Billy Graham wrote a book called The Holy Spirit: Activating God’s Power in Your Life and in that book he tells the story of an Eskimo and his fighting dogs that I’d like to read to you: “An Eskimo fisherman came to town every Saturday afternoon. He always brought his two dogs with him. One was white and the other was black. He had taught them to fight on command. Every Saturday afternoon in the town square the people would gather and these two dogs would fight and the fisherman would take bets. On one Saturday the black dog would win; another Saturday, the white dog would win but the fisherman always won! His friend began to ask him how he did it. He said, “I starve one and feed the other. The one I feed always wins because he is stronger.” This story about the two dogs tells us something about the inner warfare that comes into the life of a person who is born again. We have two natures within us, both struggling for mastery. Which one will dominate us? It depends on which one we feed.”
If we’re to have any hope of saying yes to God and no to sin when temptation comes knocking at our door, we have make our spirit (that side of us that wants to please God) stronger than our flesh (that side of us that wants to please self). Well, there’s one primary way that our spirit becomes strong. And that’s by regular feeding on God’s Word. In the same way that our physical bodies need protein to grow muscle, our spirit needs to feed on God’s Word to become strong. Below are four tips for Bible reading. By following them you can build some spiritual muscle with which you can better resist temptation:
Tip #1: Pray
Before you start reading, ask God for insight into what you’re about the read. I suggest praying Psalm 119:169, “Give me understanding according to your Word.” I’ve been praying for understanding before I read my Bible since I was a teenager (when my pastor taught me the importance of it).
Tip #2: Read
Once you pray, get reading. Psalm 119:15 says “I will study your commandments.” This is something we all need to do. If you read only four chapters a day, you’ll go through the whole Bible in a year – which is a great idea to do if you’ve never done so. That will get your strong spiritually speaking so that when your flesh side comes looking for a fight, your spirit side wins.
Tip #3: Reflect
Psalm 119:15 says “I will…reflect on your ways.” If you know how to worry you know how to reflect. When you worry you think over and over again on all the bad things that might happen. Well, when you meditate you think over and over again on the promises of God laid out in his Word. As you reflect on God’s Word, the Holy Spirit will give you insights into how the text personally applies to your life. This leads us nicely into…
Tip #4: Respond
Psalm 119:34 says “I will…put God’s law into practice with all my heart.” If you don’t apply what you read, you’ve only become a smarter sinner. The goal of Bible reading isn’t information, rather transformation. So don’t end your Bible reading time without determining what you will put into practice in your everyday life.
Romans 8:4 says, “… do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” By regularly feeding your spirit the truth of God’s Word you’ll become strong enough to obey this command. When you regularly feed in God’s Word you set your spirit up to overpower your flesh when they find themselves in conflict (Galatians 5:16-17).