I Want to Start Reading the Bible Again Where Do I Start
There are four steps to mastering the Bible so well that the Bible masters y'all:
1. Read the Bible
2. Study the Bible
three. Memorize the Bible
4. Meditate on the Bible
Seems simple. Obvious, fifty-fifty, for those who have been Christians for a while. Yet very few people take all four steps. Many take i pace. Some take 2 steps. Very few accept all four steps. As a result, very few people ever experience the total life transformation, the fellowship with God, the spiritual stability and strength, the power in ministry building, the joy in worship, and the spiritual prosperity that the Bible promises to those who master it so well that it masters them.
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for didactics, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the homo of God[b] may be complete, equipped for every good work." (one Timothy 3:xvi-17)
Step #one: Read the Bible for Breadth of Knowledge
To begin a mastery of the Bible, you lot must read the Bible. This may seem self-axiomatic to some, but to others who have never adult the habit, information technology is groundbreaking. Some Christians exercise non read the Bible, or they only read snippets that are attached to daily devotionals. This will not get you where you desire to become. You must begin to read the Bible widely. It is simply by roofing a lot of territory in Scripture that you proceeds a breadth of noesis.
If you never read the Old Testament, y'all volition never accept a general knowledge of it. If yous only read the Gospels or the Epistles, you will never have a basic grasp of the other sections of the Bible. As a result, your life will be untouched by important truth, plus your ability to connect the dots from various dissimilar Scripture passages—a disquisitional component of a mature Christian experience—will be limited.
The good news is that there is a simple style to read for a breadth of noesis. If you read the Bible for five minutes a mean solar day, yous will read the Bible for over thirty hours a twelvemonth! (5 minutes × 365 days = 1,825 minutes divided past 60 minutes per hour = 30.iv hours!)
Think of information technology!! Xxx hours a year! Perhaps no other discipline will provide a breadth of Bible cognition more easily. If you lot want to master the Word so well that the Give-and-take masters you, brainstorm by reading it.
Stride #two: Study the Bible for Depth of Knowledge
Few of united states can gain a depth of knowledge without sitting under skilled teachers. So, most people, must sit nether effective preaching from the Bible and be involved in a Bible report taught by an effective teacher. For maximum do good, Bible written report must have assignments that get you studying and interacting with the Bible on your ain. To gain a depth of knowledge, you cannot be passive. You must get agile in the procedure of deepening your knowledge.
If this is new to you, begin by attending a church that is committed to teaching the Bible, not only from the pulpit during sermons, only as well in small-scale groups or Sunday school classes. You lot might also find helpful information in Christian bookstores or online. More seasoned Christians might be able to give y'all helpful suggestions as well. If you are an avid reader, there is a wealth of knowledge available to you as well through good books available online or at Christian bookstores.
Step #iii: Memorize to Master the Bible
I used to call up that it was better to have a lot of verses memorized, merely in my effort to accept as many verses as possible memorized, I had them memorized shallowly. I might have to struggle to get started, or get partway through a passage and take to paraphrase the residuum. Now, I realize information technology is much ameliorate to accept fewer verses memorized very deeply—that is where the power comes from. Rather than memorize a mile wide and an inch deep, it is amend to memorize an inch broad and a mile deep. That is a key deviation because until nosotros memorize verses deeply and spend time meditating on them, the truth of the passages does not seep deeply into our subconscious to influence our thoughts, attitudes, actions, and emotions.
When we memorize Scripture this deeply, it will often and then jump into our minds equally our commencement reaction to life's circumstances, helping guide our decisions and influence our emotions. Even Jesus, when He was tempted past the devil in Matthew iv, quoted Scripture in response to the temptation. When nosotros know Scripture well plenty to quote it immediately in response to life's challenges, the Bible begins to take on a power that information technology did non previously accept in our life.
Memorize one verse and then that y'all can say it without hesitation. And so, memorize another, but link it to the kickoff. And so memorize a third 1, simply link it to the starting time ii, then on. Keep doing it the rest of your life. Pretty shortly, your command of Scripture will be a mile wide and a mile deep.
Simply every bit reading the Bible five minutes a 24-hour interval soon begins to accumulate impressive results, so does memorizing verses at a manageable pace. As we go along upward the practice, adding verses that are important to us without dropping off the old ones, nosotros find that we volition eventually have many, many verses memorized very securely. That is the ultimate goal.
Pace #4: Meditate for the Bible to Master Yous
Many people know passages of Scripture, but have not spent enough time meditating on them enough for the truth of the passages to penetrate securely into their mind and heart.
In the book Alter Your Center, Change Your Life, Gary Smalley makes a compelling instance for meditating on Scripture. He states that what we think nigh all twenty-four hours long, over long periods, eventually seeps into our heart every bit controlling behavior. When we larn the right thoughts and mentally chew on them over and over, day after day, they society in our hearts as beliefs, and these beliefs become the decision-making influences of our lives. If we practise non think near Scripture plenty, the truth of Scripture may be in our heads as knowledge just not in our hearts as deep, controlling beliefs.
Smalley challenges us to meditate, think near, ponder, and recite Scripture until the Scripture becomes a path in our minds and hearts . . . then ponder it some more until the Scripture becomes a road in our minds and hearts . . . and so ponder it some more until it becomes a iv-lane state highway. Then, and just and then, volition the Scripture drift from information in our heads to deep, controlling beliefs in our hearts.
Through my experience in teaching this material, I have learned that most Christians are busy—so busy that they have difficulty disciplining themselves to implement the 4-step procedure of mastering the Bible and so well that the Bible masters them. If that is the case for you, I offer two responses. Outset, I encourage y'all to offset, fifty-fifty on a modified and very pocket-sized level. Start by reading the Bible v minutes a twenty-four hours. Choose one poesy to memorize, and begin meditating on it. Also, make sure you regularly nourish a Bible-teaching church building where you lot tin can get good instruction in the Bible.
How to Read the Bible: Merely Get Started!
Once you go started, it is easy to expand your efforts. The central is just to start! That way, it will help prepare you for the next major issue that rocks your boat on the body of water of life. Y'all will exist way ahead of the game in dealing with it.
If yous commit yourself to this four-step process, you lot will begin to main the Bible then well that the Bible begins to chief you. And as the Bible begins to master yous, you will enjoy the inner peace, honey, and joy that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. In addition, you lot will experience a peace and power in life and ministry that the Holy Spirit gives to those who meditate on and practice His Word.
Well-nigh the Author:Dr. Max Anders is the author of over 25 books including30 Days to Agreement the Bible . He has taught on the college and seminary level and is a veteran pastor. Max was also one of the original team members with Walk Thru the Bible Ministries. He provides resource and discipleship strategies atMaxAnders.com to help people grow spiritually.
Nigh30 Days to Agreement the Bible:If you've ever dislocated the ark of the covenant with the ark of Noah, or Jericho with Jeroboam, Max Anders' classic book, 30 Days to Understanding the Bible , is for you. In just fifteen minutes a day, y'all'll learn the Bible's cardinal people, events, and doctrines to become more than out of God'southward Word. Larn more at http://biblein30days.com.
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Source: https://www.christianity.com/bible/how-to-read-and-understand-the-bible-in-4-simple-steps.html
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