DO YOU READ GOD'S WORD TO BENEFIT YOURSELF? – ?????

[Bible Speaks]

DO YOU READ GOD'S WORD TO BENEFIT YOURSELF? 

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Regularly reading a portion of God’s Word allows its message to ‘exert power’ on us. (1 Peter 5:8)(Read Hebrews 4:12.) Such reading can mold our inner person and make us more pleasing to Jehovah. 

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Do you have a personal need to schedule more time to read the Bible and meditate on what it says? Becoming acquainted with the Bible involves more than being familiar with what it says. To become acquainted with the Word of God means to know what it says and to put that knowledge into practice. It is a real protection for a Christian to have perceptive powers that are properly trained to distinguish right from wrong in a world that is “past all moral sense.” (Eph. 4:19) 

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Maturity is also beneficial in that it strengthens our figurative heart and keeps us from being “carried away with various and strange teachings.” (Read Hebrews 13:9.) 

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When we strive to make spiritual progress, our mind stays focused on “the more important things.” (Phil. 1:9, 10) 

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We thus grow in our appreciation for God and for all the provisions he has made for our benefit. (Rom. 3:24) 

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A Christian who is “full-grown in powers of understanding” develops such gratitude and enjoys intimacy with Jehovah. Our attaining maturity requires that we train our perceptive powers. We do this by putting forth effort to get better acquainted with God’s Word. 

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To attain maturity, we must become well-acquainted with God’s word, his message to us. Since this message is contained in his Word, the Bible, we should be good students of the Scriptures and the publications of “the faithful and discreet slave.” (Matt. 24:45-47) 

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Absorbing God’s thinking in this way can help us to train our perceptive powers. Consider the example of a Christian named Orchid.* She says: “The reminder that has had the biggest effect on my life is the one about regular Bible reading. It took me about two years to finish the whole Bible, but it seemed that I was meeting my Creator for the first time. I learned about his ways, his likes and his dislikes, the degree of his power, and the depth of his wisdom. Reading the Bible daily has sustained me through some of the darkest moments of my life.” 

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https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2009360?q=bible+a+protection&p=par#h=12