How to enjoy to study your Bible 

We’ve all been there when you have good intentions, gather your study tools, pens, note pad, Bible dictionary etc. You then sit down to begin your study and suddenly your phone rings and you can’t ignore the call in case it’s someone with news you’ve been waiting for. The kids wake up, distractions from every corner of the house. Then your opportunity to study your Bible is gone. Perhaps you begin your study in a part of the Bible that is super super boring, let’s be honest there’s parts that can put you to sleep. How can I make it through this. I’m so tired? We’ve all been there. Let’s face it. None of us 100 percent of the time enjoy studying the Bible. However I think it’s a skill that we can learn. So real quick let us look at some tips on how to help ourselves enjoy our time studying the Bible. How they’ve helped people reach a place where they thoroughly love to do Bible studies. How to use them to grow our ability to grab hold and absorb more information and crave more time of studying God’s word. Basically how we can Bible study and love it. We are called to delight in God’s word so why do we view it like this difficult task? Yes God knows there is boring parts of it. He understands all we endure in this life and why we think sometimes “I can’t focus Lord because I have so many things I need to do.” 

Tip #1. Set goals. It is not typically productive to just open your Bible and randomly read one spot today and another tomorrow. That’s the fast way to getting burned out and in the end you don’t absorb any of it. The best way to be encouraged and motivated to read your Bible is to set a goal like this summer I’m going to read through the gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. You start every morning and evening taking a little time and set how many chapters a day or at least a minimum that you intend to read. You get the idea, find a plan that works for you and interests you. Our brain likes it when there is an end all goal that we can feel accomplishment when reached. 

Tip #2. Set yourself up to succeed. Don’t try to study with the kids running around or the tv on in the room. Find a quit spot, when the kids are taking a nap, or get up a little early or stay up a bit late. Put on comfy clothes, fix yourself a warm cup of tea, coffee, cocoa. Put in some inspirational music in the background. Make it your me time, quality time just for you and God. Creating a comfortable atmosphere reinforces the idea and tells your body “I like doing this” Bring all your tools you may need to help you understand as you read. Such things as pens, notepads, commentaries, dictionary, stickers you want to use, etc. This way you won’t get disrupted having to go get things. 

Tip #3. Start doing in-depth Bible studies. For many we didn’t start enjoying and living off of our Bible studies like it didn’t truly become the core source of our life, encouragement and motivation till we began going deep into our Bible study. Like we read scriptures but they didn’t make real sense. We got the stories but would say ok that’s nice and move on with our day. We didn’t necessarily understand how to apply those to our daily life. When you go in-depth you absorb more about the writer, the scene of where he was, the circumstances and who they’re writing to. The research we do helps the stories come alive to us. It gives it meaning and peaks our interest. It begins to click with other parts of scripture, we suddenly begin to grasp more of it in our mind and in our heart. The research helps us to not take what we’re reading out of context. A commentary will show us what the value is of a scripture that seems boring. Why is it in the Bible? Find you several good commentaries. We should have them to grab in hand. You can download an app on your phone or iPad, such as Bible Hub or Blue Letter Bible, they’re both free. The app from E-Sword offered at e-sword.net and the Logos app is awesome but isn’t free like the others. Some like to invest and buy several commentaries to have in their personal libraries. You can purchase large sets that have an entire book for each book of the bible or more condensed versions that have two volumes, one for the Old and one for the New Testament. There are many out there such as the John MacArthur Commentaries, The Wiersbe Bible Commentaries and The Bible Knowledge Commentary to name just a few. After going in-depth in our studies we then begin to consider what we’ve read and how it affects us. We begin to ask ourselves “what is God saying to me?” We begin to pray for God’s wisdom and feel God speaking to us and maybe even acknowledge convictions about what we’re reading. Then we begin to learn how to apply it to our life.  This makes us get thirsty for more. The more you know the more you want to know. You soon find yourself feeling frustrated not having enough time to study. You’ve fallen in love with Bible studying. 

Tip #4. Delight in The Word by Interacting with The Word. 

Bible journaling or note taking. For so many people they don’t understand the value of Bible journaling. There’s something about taking pens, pencils, stickers, highlighters, crayons or whatever you use and interacting with God through prayer and writing down what the scripture says to you. Taking down cross references, looking up the scripture and jotting it down in your Bible. It is so worshipful and becomes more like a love letter. The scripture that you’re writing, dwelling on, putting your time into and it imprints that scripture in your mind and into your heart. Instead of reading the Bible out of some type of Christian duty you’re interacting and reminding yourself that you are a part of this story. It becomes something you treasure. Once this becomes a regular part of your bible study time you will treasure the time you get to study God’s word you will cherish what you get from that time of interaction with God. 

Tip #5. Be regular. A daily habit. So many start out trying to begin a new habit they want to do and they may for a short time and then they stop for whatever reason. Then they hate it. Like trying to exercise. Ughhh. So how can we keep from making that same mistake with our Bible study? The best way is to create an atmosphere that we enjoy and feel comfortable in. Pray and ask God to show up. Commit to God that you’re going to study every day and ask Him to show up and help you. Ask Him to take away all distractions, to open up that time and to help you focus. Then you put forth the effort to be faithful to your plan to regularly do a Bible study. 

Tip #6. Really enjoy Bible Study. Be honest with God. Don’t put on a fake mask. Tell God the truth about if what you’re reading is boring or you don’t understand. Ask him for wisdom, for understanding and for direction. If today it’s really hard that is ok. Don’t make this so miserable that you hate it and don’t want to ever do it again. Keep trying. Find ways that work for you Read what interests you in the beginning. Most important is to draw close to God and He will then draw closer to you.

Eagles Nest Baptist Church has a Small Group Bible Study each Wednesday at 6pm. Please consider joining us. Everyone is welcome.