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Your Relationship with the Holy Bible
H.H. POPE SHENOUDA III
Your relationship with the Holy Bible is concentrated in acquiring the Bible, adhering to it, reading, understanding, contemplating, studying and learning it by heart. And, above all, you should behave according to it and train yourself to follow its commandments.
To acquire the Bible does not mean to keep it as a rarity on your desk but to have it for your continual use. You take it with you wherever you go, in your pocket or in your handbag. That makes it easy for you to read it at all times.
It is better to read the Bible on regular basis, this must be daily. It is better to read extracts every morning so that they might be the subject of your thoughts and meditations during the day and fill your mind in your getting in and out.
Let your reading in the Bible be with understanding, depth and contemplation. It would be better if accompanied by prayer, so you would say with David, "Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your Law."
Let your reading be with a solemn spirit so you may benefit from it. Remember how we stand at Church in great reverence to listen to the Holy Bible. Never slacken in reading or be negligent or thoughtless.
What is important is not the amount you read but the depth in reading. That comes when the Lord's words penetrate deep into your heart touching your feelings...
Try to learn some verses that give certain principles or impressions or some of God's promises and answers to matters that bother you.
Repeat these verses in your heart many times with enjoyment that makes them stick to your spirit and depths.
Deal with these verses practically. Make them the subject of your spiritual exercises. Thus you turn the Bible into life and it becomes part of you.
In your reading do not focus on the letter but the spirit. And if you need help, do not hesitate to ask...
The important thing is to receive a spiritual benefit from reading.
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