How to Study the Bible | Where to Start + My Tips
So, now that you're prepared, what do you even do when you sit down and read the Bible? Well, the first thing I do is pray. I am such an easily distracted person, so to start I will just put my phone somewhere else. Then I just pray that God will help keep my heart and my mind focused, and help me hear what He wants me to hear. I do this because, with how the Bible works, you can read the same passage two days in a row and get something different both times. It's also good to have a certain spot where you have your quiet times. My spot is my desk.
A lot of people ask, "How do you even know where to start? Where do I go when I read?" Well, if you've never read the Bible, I recommend starting in John. I love John so much, and I really think you see the most of Jesus there. It's so good because you learn so much about Jesus, and as believers, we should be wanting to be like Jesus and love like he did. Our hearts naturally are nothing like Jesus. We are so sinful, naturally such awful people, so we should want to be like Him, the Perfect One. So what I do after I pray is I turn to wherever I'm reading. I have the HCSB, which stands for Holman Christian Standard Bible. I got it at LifeWay, it's a journaling Bible. There are so many great versions you can use! NLT, NIV... I personally don't have a preference, but I know what I don't enjoy. I don't personally enjoy reading straight from The Message. It's not a good thing to study from, I wouldn't use it as a study Bible.
As far as just what your quiet time looks like overall, you just have to find out what works best for you. When it comes to reading the Bible, there's no rushing it. It's not a textbook... you don't just read every word and keep going. It's meant to be dwelled upon and thought about. Sometimes, I can just read two verses, and it takes up all of my time just writing and thinking about them. I try to never have a set amount that I'm going to read one day. That sometimes can be dangerous, but I've found that I'm getting so much better at just reading what I want to read. I normally would generally read a chapter a day, but with a book like Matthew for example, I can just read a paragraph, and the parables are so deep that I will just start looking things up. I don't highlight anything, I just like to underline things that stand out to me, but that's just me. When I am reading, I will always have my notebook. I think when we are reading it is great to know our struggles so that we can know what to look for to better ourselves. I just want to be like Jesus so that others can see Him through me, and I can show others what He's shown me! So I will just down any thoughts that I have and not really read a specific amount. I just sit down and read, and people might say to that, "When I do that, I don't get anything from it," but it takes practice. It takes asking yourself hard questions and self-evaluation. Also, the Bible is God's Word. He can move through it. I like to just show up and let Him do the rest.
So, long should you generally spend in your quiet time? For me, it's always so different, but normally it's about 30-45 minutes. I'm also not perfect, some days I miss doing it! I also personally don't do it on Sunday mornings, since I'm going to church. I'm not sure if that's good or not... but that's what I do. Quiet time is just to start your day off, but it doesn't end there! It's something you take with you throughout your day. I heard someone once say that during their lunch break at work, they would go back through what they read that morning and refresh themselves. So, if you get frustrated because you missed a quiet time, don't get frustrated and feel like you can't go back to God. He wants you to come and He wants you to care. Whenever I miss my quiet time, worship music is just another great way to connect to God. It's really almost all I listen to now, I find myself just craving it. God's Word is Him speaking to us, but we also have to speak to God: through worship, through prayer, through talking with friends about Jesus. It can be done in so many different ways. There is something so special about just you and God, but it's also so special to have someone else to just talk Jesus with. I also recommend listening to podcasts, if you have time for that. If I have a day with lots to do and just running around, I'll turn on a podcast while driving, because unfortunately I can't read my Bible while driving....
Reading the Bible every day is not all about doing. What makes us Christians is not that we read our Bible every single morning. It's just that when we grow closer to Christ, we crave it more. The Word talks about how as we grow closer to Him, our desires grow closer. It says that He will fulfill our desires, which are ultimately Christ's desires, because His desires become our desires.
Alright, so last question: how do you close down your quiet time? I like to close with prayer. That time is the time I like to spend praying for other people, not just for myself. I like to sometimes text people in the morning and just say, "Hey, how may I pray for you?" It's so important as brothers and sisters in Christ to ask that question often. What I love to do is take a sticky note, write my prayers on it and put it in my notebook. It helps me remember everyone's requests. It's also awesome to write your prayers down. That way we don't forget what we prayed, and then when God answers prayers we can praise Him! It's great to not only pray for yourself, but also for others. Pray that God will use you to work for Him (Matthew 9:37-38). Pray for God to bring the people's needs to your mind... He'll bring them! Don't worthy about what you say being perfect either... just pray! (Matthew 10:19)
So just do it. Have the discipline. No one's perfect, sometimes we don't want to do it, but just try. I've gone through seasons where I do better than others, and that's just natural. You will feel the benefits of it when it's over. Start out with ten minutes, start slow. You can do it!
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