How to Handle the Bible – Six Steps

SPEAKER 02 : 0:01

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, October 1st. The Bible is every believer’s essential guidebook. But how do you read it in a way that encourages and strengthens you? Let’s close out our series with six practical steps for how to handle the Bible.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:20

Now, the truth is, how you and I handle something depends upon the value we place on it. How we handle it depends upon the value we place on it. Now, the way I value it is going to depend upon a couple of things. First of all, what’s the nature of this thing that I’m valuing? And secondly, what benefit is it to me personally? So when we think about the nature of this, this is the eternal word of the living God. The Bible says about itself that the nature of the truth that is in here is that it’s active and alive. It’s not like reading any other book. There’s no book to match it because it’s the mind of God put in print so that you and I know the ways of God. We may understand the character and the attitude of God. We may understand the power of God. There’s no book like it, nothing so precious. And no matter who you are and what you own, You do not possess anything more valuable than this book. This is the book that teaches us how to know God, how to relate to Him, how to be forgiven of our sin, how to live successfully in this life, and how to die unafraid and spend eternity with God. No other book ever been printed. has been able to do what this book has been able to do. Now, what I want to do is to give you some simple ideas about how to use this book. We’ve said now, these are the benefits of it, some of them. How do I use this book? And so most all of us here have one in our hand. And if you have one in your hand, then I just want to give you a few suggestions. And, you know, when you think about how we use this, of course, let me ask you, what’s the first thing you must do to benefit from the Bible? Read it. Absolutely correct. Now, the two things people ask about most is, first of all, they ask the question, well, when should I read it? And the second question is, they ask the question, well, how should I read it? Well, here’s what I’d say to someone. What did Jesus say? Give us this day. He didn’t say give us this week, month, year. He said give us this day our daily bread. We read the Bible daily. You read it daily. You read it consistently. Now, how do you read it? Somebody says, well, just any old way to read the Bible. No, listen. You read it carefully. You read it prayerfully. You read it expectantly. You’re expecting God to say something to you. This is God’s book. If I took this Bible and just ripped it apart and threw the pages all over here, you’d say, well, that’s a very irreverent way to treat the Word of God. Because, you see, you know the value of it. We wouldn’t do that. You read it prayerfully. You read it consistently, daily, expectantly. You read it anticipating God to say something in your life. You say, well, how much Bible should I read? Well, you know what? That’s up to you. Some people say, well, I read through the Bible every year. Wonderful. Let me say this. You can read through the Bible every year. The issue is, is the Bible getting in you and through you during that time? Because you see, you can read the Bible all the way through, which will certainly give you a good idea of what it’s all about. But you may just want to read a passage. Read a chapter. Or you may want to read through a book. Let’s start with a small book. For example, if you want to read the book of Philippians, just four chapters, you read one chapter a day. You know what? If you just read one chapter a day, it wouldn’t take you long to get through the Gospels and long to get through the Epistles. You’d have the New Testament down or the Psalms, for example. Some people read a Psalm. Since they have 31 Proverbs, they’ll read one chapter of Proverbs every day and then go to the New Testament, go to the Old Testament. However you choose to read it, the issue is that you read it prayerfully. Listen, consistently, daily, expectantly. expecting God to speak to your heart, say something to you that you know in your heart you need to hear, but you want to read it carefully. Just don’t skip over words. Now, somebody says, well, I don’t understand what that means, so I’m going to keep going. And what happens is oftentimes they miss some of the most precious truths. You can read it in different versions. You know, we’ve got all kinds of versions today, and so some may be a little more simpler and easier for you to understand than others, but whatever it takes, read it. So the first thing you do with the Bible is what? Read it. The second thing you do is meditate on it. You say, well, is meditation reading the same? No, it’s not. And I want you to get the difference. So I’ll just give you an example. Let’s, let me give you a verse. Let me give you a passage that I, let’s say that I want to meditate on this passage. Turn to the first Psalm, for example, turn to Psalm one, because meditation is not the same as just reading the scripture