As speech reveals the hidden thoughts of men, so does our Lord utter the seen world, for He spoke and it was done. His words preceded the act of creation, but Christ was the Word or Utterance of God. He who created time preceded time, and that which is before time is eternal and divine. Christ is the organ or medium by which God goes forth in creation, providence, and redemption. The life of God was stored in the human nature of Jesus, when the Word became flesh that it might more readily pass into us.

To those who received the divine Word of God, committed the command to read, study and meditate therein day and night to make their ways prosperous and show forth as approved unto God, workmen who needed not to be ashamed but rightly dividing the word of truth. To them is also committed the Bible written by men and inspired by God for our edification and admonition.

This (Holy) Book reveals the journey that men of old took to know God and His will, for in their days there was nothing like the Bible, for He (God) spoke to them mouth to mouth. Moses is appreciated, having the zeal to document the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) including God's Commandments on a stone hewn out of the Rock and for this great prophet to record the acts of God and reveal His Person to us all.

Believers' Constitution is the Holy Bible, from there each and every child of God can find his/her will as it is written in heaven and can confirm every prophecy (spoken word). If any man want to know the mind of his Creator, the same needs to go to the Word of God. Why then is it difficult for believers and individuals to read the Bible? This and many more made Believers Today to embark on a research to look at what inhibits people especially Christians from reading the Bible daily.

Believers Today discovered that 4 out of 5 people have a version of the Bible at home, nearly all men have seen the Bible before the age of 20; 9 out of 10 persons have read a portion of the Bible but 9 out of 10 also find it difficult to study or read the Word of God daily. Believers and unbelievers believe that the Bible is the Word of God and quite a large number of people interviewed read the Bible for spiritual reasons; to build up their faith, for comfort, strength and victory. There are some who use the Bible as a non-faith reference and a lot of non-believers enjoy reading it. (Source: Believers Today)

The Bible contains 1,260 promises; 6,468 commands and 3,294 questions. It lists over 8,000 predictions, with 3,268 verses of fulfilled prophecies and 3,140 verses of unfulfilled prophecies (Source: bibleinfo.com). 70% agree that we would be a much better society if more people spent ample time with the Bible. The version of the Bible most likely to be found in homes is the King James Version. Most people received their Bible as a gift or passed on by a family member, only 6 out of 10 actually bought their own Bible. 4 out of 10 respondents claimed they read or listened to the Bible at least once a month. Believers Today also found out that most legally married women who are Christians are using their wedding Bibles. (Source: Believers Today)

Why then is it difficult for some believers to read God's word? Truly, respondents do not have any cogent excuse or reason, though some blame it on busy schedules, others because of the cares of this world while the rest are overwhelmed by family challenges and issues. From our findings, we understand that a lot of people actually bought Bibles in different versions but do not really have time to read. Other respondents read the Bible in the church during Sunday service while 80% of the people claimed to not understand the wordings of the Bible.

Knowing the importance of studying the Word of God and implications of not getting familiar with it, different churches and denominations have designed daily devotionals to bring their members into line with the Word of God and therefore, spread the chapters of the Bible to study for a whole year. Reading the Bible for a whole year, two or three chapters per day has become a tradition in Christendom today, even at that, there are lot of believers who will never open their Bible in a month.

Some of the traditional daily devotionals include Radio Bible Class (Our Daily Bread (ODB)), the Redeemed Christian Church of God (Open Heavens), Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MountainTop Life); Dunamis (Seeds of Destiny), Grace So Amazing Foundation (Word for Today) and host of other daily devotionals, publications, in addition to millions of publications designed and printed for men and women to get acquainted with God via the Bible.

