Read the Scriptures Daily

By Laurel Rohlfing

“Search the scriptures; for … they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39).

How many times do you eat each day? How long have you gone without eating anything at all? When you go without food and water, your stomach starts to growl with hunger and your body feels weak.

Just as your body needs to be fed every day to keep it strong and healthy, your spirit needs daily nourishment to be strong and to stay close to Heavenly Father. One way to do this is by reading the scriptures. Our prophet, President Ezra Taft Benson, has said: “Heavenly Father wants you to continue to learn from the Book of Mormon every day. It’s Heavenly Father’s special gift to you. By following its teachings, you will learn to do the will of our Father in Heaven.

“I also hope your parents and leaders will give you opportunities to learn from the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Bible as well” (general conference, April 1989).

To be successful in reading the scriptures every day, you first need to promise yourself that you will do it. Then try to make it a habit of reading at the same time each day, perhaps right when you wake up in the morning, before or after a meal, or just before you go to bed. You can read a verse, a chapter, a page, or for a certain amount of time. If you can’t read, ask someone in your family to read to you. The important thing is to do it every day.

Jesus said, “And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost” (3 Ne. 12:6). When you read the scriptures daily, you will be blessed in many ways and will feel closer to Heavenly Father.

Instructions

There are thirty numbered spaces in the picture. Starting with number one, color one space for each day that you read the scriptures. At the end of thirty days, you will have a completed picture and will have established a scripture-reading routine.

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Scripture reading chart

Illustrated by Scott Greer

Sharing Time Ideas

Read children the following quote from President Benson and have them choose a few favorite Book of Mormon scriptures to memorize. “I have a vision of thousands of missionaries going into the mission field with hundreds of passages memorized from the Book of Mormon so that they might feed the needs of a spiritually famished world” (general conference, October 1988).
Tell or dramatize stories of valiant people like Jesus, Nephi, Helaman’s stripling warriors, Mormon, Daniel, and Samuel, who were taught from the scriptures as children.
Put small items symbolizing scripture stories into a bag. As a child pulls an item from the bag, have him identify or tell the story it reminds him of.
Begin telling a scripture story and stop at an exciting place. Have the children find the story in the scriptures and read the ending.