Foundation Topic

How to Read
the Bible

Ready to start reading the Bible? All you'll need is a time, a place, and a plan. Remember that the Bible is a spiritual exercise not just an intellectual one—God is speaking to you in his Word. Ask for his help, and for his Holy Spirit to increase your desire daily to hear him speak. Welcome to the adventure.

Read it well

We read the Bible to know God, but we must read his Word
thoughtfully as we would any other book.

How to read the Bible

Books

Theme Verse

Joshua 1:8 NIV

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Short Content

How Should We Read the Bible?

Have you ever received a special letter in the mail? How did you read it?

Did you halt all else until you could savor the words? Maybe you sipped something while you slowly soaked up the sentences, or stole away to a quiet place away from interruptions to think on the meaning. Maybe you kept it hidden and re-read it habitually.

Did you honor this message because you couldn’t wait to get your hands on a good one-pager of literature?

No! You pored over those words and gave them special treatment because the person whose heart they flowed from had a special place in your life.

The words that we most treasure come from the people we most cherish. The person behind the words determines the power of their influence in our lives.

We read the Bible the same way we read a special letter. It has a powerful influence on our lives and a reserved place in our hearts because we love its Author.

Those of us who have read it through, know the story. Each one of us lived in rebellion against God and deserved his punishment, but God sent his Son Jesus to be our substitute. Jesus suffered for our sins, died on a cross, but rose from the dead three days later. Through this death, he reconciled our relationship with God and gave us new life (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). This new life is a life of knowing, obeying and enjoying God as we were created to do (John 17:3).

Our Maker himself has shared his thoughts with us and made them accessible to us at all times.

When we open the Bible, our Creator, who designed us and delivered our souls from death, speaks to us. He tells us the story of how he demonstrated his love for us, how to get to know him better, and what he has determined to do with his creation.

What other voice could be more important in our lives than the voice of our Maker, our Savior, the very life-giver himself (John 1:1,4)?

So how should we read the Bible? Read the Bible like it is God’s own Word to you, his gift to you given out of his love, and the means of drawing near to him.

The Bible isn’t a letter in your mailbox, but a book on your shelf. How often, how happily, and how diligently you open it will be determined by how deeply you understand the character of its Author.

So read it like it’s from someone who loves you, and read it because you want to love him better too.

by Bibles.net

How To Read The Bible

Article: 20 Min

The Four C's of Bible Reading

by Bibles.net

Quote

What's Your Motive for Reading the Bible?

by Dave Kraft at Crossway

Don’t read the Bible so you can say you read your Bible regularly. Read it because you want to hear from Jesus, build a thoughtful theology, gain perspective, develop courage, preach the Gospel to yourself every day, be reminded of how much he loves and cares for you and has a plan and purpose for your life, build an intimate relationship with him.

See quote source

Video: 10 Min

7 Tips: How to
Read the Bible
for Beginners

by DLM Christian Lifestyle

Video: 7 Min

Reading
the Bible
for Beginners

by the Straight Truth Podcast

Image

So faith
comes from hearing,
and hearing through
the word of Christ.

Romans 10:17 ESV

Article: 10 Min

14 Ideas to Make Your Bible Reading More Consistent

by Kristen Wetherell at her blog

Video: 3 Min

You Need the Whole Bible
(Even if You Don’t Know Why)

by Russell Moore at his blog

Verse

Deuteronomy 11:18-20 NIV

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates

Ask Pastor John

What Should I Expect My First Time Through the Bible?

by John Piper, 11 Min

Quote

[The Bible]
is not an ordinary Book
I am about to read
but a supernatural, and, therefore,
I need the assistance of its Author.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss Wolgemuth

Pop

Word of Life

by Jeremy Camp

Article: 7 Min

Jesus Calling: How Well Are You Listening?

by J.A. Medders at Desiring God

Video Series

How to Study the Bible

Opening the Bible on your own can feel like a daunting task—How do I start reading the Bible? What's it about? When should I read?

Impact Video Ministries has creatively and humorously answered your questions. Discover how to start the journey of spending regular time in God's Word.

by Impact Video Ministries | Whiteboard Video Series

8 Min: How to Study the Bible

7 Min: 5 Questions to Ask

11 Min: Overview of the Bible

Verse

Hebrews 3:12-15 ESV

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.”

The Crossway Podcast

Habits for Better Bible Reading

by Drew Hunter, 45 Min

Contemporary

Word of God Speak

by Mercy Me

Verse

Psalm 119:1-6 ESV

Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
You have commanded your precepts
to be kept diligently.
Oh that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping your statutes!
Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.

Psalm 119

The greatest poem ever penned
about the Word of God,
and the longest prayer in the Psalms
for those who long to love and understand it.

Chill & Relaxing

Not in a Hurry

by Will Reagan

Hymns

Speak, O Lord

by Keith & Kristyn Getty

Ask Pastor John

I’m Tired and Busy, How Do I Make Time for the Bible?

by John Piper, 9 Minutes

Quote

How to Read the Bible and Know God Better

by Horatius Bonar in his book, "Follow the Lamb", 1861

Be much alone with God. Do not put him off with a quarter of an hour morning and evening. Take time to get thoroughly acquainted. Talk everything over with him. Pour out every thought, feeling, wish, plan, and doubt to him. He wants converse with his creatures. Shall his creatures not want converse with him? He wants, not merely to be on “good terms” with you, if one may use man’s phrase, but to be intimate. Shall you decline the intimacy and be satisfied with mere acquaintance? What! Intimate with the world, with friends, with neighbors, but not with God? That would look ill indeed. Folly, to prefer the clay to the potter, the marble to the sculptor, this little earth and its lesser creatures to the mighty Maker of the universe, the great “All and in all!”

See quote source