At Believers Today, we began by asking why is it so difficult for believers to read the Book which contains only sixty-six (66) books, Old Testament thirty-nine (39) and New Testament twenty-seven (27)? Is the time believers wait to receive from God via His words not too long having designed for themselves to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in a year? Are believers not cheating themselves and denying God's presence by reading 31,173 verses in 365days, averagely 85 words in 1440minutes? Looking at the time at our disposal, we all have 365days in a year, that is, 8,760 hours given to us by God to do whatever we like as men and women on earth. How come people cannot use 525,600 minutes (of their time in a year) to read just 773,692 words in the Bible? Whereas one can read about 7 words in a second and more than 72 words in a minute.

In our research, we discovered one year is actually too long and much to read the Bible. We essentially need less than three (3) days, in short, each believer need just 2days, 19hours, 32minutes and 54seconds to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, which is equivalent to 67 hours + 32 minutes + 54 seconds.

50 hours + 43 minutes and 48 seconds (i.e. 2days + 2 hours + 48 seconds) is what one needs to read the Old Testament while the New Testament needs only 16 hours + 49 minutes and 6 seconds. A total time of 13 hours + 17 minutes and 9 seconds is needed to read the Books of Moses, that is, Genesis to Deuteronomy (the first five books of the Bible).

The Book of Psalms takes the highest number of time, 3 hours + 39 minutes and 24 seconds, followed by the Book of Genesis, 3 hours + 19 minutes and 20 seconds; with 3 hours + 17 minutes and 43 seconds, one will read the Book of Jeremiah, and with 3 hours + 1 minute and 37 seconds, the Book of Ezekiel is read. Within 3 minutes and 2 seconds, the Book of Obadiah is read, and with 5 minutes and 45 seconds, the Book of Jonah and with 5 minutes and 14 seconds one can turn the Book of Haggai over. These are the books in the Old Testament that can be read within the shortest period of time.

For the New Testament, the Gospel according to Saint Luke takes the highest time of 2 hours + 17 minutes and 43 seconds, followed by the Gospel of Saint Matthew which is 2 hours + 16 minutes and 12 seconds. The Book of 3 John requires only 1 minute and 38 seconds while Philemon can be read in 2 minutes and 38 seconds, the Book of 2 John is 3 minutes and 15 seconds, while the Book of Jude is only 3 minutes and 34 seconds.

If God gives us 8760 hours in a year and we need approximately (just) 68 hours to read His words just for once, then we are all great debtors. Less than 3 days out of 365 days (in a year) is actually the time needed to read God's Word. 0.78% of 365 days is what God requires of us to read and familiarize ourselves with His Word.

If it is just two (2) hours a reader has out of the 24 hours (in a day) to read the Bible, he/she will read the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation within 34 days and read the Bible ten (10) times in a year or read the New Testament in more than forty-five (45) times within a year, the Old Testament within 26 days and fourteen (14) times within a year.

For those who do not have all the time, assuming, it is only one (1) hour they can set aside in a day, within 68 days, they would have read through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. By this they would have read the entire Bible more than five (5) times in a year. For some who only have 30 minutes to spend with their Bibles, they will finish reading the entire Bible in 136 days and more than two (2) times in a year. If you are committed to just reading the New Testament, with 30 minutes set aside, you will read the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation in 34 days and more than 10 times in a year.

The end we are driving at as a media organization is this, “no one has any excuse not to read the Bible in a day”. If it is one (1) minute anybody has, let such be committed to read the Book of 3 John, such would be an expert in the Book of 3 John and would have read the Book of 3 John in 365 times in a year. For those who have three (3) minutes in a day, the Books of Obadiah, Philemon, 2 John and Jude may be their favorites and if anyone can spare only five (5) minutes of his/her time in a day, Jonah, Haggai, and Titus can be read within that five (5) minutes.

While we are not discouraging believers or people alike to study the Bible in a whole year, it is impressed upon us to declare that more time is needed for Christians to get closer to the Word of God as declared. As you know and discover now, the reading of the Holy Bible only requires (less than) three (3) days of your time in a year. Information and awareness precedes involvement and action, people can come to Christ via preaching the word of God but can never know God without familiarizing themselves with His Words.