How to read your Bible

I will be honest with you.  I have been saved for over 32 years, I have taught Sunday School, and Children's Church, worked with teens and young adults.  All the while I never read my Bible.  The only time I ever looked at it was at church.  I could go days, or even weeks without knowing where my Bible was.  

My generation was taught in order to be a "Good Christian" you had to read your Bible through in one year.  I felt like this was an impossible task.  So I never did it. I knew that God wanted me to read his love letter to us, but because I couldn't do it in a year I gave up. Even though I started many many times; I couldn't do it.  

One day I realized that God hasn't set a time limit on reading his word. Man did. 

I believe you get out of it what you expect.  Let me explain.

If you read your Bible only to say "I read my Bible through in one year!"  Then you have gotten out of it what you wanted.  You only wanted to brag.

But if you read the Bible to know what God is trying to say and you don't care how long it takes; you will gain knowledge and wisdom, insight and direction.

In a month or two I will have finished reading my Bible through for the first time ever.  Did I do it in a year?  No.  Two years?  No.  Three, Four?  No.  It will have taken me more than five and a half years to read the Bible through.  

How could I do it now and stick with it when I tried so many times before?

Well two things happened.

First, I heard a guy on the radio who said.  

"I don't suggest you make a vow to God. Mainly because God takes vows VERY seriously."  (That is why marriage is such a big decision.  But that is another topic for another time.)  But he made a vow when it came to his daily Bible reading.  He was a big breakfast eater and he said "God I vow that I will read my Bible before I have breakfast."  He said there are days when he doesn't get to do his Bible reading.  On those days he doesn't eat breakfast.

I told God, "Well, God I don't eat breakfast very often… but I love coffee! I make sure I have coffee every day.  So I will read my Bible before I drink any coffee."  That was 5 years ago.  And I am happy to say that I have not broken that vow, except once when I was going to tell my boss that I was leaving the company. I was nervous about how he was going to take it and how the meeting would go.  I was so nervous that I fixed a cup of coffee and drank it before I realized what I was doing.  I immediately asked God to forgive me and went and read my Bible.  During that Bible reading the Lord comforted me and gave me peace about the meeting.  I was still a little nervous, but not near what I was when I woke up.

The other thing that helped me out a lot was I got a new Bible.  Now I had several Bibles growing up, but they had all been picked out for me.  For my first Father's Day present, Kristy took me to pick out my own Bible.  I looked through almost every single one on the shelf. I finally found the Life Application Study Bible.

If you want to check it out here is a paper version on Amazon.com Life Application Study Bible - Paperback

The Life Application Study Bible helped me out so much.  Most of the time I would read something and then look up as if to say, "I have no idea what I have just read."  But this Bible explains it in a way you can understand.

For example:

           Proverbs 25:27 It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.

Okay so does that mean we are not to eat honey?  Or should we not want honor or praise for what we have done?   So we look at the bottom of the page for a clue.  It says:

           25:27 Dwelling on the "glory" or honors you deserve can only be harmful.  It can make you bitter, discouraged or angry, and it will not bring you the rewards you think should be yours.  Pining for what you should have received may make you miss the satisfaction of knowing you did your best.

The Life Application Study Bible is full of ways to apply the Bible to our lives. 

I can hear you saying, "Okay so Jeff that is great for you and all, but how do I read my Bible?"

With any other book, you start at page one and go until you finish.  You don't have to do this with the Bible.

I started in 1st John  Then went 2nd and 3rd John.  Then to the gospel of John.  By this time I was ready to tackle the first book of the New Testament, Matthew.  (So-and-so begat so-and-so etc…) Then the rest of the gospels.  I skipped Romans and kept going. 

(If you find a particular book that is too hard to understand, mark it and go to the next one.  Some of them are very easy to read, others are not. Just don't give up!)  

Once I got to Revelation, I started at the beginning, in Genesis. I am currently in Daniel and have the rest of the Old Testament to go, then Romans.  Once I finish with Romans I will have read it entirely.  Then I am going to start over again.

Also, another problem is that I am not a very organized person.  My wife is, but I'm not.  I could never remember where I was and what I last read.  I would reread some parts, skip over others, get frustrated, and stop.  

Now I have a journal that I use.  I write the date, the day, and the chapter I am reading.  This keeps me on track so I remember where I was the day before.  I break my journal entry into two parts.  

The first is my prayer. Sometimes it is long, other times it isn't. 

The second part is telling God what I got out of that day's reading.  

I try and read a chapter a day.  Notice I said TRY.  Sometimes I might just read a few verses. Other times I might read two or three chapters.  I just write where I stopped.

It looks something like this:

4/15/12 Sun

Ezek 14 

Good morning Lord.  Lord I can't seem to get my mind to focus on any one thing this morning.  My brain is tired and you know I am not a morning person.  Lord please help me focus.  Thank you.

Lord the people of Israel let other things occupy the throne of their lives instead of you.  Lord I want you to have the throne of my life.  Lord please continue to keep me close and clean.

I realize that this might not be your thing, but it has helped me.  I have filled up numerous journals and every so often I glance back at some of the entries.  It helps bring to mind things that I was going through at the time, or insights that I have forgotten.

I encourage you to read your Bible at your own pace.  Don't let anyone tell you that you are reading it too slowly or you are not reading enough at a time. 

Ask God to guide you as you read his word and he will.