I’m linking up with Kelly’s Korner today with the topic: “Show Us Your Life: Favorite Bible Studies & Devotional Books.”

As a Christian, it is really important for me to get to know Jesus Christ more and more each day. I know that one of the best ways to do this is through reading the Bible and praying. No matter how badly I want to be diligent as both of these things, it seems as though things come up all the time to distract me from my study of the Word of God. I believe that it is spiritual warfare. I just found this quote and thought I’d share it with you.

“There are two major reasons it is so difficult to develop the discipline of a daily quiet time. First is the influence of the flesh. Keep in mind that your old nature is opposed to daily quiet time… Pray that the Holy Spirit will enable your new nature to overcome your old nature in this battle.  

The second reason is resistance by Satan. The devil opposes your every effort to please Christ. His strategy is to rob you of daily quiet time joy, to complicate your time schedule by keeping you up late at night and making it hard for you to get up in the morning, to make you drowsy during your time with the Lord, to make your mind wander, and otherwise to disrupt your meeting with Christ. Ask the Holy Spirit to retain the devil.”  – Greg Ogden, Discipleship Essentials, page 37

I love these verses about spending time with God. I might come back to this post for inspiration when it is hard to get out of bed! 

James 4:8 ESV
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 

Psalm 1:2 ESV
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 119:11 ESV
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119:9 ESV
How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 

Matthew 6:6 ESV
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Mark 11:22-24 ESV
And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

I also believe that there is special power in getting up early and spending time with the Lord. I found this great list of verses about seeking Him in the morning. 

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (Mark 1:35) 

“In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” (Psalm 5:3)

“But I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.” (Psalm 55:16-17)

 “But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.” (Psalm 59:16)

 “But I cry to you for help, O Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you.” (Psalm 88:13)

“Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love; that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” (Psalm 90:14) 

 “It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night…” (Psalm 92:1-2) 

 “Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.” (Psalm 101:8) 

 “My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.” (Psalm 130:6) 

 “O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.” (Isaiah 33:2) 

“Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23) 

 “In the morning the word of the LORD came to me” (Ezekial 12:8)

Finally, I wanted to share a really awesome resource that has helped me with reading the Word. Visit www.youversion.com and just start exploring. It is an AMAZING site that has tons of reading plans, commentaries, and a really easy to use Bible reading online platform, that lets you read the Bible in practically every translation (even side-by-side!)

Here’s a screen shot if you choose to read on your computer:

And here’s how I typically read (on my phone). YouVersion even can read every bit of the Bible to you if you prefer! You can even download translations of the Bible for when you don’t have an internet connections! You can download the app here: http://www.youversion.com/mobile/iphone