John 14:26 RSV

One time I had a pastor, a very good pastor. In a
Sunday School discussion he admitted that
he had just finished reading the Bible all the way
through for the first time. He had been preaching
twenty six years. Now that is pathetic.

If you ever get a chance, get a copy of the book
"How To Master The English Bible" by James
M. Gray. They are available as reprints.

Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho, pastor of the largest church
in the world, in his book "The Fourth Dimension"
on page 150 says,

"You must read the Bible. But do not read
the Bible for religious pretenses; do not
read the Bible to seek out new legalistic
rules for living; do not read the Bible for
historical purposes. Rather, read the Bible
to feed your mind and to renew your
thinking life. Fill your thinking with the Word
of God. Then God can have a free approach
to your life and flow out to do mighty things
for the glory of God through you."

JUST PICK IT UP AND READ IT.