Teach Me How To Read & Study The Bible Effectively

Are you wanting to learn how to read the Bible better? Do the words Bible Study bring with them a feeling of stress more than joy? I believe if we are all honest many of us have felt that way in our journey growing with God.

Let’s get right into it!

Reading The Bible

The Bible is the most sought after and purchased book on the planet! Yet, it remains one of the least read books by believers across the globe! Why is that? Some of the top reasons Bible believing Jesus followers give for lack of time in His word are:

Lack of understanding

It can be intimidating if you are focused on understanding everything you are trying to read in the Bible. There are four different books on the life of Jesus alone-Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We might find ourselves discouraged if we can’t interpret things right away, especially if we are new in our faith.

Distractions

Living in a digital age has allowed so many options throughout the day constantly competing with just sitting down to read the word of God quietly for thirty minutes. It can be difficult to prioritize this into our day.

Dependence on other sources

Again being in a technology era of options we may find ourselves getting lost in the endless sea of podcasts, online sermons, biblical commentaries, or any various number of things that detour us from reading the Bible directly. Sometimes good things can get int the way of God things.

Lack of time and or discipline

I’m bunching these two together because my take on these is for most people they are deceptions someone believes more then they are truth. Our experience over the last two decades walking with the Lord is that these reasons are more culture driven.

The basic culture around many in the first world is telling the bible believer that there is just not enough time in the day, or they just aren’t disciplined enough to read their bible daily.

Now, I’m not saying it’s not difficult! What I am saying is it’s not impossible, and most of us if we are honest just have our priorities out of alignment with Gods. This heading could be a blog all in itself, and many wonderful Christian blogger moms have tackled it, so I won’t lol!

The truth is that much of what I wrote in this post, and the tips I gave were started and continued when we had three littles, and were more busy then we have ever been in our lives.

Everyone has to wrestle down these two back breaking first world cultural beliefs for themselves. And the irony is we need God’s grace to accomplish that! I will leave this section at that. In the end it comes down to how desperate are you to hear and spend time with this incredible God of everything.

This is a recent podcast I was on where we dialogue a bit more about my story on hearing God more. Go HERE to listen

Do You Feel Guilty When You Don’t Read Every Day?

This one is a commonly listed reason like the others above. It also can create a barrier to not reading the Bible at all. I remember when I used to attend weekly men’s bible studies in my early twenties.

Every week we had a focus or book we were reading in the bible. Men would share what they read for the week etc… or talk about what they had been studying.

The time would come for me to share and I would have to admit one of the reasons listed above, as to why I hadn’t done it. Week after week I would hear someone say, ‘Please pray for me, because I have been out of the Word again.’ There would be this cloud of guilt hanging over the room.

For many years something in me would feel like, is there more to this relationship with God, or I don’t think I’m supposed to feel this way!

Maybe, you can relate?

Is Being Disciplined In My Bible Study Really The Problem?

There are a lot of programs out there, and bible study curriculum that anyone could follow if they felt motivated. You would not be hard pressed to find some video or book on a 10 step guide to studying your scriptures. What really set me free in this area was a revelation I had from God through an evangelist one day.

I’ll share that in a moment.

When I made the choice to change my life and follow Jesus in my late teens and early twenties I applied the same grit, determination and self-discipline I had during my baseball and sport years.

I bought the right bible, made sure I was in church for Wednesday bible study, and Sunday service. Every night my focus was reading at least a chapter of anything in the Word of God. That was usually accompanied by an autobiography of a person in the bible that some author wrote as well.

The things I was doing were all good. A quality focus, and even learning some great theology. Memorizing scripture, and taking notes on every sermon I heard. Being teachable was not my issue. Growing in God was my utmost desire. Trying to figure out His plan for me was on the front of my mind!

Maybe you can relate to this as well?

This went on for years and even into the early years of my marriage. I was in the word, worship, and church. My marriage was healthy. However, the guilt still remained if I fell off the regimen. And I seemed to know there must be more in this thing called the Kingdom of God!

That’s when I heard this guy telling his testimony about how he struggled with reading etc…

His life had been crazy, and his testimony miraculous. The challenge with him was the inability to read well and understand the scriptures.

Then he said one day he realized it was the presence of God he was after more than anything. God revealed to him that when we feel guilty about not doing something like reading our bible consistently it was because we felt the task of reading the word could help or sustain our life more than God himself, who is the Word! Bam!

