Psalm 141:2 (GW)
Let my prayer be accepted
as sweet-smelling incense
in your presence.
My prayers have an odor. Are they
O God, who created my sense of smell, may my prayers — at least most of them! — be pleasing to Your sense of smell.
Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
“On all occasions.”
“Always.”
Wow! I fall short. Not even close.
Teach me to pray, Lord, all the time, for all time.
“A man may read the figures on the dial, but he cannot tell how the day goes unless the sun is shining on it; so we may read the Bible over, but we cannot learn the purpose till the spirit of God shine upon it and into our hearts.”
Thomas Watson (1620-1686)
I have the Holy Spirit, the world’s best teacher. I should leap out of bed every morning, raring to get started. Truth is, I long to hit the alarm’s off button, roll over and snooze. I drag myself to the coffee pot, fill my cup and swipe my phone. I put the Holy Spirit on hold.
Friends, it should not be this way! I want to be the eager student described in God’s Word:
Isaiah 50:4 (NIV)
The Sovereign Lord . . . wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.
2 Peter 1:20-21 (NIV)
No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Bible study is my personal meet-the-author event. It’s a conversation with the Holy Spirit. He talks, I listen. I talk, He answers.
Jesus said,
Matthew 4:4 (NIV)
Man shall not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes
from the mouth of God.
Jesus calls us to live, not by what we put in our mouths, but by what comes from God’s mouth to our ears.
Psalm 19:7 (ESV)
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple.
It’s simple. More time spent reading the Bible = more wisdom.
Jeremiah 9:24 (ESV)
Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.
Boast in God’s love, justice and righteousness? You bet! 
