We'll happy new year as we enter 2019 on this podcast our seventh year now of Pastor John

year about to head off to the cross conference in Louisville which begins a Wednesday night

over 7,000 are registered which is super encouraging and I just pray that God would bless the

conference and he would use it to raise up hundreds of missionaries that will give their

lives to the nations is what the conference is about their Pastor John you are going to deliver

a missionary biography in a plenary session but before you head off to the airport we're talking

about Bible reading in 2019 and here's today's question hello Pastor John I'm Kennedy from Uganda

and I have been listening to your sermons and I thank God for using you to impact our lives through

the word that you preach my question whenever I'm reading of the Bible I find it hard to understand

what the author intended for me to understand when he wrote it currently I'm doing my devotions

in the book of Genesis but I so often find myself totally blank after I've read a text what's the

first basic skill in Bible reading to find meaning for myself now I know that our friend from

Uganda is asking about the first basic skill to use his language in Bible reading but based on

the description of what's happening when he reads I want to come at his question a little differently

instead of giving just one basic skill since I don't think that's the key when in our devotions we

find ourselves blank which he says he does he's not the only one by the way it's it's not just a problem

for beginners but for me as well at times so let me point to three things that are essential to

ongoing fruitful encounter with God and his intended truth through the Bible and I can describe

these these three things that I hope will be helpful in three ways I could call them motivation

skill and illumination or I could call them the want to and the able to and the see through

or I could call them the desire and the act and the reward of Bible reading so let me suggest a

brief word about each one in the hope that God will create them in us even as I speak

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