It is for this reason, that we cannot take lightly the reading of God's word. When we pray, we speak to God, and He answers us in a still small voice by His Holy Spirit, but we must test the spirits against God's word. For instance, if I think that God has revealed to me that the path to salvation is by crawling on my hands and knees on glass for a thousand miles, I can check this against His word and find that this must not have been from the Lord. However, I should know my Bible well enough to not have to look that up!
This is why we should read our Bible in such a way as to absorb the truths found in it. Christ, when He was being tempted by Satan to turn a stone into a loaf of bread, rebukes the liar by saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" It should be noted that Satan used Scripture to tempt Jesus, and so he does with us also, which means we need to know our Bible very well to avoid being tricked by the manipulator.
So how should we read our Bible? Firstly, we should read our Bible through the lens of prayer. We should not pick up our Bible and begin reading without first asking our Helper to guide us and reveal the truths found in the words we are about to read--we could not understand without His help, so we should not begin without asking for it. And as we read, we should have an open dialogue with God about what we are reading.
Secondly, we should read our Bible like it is bread or food. We do not only eat when we are hungry or realize that we are starving, we eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, everyday. Sometimes we skip breakfast or lunch, but we would not skip all three meals without noticing it, and yet we go days without reading our Bible. Why? Because we do not see the immediate results of our deprivation, and the longer we are separate from God's word the easier it is to be clouded by sin or the enemy. For this reason, we need to make an effort to read our Bible daily and systematically.
I say systematically, because far too often we only read parts of the Bible, and forget about others, when God specifically tells us that His ENTIRE word is useful for teaching, rebuking, and edifying. We should take in our Bibles systematically, but also (going back to the meal analogy) realize that we can also snack on the parts we enjoy more.
When we begin to speak of our Bible reading in this way, it is easy to fall into legalism, but that is not what this is about. We as humans are creatures of habit. We can build good habits and bad habits, and it is all done through repetition. Knowing that Christ is the source of our whole lives, shouldn't we make a habit to make sure His words abide in us, so that it can change the way we think, act, and speak?
I would also like to warn against reading our Bible as if it is a "magic book." By that, I mean to say that just because we read our three chapters for the day, and check off our list does not mean we will magically have a better attitude or think purer thoughts for that day (also, the opposite is true). God's word has an impact on our lives, when we read it with Him. Meaning we are prayerful and meditate on the meaning of what we read. We cannot read our three chapters in our fifteen minute storm before we leave for work and expect to see any change in our lives. But when we spend daily time with God in His word, we find that through the Holy Spirit's work in our lives, we start to see His fruit in us.
That is the motivation for us to be in God's word daily. To help with that, I am attaching a link to a Chronological Bible reading plan. This was created/compiled from many different sources, and it is not perfect, but I love how it makes the whole Bible fit together. Enjoy time with God in His word!
To help you in this endeavor, I am attaching a link to a PDF of D.A. Carson's "For the Love of God" Volumes 1 & 2. It is a short devotional with a daily reading for each day of the year.
Here is the link: For the Love of God
Here is the link: For the Love of God
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