While learning to study the Bible is important, we must always remember that it isn't primarily a religious text book full of instructions and rules about life to learn.  The Bible is the main way God is revealed to us.  Spending regular, daily time, slowly reading, meditating on, and praying the Bible is a powerful way to deepen a relationship with God and to allow God's grace to continually flow into our lives.

How do we do this?  There is no one right way.  It starts with a desire to draw closer to God.  If the desire is not there, start by asking God to stir up that desire for a closer relationship.  Next, there are three important things to remember as you approach God's Word:

1.  It is God's Spirit who inspired the writing and passing on of the Bible.  The same Spirit who inspired the Bible is available to speak to each of us through it.

2.  Since ALL of the Bible is inspired by God, it is important to have a systematic way to continually cover reading all of it.  There are many tools available, such as One Year Bibles, which can help you.  There is a link below to the One Year Bible online.  Another way is to follow the daily lectionary.  The daily lectionary is a two year cycle of readings that cover most of the Bible and provide a reading each day from the Old Testament, The Psalms, the New Testament, and the Gospels.  You can find a link below that will take you to the daily lectionary.

3.  Although it is important to cover the whole Bible, it is also important to SLOW DOWN and enter a conversation with God through reading, meditating on, and praying as you read scripture.  There is an ancient method of doing this that is being revived today known as Lectio Divina.  We have provided a link below to some information about this way praying the Bible.  

A way to cover the readings and also slow down and pray the Bible is to build in some reading time to Prayer Points when you stop and spend some time with God each day.  At one point, perhaps in the morning, you can read the passages for the day asking God to make a particular passage stick with you.  Later at another Prayer Point, you can go back to that one scripture that stuck with you and slowly spend some time meditating upon it and praying on it.  Another approach is to build in one longer period each day in which you read each passage and then go back to the one which most impresses your attention for further meditation and prayer.  Most importantly, ask the Lord to send the Holy Spirit to guide your time of searching scripture and be willing to experiment with what works best.

Daily Readings (Daily Lectionary)

One Year Bible (Read the Bible in one year)

About Lectio Divina

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