The next topic in this ‘mini-series’ is on spending time with God in the Word.
Interestingly, I read this tweet this morning:
“The Scriptures are absolutely key in the process by which the Spirit gives—and strengthens—the faith of Christians.”
Without them we have no ‘anchor’ – nothing objective.
Of course, all you really need is a Bible and somewhere quiet. And there have been times when that’s worked fine.
But most of the time I need something that is structured, and that holds me accountable – even if only to myself!

I use a monthly magazine called TableTalk (from Ligonier Ministries)*. It has a daily ‘thought’ for 5 days a week, with a separate devotional for the weekends.
For me that’s ideal as weekends always seem to have a different routine. It also gives me chance to catch up if I’ve missed one during the week.
The daily thought comes from working through a book of the Bible. Currently we’re going through Hebrews. It’s probably better described as a mini-study, as it generally gives some context to the passage together with any background or further explanation.

Here’s an example page:

As it’s a magazine, it also has a monthly theme, with several articles relating to that theme, and some additional articles on top of all that. I tend to read those later.
This month’s theme is The Twentieth Century.
Previous themes have been:

• Misunderstood Doctrines
• Fear
• The Parables of Jesus
• Finding the Will of God

So you can see it’s quite varied.

As I said in an earlier post, we each have to find what works for us. And for me this is perfect! I’ve been using it for many years now.
Although it’s available on-line, I prefer the printed version – it’s distraction-free and encourages me to open my Bible!

There’s always a ‘Coram Deo’ section (it means before the face of God) which is more application-focussed. This is important as otherwise there’s a danger of just building up knowledge. Knowledge is of course important – vital in fact if we’re to understand anything. But it’s not an end in itself. For instance, knowing the facts of the Gospel is critical to our becoming a Christian. But to be saved we need to put our faith in those facts.
So the Coram Deo section is included to look at what we might do with the knowledge we’ve gained. Sometimes that involves a change in our behaviour, or attitudes. Other times we may have gleaned something new about the character of work of God, which in turn drives us to praise and worship.
And that is the purpose of Scripture:

• It makes us ‘complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:17)
• It ‘builds us up’ (Acts 20:32)
• It ‘sanctifies us’ (John 15:3)

And so on!

We need to go deep into God’s Word because that’s what he’s given us so that we can know about him – who he is and what he’s done; and about ourselves, and how we are to respond to him and live before him.
There’s no single way of doing this – each of us will find different methods. What is important is that we spend time with God, and grow in our walk with him.

* Note there are many other daily devotionals such as Every Day With Jesus, Daily Light etc. as well as those on the YouVersion app