I attended a church service once where the pastor shared a “secret” to grow in your faith. His voice dropped to a whisper while the congregation leaned in: Read your Bible every day.
No sooner had he said it that people around me began nodding their heads and mouthing, “So true.”
Now, what the pastor said was true. If you’re not reading your Bible every day it will be difficult to grow. However, I was confused – even alarmed – that the congregation believed his statement to be an inspired word. Growing in your faith without reading your Bible consistently, would be like allowing a student to graduate from medical school who didn’t even know basic anatomy. Both are not possible. And it’s the same for us with our devotions and reading God’s Word every day. The secret is so much more than just reading it.
6 Ways I Get More Out of My Devotions
1. Make it a Daily Discipline
Of course, some days are more difficult than others. Some days it takes everything just to roll out of bed and get to work on time. When I finally do get home I’m hungry and tired. And if you’re married or have kids, well, they are probably hungry and tired, too.
So we may have to get creative with our devotion time.
Find 15 minutes in your day to start. Set your alarm and get up early. Take your Bible to work (gasp!) and read it on your lunch break. Read your Bible while waiting for a meeting. Do your devotions while your baby naps.
I know I spend a lot more than that doing mindless things throughout my day – ahem, Facebook – and would be much better off replacing it with reading the Word of God. Because if you’re not getting your spiritual food from the Word every day, you’re just getting it from someplace else. To get started you might also enjoy this article on starting your morning like the Proverbs 31 Woman.
Crave God’s Word
Develop a hunger for God’s Word. Let’s not just read it “cause you’re supposed to” or hen-pick through it for verses we like while ignoring the rest. Let’s read it to discover more about God, His character and His deep love for us.
But there is so much more. Once we start making reading our Bible an integral part of our daily life the Word actually comes alive and we find the more we read, the more we want to read. That’s because the Bible is filled with more insight, power, help, joyful promises, and love that we can even begin to understand. Isn’t it time we tapped into that power?
“Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.” Psalm 119:97-99
2. Prepare with Prayer
If reading your Bible is like cooking a meal, then starting with prayer is like preparing the ingredients.
Prayer is the preparation beforehand that gets your heart in the right place, and asks for God for wisdom while you study His word. Plus, it is in our nature to sometimes only see things in the Bible we want to see, and either not see or simply ignore the rest.
Try this prayer next time before your Bible study:
“Father, prepare my heart to hear your Word. With the Holy Spirit’s help, make it come alive to me. Lord, help me see the full picture and not just what I want to see. Help me to learn more about your character, your love, and your Son through your Word. Show me how I can apply this to my life today. In your Son’s name, Amen.”
And Amen to that.
3. Meditate on What You Read
I confess, some days I speed read through my devotions so I can check it off my list, rather than try to hear from God. Instead, we need to become like professional food tasters of the Bible, slowing down to enjoy each bite and allowing ourselves to recognize every flavor and hint of seasoning.
Scripture calls it meditating. I call it pausing. God’s Word is powerful, “alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12).
If it’s that powerful, I want it. We can only receive it by slowing down and taking it in, though. Understanding comes from reading, the Holy Spirit and meditation.
But meditation is much more than just thinking about it.
Meditation is about understanding.
It’s the Who, What, When, Where and Why of the Bible. In fact, you can use those as you read through chapters. Who is this chapter about? What is going on? What time frame is it happening in? And where? And most definitely, why is this important for me to know?
In the past, I’ve gone through the whole New Testament using an inductive study book to help me slow down and understand each chapter better. The study I used taught me how to read my Bible in ways that brought it to life, drew attention to important ideas, or help me notice parts I might have overlooked before. It put chapters into context so I could better understand historical significance and what was going on in the world when one of the disciples wrote a book. It also had me ask and answer questions to give me a better understanding.
I highly recommend you either join or start an inductive Bible study, or pick up a book that will walk you through it.
Another tip I recently picked up is to “color-code” my Bible. For years I couldn’t bring myself to mark-up my beautiful leather-bound and engraved Bible. But then I thought about decades from now when a great-great-grandchild stumbles upon my most precious book. Will it be pristine, with not a page bent or marking to be found? Or will it be marked up from front to back, and worn down from years of use?
Do you want to know how spiritual someone is?
Take a look at the condition of their Bible.
With color-coding, I can tell you I am on my way to the latter! I take five highlighters and as I read through the Bible mark each word that coordinates with the color. Blue is for the Holy Spirit. Green is for Love. Orange is for commandments. Yellow is for promises. Red is for the redeeming blood of Christ.
And when I need a reminder of God’s love, I simply open my book and my eye is drawn to how filled with green it is. There is a lot of green!
Let’s slow down as we read our Bible today. Ask ourselves questions about it the passage. Let’s use a concordance along with our reading to get a better understanding of what the author’s intent was, or the cultural setting. Meditate on that word throughout the day. Pray and ask God for understanding.
