Bible Study and Prayer

First; studying the Bible without actually reading the Bible itself is a bleak and fruitless chore. Second; the student will only benefit from the Word of God in so far as he knows it and loves it.

~ Peter F. Ellis ~

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth"- John 1:1,14

(Jesus is the Word...You will only benefit from Jesus in so far as you know Him and love Him)

"...Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one, whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" - Romans 10:13-14 (you cannot believe in what you don't know, you cannot call on a God you don't believe in, and how can you believe in a God whom you have not heard speak to you? Just listening to a sermon won't do it, a preacher is not God, but when he speaks the Word of God, that Word is alive, as the Word is Jesus Himself)

Read the whole Bible, read the Word of God, get to know God intimately. Also spend much, much time in quiet time of prayer, just being still in His presence, hear His voice as He speaks personally to you and you will fall in love with Him. Jesus had no sin to confess. Jesus had all the authority and power of God at His disposal. He needed nothing, and yet He snuck off often to spend time alone with God in prayer. Why? Because He wanted intimacy with His Father.

Above everything, above ministry, above evangelism, above Bible study, above sermons, above it all...Spend intimate time with your heavenly Father...if you do not, the rest will amount to little or nothing. Fall in love with Jesus and reading the Bible will be a blessing to you.