Two of God’s most blessed servants, one hundred years apart, practiced the same devotional habit.  Both George Whitefield and George Mueller read the Bible each day on their knees.  This was more than mere form.  Their position represented an attitude of humility, reverence, and prayer.  God’s revelation demands a response.

Scripture should not be approached as a lecture; it should be engaged as a conversation.  Martin Luther wrote, “To pray well is to study well.”  Communion with the Author will open up the truth of the Bible as nothing else.  When God speaks to us, it is most natural to speak to Him.  In this way the devotional life becomes a dialogue between the Lord and the believer.

Early this year I decided to take another journey through the book of Proverbs.  As a young college student I was challenged to read through this book of wisdom regularly and it has been a great help to me.  The Holy Spirit prompted me to approach this well-known portion of Scripture in a way that I had not before.  I spent thirty-one days praying my way through Proverbs.

Not reading.  Not memorizing.  Not studying.  Just praying.  Every verse, line by line, turned into a personal prayer.

It was a life changing month.  God began to show me truths from His Word, and things about me, that I had never seen.  There were sins to confess, principles to apply, promises to claim, truths to acknowledge, and so much more.

And it is not just Proverbs!  It is a principle: praying the Scriptures brings one into vital conversation with the God of the Bible.

Would you take the challenge to follow this pattern for the next thirty-one days?  Perhaps you will begin with the thirty-one chapters of the book of Proverbs as I did.  Begin somewhere.  Begin today.  And begin on your knees.

“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” Psalm 119:18