The lights turned on. I began to realize like this speaker that God had something to say to me every day and if I didn’t show up to hear it I felt guilty! It wasn’t the chapter I was in or how well I retained the reading. My heart was longing for the presence of God to speak. To speak to me!

I wanted to walk in the garden with God in the cool of the day. That’s what my heart was missing.

When this chain breaking revelation came I remember running after this new freedom head on. My dear friend called me one day and said, ‘pray for me man, I really need to get back into the Word of God.’

I shouted at him on the phone, ‘Man, quit saying stuff like that!’ He replied in shock, ‘What has gotten in to you.’

I felt like yelling, ‘Freedom!’

Instead I passionately shared the revelation I found. Jesus was not up in heaven saying, ‘Man I wish Ian would just read My word more. What a failure! I died for him and all he can do is get distracted!’

No, he was up there like a good Father just waiting to share with me the secrets of His heart for me and the world all that time!

That phone call ended with me encouraging my friend that his true feelings should not be guilt for lack of reading. His true feelings were grief, because He missed time with the King of the universe! God Almighty scheduled time to see his beloved child and they didn’t show up.

My friend’s eyes were opened as well. He thanked me for the new revelation. We are best friends still and he has never called me with a prayer request like that again.

If you have made it through this much of the post you really need to understand what a game changer this was for me! I have not felt guilty one day of my life since then about missing a day of reading. On the contrary I began devouring His word, spending more time with him, and my ability to hear his voice grew rapidly.

Now if two or three days go by without being in the Bible I feel heavy, without energy, easily agitated, and longing to pray throughout the day. When I don’t live on every word from Him it’s like my life is being sucked out of me.

Knowing He has been waiting for me to come to Him like Matthew 11:28-30 says brings me renewed strength, hope, and joy even if I feel like a failure on a certain day.

This understanding brought me into a long season of getting up early to meet with Him, wait on Him to speak or not speak, and read with great anticipation. It taught me to come as a child with questions not just statements. One in particular most mornings for the last decade has been, “Abba Father, what would you like to talk with me about today or have me write down?’

Page after page of astounding wisdom have been penned in many journals over the years. Most of those times it lines up perfectly with what I would also be reading from scripture that day. The mystery of this amazing God keeps drawing me back day after day. Twenty years later I still rise to be with Him.

I stopped attending bible studies after that encounter and began starting bible studies and discipling others. Imagine that! I’m now typing this post from a small village in the northern province of a country in Africa.

Where we have taught these things to hundreds of illiterate people who hear God for themselves, plant groups, and make disciples that make disciples all with just audio bibles and prayer!

Maybe I’ll write about How I learned to hear the voice of God in those early years after this discovery of what true Bible reading really is. We must remember that Jesus is the word of God! There was no full bible in the time of Jesus.

Back then only the old testament was available to the scribes and temple students. The Holy Spirit had not yet been given out! And yet Peter says in the gospels, ‘Where else would we go? For you have the words of life!’

When Jesus died and did not return for a few days the disciples were not mourning because they didn’t have a bible to read. They mourned because the Word of God was gone! So how can we truly read the Word of God effectively?

What Is Effective Bible Reading?

If you are like I was or can relate to the things mentioned earlier, it may be important to change our perspective with a few questions. Really take the time to consider these questions.

I have yet to find someone who considers these questions from a pure heart not find better results in their personal growth time spiritually.

–When you sit down to read your bible what is your goal?

–Why is it important to read the Bible often?

–What is truly stopping me from reading the Bible or praying more?

–If you accomplish a specific reading goal what do you think the results in your life will be?

Why these questions?

Hopefully our answers to these will reveal that they are the wrong questions for those living in the freedom of Jesus Christ.

What I learned that day from God through that evangelist’s words was; if my time reading the Bible doesn’t begin and end with the foundational desire of spending time in His presence to Know Him and discover how He knows me I’m missing the point.

Not only missing the point, but also pursuing works without faith. Now, we know faith without works is dead. What about works without faith?

That process Jesus addressed with the Pharisees when he said, ‘…and you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom He sent. You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.’

Again let me say, time in His presence & hearing Him are the foundations to your reading time and to Life.

When we feel sad or guilty when we fail to read the Word of God daily it’s because we have been searching the scriptures improperly. We come to the scriptures, as Jesus said, because they speak of Him; the way the truth and the life.

We come to the Bible because it allows us to abide in Him. The way, the truth, and the life wants to reveal who we are in Him as we search out Him. Father God wants us to hear the secrets of His heart. He desires to unlock mysteries for you to discover.