meditation. I’m going to do more than just read it. Meditation requires something. I mean, real genuine meditating on the Word of God requires silence, stillness, concentration. And remember this, when you’re meditating on the Word of God, you have zeroed in and you’re looking for something and you’re listening. Let’s just read this first psalm. I’m just going to read the first three verses of it just to give you an illustration here. But his or her delights in the law of the Lord, in his law, they meditate day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season. Its leaf does not wither, and whatever he does, he prospers. Now, we could take the whole one, but just for time’s sake, let me just take this and say, okay, let’s suppose I read this and I think, somehow God spoke to my heart, and I’m going to meditate on this passage. Here’s what I’d do. I’ll read this first verse again after I’ve read that passage. How blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked. I say, well, Lord, now, I want you to examine my heart, Father. Do I run with people who are wicked and vile? Do I like being with people who are sinful and sensual and idolatrous and dishonest? Don’t tell the truth. In other words, examine my heart. Father, speak to my heart. Lord, here’s what you said. You said, blessed is the man who doesn’t do that. Lord, am I missing some blessing in my life because of maybe who my friends may be or the people I run with? You said, no, stand in the path of sinners. No, sit in the seat of the scoffers. I’ll do the same thing to both of those. Then I’d come down to this third verse or the second verse and it says, but his delights in the law of the Lord. Then I’d say, Lord, do I really delight in your word? And then I have to ask myself, what does delight mean? How would I know whether I’m delighting in the Word of God or not? Then I’d probably go back in the concordance and look at some, another word says delight, look up those verses. Or I’d pull out a dictionary or something, or maybe a Bible dictionary and look up the definition of delight. Now, what am I doing? What am I doing? What’s happening is this passage of Scripture that once was black print on a white page, all of a sudden this thing’s coming alive. Delight, he says, but he delights in the law of the Lord. God, do I really and truly delight? What is it I delight in most, Lord? Do I delight in somebody? Do I delight in things? God, what is it that I delight in the most? You said, if I delight in your Word, and you said, delight in your Word, and also meditate day and night. What does meditation mean? It means… reading it and thinking about it and concentrating on it and absorbing it and pulling out of it the meaning of it. I’m meditating on it. I’m looking for God. I’m looking for God’s ways. I’m looking for God’s promises. I’m looking for his laws. I’m looking for his principles. Meditating on your word, Lord. How much do I really meditate? Do I just read through your word, just looking for something that will help me for the moment? Am I really looking for you, Lord? Am I just looking for something for myself? Do I want to find out what you’re like? Am I in love with you to the point, Lord, that I want to meditate on your word so I can find out what you’re like and deepen my relationship with you? Do I care enough about you that I want to find out what really is involved in meditating upon your word? Then, Lord, you said… that if I would do that, I’d be like a… But you said, Lord, day and night. Now, Lord, did you really mean day and night? What do you mean when you say meditate day and night? Do you mean that I’m to start the morning in your Word? Do you mean that I’m to end the day in your Word? If that’s true, then God, maybe I don’t always do that. Lord, you said to delight myself, that is, that I’m to be satisfied and contented and I’m to be joyous and happy about your word and I’m to be in that looking and searching and reflecting upon it. That’s what meditation is all about, reflecting upon it and sometimes just repeating it back to you and repeating this verse back to you and asking you questions and telling you I don’t understand and what are you trying to say to me? Then, Lord, you said, you made this promise. You said, if I do that, I’ll be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. Well, if I were a tree, where would I want to be? I want to be the stream of water, plenty of moisture, leaves always green, fruit’s going to be there in the season. And you said firmly planted. That means I’ve got a firm foundation. And what’s going to make a firm foundation? Let’s see, what did you say? You said, if I meditate on the Word day and night, if I feed myself with enough of the Word, If I get established in the Word, then my roots are going down deep. I’m going to be able to tap that water. I’m going to be refreshed in my soul and my spirit. I’m going to be strong when the winds blow. They’re not going to blow me over. And, Lord, you said not only that. You said, which yields its fruit in its season. That is, my life will be more profitable. My life will be more fruitful if I do what? Now, you said, if I