How I Read The Bible (The First Time)

 The title of this post is past tense. It's how I read it, not how I'm reading it now :)

I have had a lot of people - ladies, really - ask me over the last year or so how do I read the Bible. I know this seems like an odd question, and at first it was a little weird for me, but when I started to just let people talk and ramble about it, I soon found out what it was that they were really trying to ask me. At first glance the answer seems simple. How do you read a book? You open it and read it, right? But the Bible isn't just any book, it is God letter to us. It needs to be read prayerfully and with commitment. So, I thought I would share with you my thoughts and experiences with how I read it the first time. I am hoping that you will be encouraged to read it too!

The one thing that I hear people say often when they talk about their struggle to read the Bible is:

It's confusing or hard to understand. Yes parts of it are confusing especially since it is set in a culture that is so different from our own. This is where the prayerful part is necessary. The Holy Spirit will give you understanding as you apply yourself to reading (John 14:26). Another thing that will help in your understanding is simply to continue reading it! I know this sounds odd. If I don't understand this part, how can I move onto the next part, right? But it all goes together. It is all one story and you will find as you go along that you will get answers and understanding in another part of the Bible. This is also why it is important to read it more than once.


 So, how did I do it? You can go online and find numerous Bible reading plans that are free. If you search on Google for 'Bible reading plan' then you will get a number of options. Please don't get overwhelmed by this and let it become a distraction for you!! You can also buy special Bibles that are set up with reading plans in them. But here is how I did it:

•  The first thing I did was to commit myself to it. This is a big undertaking and is not to be taken lightly. It will require commitment. I knew that there would be times when I just didn't feel like reading and this commitment would be the difference between this time and all the other times that I had tried and not succeeded.
• Then I prayed. Yes, perhaps prayer should have come first but I really needed to 'set my mind' on it first (Colossians 3:2). In this prayer, I first told God that I was committing myself to read it. Then I asked for the Holy Spirit to strengthen and enable me to keep that commitment. I knew I couldn't do it with His help. Each day I would pray before I read 'Lord, speak to me out of Your word today'.  This seemed to help alot.
• I didn't start with Genesis but rather I started with the New Testament. The Old Testament was intimidating to me so I started with the book of Matthew and then read through to Revelation. Many people believe that you need to start a book at the beginning but remember that the Bible isn't just any book. I felt that I needed some success under my belt before I attempted the Old Testament.
• We have a bookshelf at church with free Bibles on it. During my time reading the New Testament, I found a Chronological Bible on the shelf and took it home. I started to read this one as well my original one. I had a bookmark in each book. The Chronological Bible has devotional type insights that I thought would be helpful to me in understanding and also it condenses anything that is covered multiple times so that you only read it once. I felt that this would be especially helpful when reading all those Old Testament laws!!
• Then Pastor Chris said we would be reading the book of Proverbs together as a church. Ok cool! There are 31 chapters so we all read a chapter a day and found one verse that we felt was speaking to us and kept a journal of it. On Sundays we would share what spoke to us that week, in addition to Chris teaching us out of that week's readings. This is the point that I'll talk about something that some of you may be wondering about: What version of the Bible should I be reading? Well, I am not going to tell you what you should be reading. That is between you and God. Seek His answer for you, not mine. When I started in the New Testament, it was in the King James version. The Chronological one was the NIV. Then I purchased a devotional Bible that was the New King James. As a family, we did the Proverbs study in the NIV Study Bible. At this point I was about 4 months into my commitment to read the Bible. It was at this time that the Lord really started to speak to me. Almost everyday, I was seeing something in my Bible that popped off the page at me! It was so exciting!! And I also think that it was at this point that my addiction began. This was when I started to carry a Bible around with me and also began to make the pocket verse cards.
• Then I got stuck. Yup, it happened. I had finished the New Testament. In the Chronological Bible I was up to 1 Chronicles. I was still reading everyday, but I was not continuing in my journey through the Bible. This stuckness lasted a couple of months. I didn't let it get me upset and after a time, I started back in again. I decided to just read 1 chapter a day through the 'dry' stuff. Some days I read more and some days I didn't but I felt like I was making progress. (At this point I had abandoned the Chronological Bible and my King James and was exclusively reading the NIV Study Bible).
• Then as I started to come through books like Jeremiah (AWESOME by the way!!) and Ezekiel, I started to see that the end was in sight! Since I had started with Matthew, I would end with Malachi. I had started this journey of reading in March of 2010 and it was now February of 2011. My passion really started to ignite! God was really speaking to me no matter what page I was reading from! I even started to write a Bible Study. So, I just read and read and finally on April 26, 2011 I finished it!! It was such a great read!! I would highly recommend it to anyone!! I can't tell you how many verses that I came across that I already knew - like Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know that plans I have for you' declares the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.' I have heard this verse so many times and have even used it for encouragement but I had never read it in context. Now it took on a whole new meaning to me!!

I just want to encourage each of you to make the commitment and to just start reading. Pray for guidance and understanding as you read. I promise, you will be blessed for your effort!!
May the Lord bless you all as you seek to know Him better!