I am going to give you a few practical ideas to encourage you to read your bible, pray, and wait on the voice of God daily. My main desire in this post though, was to point you to the right focus when reading the Bible. If our identity in Christ is not clear and allowing you to walk in freedom, before you go to His word, the results will be the same.

Either guilt will win over and distance you from the Bible, or you will read the Bible as a religious act and there will be intellectualism with no life.

So, now that our focus is right, where can we start reading?

5 of my best ideas for where to start reading

I want to begin by saying all five of these ideas I have done. Multiple times! This is not a boast. What we have learned in our process as disciples of Jesus is you can’t take someone where you haven’t been. In our current culture of western living many are breaking that principle, so they can be heard as a celebrity. But eventually they are found out! That being said, enjoy the ideas.

Wondering where to start reading is a common thing. You may have heard the idea just open up the bible and wherever it lands start reading. Though I believe God can use that and amaze you in the process, I wouldn’t recommend this method. Have I ever used it? Yes, but let’s talk some other ideas.

1) Read all of New or Old Testament in a certain amount of time-

This one may seem obvious, but we will start with a few obvious ones. I suggested to do this in a certain amount of time because when you come at this from the right perspective you will feel accomplished and hungry to do it again in the future. You could just as easily have no time frame and just allow the Holy Spirit to lead you through it as long as it takes.

2) Read the whole bible in a certain time-

I have read through the whole bible multiple times, and try to do it once a year. It has changed my entire perspective on Christianity. It can seem like an impossible task, but again if you know God is waiting to share His heart with you daily it becomes a desire to complete reading it. The first time it took me about 6 months. Recently, I set a goal to read it in 60 days and did it.

3) The 6-5 / 45 day plan-

This is my go to plan when I feel like God is being quiet with me. Someone showed me a pattern when I was younger that allowed them to read through the entire new testament in 45 days. Entire minus the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).

You begin by reading 5 chapters one day, and then 6 chapters the next day starting in the book of Acts. When you follow this pattern you will complete the new testament in 45 days. You can also read a few verses of a gospel each day over that time frame. If you followed that pattern all year, you could read all the gospels once and the new testament four times!

4) Read only the words of Jesus in all the gospels-

This one may sound a little weird. I spent a year one time just in John chapter 1 because the Holy Spirit directed me to. It was amazing. Many of us have had so many voices directing us. Even in the church we find ourselves being directed on how to study.

Jesus said His words are life and Spirit. So why not just spend time in His words for a season. I’ve done this and loved it!

5) Ask God where to go next-

This one I still use frequently. If God is wanting to share who He is with us, and wants us to hear His voice, why would we not ask Him where and what He wants us to read? This one trains our ear as well.

God has a plan for you. That means you can not fail in asking Him this question.

Tips & Wisdom

There are probably some frequently asked questions I could answer here. Rather I am going to try and cut them off at the pass and writer down some tips and wisdom I’ve learned from our Good Father over the years. I’m doing it this way because you are on a journey to hear how He is speaking and teaching you daily.

He may have a bit different direction for you to understand the answer to the most common questions.

Tip 1– Try and read more than just one chapter. Or let me say it this way; don’t let the chapter be the deciding factor on how little or much you read. There were no chapters when the Bible was originally penned.

Tip 2– Wait quietly for a bit before you start reading. Let God know you are there and waiting for whatever He wants to say or not say. Be content in His presence. He is content in yours 🙂

Tip 3-Pray and give thanks to God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. Ask them to guard your heart and mind. Ask them to reveal and open the word to you. Confess your shortcomings before hand and ask Holy Spirit to remove vain imaginations or distractions.

Tip 4-Ask yourself or write down what you hear Holy Spirit saying to you about these questions after you read a passage:

-What does this scripture or chapter say about God’s character?

-What do I hear God saying about himself in relationship with humanity in these verses?

-Is there an example to follow or a comandment to obey in them?

-Holy Spirit who can I share this with this week?

This is another great post from a great Christian blogger on Bible Study and good foundational questions to dialogue with God as you come to Him and read. Seperate Post

Summary

Remember that effective Bible reading isn’t about whether you checked it off of your list for the day or not. It’s not about whether you did it. The way to make Bible reading effective in your life is to know and believe why you are reading it.

Now go spend some time with God! He is waiting for you. Grab your Bible and take it with you as well! He probably has something to reveal to you.