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Reachout Trust 24 Ormond Road Richmond Surrey TW10 6TH England Phone & Fax: 0845 241 2158 E-mail A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales, number 4162936. A registered charity number 1087085

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How vital a regular diet of the word of God is, yet tragically today many Christians do not appear to treat it as very important.

Based on a random sample of regular churchgoers in England and Wales, a survey commissioned by the Bible Society in 1997 showed that 16% - fewer than 1 in 5 - were in the habit of personally reading (or hearing read) something from the Bible every day. The full survey results can be found on the Internet

"Translated into terms of the population of England and Wales as a whole, this means that only 3 out of every 100 adults are in the habit or reading the Bible privately each day, and that nearly two-thirds of the adult population (64% = 26.4 million) have not personally read anything from the Scriptures for a year or more."(Bible Society, May 1997)

Ask yourself, do I seek to read through the whole Bible at least once every year? Do I put time aside to meditate on the Scriptures to get the full meaning of any verse? The answers to questions like these will show how much we really value God's Word.

The experience of the Israelites during the captivity in Babylon shows how important God's Word is; when they were to return to the land we find in Ezra and Nehemiah that the study of the word of God (Ezra 7:10); reading (Nehemiah 8:1 8); and obedience (Nehemiah 13:1-3) was vital. The Book of Chronicles is often a seesaw story of good king, bad king, good king. Jehoshophat was one of those who sought to walk with the Lord. We find in 2 Chronicles 17:9 that one of the first things he did was to send out his officials to teach the people the Law of the Lord.

"They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of the Lord; they went round to all the towns of Judah and taught the people."

In the New Testament in 2 Timothy 3:15 Paul reminds Timothy that he has known the sacred writings since his youth and that these lead to wisdom and salvation. They are vital because they are for teaching, correction and training. When we move away from the Bible as our basis we miss God's teaching, correction and training, and so errors must come in.

Do not allow the enemy to tell us that it does not matter, learn from the story of the wise man and the foolish man in Matthew 7:24-27. Unless we hear the word of God and act upon it we are simply building on sand. The building will survive in the calm weather but the moment the storm tests it the building will be no more. We may appear to be fine in calm weather but there is nothing like a fierce storm to test the reality of our faith.

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock."

This parable in Matthew also explains why there are some people who have heard the word of God for years but who are still not growing or able to stand; our calling is not just to be hearers only but also doers of the word. We can hear God speaking but, as the parable of the sower shows, we can allow other things to take its place. If we are to be strong in God then we need reality. We will not just believe what someone else has said but we will have experienced the reality of that word ourselves. From our lips will come not the third hand information about Jesus whom Paul preaches, but the reality of Jesus within our lives. Learn from the example of the experts in the law in Luke 11:52. The problem was that the lawyers had theology but had not entered in to the reality of the Word, "the key to knowledge", and they were hindering those who wanted to enter.

May God give us a right attitude to His Word and a desire to see it worked out in reality in our lives.

Consider the words of Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:14-17. Are you convinced of what you have learned of Christ? Are you allowing the Holy Scriptures to make you wise? As you seek answers from God, are you turning to Scripture so that you will be thoroughly equipped and trained in righteousness?

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