“And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.” – 2 Thess. 3:5

God providentially leads, guides, and directs his children every single day. However, God is not abstract or flippant in the direction that he will guide our hearts. Here we are taught that God will direct our hearts unto two conditions that are vital for the child of God: into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

"If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." James 1:26-27

This question comes up quite often as a pastor. There are really countless ways a person could approach a Bible study. We can read for various reasons. We can read for quantity or quality. Quantity would be for volume, or amount read everyday. A one year Bible reading plan would service this need well. The following principles would be more geared toward quality instead of sheer quantity. Neither are bad, though.

First world countries, such as America, are truly blessed with an abundance of wealth. This unfortunately conditions our society to allow problematic ideas to be perpetuated under the name of the gospel. First, God never promised financial wealth as part of the Christian experience. On the contrary, Jesus did tell his disciples that they would be hated, experience tribulation, and endure persecution (John 15:18-23, 16:33).