At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.” Matthew 11:25
RELATED: The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Disciplines
4. Get the Full Picture
Read the whole Bible, even the Old Testament and that book called Leviticus. Get the Full Gospel.
Too often we only read (or are taught) only half of the gospel. That’s because as we read through the Bible we are faced with dichotomies that don’t make sense in our mind. How can God be both love and wrath? How can He be sovereign but still offer us free will? Is living in grace or holiness more important? Should we focus more on our Spiritual Fruits – or Spiritual Gifts?
Whole denominations have been built around half the Gospel because it’s easier to pick sides than admit there are mysteries yet for God to reveal to us. God is both the definition of love, but also justice. He is in control of all, yet allows us to make choices. We should pursue spiritual fruits, but not discount the power of the gifts either.
There are those that only choose to believe in God’s love. Everyone’s choices must be accepted and in the end, God will allow everyone into heaven.
This is only half the Gospel.
On the other hand, I spent several years in a very reformed church that basically told me I wasn’t a Christian if I didn’t believe in Calvinism. It left me confused and if I’m honest, even angry some days. I fully believed in God’s sovereignty but still believed His gift was offered to all. I also clearly saw in the Bible verses where both “arguments” could be defended and for years I struggled in this gray area, praying for discernment.
Then one night I had a dream where sovereignty and free will both complemented perfectly in God’s will. When I awoke I had forgotten the details but was left with a peace that I didn’t need to obsess over it any longer. He was just calling me to keep pursuing Him, not an ideology.
Don’t hold on to parts of the Bible that are easier for you to agree with and pretend the rest doesn’t exist. Embrace God’s Word as a whole and trust that one day all will be revealed.
In what areas do you only believe in “half” of the Gospel. Ask God for understanding- or peace – to accept what He tells us is the truth, and what will remain a mystery until we are present with Him.
RELATED: 3 Specific Prayers that Were Answered in My Life
5. Store His Word In Your Heart
It’s easy to become discouraged with the way it seems the world views Christians.Especially when we hear words like “bigoted”, “arrogant” and “hypocrites.”
Just as I was reflecting on society and letting this frustrate me, Matthew 11:18-19 came to mind: For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “he has a demon!” The Son of Man came eating and drinking and the say, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”
Christians being criticized (or worse) for their faith is not new. It’s been happening since Jesus walked the earth. His cousin John was accused of being possessed by a demon because he only ate wild crickets and honey, and wore animal skins. Then Jesus came and ate with tax collectors (a prelude to the IRS) and prostitutes, and the people accused him of being a drunk.
Oh, and all His disciples but John were killed for their faith. While we may experience persecution of our faith, we are still free to worship and are not killed for our faith in our country.
So it is stories from the Bible and Jesus’ own words that bring me comfort in trouble because I stored them in my heart.
“You will have trouble…but be of good cheer…I have overcome the world!” John 16:33
I can’t remember a day I had set out to memorize that verse but I had read it so many times it was etched in my memory, ready to pull out when needed at that moment to combat frustration. That verses comforted me at the moment that I wasn’t facing this criticism alone and that Christians can brush it off – just like Jesus did.
Memorizing verses is like giving you a box full of tools to encourage you in times of sadness, steel you up in times of combat, and protect you from stumbling in times of temptation.
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11
We must put in the work ourselves though. No one can memorize Scripture for us.
Sometimes I memorize verses that I know will be helpful in times of doubt, sadness or fear. I read them, and re-read them. I read them aloud. I write them down. I write them on a sticky note and place it on my computer to glance at throughout the day.
But we must be careful about memorizing promises that come with a contingency. If you want to memorize a promise such as “All things work together for my good” make sure you are also memorizing “to them that love God, and are called according to His purpose.” Memorize the promise, but also what we must do to fulfill that promise. In this case, it is loving God and be called to His purpose.
I ’ve tried to memorize whole chapters so as not to pull a verse out of context.
Obviously memorizing whole chapters is a lot more difficult and time-consuming, but more rewarding too. I will take one verse a week to memorize and keep adding on from there.
Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. Proverbs 6:21-22
6. Apply What You Learn
Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his own face in a mirror, and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. James 1:23-24
Imagine asking career advice from someone in your field that you respect. You listen. You agree with what they say. You write down their advice. And then…you ignore that great advice.
The same is true for us when we read our Bible every day but ignore or refuse to follow its teachings. If we truly believe in something, we will apply it to our life.
You can find a verse to back up practically any point of view out there. The key is using that verse correctly, in context with the author’s intent, in cultural context, and only with help from the Holy Spirit to correctly understand it. Otherwise, our “application” will not yield much fruit. This kind of knowledge only comes from reading, asking for discernment, meditation, memorization and of course, prayer.
Additionally, we can use Scripture to teach, correct and encourage others. Paraphrasing 2 Timothy 3:16, all Scripture is God-breathed. It is useful for teaching. It is useful for correcting others. It is useful in training other Christians in righteousness.
