Don’t Give Up Now

Many of us have made the resolution this year to read the Bible everyday.  Those of us at Southern Hills in Las Vegas are on The Quest (30-Day Spiritual Journey).  And though we all desire to be in the Word of God and be consistent in our devotional time we often find ourselves slipping away from this important habit.

I want to share with you five things that will make you quit:

1.  Missing a Day

It’s so easy to begin a thing, but to continue and finish is much more difficult.  If you have been reading your Bible every day and then things get busy and you end up missing a day it becomes very easy to say, “Well, I guess I’ve blown it.  I might as well give up.”  Let me just say it right now!  YOU WILL MISS A DAY!  So what?!?!?  Relax.  Stop beating yourself up and get back into the Word.  If you missed on Thursday then forget it and read on Friday.  Don’t let one day turn into two because soon it will be a week, a month a year.

2.  A Battle With Sin

Just because you are committed to reading the Bible everyday does not mean you won’t be bothered by the Devil now.  Likely the opposite is going to be the case.  He doesn’t like that you are in the Word of God everyday.  Often what happens when a person attempts to spend time with God everyday in the Word and in prayer the Devil will attack them with a temptation to sin.  If the individual falls into that sin once again, even if he immediately confesses, he will feel like a hypocrite attempting to pick up his Bible and read.  Don’t let the Devil win here.  We are human, we fall down.  Pick yourself back up and get back into the Word of God.  Ask the Holy Spirit to help and He will!

3.  No Understanding

If you are new to Christ and untrained in the Scriptures you will likely get discouraged because you can’t understand everything that you read.  Understand this, the more you study the Scriptures the more you will understand.  Don’t give up… READ.  The more you read the more you will understand.  The more you understand the more you will live.  Remember what Dory said in Finding Nemo:  “Just keep reading, just keep reading, just keep reading.”

Tell me your experience.  Have you ever had a difficult time in consistency in this area like I have?  Share what you have been studying in your personal time with Jesus.