The obvious application was for us to recognise that need by spending daily time in prayerful meditation on God's Word. To follow the example of Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
Every day in which I do not penetrate more deeply into the knowledge of God's Word in Scripture is a lost day for me. I can only move forward with certainty upon the firm ground of the Word of God, and, as a Christian, I learn to know the Holy Scripture in no other way than by hearing the Word preached and by prayerful meditation.
I pushed the Emmanuel Bristol prayer cards (that also feature as our Reflections on this blog) as the best way of beginning to do this but was asked in the question time to recommend other resources. I said I'd put them in a blog post...
So here are various resources that I've benefited from (or had recommended to me). There are so many because every 3 months or so I feel the need to vary my diet. Do get in contact with other recommendations.
The classic approach is to get yourself some Bible reading notes. The market leaders at the moment are the Good Book Company's Explore notes. You get a sample copy here .
Explore have moved into the digital age and you get sign up for their app here.
If you find notes with dates on unhelpful you could try their Daily Reading Bible notes which you can't fall behind on.
They are available here.
If you'd prefer to have some help focusing in on one particular Bible book our friends at 10ofthose have a series of resources doing exactly that - available in both electronic and traditional formats. David Cook's volume on Acts is here but a whole host of other Bible books are covered too.
A slightly more in depth focus on a number of Old Testament books is provided by Dale Ralph Davis' commentaries on books like Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & Kings. Easily accessible in short, well-written sections he will get you passionate about parts of God's Word that you may never have read before. Get your copy here or borrow one from one of the church resources tables (which - at EB & EW - have a whole host of this sort of resource available for you to borrow).
If I had a pound for every time Amy Carmichael's meditations on scripture had been recommended to me I'd be a very rich man. My granny read her each day. Don't be put off by the cover as you order this here.
A personal favorite - especially when life is very busy and/ or hard - are Sally Lloyd-Jones' reflections Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing. They are written for children but have delighted all the adults I've got using them. Order here.
Ever wanted to get into the Psalms in particular? A few years back I appreciated using Derek Tidball's Signposts which has some introductory thoughts on each one - as well a some room for me to scrawl my own. It's available here.
A refreshingly different approach to the Psalms is provided by Paul David Tripp who focuses in on just one Psalm (27) in his beautiful A Shelter in the Time of Storm. One reader accurately describes them as a series of jazz improvisations on the psalm. They were written in the midst of a period of intense suffering for Tripp's family and if you are struggling to spend time with God in the midst of your own sufferings they would be my top recommendation. Buy here.
If you're at ECC and have been enjoying 2 Timothy you could continue to dig into it with Chris Green's help via his introductory commentary here. Each short chapter on each section has some helpful follow-up questions.
And I could - pretty obviously - go on and on. Sorry not to have covered some of the more technology friendly options. But John Piper's Desiring God ministries will send you a daily scriptural reflection if you sign up here. Others have recommended this.
Let's share any good resources that get us into the life-saving, God-breathed and totally-sufficient Word. If you're anything like me you'll need all the help you can get.
