Opening Prayer: God, teach me to love your Word. Teach me to grow in You. Teach me to learn more about who you are through a reading of Your Word. Help me to focus on Your Word that I can hear from You in these few moments. Amen.

^10-13You've been a good apprentice to me, a part of my teaching, my manner of life, direction, faith, steadiness, love, patience, troubles, sufferings—suffering along with me in all the grief I had to put up with in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. And you also well know that God rescued me! Anyone who wants to live all out for Christ is in for a lot of trouble; there's no getting around it. Unscrupulous con men will continue to exploit the faith. They're as deceived as the people they lead astray. As long as they are out there, things can only get worse.

^14-17But don't let it faze you. Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers—why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother's milk! There's nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us. (2 Timothy 3:10-17, The Message)

There are some times that I deeply desire to hear from God. I want to know God's touch, to hear the voice of God speak. Honestly, there are times in my life when I simply want to know that God is real and that God has something to say to me. During those times, I remember the passage out of 2 Timothy that I learned as a kid...that the Bible was breathed by God. In the same way that God breathed life into Adam and Eve, and eventually, into me, God also breathed life into Scripture. The Bible is not simply a book that was written for information or to be read like a school book...It's a book that God breathed into existence that was written in order to help us know, REALLY KNOW, who God is.

One of the hard things about the Bible, though is that it searches the deepest parts of us. Notice that Paul writes that the Bible is useful for correction, for exposing our rebellion, for demonstrating truth, and for training us to live God's way. When we read the Bible, it is supposed to change us. As I've watched the Olympics, I've realized that the athletes who compete have to train in order to do the things that they do. When we read the Bible, we are being trained to live life God's way, much like an Olympic athlete.

What does the Bible have to say to you today? What does God want to work on in your life? Will you let God work in you?

Think about this while you worship to this song. Ask God to speak to you today.