How’s that for a clickbait title?
I have been a Christian my entire life, and I’ve always known that spending time reading the Bible is vitally important to learning how to follow Christ. Within reason, I truly don’t think that it matters how you are studying the Bible. With the Holy Spirit’s help, as long as the Bible is being opened and read, it will not return void.
Somewhere along my spiritual walk, I received- or perhaps perceived- the message that a good Christian frequently read through the Bible in a year AND took time to study the Bible. I think that this does work great for some people, and there have been seasons in my life where I am able to both read through the Bible in a year and do a Bible study on the side.
However, since becoming a Mom and being in the trenches with all the kids, I have set a goal each year to read through the Bible in a year. This is a wonderful goal, and I am not saying that it shouldn’t be happening! However, I found that I wasn’t getting much out of my Bible reading. I was trying to check of the reading for the day, and usually I was at least two days behind, and usually I was interrupted 45 times during my reading and usually I went away from my Bible reading time feeling frustrated that I couldn’t check if off the list…and maybe a bit bored with the content.
I have always really wanted to learn HOW to study the Bible, and how to sit down and make connections, dive deeper, study root words, understand what certain passages are referring to, learn more about cultural context, etc. Ever since I read Jen Wilkin’s Women of the Word book, I have really wanted to read the Bible by diving deeper, instead of doing a flyover from beginning to end
(Again, hear me when I say that there is also great benefit in reading the Bible cover to cover and “flying over”- there is so much to be learned!)
Around November of 2023, I had a thought during my Bible reading time- I was reading as fast as I could, not retaining any information and literally spending half my Bible reading time counting how many days it would take me to catch up. I was frustrated because in my limited time, I was never ever to get to that deeper study, prayer or memorization time that I craved. So I quit the read through the Bible plan in a year right then and there (*gasp*).
Here is what I started to do instead:
I try to get up in the morning, even if it’s not always before my kids. This is my little desk set up in my pantry.
Here is my stack of books/Bibles that I use each morning. I don’t always get through all of this, so sometimes I have to skip around if I’m short on time. Notice that I also have my to-do list notebook right next to me, so I can brain dump anything that pops into my head for the day.
I start with this fun little notebook that Theo gave me for Christmas. This has NOTHING to do with the Bible haha, other than it has really been enjoyable for our marriage. We don’t answer a question every single day, but we do probably 5 or 6 a week. It’s so fun to open it up first thing in the morning and see what Theo wrote.
Next, I grab my Bible and this journal and I spend some time writing out the book of the Bible that I’m currently studying. I’ve done 1 & 2 Thessalonians and now I’m working through 1 Peter. I write 5-7 verses each day and then slowly read the commentary on those verses. On the other side of the notebook I take notes of things that stand out to me- lists that are in the passage, commands, questions that I have, other verses from the Bible that weave together with these. Again, I’m only doing about 5 verses a day, so this is not taking me a very long time. Maybe 20-25 minutes? Once I finish a chapter or a book of the Bible, I might listen to a sermon on the topic, do some cross-referencing or some deep dives.
The last thing I usually do is write in my prayer journal. I write 2-3 main people or prayer requests to pray for at the top of the page, and then write out prayers for those 3 things. This is time consuming, so I’m gonna be honest that this is usually the thing that I skip.
And about 2 times a week, I write in my personal journal- this is like my diary where I write things that are happening, how I’m feeling, frustrations, events, etc. I used to write in it every single day but that hasn’t really happened since before Ori was born. And usually if I’m writing in my journal, I’m not writing in the prayer journal.
That sounds like A LOT, but all in all that takes around 30 minutes.
Here are some of the resources that I listed in the post:
The Book of You and Me Couples Journal
Val Marie Paper Prayer Journal
Cultivate What Matters Write the Word Journals
Chronological Read Through the Bible in a Year
I can’t wait to read all of the other answers to this prompt through the Let’s Look link-up!
Hi Suzanne! I enjoyed hopping to your blog from the link up. I love getting a peek into other women’s lives and thank you for sharing yours! I am impressed by the variety of outlets you have to connect with God. I agree with you that I have seasons for reading my Bible – sometimes a flyover and sometimes a deep dive.
I want to LOVINGLY challenge that you “have been a Christian [your] entire life.” Scripture tells us that we are sinful when we are born (Psalm 51:5). To become a Christian is an active decision (Luke 9:23 – And [Jesus] said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”). To be raised in the church and with Christian parents does not necessarily mean a person is a believer. I see fruit in your life (post :)) and hope others do also. Praise God for His saving grace!
Thank you for sharing this! I could not agree more- I can see where my wording implied the wrong thing. What I meant to communicate was that I have been immersed in the culture of Christianity my whole life, therefore I have seen and experienced the culture of daily devotions. But you are so right- my salvation comes only from Jesus and when I chose to follow him is when I became a Christian! Thanks for that reminder and thanks for stopping by!