or everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.?--Romans 15:4, NIV.
?I study my Bible like I gather apples. First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest may fall. Then I shake each limb, and when I have shaken each limb, I shake each branch and every twig. Then I look under every leaf. I search the Bible as a whole like shaking the whole tree. Then I shake every limb--study book after book. Then I shake every branch, giving attention to the chapters. Then I shake every twig, or a careful study of the paragraphs and sentences and words and their meanings.?--Martin Luther
?Born to be battered . . . the loving phone call book. Underline it, circle things, write in the margins, turn down page corners, the more you use it, the more valuable it gets to be.?--Ad in South Central Bell Telephone Company Yellow Pages.
?O search the Bible with a heart hungry for spiritual food! Dig into the Word as a miner digs into the earth to find the veins of gold. Do not give up your search till you have learned your relation to God and His will concerning you.?--Ellen White, Youth?s Instructor, July 24, 1902.
?It is a common temptation of Satan to make us give up the reading of the Word and prayer when our enjoyment is gone; as if it were of no use to read the Scriptures when we do not enjoy them, and as if it were no use to pray when we have no spirit of prayer. The truth is that in order to enjoy the Word, we ought to continue to read it, and the way to obtain a spirit of prayer is to continue praying. The less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray.?--George Müller, A Narrative of Some of the Lord?s Dealings With George Müller.
?Never let good books take the place of the Bible. Drink from the Well, not from the streams that flow from the Well.?--Amy Carmichael.
?The Bible itself gives us one short prayer which is suitable for all who are struggling with the beliefs and doctrines. It is: Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief.? --Letters of C. S. Lewis, March 18, 1952, p. 239.
?Many years ago in a Moscow theater, matinee idol Alexander Rostovzev was converted while playing the role of Jesus in a sacrilegious play entitled Christ in a Tuxedo. He was supposed to read two verses from the Sermon on the Mount, remove his gown, and cry out, ?Give me my tuxedo and top hat!? But as he read the words, ?Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted,? he began to tremble. Instead of following the script, he kept reading from Matthew 5, ignoring the coughs, calls, and foot-stamping of his fellow actors. . . . Before the curtain could be lowered, Rostovzev had trusted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.?--J. K. Johnston, Why Christians Sin, Discovery House, 1992, p. 121.
?It is a law of the mind that it gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is trained to dwell. If occupied with commonplace matters only, it will become dwarfed and enfeebled. If never required to grapple with difficult problems, it will after a time almost lose the power of growth. As an educating power the Bible is without a rival. In the Word of God the mind finds subject for the deepest thought, the loftiest aspiration.?--Ellen White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 596.