How Do I Read My Bible?
Brooke Davis // Intern Director & Youth Ministry Associate
The BIBLE! The most life-giving and equally intimidating book we own. If I had been asked to write this a year ago, I would have told you that the Bible is always intriguing and refreshing for the reader. This year, my bible reading has not felt like that. For various reasons it’s been hard, often dry, feeling more like a discipline before a delight. I hope this allows for us to see what we feel or don’t feel when the Bible is opened before us does not change the fact that it is a living book with the unique power to transform every part of who we are.
Why read?
Think about having a “friend” or someone that you claimed to be in a relationship with that you only ever had second hand experience with. You only heard about this person through other people. You listened to them talk to others and watched them interact with those around you, but you never had first hand experience with them yourself. What kind of relationship would that be? Not a strong one I can tell you that. Why? Because to have a deep relationship with someone you have to experience them personally. It’s not enough to just go to church, listen to podcasts, hear about Jesus through “professionals”, and expect to have a strong relationship with Him. We must have first hand experience with God to really know Him and that comes through His words to us (the Bible) and ours to Him (prayer). We must read the sacred text ourselves and behold his beauty with our very own eyes. This experience is the thing that sustains a believer to endure and sets a heart ablaze for God. Without the word, we are hopeless and left with a weak faith able to shift at the first sign of danger. Oh but with the Word, we are more than conquerors because we have become fixated on the one that conquered.
“Without the word, we are hopeless and left with a weak faith able to shift at the first sign of danger. Oh but with the Word, we are more than conquerors because we have become fixated on the one that conquered. ”
What keeps us from reading then?
We live in a microwave society and have a crockpot Bible. it’s easy to be disappointed by a “quiet time” that feels as though it does nothing for you. Let’s imagine you have a test today that you feel anxious for and so you get in the word hoping your negative emotion will dissipate as you read the perfect verse for your stress, but find that your bible reading plan has you knee deep in Leviticus looking at ancient laws. What’s happens? Discouragement and impatience. Over time we don’t think the Bible really works for us.
When life gets hard the Bible can feel harder. I have watched patterns take place in my own and others lives when suffering comes or a shift in season where the demands pick up, they neglect the word. This neglect takes place because it seems to be too much to think through or manage time wise. We become too busy or too downcast to think that the Word has the power to transform us because it feels dead to us.
I don’t know what all this means?! We are trained in the American church to view those on a stage as the professional Christians and those of us in the audience as the spectators. This leads to us feel inadequate around the Bible with the view that we just listen but aren’t called to study and understand ourselves, it keeps us from reading, from understanding, and longing for wisdom in the Word.
Where do I start? Often times we don’t know how to structure our time in the word. We don’t know where to start or what to read. We don’t know what to do with our questions. There is intimidation surrounding the bIble and an expectation that we should have it all together to start with. It keeps God’s children from being with their father. Our pride keeps us from asking others for help in this area and we miss the treasure of God’s Glory through His Word.
What can help us?
Microwave society and a crockpot bible: God is not about speed; He is about faith. Faith is a process. Think about studying for a test or mastering a sport, you do not just sit down with the material and become an expert on it day one. It takes time, repetition, practice, and patience. Think of the Bible in this way, expect you will never fully master it, but instead for your entire life you will dig up eternal treasures that renew your mind and transform your life. This is a slow process. We must learn endurance and know that weeks, months, and years of consistency in the word will lead to a life that has been deeply transformed and conformed to the image of Christ. The Bible doesn’t function like a pharmacy where we get our medication for a quick fix, instead it functions like a careful surgeon who spends hours mending the root of the sickness.
When life gets hard the Bible gets harder: The enemy’s greatest attack on a Christian is for our minds. It is an all-out battle field in our thought life. Everything flows from what we set our minds on. So often circumstances cause us to believe the Word doesn’t work. That is a lie. Your only hope is the truth found in the word of God and when life get hard, we must move toward Him and not away from Him. There will be some seasons in life that you will study for depth and have the ability to think deeply around the word of God, but some seasons of life you will study for breadth and glaze the surface remembering basic truth of who God is and how he loves you. Neither are wrong, have grace for yourself and whatever you do, do not neglect it.
I don’t know what this all means?! That is why you study! It is an ancient book and there are parts that seem detached from our modern lives. A good student asks questions. I very rarely walk away from my time in the word without having more questions than I came with. The Bible is the most active and dynamic book we own. It should make us think, question, and continually wonder. Why? Because it’s author is the author of life and operates at a level we cannot even fathom. Start to see your questioning and wondering of the Word of God as success because it is in that space that you begin to gain a correct view of your Glorious God.
Where do I start?
Pick a time. Let nothing and no one get in that time except you and God.
Pick a place. A quiet private place for just you and God.
Pick a book. Stay consistent in one book of the Bible and read with care.
Perspective. Remember that your Bible is like a carefully threaded quilt. It is one big masterpiece with the same central storyline all pointing to Jesus. When one thread or stitch doesn’t seem to make sense, zoom out and see the big picture. The individual threads point to something greater, it is always Jesus. Perspective is KEY in Bible reading.
Pray. Before you read, ask God to help you see what He wants you to see and to grow in a desire for His Words. I have listed below several different resources that can help with specific methods to study the Bible and can provide helpful structure for your time in the word!
1 Corinthians 2 says that we literally “have the mind of Christ.” The Holy Spirit enables us to know the mind of God through the words of scripture. Think about that. You want personal access to the all mighty God of the universe? You want to know what He thinks and how He works? You want to spend your life learning and being near to the most satisfying being in the Universe? Open your Bible and don’t ever stop.
- Brooke
Helpful resources
Habits of Grace by David Mathis.
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney
Women in the Word by Jen Wilkin (amazing book for both girl and guys)!
Brooke graduated from the University of Georgia in May as a special education major. She started full-time as the youth girls associate and intern director at Watkinsville shortly after graduating. Brooke served as an intern for three years and has a passion to see young people love Jesus with their whole hearts! Brooke’s favorite things include walks, reading, and hanging out with all the lovely people that God has placed in her life!
Follow Brooke’s Instagram: @brookedavisss_
HAVE A COOL IDEA FOR A BLOG POST? IS THERE SOMETHING THE LORD HAS PLACED ON YOUR HEART TO SHARE?
Contact Mac Willingham (478-960-0399) or email college@watkinsville.org with your idea and we’ll talk about posting it here!
Check out our most recent posts below!
Jordan Matthews // UGA Student & Women’s Ministry Intern