Lesson 17: God's Power Can Leave Us When We No Longer Read the Word of God

Romans 12:1-2 - "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

If we want to live a life that is pleasing to God, and even know what His will is, we must no longer be conformed to this world, but renew our minds. We renew our minds in the Word of God. The picture here is that when we read the Word of God, we are un-brainwashing ourselves from the brainwashing of this world, and once we do that, we clearly understand God's will for our lives.

We may talk about the Bible, we say we believe in the Bible, we own several Bibles, but we rarely seem to get around to reading the Bible. We set other priorities and pretty soon we come up with the excuse that we do not have time.

Philippians 4:8-9 - "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things…and the God of peace will be with you."

A leading research company shows that a huge number of adults consider good physical health as their top priority in life. I believe in a well-balanced diet, but I think we start getting a little off-balance when it comes to physical care.

Paul warns us about this in 1 Timothy 4:7-8 - "Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come."


This is precisely our problem. We have allowed ourselves to become more consumed with external care than internal care. There is nothing wrong with exercising and trying to eat healthy. Please be responsible. Our problem is that even these healthy things can quickly become unhealthy if they steal away our time with the Lord. That is why we need to ask ourselves: is a low-fat bagel more important than the Bible?

It is not that we have no time to read the Bible, it is that we will not take the time to read the Bible. We waste our time on non-spiritual things!

A man who was injured in an accident where he lost his eyes and both hands hungered for the Word of God so much that he figured out how to read it with his tongue. A question we need to ask ourselves is this: do we long to read the Word of God that much? We need to realize that the only way to fight truth decay is to brush up on the Bible each and every day. If you see a Bible that is falling apart, it probably belongs to someone who is not.

* What time of day do you dedicate to reading the Bible?