delight in your Word and meditate. It’s not enough just to delight in it, but if I delight in it, I will meditate. Therefore, I’m going to be strong. I’m going to be fruitful. And then, Lord, what it meant, you said, whatever I do will prosper. God, do you mean to tell me that if I get in your Word daily, and I meditate upon it, and I draw from it, and I drink from it, and I eat from it, and I feast on it, and I meditate on it, and it becomes a vital part of my life, that you’re going to prosper every aspect of my life? Yes. Yes. You know what’s happened? That black print has suddenly become a fountain of awesome knowledge and understanding and promises and joy and hope and contentment and peace. Listen, this God of mine says, if I will meditate upon his word day and night, delight myself in it, which will end up delighting myself in him, here’s what he’ll do. Make me strong, make me fruitful, prosper in every aspect of my life. Now, let me ask you a question. How many of you don’t want that for your life? Every single one of us does. You know what? That’s just one part of one Psalm. When I think about the treasure that’s in this book, that’s just one part. That’s not even a whole Psalm. That’s just, really, you could just take one or two of those verses. Now, which leads me to say, how much do you read when you meditate? Here’s how much you read. You read till you know that God wants you to stop right there. You know what happens to this book? All of a sudden, this book is no longer a book. It is a goldmine of endless, fathomless treasure that God can use to strengthen you, deepen you, and enable you to walk through any difficulty, trial, hardship, or heartache in life. No matter what. We could just go on all day about meditation. Let me just say this one last thing about it. You listen and say amen. The most important act today, tomorrow, next month, next year, till the day you die. And on the day you die, the most important act in your life as a believer is meditation upon the Word of God. Because prayer and meditation, it is the event, the act in your life, the most powerful transforming force in your life. that will enable you to face every single aspect in life and every difficulty in life and every hardship in life, no matter what, and come out victorious every single time. It is the most important thing you do. So number one, reading the Scriptures. Number two, meditating upon the Word of God. Number three, studying the Bible. This is where I’ll lose most of you, I’m afraid. studying the Word of God, my goodness, I don’t understand it. You know when people tell me the reason they don’t read the Bible, they don’t understand it? How do you start understanding the Bible? You start reading it, meditating upon it. And then what happens? When you study the Bible, you may study one word. Let’s say that you’re going through some particular trial. Let’s say that somebody has really wronged you, and you know that you need to forgive them, but it’s very difficult. Well, what do you do? You say, God? Now, what do you say about forgiveness? Let’s say, what did you say in the Sermon on the Mount? So you turn to the Sermon on the Mount and you read about forgiveness. Then what do you do? You get your concordance out and you look up all these words on forgiveness. And you know what’s going to happen? God is going to show you how to handle that unforgiving spirit. He’s going to show you how to relate to that other person. So you can study it by words. You can study a chapter. You can study a book of the Bible. What’s the theme, for example, of Philippians? It’s joy. What’s the theme of Colossians, for example? It’s Christ. And you and I could just go all the way through the Scriptures, and all the books have different themes in them. And you can do it by theme, or you can do it by book, or whatever it might be. You don’t just read across the surface. You meditate on it. You study the Word of God. So what’s the first word? First thing we’re going to do is what? Amen. Read it. Second thing, meditate upon it. Number three, study. Now listen, fourth thing, this is major. Believe it. If you don’t believe it, none of those other things are going to work. You’ve got to believe it. Now turn, if you will, to Hebrews. I’ve given you this verse before, but I’ll give it to you again. I want you to get this in your heart. Look, if you will, in Hebrews chapter 4. Listen to what he says now. