6 Things You Can Do To Make The Bible More Real For You

What 6 things can you do to make the Bible come alive or make it more real for you?  Here are 6 things that I think will help.

Make it Personal

I love to read the Bible in a special way and maybe you can try it.  I’m not suggesting you change the Word of God but just do this one thing; insert your name where it says “you” or “you all” and here’s an example if you’re name is Joe.  John 3:3 says “Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Now try it with Joe: “Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you Joe, unless “you are” born again “you” cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Another way would be to substitute “you” or “your” with “I” or “my” or “me.”  Let’s try that with Psalm 103:2-5 “Bless the Lord, O my soul,  and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all “my” iniquity, who heals all “my” diseases, who redeems “my” life from the pit, who crowns “me” with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies “me" with good so that “my” youth is renewed like the eagle's.” Get the point?  God’s Word, the Bible, is a love letter written to His children so why not personalize it because it doesn’t change the context one bit.  Some offer Bibles that personalize it by inserting your name in it.  I’m not sure I’d go that far though.

Make it Yours

God’s Word includes thousands of the word “you” in it because you are the one whom God is writing too so why not make it yours? 

First John 5:13 “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”

First John 2:27 “But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.”

John 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

John 14:25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.”

See my point?  God is writing this to you and to you specifically and of course a million other “you’s” too but what I am suggesting is that you try and read these and any other verses where it says “you” as being written not only for you but too you because it is.  Imagine Jesus saying these things to you in the Gospel of John.  The use of the word “you” is found in this gospel more than in any other book in the Bible.  Make it yours because it is written to you!

God Speaks to You

Clearly we know that the Bible is the Word of God and is God-breathed as Paul writes to Timothy in 2nd Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” and “everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” (Rom 15:4).  We must realize that “no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things” (2 Pet 1:20) but from God Himself and “never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21).   A lot of people say that they’d love to be able to personally speak to God but they already have His voice in their own Bible.  They want to hear God speaking but won’t pick up their own Bible to hear Him.  See the problem there?

God’s Word is Eternal

We all seen some old movies and that some of them are based upon historical facts.  I love history but many of those people who were in these events are now long since dead.  My own college textbooks might as well be dead because they’re already so out of date there not any good anymore but here’s what’s different about the Bible.  The Bible or the Word of God abides eternally as Peter wrote “the word of the Lord remains forever.  And this word is the good news that was preached to you” (1 Pet 1:25).  The psalmist declared “Your word, LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89) just as “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever” (Isaiah 40:8).  When you read the Word of God, the same things that are true now were true over 2,000 years ago and will be true over 2,000 years from now.  The Word is eternal.  It has no expiration date, unlike books of human origin.  Read it as applicable to your life today because it has application for your life.  It's relevant today, for your children’s lives years from now and your grandchildren’s lives many years ahead.

God's Word is Alive

The Bible is as alive as God is and as much living as anything you see in this world today.  The big difference is that it will never die and it is as eternal as God is.  When you read the Bible you are reading something that has real power “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb 4:12-13).  Imagine the Word of God as an MRI scanner or an X-ray except it can see things that even electronic equipment can’t see; that is it can see and discern your and my thoughts, it can read our intentions, and it can look into the human heart to see our motives.  Nothing at all is hidden from God’s sight and every one of us are exposed or laid naked before His eyes.  That’s because God’s Word is just as alive as the person reading this; in fact more so.

God’s Word has Power

The Word is not only alive but it has its own power as Paul wrote in Romans 1:16 “it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”  The more you read the Bible the more power that you have to witness for Christ and to be renewed in your mind (Rom 12:2). This is the same kind of power that Jesus spoke about from the Holy Spirit when we witness to the lost (Acts 1:8).  The Word also has power to quicken to make those who were dead, alive.  Jesus said that “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63) and Peter told Jesus “You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).  God’s Word has power to do what He sends it out to do as Isaiah writes “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).  It’s like God  Himself and what He sets out to do will surely be accomplished and whatever He sets out to do, whatever purpose that He has, He “shall succeed in the thing” that He sets out to do.  The very same thing goes for God’s Word as it does for God Himself. It is alive, active, and sharp.  It cuts but it cuts in order to heal.  When you get into the Word the Word gets into you and His Spirit can work in your life.

Conclusion

I hope this helped you to know how to make the Word of God more real to you because it’s more real than the things you see with your eyes.  Why not make it personal when you read it, make it yours as if it’s written directly to you, realize that this is God Himself speaking to you, understand that the Bible is eternal and is forever relevant, and that it’s organic; it’s living, active, and cuts us down to the core but it does so to help us.  The Bible is real and alive…so why not read it as such.

Article By Pastor Jack Wellman