How Does Reading God’s Word Help in Your Daily Walk?

Jesus’ invitation to His first disciples was to follow Him.

And Jesus’ invitation to us today is still the same.

Follow Me.

To be in a relationship with Jesus is to follow Him. It’s to walk with Him. It’s to go on a lifelong journey with the One who knows you best, because He created you by hand.

Pastor and author Eugene Peterson described this journey following Jesus as “a long obedience in the same direction.”

To follow Jesus is to walk with Jesus.

And as we go on this journey of following Jesus, it’s vital that we put practices in place to help us grow and mature into the person God created us to be.

One practice that is essential to a daily walk with Jesus is reading God’s Word.

Psalm 119:105 states:

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.¹

God’s Word is what illuminates our path. It’s what gives light on our journey. And it’s a vital part of understanding who God is and how we are called to live our lives.

Three Ways God’s Word Helps Your Daily Walk

Here are three ways reading God’s Word daily can help you on your journey following Jesus.

Build a Strong Foundation

The consistent reading of God’s Word will provide you with a firm foundation for your faith.

Jesus said it like this:

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.²

The Word of God is a strong foundation. It’s a solid rock you can build your life on. And Jesus makes it clear that building your life on God’s Word is true wisdom.

As you go on the journey of following Jesus, it’s important that you create a daily practice of reading and immersing yourself in God’s Word. Because it’s God Word that teaches you God’s ways. It’s God’s Word that provides you with a framework for how to see the world. It’s God Word that provides you with insight and perspective in a world starving for depth of thought. It’s God’s Word that provides you with an anchor of truth in an ocean of opinions.

When you read God’s Word, you make a decision to build your life on a solid, strong foundation. And it’s that foundation that will support you, regardless of what season of life you find yourself in.

Helps You Navigate Life’s Challenges

Jesus let us know that on the journey following Him there would be difficult seasons.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.³

Life is beautiful.

But, life is also hard.

And there will be difficult, challenging times on the journey.

Following Jesus doesn’t make you exempt from life’s challenges. But it does give you hope. Hope that things don’t end in death but resurrection. Hope that the difficulties of today cannot be compared with the joy of eternal life.

Difficult days will come on the journey following Jesus.

But it’s in those difficult times and seasons of life where God’s Word is invaluable.

Because it’s God’s Word that brings perspective to your situation and hope to your circumstances.

God’s Word helps you to navigate the difficult challenges you face, empowering you to see things through His eyes.

When we read God’s Word, we are reminded of the reality that God is with us. Close to us. Nearer to us than the air we breathe.

When we read God’s Word, we are reminded of truths like this:

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.⁴

No matter the season. No matter the challenge. No matter the circumstance. God is present. And it’s through daily reading God’s Word that we are reminded of God’s goodness and empowered to navigate difficult seasons with grace.

Discover Your Purpose

If you want to know what your purpose is, or what God has called you to do, look no further than God’s Word.

Because it’s in God’s Word that we hear God speak:

For I know the plans I have for you… ⁵

God has a plan for you.

A unique purpose and calling that He ordained before you were ever born.

And a major part of the journey following Jesus is daily discovering that purpose for which He made you.

When you read God’s Word, you gain insight into His plans. You see a little more clearly what God is doing in the world and the part you play in His story.

If we don’t know what God’s Word has to say about our life and purpose, we will end up searching elsewhere for meaning and significance.
This is why it’s imperative that we create a daily practice of reading God’s Word.

Because it’s God’s Word that provides us with clarity in our calling and helps us to discover what we were made to do.

And as we read God’s Word, we gain wisdom for how other followers of Jesus navigated their callings and walked out their purpose.

God’s Word is essential to the discovery and fulfillment of God’s purpose for our lives.

Reading the Bible Daily

Because reading God’s Word is vital to your daily walk with Jesus, let’s take a look at a few practical ways you can begin to create a daily habit of reading God’s Word.

Choose a time

In the hustle of modern life, it came seem overwhelming trying to cram something else into your schedule. But God’s Word is more than another item on the to-do list. It’s a vital part of our lives as followers of Jesus. And because we live in a hectic, fast-paced world, it’s important that we give time to the things that matter most. So, in order to begin creating a daily practice of reading God’s Word, you have to choose a time. The time can be early morning, during your lunch break, or after the children are asleep. Regardless of when you read God’s Word, the emphasis is on choosing a time to read it.

Choose a place

Whether you read best in the bustle of a local coffee shop or in the quiet of your home office, it’s vital that you choose a place to read God’s Word. When you choose a place, in a way that place becomes sacred. A holy place where you go to open God’s Word and allow Him to speak to you. And yes, you can read God’s Word whenever and wherever. But having a specific place where you read God’s Word helps to create consistency in your daily walk. So, take a moment to choose a place where you can easily and consistently show up with God’s Word and commune with Him.

Choose a Physical Copy

In our modern world, it’s so easy to house everything on your phone. And with all of the advancements in technology, we now have access to God’s Word wherever we are, at any time of day. And while technology has added value in many ways, it’s also created an issue in other ways.It doesn’t take long to see that when God’s Word is housed on the same device as your social media, email, and text messages, immersing yourself in God’s Word becomes a little more difficult. You can be reading through a psalms one minute and get a text notification the next. And while this isn’t inherently bad, it does create a distracting environment for reading God’s Word. So, in order to help create a daily practice of reading God’s Word, try reading a physical copy of the Bible. Yes, it sounds archaic, but moving your study of God’s Word to a physical Bible will benefit you in the long run. A physical copy of the Scriptures helps to remove distractions, as well as giving yourself a break from the never-ending demands of another text or email. Because when it comes to reading God’s Word, being present to the Word and to the Author is of utmost importance.

Where Can I Learn More About the Bible?

If you want to learn more about the Bible and how this ancient text applies to your life today, check out our course: Unseen Realm 101.

In this course, you’ll discover:

• How to recover a supernatural worldview of the Bible
• Historical context of the Bible
• Cultural milieu of the Bible’s authors and audience

Reading God’s Word is essential to your daily walk with Jesus. And this course will help begin the journey of understanding and applying God’s Word to your daily life.

To learn more about this course, click here!