Imagine it’s World War II and your sweetheart is serving oversees in the military or as a nurse. There’s no social media, no email, and no cell phones. Every day you race to meet the mailman, hopeful that he will deliver a letter from your love. You rush inside and rip the envelope open, relishing every word of their precious handwriting. You experience the romance of the words they penned specifically to you. The next letter can’t come soon enough.
In this scenario, you would never pick up the letter, bring it inside, stuff it in a drawer, and then wonder why your lover isn’t talking to you. But that’s what so many of us do with our Bibles. If you’re a Christian, you’ve likely been told since you first believed that reading your Bible is important, but I think so many of us see it as a chore, something to check off our list, or just another thing to add to our busy day. But it’s really a book filled with love letters that our Father penned just for us. It teaches us about His character, His love for us, and how to navigate life.
When I started reading my Bible consistently for myself, God began revealing crazy things to me that were relevant to my life, the lives of others, and the state of our world. Even with all the encouragement pastors give us to read our Bibles, I still feel like many of them have not hyped the Bible enough. Sometimes I’ll just sit there after reading it, overwhelmed (in a good way) by the magnitude of God.
There’s no one right way to read your Bible. Depending on your personality, how you learn, and a number of other things, you will find some ways work better than others for you. You may have to try some different ways out. But to get you started, I’ll share how I approach it.
When to Read
The first thing I did was decide on when to set aside time for God every day. What worked best for me was to make it a part of my morning routine, while I eat breakfast. For you this could be another time of the day, like before bed. But it’s a good idea to do it at the same time every day so it becomes a habit that is a part of your daily routine.
What to Read
1. Get a Bible
If you don’t have a Bible, getting one is your next step. I like the Life Application Study Bible because it has lots of notes with explanations, charts, and maps that help you understand both historical context and modern relevance.
2. Version
There are many different translations of the Bible. My favorite is the New King James Version (NKJV); I find it easier to read than the King James Version (KJV). Another version I really like is the New International Version (NIV). These 3 are solid versions for daily reading and studying, because they reflect the original text in a way that other translations may not. For example, I wouldn’t use The Passion Translation (TPT), the Amplified Bible (AMP), or The Message (MSG) for my daily reading, because they sometimes portray the intention of a passage rather than what it literally says, and a lot can be lost. But there is a lot of value in these versions, and I will consult them secondarily as a fresh way to see a verse or passage, after I have read the KJV, NKJV, or NIV.
3. Reading Plan
Next, you get to choose a reading plan. There’s no one right plan. If you are new to reading your Bible, I would suggest starting with the gospel of John in the New Testament. After you read John, it would be good to read the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), and then choose a reading plan of the entire Bible, but it’s totally up to you.
You can choose a plan for reading the whole Bible, or a plan that only goes over a portion of it. If you want to read the whole Bible, you can read it cover to cover (this is the canonical order). If you want to do this in a set period of time there are plans and even Bibles, like The One Year Bible, that break down what you need to read on each day. The canonical order that you find your Bible in today is not necessarily the order that all the events happened, so you can also read the Bible chronologically instead of canonically. (One example: Many scholars agree that the events in the book of Job happened before some of the events in Genesis. So a chronological plan would have you read some of Genesis, the book of Job, and then the remaining events in Genesis.) You could also read a mix of the Old Testament and New Testament each day, while making your way through the entire Bible, rather than reading canonically or chronologically.
Instead of reading the entire Bible canonically or chronologically, you could also read portions of it based around a specific topic or theme, like forgiveness, peace, identity, etc. There are even reading plans centered around holidays like Christmas and Easter. Or you can read in a random fashion whatever book or section you feel intrigued by, or that God is calling you to. To find any of the plans I talked about, I encourage you to search “Bible reading plan,” “yearly Bible reading plan,” or something similar (using key words on the type of reading plan you’re interested in) on Pinterest. There are so many great free resources there.
To recap, here are the different types of reading plans I touched on for reading the entire Bible:
- Canonical
- Chronological
- Mix of Old Testament/New Testament
And here’s a few types of plans that aren’t necessarily for making your way through the whole Bible:
- Topical/Thematic
- Holiday
- Random
How to Read
1. Invite the Holy Spirit
Now that you have your Bible, and know what to read, how do you go deeper and get the most out of the time you have set aside? The first thing I do is ask the Holy Spirit to speak to me and show me what He wants to show me. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit “will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13), so I figure this is a good starting point.
2. Review Yesterday’s Notes
When I’m reading my Bible, I underline verses and notes that stand out to me, and I write notes of my own too. So, the first thing I usually do is review the notes I made from the previous day so that I remind myself of all that God has already been showing me. I know some people can’t even fathom writing in their Bible, and if that’s you, that’s okay. You could journal your thoughts and key takeaways in a notebook or journal instead. I’ve also seen some highlighter pens made specifically for the thin pages of a Bible.
3. Make Underlines/Highlights/Notes for Today
After I’ve reviewed yesterday’s notes, I will start reading, underlining, and making notes for today’s reading. I’ll also read the notes that my Life Application Study Bible has.
4. Commentary & Maps
If there is something I’m confused about, or want more information on, I will first check out the notes in my Life Application Study Bible. If those notes don’t have what I’m looking for, then I will search commentaries. A Bible commentary gives explanations and opinions, usually from Bible scholars, about verses or passages in the Bible. My favorite commentary is Enduring Word Commentary by David Guzik. I recently discovered that there is a free Enduring Word app as well, which is efficient and helpful.
If you’re a visual person, or into maps, you might consider getting a Bible atlas to help you see where events took place and the context of passages based on their location. Sometimes Bibles have maps in them already, but an atlas will give broader detail. I have the Oxford Bible Atlas, which has quite a bit of explanation in addition to the maps.
5. Review Today’s Notes
After I’ve read everything I’m going to read, I will review today’s underlines and notes. I will meditate on those things for the day and look for opportunities to apply them.
6. Sit
The last thing I’ll do before going about the rest of my day is ask God to reveal things to me, and then I’ll simply sit there with my eyes closed ready to receive. He’ll usually give me a vision or speak to me about something in particular.
You may not always have time to do all of this, or you may find your own ways to read your Bible that work better for you. The important thing is that you are fed by His Word and what’s true every day. How do you read your Bible? Tell me in a comment below.