The other night, my phone dinged, letting me know my niece had posted another video blog. She must have hundreds of them by now, and even though I have not watched them all, the one I have watched has always encouraged me to seek and hunger for more truth from God. So I give praise to God that she has heard God’s call and put that call into action. She is also the one who encouraged me to start my own blog years ago.

Doing this blog, has encouraged me to do research in topics I choose to write about. By doing so, I am often amazed on how much more is revealed to me that I can use in my own life.

I have made several posts before about the importance of reading God’s word. It is so hard to know the direction the Lord wants you to go, if your not actively reading and learning more about God.

With today’s technology, you can download just about any translation of the Bible unto your phone, laptop, pad, or desktop. That’s a fantastic thing to do right? always having access to scripture any time, anywhere.

I have done that, and did my daily reading like that for a while. However, it wasn’t to long, that I started to feel like something was missing. I was also noticing, it was taking me longer to grasp what I felt God was trying telling me.

Let me back up quickly here, just a little bit. Before I write my blog, I spend considerable amount of time before I finally start typing thoughts down to post in the blog. Sometimes, I have a topic, that sits in draft for a week or two, before I get all my thoughts together and typed in to post. This past few days, I had been thinking about the difference of which way is better reading God’s word. On my phone or using the actual printed Bible.

For myself, I was using my phone and had the King James Version and The Living Word Version downloaded and usable. It was great always having them available to look up Scripture at any time. My problem was that when I set aside time for my daily study using my phone, I realized how much I was being distracted and losing my focus. My phone would ring from someone calling, or I would get a text from someone. I ignored them at the time, but my mind started wandering away from what I was doing. I began thinking about who called and whether that text was important. Now, I no longer have undivided attention to my Bible study.

My mind is no longer focused on learning; it’s more interested in the phone call or text. So I have to stop, clear my mind, and start over.

Not wanting any distractions in my study time, I now turn off my phone completely, get out my Bible, and delve into Scripture reading and study. This is my favorite part of the day. The house is quiet—no music, no TV, no phone—just me in God’s Word as I let the Holy Spirit gently guide me through what God wants me to hear from the Scriptures I read. My mind is totally focused on the Scripture, not on who called or who texted.

This is what was missing when I was just using my phone. I think it’s a great idea to have God’s Word on your phone or device—always available when you need it. We must not let it get in the way of distracting us from the precious time we spend with our Father in Heaven.

Remember, what you put into your heart and mind, will reveal its self outwardly through your actions and speech.