Here are some tips on how to start reading the Bible…
Start small. Read a section or story. You don’t have to read a whole chapter or try to read the Bible in a month.
Start with something easy. The Bible is made up of 66 books. Because the Bible spans so much time and has many different authors and types of writing, some books are harder to get into. Some books have more stories and less direct teaching. I would suggest you read the following books first: Mark, John, Genesis, Acts, Ephesians, Psalms, Philippians, 1 & 2 Kings, and keep going.
Before you read each day, say a quick prayer like, “Dear God, I’m about to read your Bible. Please help me to understand what I read and to find the lessons and applications you want me to see. Speak to my heart Lord. In Jesus‘ name I pray, Amen.”
Realize that God wants to speaks to us through the Bible. He does this through stories by giving us lessons on what to do or what not to do. He does this through direct teaching like the Ten Commandments or many of the letters in the New Testament.
Ask questions…
Is there a lesson about something I should be doing?
Is there a pitfall I should avoid?
Do I relate with one of the characters?
Is there a direct or indirect command or instruction to apply to my life?
If you don’t understand something, ask someone who knows more about the Bible.
Finish your time reading the Bible with a short prayer like, “Father, thank you for spending time with me and showing me new lessons in your word. Please help me to follow you today by living what I’ve just read. In Jesus name, Amen!
Reading the Bible is simple and easy if you follow some basic guidelines. There are some books in the Bible that are complex and harder to understand, save those for later when you have a handle on the Bible. I admit, there are other books that seem boring because they are filled with too many facts, figures, details, and obscure names. Again, skip those and save them for another time. I’m not saying you should pick and choose what you accept in the Bible, but I do want you to keep reading so you will get to the point where you can read anything in the Bible and understand it.
Be blessed as you read and apply God’s Words to your life!
At the very core, Christianity is about relationship. We each desire to have a personal relationship with God. We come together in a large gathering called a worship service to build our relationships with fellow believers and the One we worship. I’d like to suggest that we also need to be in a small group discipleship relationship.
One of the most powerful disciplines God uses to help us grow is Small Groups. In the past, we made small groups terrible complicated and burdensomely difficult to attend. This year, let me simply encourage you to get together with one or two people and encourage each other in the Lord.
“Grow in a Group”
Find 1-2 others and meet weekly to read the Bible, pray, and encourage each other. Choose someone who is more spiritually mature that you would like to learn from or someone who is newer that you would like to share your experiences with.
Meet in a public location if possible. Something like Starbucks, Zippys, or Jack in the Box.
Keep it small. If you grow to 4-6 people, split the group in half and keep meeting.
Set a time to meet and commit to it. If your partner can’t make it one week, spend that time alone with the Lord.
Keep it so simple. Read the Bible together, or find a Bible Study, Book, or Video Series to study together.
Here are some easy Bible books to start with: Mark, John, Acts, Genesis, Psalms, Ephesians… or go through a bible study like “Biblical Foundations”.
Expect God to speak to you and teach you as you read and pray together.
Talk about what God is teaching you, saying to you, showing you, and talk about your “walk with God”.
Pray for each other.
Pray for those you want to share the good news about Jesus with. “Each One Reach One Each Year” is a great motto for personal ministry.
Eat food & drink beverages together.
Encourage one another.
Invite others to join you.
Sound simple enough? It really is. But by adding this one discipline to your life, you will be more accountable to do the things you should be doing anyway. You will also always have support for those tough times of life. And you will be doing what the early church did in Acts 4:42-46.
I love my two cats. Every morning as I leave the house I am greeted by meows for food. And because they are always there just waiting to be fed, I never forget to feed them. One morning as I was feeding them, the Lord whispered to me, “Put yourself in the place to be fed. And you will be fed.”
I believe that is the power of conferences. When we pay a registration fee or give a love offering and commit to going to the conference, we “Put ourselves in a place where we can be fed spiritually.” The same is true about committing to attending church weekly or committing to a small group, but conferences are different, because they require more from us, and we receive more from them.
At a conference, you will receive more sessions of Biblical teaching and have more time to soak in that teaching and apply it to your life. You will also be exposed to different speakers who might present a concept in a way that’s easier for you to understand and receive. If the conference is on a given topic, that topic will be reinforced time and again so that we actually “get” what is being taught.
Conferences also break us out of our routines. Often a conference requires us to take a day or two off from work and that simple sacrifice can cause us to focus more on God and what is being taught than getting caught up in our daily routines.
When I was in youth ministry, I understood that the most life-changing experiences for our young people was going to camp. So we took the time to plan or attend 3-4 camps each year because that is where life change would happen.
Why were camps so life-changing? For the reasons listed above. We took the teens out of their environments and routines and focused them on God. We banned their electronics so they would focus solely on God. We saturated their minds with the Word of God by requiring them to begin each day with morning devotions, then teaching them with several Bible sessions a day, and wrapped everything up by discussing those messages in small groups before bed. We actually got our teens to live as close to the perfect Christian life as possible.
So in relation to conferences for adults, I highly encourage attending them. You just might be able to break out of your routine and live a perfect Christian life for a few days and that just could be your life-transforming experience.
