NASHVILLE, TN – Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of the late evangelist, Billy Graham, and president of AnGeL Ministries in Raleigh, North Carolina, spoke to the assembled crowd at the Closing Gala Dinner of the NRB’s 2020 Christian Media Convention on Friday evening, February 28^th.

In no uncertain terms, she encouraged her listeners to,

“Read your Bible. Every day. Study it. Learn to love it. Live by it.”

Ironically, just five days later, on March 4^th, the Barna Group released the second in its series of reports on the State of the Church 2020. That study revealed that fewer than 14 percent of all Americans read the Bible daily. More than 60 percent of respondents read their Bible once a month (7%), three or four times a year (6%), once or twice a year (7%), less than once a year (10%), or not at all (35%).

Those statistics are staggering. Even more so following Lotz’ appeal just a few days earlier, although the two events were entirely unrelated.

Through her AnGeL Ministries endeavor, Lotz “calls people to establish a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then helps them develop and maintain a vibrant faith through His Word.”

Her message at the NRB Convention focused upon a Christian’s proper relationship with the Holy Spirit. She spoke of His personhood, His presence, His power, His precepts, His purity, His praying on our behalf, and His priority.

She reminded us that the Holy Spirit is “a divine, invisible person” of the Holy Trinity. He is a person, He has a mind to think, a will to act, and emotions to feel. The fact that He dwells within those of us who have come by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ for our salvation often escapes Christians as we live out our daily lives. He is the everlasting seal of our redemption.

The Holy Spirit moved men to write every word of every verse in each of the 66 books of the Bible. Our faith comes by hearing the Word of God, the love letter sent to us through the breath of the Holy Spirit as He came upon men from Moses to John the Revelator.

The Bible tells us about God’s plan for the ages, about the salvation that is ours through faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and how to be conformed to His image.

“The Holy Spirit’s priority is the written Word of God. He draws us into the written Word that we might know the Living Word. His priority is Jesus, and He wants us to know Jesus, to love Jesus, to obey Jesus, to serve Jesus, to bring Him glory. So, He draws us into the Word of God that we might know Him like that.”

Recognizing the same decline in morality and holiness that the Barna study verifies, Lotz warned that it is going to take courage, boldness, and strength to stand firm again the tidal wave of ungodliness that is sweeping across our nation. The Holy Spirit is our only source of strength sufficient to withstand the spiritual battle that confronts us now and in the coming days until Jesus returns.

Her remarks underscored the significance of the Barna data. We need to immerse ourselves in God’s Word, not once a week or once a month, but every day. As Anne Graham Lotz reminds us,

“Read it, take it in for yourself, and then get it out as much as you can. He works through the Word that He has breathed Himself. … Read the Word with a heart that believes every word is from the Lord, and you listen for Him to whisper to you through the pages.”

“Read your Bible. Every day. Study it. Learn to love it. Live by it.”

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