Tag Archives: bible reading

3rd times the charm…Bible in a year plan again

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If you have been following this blog at all you will remember that I read the Bible in a year plan a few years ago. I felt like I needed do it again last year so I started again. But I didn’t get very far.

I explained in Bible in a year plan…again some of the struggles I was having. I will say thankfully this time is different.

I am not reading it by myself. My church has issued a bible in a year challenge. We have Sunday school classes as well as noon bible study. There are a lot of places to get help, ask questions, and just have support in keeping up my reading. I essentially have built in Accountability partners

I have a really great study bible. My friend got me a Life Application Bible for my birthday and it has been monumental in helping me with my studies. This Bible breaks down tough scriptures in ways that are easy to understand. It has interesting facts about things that happened. It also has lots of questions and examples to help you apply what you are reading.

I am writing things down. This is an extension of the study bible but I didn’t really write a ton down the first time I read it. This time I am trying to pick out things I didn’t notice before. I am asking questions. Since I am writing things down I am remembering more of what I read.

I’m not rushing myself. I followed my own advice and I only read two chapters a day in the morning. I’m not trying to keep up with anybody but me.

I’m still reading it in chronological order and in a different translation. I’m also highlighting in a different color then I did when I read it the firsr time. I like that because I’m noticing different things then my first read.

The bible doesn’t have to be boring. Some parts of it are, but I believe in putting in a little effort you can find ways that tap into the things that interest you. They are so many translations and different types of bibles. Joyce Meyer has a Battlefield of the Mind bible, there are bibles written with just women in mind. The most important thing is get it in any way you can. Do your research, find something that works for you. Good luck!

Making bible study interesting

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When you hear bible study what do you think? Boring, hard, work, school, too difficult. Too much. Where do I start?

too much headache GIF

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I used to feel that way about bible study. Some times I still do.

If you have been reading this blog for any period of time you would say, but Dominique you like to read. True. I do. So that helps. I bet you would like to read if it was interesting and didn’t take a long time. Bible study doesn’t have to be like being back in school. It can be as simple as you want it to be. The internet has made it a lot easier to find a method that works for you.

This is what I do. 

Pray. I don’t mean in any overly spiritual sense. Just ask God to show what he wants you to see.

Think. Think about the things you ask God when you pray. Do you ask God to bless you at work? Do you ask God to help you raise your kids? Do you ask God to help you be a better wife, partner, etc? Do you want to know God’s character or promises? You can start there.

Find. You can do this a few different ways. You can look in the bible app and they have a search option where you can type a key word and it will give you all the scriptures in the bible that relate to that word. So when I wanted to know who God is, I type it in the search box.

YouVersion-Bible App
YouVersion-Bible App

Tons of scripture popped up. If you’re old schooling it and reading a physical bible, it hopefully has a topic search in the back where you can look up things by subject. If you don’t have a study bible you should get one. Super helpful. They typically have reading plans to help you get started, so you aren’t just opening your bible and trying to land on something that speaks to you. I definitely used to do that. You could also go to Pintrest or Google and somebody has already did the finding for you, you just have to get your verse for the day.

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Pintrest.com livingfreeindeed.com

Write. Once you find a verse or passage that speaks to what you’re looking for, write it down. It can be in the notes app on your phone, but you want to write down what comes to your head or questions you may have so you can refer back to it later. 

Remember this:

The good thing about studying the bible is that it doesn’t have to be done in any specific way. There are tons of methods out there. 

15 minutes is a great place to start. God just wants your time and attention. Reading the bible is good but it just skims the surface. Devotionals are a great place to start if you don’t have a lot of time.

Pray and write, that’s all you have to do, everything else will fall into place.

The more you study the word of God, unlike Algebra, or OChem, the more you will want to study it and learn more. 

Don’t worry I am here to help. I am going to include  in future posts some more bible study methods and tips that will help.

Resources

Good study bibles-Quest, LifeHack, Life Application  

SOAP bible study method

11 Ways to Study the Bible: Methods, Techniques & Tips

 

 

Bible in a year plan…again

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I knew I needed to do more listening to God and less talking and the easiest and fastest way to do so is reading his word. I decided to read the Bible in chronological order. I have read it through in the traditional sense and wanted to try a different way that would keep my interest. By reading it in chronological order I’m going to get some historical context that I didn’t have previously. I found a great article that talks about six benefits of reading the bible in chronological order.

First thing I noticed in reading it chronologically is that Job comes right after Genesis. In the traditional or thematic bibles I’ve seen its not like that. After Job comes Psalms which you’ll definitely need after reading Job lol.

I’ve been reading it chronologically for a week now and its rough. I wanted to read it in a different order to switch it up and get a different perspective. Unfortunately I see myself running into the same problems I did when I read the bible in a year plan in 2019. 

In chronological order you get 12 chapters of Genesis and boom you’re hit with Job. Job is like 50 chapters long. It’s a hard read. Job and his friends are talking for most of it and God doesn’t even come in until the book is almost over.

I don’t want to give up, no matter how hard it is. God’s word will never return void.

I am going to try and follow these three steps.

  1. Pray before I start and ask God want does he want me to get out this reading. 
  2. Try not to read so fast. If I only do 2 chapters at a time, I can better digest what I’m reading. I can read 2 chapters in the morning and 1 or 2 at night before bed.
  3. Take notes as I read. Taking notes will help me retain what I just read and be able to recall it when I need it later.

These steps will help if you are reading a lot of the bible at once or if you are reading a short passage.

 

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I found this on Pintrest.

New series alert!

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I had been wanting to do summaries of books in the bible for a while and I read some really awesome ones online. I didn’t think my mine were good enough so I didn’t go ahead with the idea. I was trying to make them too much like the ones I saw and not do it in my voice. The old testament can be boring but there are some interesting perspectives and lessons we can glean from it. I have been doing a bible in a year plan and was going to start this way back when I was in Numbers. I talked myself out of it. I didn’t want my readers who weren’t into God to leave. I didn’t want to appear to churchy. Isn’t that insane? It’s a blog about God!

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My goal is to help people with their spiritual growth. Reading your bible is one way to do that. Its really the first step in moving up in your spiritual maturity. If you read my thoughts on a particular book you may want to go back and read some of it yourself. Bare with me as I try this out. The bible has so much to unpack, I don’t want to overwhelm myself. This will be good for me and good for you too. I’m excited to see where this series go. I haven’t fleshed it all out yet but now that I told you, I can’t back out now. Thanks readers for just by your presence holding me accountable.

First post in this series will be the first week of July. I currently just finished 2 Chronicles. I will probably start there but I may go back as well to some of the books that I missed.