Tips for your personal Bible-reading time pt.1

I wrote this a while ago for an online group of which I am a member. I don't believe I have posted it here before, so I will do that now and hope that it is beneficial to you! I don't mean for these tips to be set in stone, that you must do this or you won't be blessed in your Bible reading. If I believed that, I'd be kind of silly, as I don't always follow all of these. So, it won't hurt my feelings if you don't take the tips. ;)


It is long enough that I think I ought to post it in two parts.


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If you want to deepen your relationship with God there is nothing more important than Bible reading. Listening to preachers and teachers is good and beneficial; reading books by brilliant theologians is helpful; but the Bible alone carries with it the authority and wisdom from God Himself. He gave us His Word (2 Timothy 3:16), and He desires that we hear it (Joshua 8:35; 1 Timothy 4:13; Revelation 1:3) and read it (Acts 17:11). 

Your growth in godliness is affected by your Bible intake. No, it's true. In John 17:17, Jesus says of His people, "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth..." God works through His word to sanctify us. Do you believe that? 

Think of Jesus' example. All through the Gospels you can see Jesus continually quoting Scripture in His arguments against the Pharisees and scribes. He obviously thought that the Scriptures were not only worth reading, but memorizing as well. He certainly believed they were useful for doctrine, correction and reproof, enabling the man of God to be competent, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:17). 

So, here are some tips for your personal Bible reading. I hope they help you to think about what you can do to benefit most from the Word of God. 

1) Read With the Intent of Applying What You Learn to Your Life

As it says in 2 Timothy 3:17, the purpose of Scripture is not only knowing the truth (doctrine, correction and reproof), but competence in good works. Our Bible reading should cause us to change our lives for the glory of God. We should walk away from our reading refreshed and challenged. 

You see, the Christian life is work. We are not called to sit back in passivity and do nothing. God calls us to do, to pursue, to act and strive. We are supposed to run the race. We are supposed to chase after righteousness and godliness. God requires action from His people. 

2) Take the Time to Memorize 

The Psalmist says "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." (Psalm 119:11) You see that memorization of Scripture can help us to battle sin. When you have Scripture memorized, the Holy Spirit can use it to help you fight your sinful tendencies. Most of us don't carry a Bible wherever we go; but if we memorize Scripture, we have that arsenal within our mind that the Holy Spirit can draw upon. The Word of God is called the "Sword of the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:17). With Scripture we can counter-attack and defend ourselves against the onslaught of Satan and our own sin. 

If you think of any swordsman, you must think of all the time and effort that was put into becoming a master of the craft. Hours upon hours of practice and study make a master swordsman. 

You might think you are bad at memorizing things, but you're not as bad as you think. If you can remember your name, your phone number, and your address, you can remember a few verses in the Bible. All it takes is the discipline to keep at it. 

Speaking of keeping at it, I have a rather negative example from my own life. In the past I had memorized Romans 8 and Romans 12. Full chapters within my mind. However, I did not keep up the review of them, and so I have lost much of what I had stored. While I remember the "gist" of each chapter, I did not keep up my memorization review, and so I have lost those weapons that I had. Now, I have memorized them in the past, and I know I can do it again; but it does take practiced discipline and devotion. It takes some hard work. But remember, we are called to hard work. We are called to digging deeper. Are we willing to devote time and labour to memorizing the Word of God?

A few tips for memorization:

• Write the verses you want to memorize on index cards, so that you can go over them throughout the day without much difficulty.
• Draw picture reminders, if that helps you. I have personally never done this, but it may help others who are more visual learners. It doesn't have to be elaborate; you can draw stick figures and one-line images. Anything to help the verse stick in your mind.
• Break the verse or passage apart into sections. I memorized 1 Timothy 5 in this way. "The aim of our charge is love/ that issues from a pure heart/ a good conscience/ and a sincere faith." 

Perhaps you would memorize it easiest if you heard it spoken. If that's the case, a number of online Bible websites like www.biblegateway.com have a "listen" option.