The Bible is not a magic book. Too many Christians seem to treat their devotional times as a superstitious incantation. “If I just read the words in this book for twenty minutes a day, my faith will flourish, I’ll love my family more, and I’ll find more happiness in God’s plans for my life.”

Discouragement will always follow this shallow view of Bible reading. Instead of walking away from our devotions with biblical fire in our bones and humble adoration of God in our hearts, we walk away cold and languid, barely even remembering what book of the Bible we picked up. Why is this? The Puritan pastor Thomas Watson answered,

The reason we come away so cold from reading the word is because we do not warm ourselves at the fires of meditation.

“The fires of meditation.” This is the missing link between our Bible reading and prayer — between seeing Jesus Christ in his word and talking to him in his Spirit (Jude 20). In meditation, we fill our minds with revealed truth from God and linger over it, ponder it, not just breaking it down in our minds, but bringing it home to our hearts.

Habits of Grace

Enjoying Jesus Through the Spiritual Disciplines

David Mathis

Though seemingly routine, the everyday “habits of grace” we cultivate give access to the God-designed channels through which his love and power flow.