2. Come to the work with a preparation of heart. If you were going to visit some person of great consequence, whose favor and esteem you wished to secure, you would take care to have everything about your person adjusted in the most becoming manner.  So let it be with your mind, when you come to converse with God.  Shut out all worldly thoughts.  Strive to bring yourself into a tranquil, holy, and tender frame, so that the truths you contemplate may make their proper impression upon your heart.

3. Seek the aid of the Holy Spirit. Christ promised his disciples that, when the Holy Spirit should come, he would “guide them into all truth.”  Without his enlightening influences, we cannot understand the word of God; and without his gracious influences upon the heart, we shall not be disposed to obey it.  We have the most abundant encouragement to seek the aid of this Divine Instructor.  Christ assures us that God is more willing to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him, than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children.  Before opening God’s word, pray that he would show you the truth, the rule of your duty, and incline your heart to obey it.  As you proceed, keep your heart silently lifted up to God for the same object.

4. Read with self-application. Whenever you have discovered any truth, ask what bearing it has upon your present duty.  If it relates to spiritual feelings, compare it with the exercises of your own heart.  If they do not correspond, you have work for repentance.  Go immediately to the cross of Christ; give yourself away to him anew, and seek for pardon and needed grace.  This you may do instantly, either in a silent or an audible prayer.  If it relates to the spirit and temper of Christians, in their intercourse with one another, or with the world, compare it with your own conduct.  If you find yourself condemned, you have the same course to pursue, with a steadfast determination to exhibit more of the spirit of Christ.  If it relates to some positive duty, inquire whether you have done it.  If not, you have to go through the same work of repentance and application to the blood of Christ.  But do not stop here. Do your duty immediately.

5. Read the Scriptures regularly. To sustain these frail bodies, a daily supply of nourishment is required.  Equally necessary is daily food for the soul.  The word of God is the bread of eternal life.  Take, then, your regular supplies of spiritual food, that your soul may not famish.  Choose for this purpose those seasons when you are least liable to interruption; when you can retire and shut out the world; when you can best command the energies of your mind.  There is no time more fit and suitable for this than the morning.  Then the mind is clear, vigorous, unincumbered, and prepared to receive an impression.  There is also a propriety in consulting God’s word at the close of the day.  But this depends much upon the state of bodily feeling.  If you become exhausted and dull, after the labors of the day, I would rather recommend taking the whole time in the morning.  But by no means confine yourself to these stated seasons.  Whenever the nature of your pursuits will admit of your seclusion for a sufficient length of time to fix your mind upon the truth, you may freely drink from this never-failing fountain of the water of life.