Tips on Reading the Bible

Wanna know something that’s kind of challenging for many Christians?  Reading the Bible consistently and learning how to apply it to our lives!  My friend Mandy of Move the Mountains interviewed me on her YouTube channel about how I apply Scripture to my life.  (Click HERE to watch the YouTube interview!)  I also wanted to put it on my blog so you all can read a summary of the video.  Here are the four questions Mandy asked and a bit about how I responded.

1. What tips do you have to get into God’s Word daily?

ACCOUNTABILITY has helped me so much!  June 2016 I started reading the Bible daily with my boyfriend.  We read one chapter a day on our own and then text each other a couple sentence reflection about what we learned, or a summary, or what verses stuck out to us.  This has been the best way to get into God’s Word daily.  You could do this with a friend, too, or a spouse or a child.  You could even do this with a friend who isn’t a Christian.  You could say that you want someone to hold you accountable, and then that friend would get a mini reflection about the Bible every day.  Who knows how God would use that!

I would also encourage you to start small.  For me, reading 3-5 chapters of the Bible daily is not doable.  Start with reading one verse a day.  Or one chapter.  This way you will feel successful.  Also, tracking has helped me SO much.  I have a goal planner where I have a monthly calendar.  Each day I read the Bible, I put an X through the day.  You could use stickers or something, too.  This way you can see progress.  Little by little progress adds up!

Also, think about the Bible as God’s love letter to you.  This has helped me delight and enjoy spending time with God, waiting and excited to see what He will reveal to me today.  Click here to check out a Bible journaling freebie I have all about how the Bible is God’s love letter to you.

2. What is your favorite Bible study tool?

I recently discovered a commentary online called Enduring Word.  I had been reading through the book of Isaiah, and I needed some extra help with understanding what was happening.  This commentary goes through the whole Bible and walks through historical information and explains verse by verse what the text is saying.

First 5 app is run by Proverbs 31 Ministries.  They also have book by book studies of the Bible that you can pull up on your phone or computer.  She Reads Truth is another place that has books of the Bible studies.  I mostly just use the Enduring Word and First 5 app, though.

A Christian YouTuber I follow, Anna Willemstein, recently had a video walking through using Bible Hub to do a word study to help you as you read your Bible.  I have never done that before, but I look forward to using that Bible study tool in the future.  Click here to watch her YouTube video about Bible Hub.

I always have a pen and sticky notes handy when I am studying the Bible.  After I read the actual Scripture and then go through a commentary or devotion about the same passage, I often write out some quotes or what God taught me on sticky notes to add to my Bible.  When I want to go back and reread the scripture, I can just peel the sticky note away! ⠀Doing this with a journaling Bible would be a good idea, or using a normal journal would work, too.  It’s super important to document and write out what God is teaching you.   

3. How do you apply Scripture to your personal walk of faith?

Through prayer we can know and learn how to apply Scripture to our personal walk of faith.  Before reading the Bible, we need to pause and pray and ask God to use this time in His Word to teach us something new.  We need to ask Him to speak to our hearts and show us what we need to change or how we need to grow.  God loves it when we pray like this – He is excited to show us lessons and ways Scripture is applicable to our lives.

One of my favorite ways of studying the Bible is called the inductive Bible study method.  This method involves reading a section or story in Scripture various times.  Each time you read, you are answering a particular question.    You could journal about these questions or talk about them with a friend.  At the end, you fill in the blank to “I will…”  This is a simple way to apply what you read to your life.

Complete Inductive Bible study method:

Read the story:

• What did you like? What did you not like?
• What did you understand? What did you not understand?

Read the story again:

• What do you learn about God/Jesus/Holy Spirit?
• What do you learn about humans?

Read the story again:

• Retell the story to a friend
• How will you apply this story to your life? I will…
• Who will you share this story with this week?

4. What’s your favorite verse and why?

Lately I have been leaning on a section of Scripture in Philippians chapter 4.  I have been struggling with some anxiety lately, which I know is not of the Lord.  This passage of Scripture encourages us to rejoice and to take it to the Lord in prayer.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God,which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.  Philippians 4:4-7, 13

I was on a mission trip recently and I had a prayer partner who wrote me notes of encouragement for me to open while I was gone.  The verse God put on her heart for me was these verses in Philippians.  She encouraged me to pray and lean on God for my strength.  Whenever God has the same verse show up in my life in different ways (through Instagram, through devotionals, through friends, through a book, etc.), I know that He wants me to pay attention and listen to what He is trying to teach me.

I also love the section of Scripture in Ephesians 6 about the armor of God.  I have been doing this study with my small group on the Armor of God by Priscilla Shirer.  God has been using that study to remind me we are in a spiritual battle, but God has given us so many tools to beat the devil.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.  Ephesians 6:10-18

Here’s a free print below with my prayer for all of us.  May we be hungry for God’s Word and dive in and eat more frequently.

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts. Jeremiah 15:16

What tips do you have on how to apply the Bible to your life?  I would love to hear them in the comments below!