Get More From Reading Your Bible this Year
Are you relying on yesterday’s reading? Get more from reading your Bible this year as you learn to see Jesus in God’s Word!
If you’re reading your Bible out of guilt that you’re backslidden if you don’t, you’re missing the point.
I know that you’re probably a busy-mom with littles, in-be-tweens, or teens . . . or maybe your kids have grown and now you’re busy keeping up with grandkids or a totally new lifestyle. Maybe you’re having trouble finding the time for reading your Bible no matter which season of your journey you’re on.
I want to inspire you.
I want to equip you.
There is no condemnation here because I am a mom of seven kids and vividly remember the day when reading my Bible was the most difficult thing to fit into my day.
There ARE ways to do it. I’ve shared them before because it’s a passion of mine to encourage you to spend time in God’s Word every. single. day.
Even though I know it’s hard!
You can read in the middle of the night like I did when I tandem fed both twin granddaughters when they lived with us from birth through 18-months-old. I set my laptop on the slidder-chair’s stool and read while I fed them. It was stable and big enough to see and read. So, it can be done.
OR, when my kids were little and I was up in the night, I read aloud to myself and them at the breakfast table each morning. Well, mostly each morning. Nothing is perfect, you know.
Don’t Rely on Yesterday’s Reading
I remember when I really didn’t have much of an excuse because I only had one child (so far) that it would go at least a week . . . {GASP} and I had NOT read my Bible!
The thing is, you can’t rely on yesterday’s reading.
You can’t read today’s chapter and the one for tomorrow and then skip your Quiet Time.
It just doesn’t work that way.
You desperately need Jesus every single day. You need to immerse yourself in your Bible each day.
This year I want to read my Bible more and more. At least more than last year.
I want to get back into spending some time immersing myself in God’s Word without studying it. Just to immerse and bask in Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
I want to read out of desperation until I am totally transformed into the image of Christ. I want my thoughts, words, and behavior to be changed from the inside out.
When I fail, which is way too often, I want to get back up and get into God’s transforming Word yet again.
Reading Your Bible Out of Desperation
I am always using a plan to read my Bible. It might be one of my Bible Reading Plans which are more like ‘milk-reading’ if you only read that one verse. I usually read the whole chapter where the verse is found. That gives the context. Hopefully, you do something like that too since you would never grow out of the baby stage.
For several years I was reading one chapter a day and studying it deeply. This year I am reading through the Bible hopefully in one year.
BUT . . . how many times have you done a Bible Reading Plan simply to check off the box?
That’s a good way to read if you want to be more like a Pharisee than a Saint!
My desire is to read with desperation to know God better.
Too often, my mind is on what I need to do that day. I am reading to get it done.
If you are a busy-mom and reading your Bible with the same kind of stress, pray and ask God to invade you with His presence and help you to be immersed in Him.
We are desperately sick with worldliness and in deep need of God to transform our hearts and minds.
Reading Your Bible with a Humble Heart
I want to read my Bible with a humble heart that is willing to hear God’s quiet voice.
I won’t hear Him if the chaos and clamor inside my head are noisy.
The noise and restlessness in our hearts are like cancer eating away like a terminal disease inside our soul.
Only the Holy Spirit can cure your terminal disease as you read your Bible.
Read Until Your Blindness Lifts
It doesn’t really take that long to read three or four chapters if you form the habit of sitting still without distractions. That means turning off your phone and laptop. Don’t answer those pesky notifications.
If you want to see Jesus in the Word, keep reading. Do you lose track of time scrolling your social feeds but not have time to read God’s Word?
How come we get distracted before we have finished reading one chapter in our Bible?
Keep reading until your blindness lifts.
Until you hear God speaking and convicting your heart.
Pray as you read.
Pray hard that you would feel and know God’s presence.
Simply Reading Your Bible
Never grow weary of the slow, steady growth that comes from your daily, disciplined life that increases your love affair in reading your Bible!
I love studying my Bible but I am NOT suggesting you stop. Maybe you can save it for days when you have more time.
Simply reading your Bible really takes less time than blocking out an hour to study a chapter or do a word study.
It isn’t as difficult as it seems. I think the reason it seems impossible is that deep down, we really don’t want to spend too much time reading our Bible.
I am suggesting that you join me in reading your Bible in its entirety this year. OR, if that’s not an option for you, there are wonderful plans (or one you can make up) that guide you through certain books of the Bible.
I am reading my Bible chronologically this year. What that means is that I started in Genesis and read 10 or 11 chapters and then skipped over to Job. That’s because Job happened during the time that Genesis happened.
I am simply reading my Bible and underlining it (because I have this new Bible) without studying or outlining it.
I am reading out of desperation to know Jesus more and more this year.
Fall Behind? Jump Back In!
BUT . . . what if my day gets off to a bad start or for some other reason I fall behind in my reading?
NO worries!
If you fall behind in reading your Bible you can do the same as I’m going to do this year.
Jump right back in!
That’s it!
Jump right back in!
Don’t let that be the thing the evil one uses to pull you away from drawing closer to Jesus. Jump back into reading your Bible!
Habit-Forming NOT Perfection
Having a routine (I did NOT say schedule) makes it easier to develop habits.
Reading your Bible is a habit.
One that is the most important self-care habit of all!
Reading your Bible isn’t about perfection it is about a habit-forming routine.
It’s NOT about perfection because let’s be honest, you might fail and skip a day here and there. It’s about forming a habit that is done on more days than not.
It’s about reading your Bible more and more this year!
Saints sit down in the shadow of the cross and plead for the blood of Jesus’s bought treasures!
LEARN MORE ABOUT MY COURSE HERE!!
