Is there more to spending time with God than just reading my Bible?

Greetings from America! Hello everyone. It's hard to believe that it has already been two months since APJ summer school. We miss you all and talk about you an awful lot. I'm really excited about this blog because we want to continue building a relationship with each of you and answer questions you might have concerning Christianity and your faith.

The question I would like to talk about today is, "Is there more to spending time with God than just reading my Bible?" 

First off, if you don't have a bible I would encourage you to use an online source called www.biblestudytools.com. Reading the Bible and studying about God is a great start to building your faith but IS there more to spending time with God? I guess before I answer this question I have a question for you. 

If you and I wanted to get to know each other and we wrote letters back and forth but we never spent time with each other in person, how deep would our relationship go?

Our relationship would only go so far because you really can't get to know someone just by reading about them can you? I mean, you can know about them and memorize a lot of facts about that person but knowing them personally is much different. 

But how do you get to know God personally? I mean, you can't physically see Him or touch Him so how does that work? Spending time with God may look like this:

1. Spending time with God involves a CONVERSATION with Him 

Next week we will talk about how you can hear the voice of God and I know you've already hear from Jesse on what it means to pray. Praying/talking with God is a conversation that is really no different than talking with a friend or a family member. In Matthew 6:6 Jesus encouraged His disciples to go off and be alone when they pray. Tell Jesus about your struggles, the things that discourage you and what is going on in your life. He wants to know! 

2. Spending time with God involves enjoying CREATION with Him

Yesterday I went out in my kayak and spent an hour exploring the lake behind my house. The sky was a piercing shade of blue. I saw exotic Florida birds, ducks, palm trees, cypress trees covered in moss, etc. I looked for alligators and water snakes but I didn't see any! As I sat back and soaked in the experience I couldn't help but remember the God who created this. In Psalm 19:1 it says "The Heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship." 

Can you imagine taking a train ride to St Petersburg, showing up at the Hermitage Museum, and getting a private tour from the very artists who created the objects and paintings displayed there? God wants to give you a private tour through the nature He has created.

Why don't you try these two things this week and then comment about your experience on this blog. We'd love to hear from you! I'm praying for each of you, that your faith will remain strong and that you will change this world in a powerful way!

Do I have to read the bible?

Hi Everyone!!
I’m Ruthann and we want you to know that we really miss all of you at the International School of Tomorrow! We are excited about these daily videos and we hope that you will watch them and leave us comments if you have any questions!

My topic for today is DO I HAVE TO READ THE BIBLE??

If the question is do I HAVE to read the Bible to be a Christian, then the answer is NO. We don’t HAVE to read the Bible in order to BE a Christian.
BUT if the question is SHOULD I read the Bible, then the answer is YES!
But why?
Why should we read the Bible? Let’s explore this question together:

The Bible is the WORD OF GOD. Let’s stop and think about that for a minute:
We often think of reading the Bible as something difficult or boring. Sometimes we also think “I just wish God would speak to me!” But what if we realized that God HAS spoken and DOES speak to us through His Word, the Bible.

Does that make reading it sound more interesting?

The Word of God will light your way,
It will help you make right choices,
It will heal your wounds and hurts,
It will strengthen you, protect you, and lead you.
It will make you wise.
It is the standard by which we determine right and wrong
It will show you what God is like and tell you about His promises, His commands, His love and His mercy.

The Bible also tells us the story of how from before time even began, God had a plan to rescue and save a broken world. ALL the stories in the Bible are pointing to Jesus and how HE is the answer to our brokenness and sin.

It tells the story of how Jesus came into this world, the perfect, SINLESS, Son of God and died to take the punishment you and I deserve as sinners.

It tells the story of how Jesus proved His victory over sin and death by His resurrection from the dead.

And it tells the story of how God invites you and I to be a part of His family.

Jesus said that He came to give life. He said “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father EXCEPT THROUGH ME” (John 14:6)

Jesus also said “THE WORDS THAT I HAVE SPOKEN TO YOU ARE SPIRIT AND LIFE.” (John 6:63)

So we read the Bible because its words are more than just words on a page…It says in Hebrews that “the word of God is living and active”. (Hebrews 4:12)

Even as a Christian, I personally have struggled to read the Bible regularly. I’m busy, it’s hard to find the time to set aside just to pray and read my Bible, and if I’m honest, sometimes I just don’t even want to. I’m still learning and growing in this, but as I’ve been dealing with other things in my life, I have realized that what Jesus says in John 8:31-32 is true:

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

I’ve realized that I can’t know what the truth is UNLESS I open up the Bible and read it. I can’t get to know the God who wrote this book and revealed Himself to us through it, unless I open up the Bible and read it.

Which leads me to the next question…

How often should I read the Bible?
I think actually a better question is “How much do you want to KNOW GOD?”
One of the amazing things about being a Christian is that our RELATIONSHIP with God
can grow and deepen as we know Him more.

He already knows us. But we get to know Him as we spend time with Him, and especially as we make it a priority to read His Word and listen to Him speak through it.
Setting aside time to read and spend time with Jesus doesn’t just happen. It takes making it a priority, deciding that it’s important, and then doing it!
You can be creative with this! Some people make a set time in the morning, some people make it at night. Maybe riding the metro or over your lunch break is the best time for you.
The important point is that you DO make an effort and begin to include it as a habit in your life. Like I said before, there is no way to KNOW this God and what He has said unless we open up the book for ourselves and read it!

How do I START reading the Bible?

This is a great question! The Bible is obviously a big book, and sometimes it can seem overwhelming.
First, pray. Ask God to open your eyes and give you understanding to what you read. In the Psalms, King David prays and says “Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions.” (Psalm 119:18)
Then, here are a couple of ideas for how to start reading:
Proverbs is a great place to start. There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs. You can read one chapter a day.
The Psalms are also a good place to start. Many people find strength and comfort in the Psalms.
Also, I would highly recommend that you start with the first four books in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These books tell us the accounts of Jesus’ life here on earth, his teachings, and his death, burial and resurrection.

Don’t be intimidated by not knowing where to start. Feel free to ask any of us for more ideas!

Finally, if you have or can get a Bible of your own, WONDERFUL! But, if that is not possible, I wanted to tell you about a fabulous app that you can download to your smart phone:
It’s called YouVersion and I’m including a photo of what the app looks like in the blog post. This is my favorite Bible app and the cool thing is that it not only has the entire Bible in various English versions, it also has the Bible in hundreds of different languages. So if you feel more comfortable reading the Bible in your own language, this app probably has it available!

So, that’s all for now, but if any of you have questions or comments, please do leave them in the comment section below.