The Thirtieth Time

God has been so gracious to me especially as He let me grow up under the guardianship of my late maternal grandfather who taught me to read the Bible from my young age. As far as my memory goes, I started reading the Bible regularly since I was twelve years old. Since then, the Lord has been gracing me to read the word almost every day. Though I read it habitually in the beginning, gradually it became a part of my life, to the extent that I could not live a day without at least reading the word of God for the day. 

I recall in 1997 when I had the first subjective experience of the Lord when I had the assurance of salvation that I was born again indeed in my spirit, born of the Spirit of God, I had finished reading the Bible five times already. And since then, every year, as far as I remember, I finished reading the Bible alteast once a year. Though I did not maintain a regular record, sometimes, I read the Bible in two languages, Paite and English. Sometimes, after I finished reading the whole Bible I purchased a new Bible and start it afresh. The cycle has been repeated over and over again, even until today. The one that I am reading now is a brand new Bible, gifted to me by LSM for the little assistance I rendered in the proof-reading of the same Bible last summer.

I do not boast nor brag about Bible reading, but I highly recommend others to read the Bibe as well, as many times as possible, the more, the better. Not to boast, but declaring the fact, one must read the word of God every day. As much as we eat food every day, so must our eating of spiritual food be.

I can testify even more than a thousand times, how the Lord gave me His instant speaking through my regular Bible reading. Be it personal, family, church, or official matter, many of the decisions I took were based on the instant living speaking of the Lord through the reading of the word. As I had been praying and considering how to handle a matter, the Lord's answer would come in the way of confirmation through the written word. And this happened during those times when I was reading the word; irrespective of which portion of the Bible I was in, at the moment of time. The Lord's word is living, and it speaks...

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Now, as 2017 is winding up, I am glad to declare that the Lord has graced me this time again to finish this years' portion, not counting the reading of the word on a personal study time with the footnotes of the Recovery Version. With this, the Lord grace me to complete my thirtieth time of reading the Bible. And I am thirty-nine years young now; I hope the number of times I read the Bible be equivalent to the number of years the Lord would give me.  This is up to the Lord.

Lord, thank you for Your bountiful grace. And continue to grace me; as my days are, so shall my reading, praying, and reading of the word be.

Deuteronomy 33:25  Your doorbolts shall be iron and copper; And as your days are, so shall your strength be.