The Power Of A Teenage Prayer

Chapter 7: Lord Help Me Understand Your Word

Your mind And Body Need Food Every day. Did you know that your spirit and soul needs food everyday too? The kind of food that feeds your spirit and soul is God's word. Just as your mind and body don't get fed if you don't eat,your spirit and soul don't get fed if you don't read God's word. You can't live successfully without food for your spirit and soul.

Before I became a believer there were a few times I had read passages in the bible, but i couldn't understand them very well. They didn't come alive to me. After I received the Lord, it was a different story. Because I now had the Holy Spirit in me teaching me as I read, I could understand more and more every time I read God's Word. I could sense my spirit getting lighter and my mind becoming clearer. Every time I read anything in the Bible, I felt that I knew God better and my faith in Him was growing stronger. When I felt sad,fearful,anxious,or depressed, I would read the Bible and those feelings would lift and be replaced with peace,hope,and Joy. I soon realized that I could not get through a day without reading something in God's Word.

If God's Word is food for our souls,then we can't live without it. Jesus quoted God's Word,saying, "Man shall not live by bread alone,but buy every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). That means that just eating food will never be enough for us because we will always be empty unless we are spiritually fed too. If we are not continually fed with God's word,we will starve and waste away spritually.

You'll be amazed at how much difference it will make in your life if you read God's word everyday. You don't have to read alot, just something. Anything is better than nothing. That's why it is important to pray that God will help you to find the time to do it and enable you to understand it. And you have to pray that His word will stay in your Heart so that you don't forget it and lose the full benefit of it. The Bible says that "we must give the more earnest heed to do the things we have heard,lest we drift away" (Hebrews 2:1). We don't realize how quickly we forget.

Doing The Word
Every time you read the Bible, you learn something new,even if it is a passage you have read a hundred times before. It doesn't matter how long you walk with God; He always has something new for you to learn in his Word. It may be new dimensions of What you already know, or it may be something you have never seen before. Either way, it's not enough to just learn the truth;you must act on it too. God says to "be doers of the word,and not hearers only,deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer,he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself,goes away,and immediately forgets what kind of man he was" (James 1:22-24).

The means if we just read the word and don't do what its says,we not only forget what it says,but we also forget who we are in the Lord. James goes on to say that when we do what God's Word says,we will be blessed in everything we do (James 1:25). That's a great promise. Whenever you read God's Word,ask Him to help you apply it to your Life and do what it says. Then take a step that shows you understand and believe what you read and are going to live like it.

It's possible to hear the word,read the Word,and even teach the word and still remain unchanged and unaffected by it. We don't want that to happen to us. All scripture will teach us,convict us,enrich us,heal us,warn us,and expose our hearts,but we have to act on it. That's why you need to ask God to speak to your Heart every time you read his word and show you what you should be doing in response to it.

Ten Reasons To Read God's Word
A lot of people have trouble reading God's Word as often as they need to. If you are one of those people,check out the following ten reasons to read the Bible. I Know they will inspire you.

1) I read God's word so that I will know where I am Going In Life. You can't see the future or know exactly where you are heading,but God's word will guide you. It will keep you on the right path. It puts a holy compass in your Heart and helps you stay on the path God has for you. Direct my steps by your word, and let no inquityhave dominion over me" (Psalms 119:133)