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 1 and 2. He says, That is, for example, God’s made promises to his Old Testament saints. And he says, If you don’t believe it, it’s not going to work. You say, well, how would I believe the Word of God? Say somebody’s, for example, you’re an agnostic, and you say, yeah, I don’t believe that. How am I going to start believing it? Now, this won’t sound very rational to you, but I guarantee you it’ll work. If you don’t believe this, you know how to start believing it? This is the power of God’s Word. You start reading it. You say, well, you mean to tell me if I just read it, I’m going to believe it? You start reading it and see what happens. The Spirit of God will work through His Word. Believing in it is absolutely essential. The next thing, and I won’t spend time there, the next thing that’s important is this, applying it. If you don’t apply it, here’s what you do. When you and I read the Word of God and we don’t obey what He tells us, we don’t apply it. Listen, here’s what happens. Watch this. You will never understand the deep things of God. You’ll never understand the ways of God. You’ll never get a glimpse of what God’s really like unless you do the last thing He told you to do. What happens is the failure to apply the truth, the mind gets cloudy. The walk gets weak. And what happens is our fruit is absolutely dried up. Reading and studying and meditating upon the Word of God is absolutely essential for us to do and become the person God wants us to be. Now, to apply it requires some things. It requires courage. Sometimes God says, here’s what I want you to do, and it scares us to death. It requires courage. The second thing it requires, listen, is discipline. There’s some things that I’m sure that God has told all of us, here’s what I want you to do. And you know what? We lasted three days. And we’re right back where we were. Discipline. I remember something that Dr. Oldford told me, his father told him when he was just a young lad. That is, discipline and not desire determines a person’s destiny. That is, the thing that really makes a difference of how God uses us and what happens in our life is that we become disciplined. Whatever God is requiring of us, that’s what we do. We lay aside the easy things and do the things that are difficult, and those things that are difficult after a while become not so difficult. Discipline. discipline, not desire determines a person’s destiny. You can’t just read the Bible to feel good. You’ve got to listen. God wants us to read the Bible to understand who he is, fall in love with him and let him begin to work in our life. And I’m simply saying this, this book is a treasure. It benefits us in every single way. You’ve got to read it. You’ve got to meditate on it, study it at times in your life, believe it applied to your heart. And the last thing is this, You share it. You share it with someone else. And here’s what happens. No one profits in the sharing like you do. When you begin to share the Word of God, I don’t mean just give some little testimony. I’m talking about you saying, let me tell you about this passage God spoke to my heart in. Here’s what God’s doing in my life according to His Word. When you begin to share the Word of God with someone else, what happens is you get stronger. When you say, let me tell you about this verse. And sometimes, here’s something else I’ve discovered. When God knows that you and I are getting to face a difficulty in our life, and we don’t know it, we can’t know it, we have no earthly idea. He may bring you to a passage of Scripture a month before, a week before, or two days before, or the day before, or that morning. And somehow you just know, God, what in the world are you saying to me? You know what that is? Here’s what I’ve learned. Oftentimes, it’s God’s warning of something that’s coming. And listen, here’s an expression of his love. He gets you in that passage, won’t let you get out of it for two or three weeks or two or three days. He knows what’s coming. He knows that you need, listen, you need that principle. You need that truth. You need it etched in your mind. You need it etched in your heart so that when it hits you, when it hits you, you won’t even budge. There’s no book in the world like this one. When we read it. We meditate upon it, we study it, we believe it, we apply it, and we share it. You know what happens? We become living, walking treasure houses. We become so wealthy in the things that matter. Listen, money can’t buy the wealth that you and I have. Death can’t take it away. It’s eternal wealth. And you know what? You’ve got the bank in your hand. And all I wanted to do in this whole message… is to hope and pray that God would help you to understand the most valuable thing you own is the treasure of the Word of God. It’s the only word that’s going to get you through some circumstances in life. My, how you can enrich your children and your grandchildren by letting them see you read it, hear you read it, talk about the Word of God, handle the Scripture, let them see you down by the bed, let them hear you reading from God’s Word. You say, well, they won’t even understand it that early. You know what? That’s not your problem. You know what? They won’t understand some things. My kids, listen, I read it to them before they ever even understood what this was. And I read it to them when they’d ask, well, what does that word mean? What does that mean? You know what? It becomes a part of their life. It’s just as much a part of their life, clothes they wear, shoes they have. You know what? You ought to be more familiar with your Bible than anything else in life. We have to live by it, die by it, And be judged by it. Most important thing in all of your life.

SPEAKER 02 : 18:51

Thank you for listening to part two of How to Handle the Bible. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.