Just be careful to make sure we are living His Word in your own life first before using it to teach and correct others. Otherwise, it will be like picking pieces of dust from other people’s eyes like simultaneously knocking everyone around you over with the log coming out of yours.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16
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I love writing out verses that speak to me on index cards and then placing them on my kitchen sink window so I can read them all day long.
Lately I’ve also been saving the photos of verses to keep on my phone and look at when I need them.
I think meditation and application are the keys. Most often we read through a passage and just mentally check off our assignment w/o really giving ourselves time to absorb what the passage says… and absorbing with the intent to “do.” Unless we are really willing to let the scriptures change us, then it does us little good. Thanks for these guidelines!
Karen, you’re absolutely right and I’m guilty of that as well.
Making daily Bible reading a habit is much like appetite and hunger. Hunger is natural, appetite is learned.
Inductive Bible studying is so rewarding!! My mother, sisters, and I are all working through an inductive Bible Study of what submission is. It’s incredible the things one misses if you aren’t actually searching for it. “Seek and you shall find.”
What an amazing post! Thank you so much for sharing this!
~Haley
Thanks for stopping by Haley, and so excited your family is getting so much out of your inductive Bible studies too!
Love your color coding idea! Our blogging community would be blessed if you shared these great Bible study tips at the Literacy Musing Mondays Linkup. #LMMLinkup http://www.foreverjoyful.net/?p=1018
I will head over – thank you!
Thanks for joining us! Come back often!
Sarah – Your points are right on. As I was reading through each step, I totally could relate to what you were saying – and confession – I too can often find myself speed reading to check it off my list, but since I have found Bible/Art journaling, it helps slow me down. I don’t always get the time to art/Bible journal, but it has been very rewarding. Thanks for sharing today at #IChooseJoy where we are neighbors.
Thanks for your comment, Debbie. I will have to check out Bible/Art journaling!
Sarah, great pointers! I, too, am an inductive study kinda gal. I also love how you “pause” rather than meditate! Pausing to be still before Him and take in His word is so important. Thank you!
It definitely is!
Solid post. Few things I’ve done. 1. Audio Bible I listen to in the car on commute. 2. Scripture a day apps or email lists. 3. Blogging about faith. 4. Bible software with customizable Bible reading plans.
Ooh if I drove more I would do the audio Bible.
great post, sarah. i find i need to ask God for that hungering and thirsting – perhaps a pre prep to the prep??
I love Boa’s Face to Face – scripture in the first person, a devotional meant to be read in five minutes – a great start to any day. next to you at fff
Thanks, Sue! I will have to check that devotional out.
Sarah great post and truths. I was a Christian so many years and picked up my Bible at church or to study the Sunday School lesson. Growth really didn’t come until I learned to pick it up everyday and enjoy it. The scriptures just come to life now and yes I’m memorizing many of them. It’s funny or maybe not – that’s what I blogged about yesterday.
Debbie,
That’s great! I will head over and check out your post.
Reading the Bible as a whole is a practice we often forget. I know I understand more fully a piece of Scripture if I read the full chapter.
I’m looking forward to more applicable posts like this at Literacy Musing Mondays.
Storing His Word in my heart is something that I have been working on. It’s amazing how powerful it is! These are great tips, I am definitely sharing this! 🙂
Great tips! Meditating on what you read is so important! I like to read and then journal about what stood out to me. That really helps me. 🙂
Abbey- great tip! I will try that next time.
Fantastic tips! It’s so easy to do a daily reading and get absolutely nothing out of it. Applying even one of these tips will make a big difference.
I never really thought this was a secret. If you don’t pray first to understand what you are reading, study out what you have read how are you going to learn anything.
Couldn’t agree more, but unfortunately it’s a trap we can fall into.
Making it apart of my daily routine has been huge for me! I’m searching for some new devotionals to add to my list of reading, so if you have any recommendations… send them on over please 🙂
xx, Lo
{www.rosesandrainboots.com}
Lauren, I also am on the hunt for a good devotion so as soon as one of us finds ones let’s share!
Oh my goodness! What kind of church was that!?
I consider myself a “calviminian” (meaning I believe it works together harmoniously like you do and I really am not too worried about it). I grew up baptist and Assembly of God. But when I went to college I met my husband who is a hard-core Calvinist. However, he does not believe that people aren’t good Christians if they are not Calvinists and even though I am not exactly a Calvinist, I have always had AMAZING experiences in Reformed churches (which is where I’ve been ever since my hubby and I started dating). I have had far better experiences there, than with any other denomination or people group, but then again, every church is different too. And it’s not really about denominations anyway… I just thought that was interesting how different your experience was from mine!
Calviminian – Kristin I love that! haha. That is definitely me. My church back home was actually reformed but the one I attend now is non-denominational but as long as the Word is preached I am good 🙂
Same here! <3 I do hate that you had such a bad experience though.
What a timely reminder for me. I need to pick up my reading and spent more time in prayer. Its a discipline..so true..because its so hard to find those times in the mid of chaos at home.
It can definitely be a challenge, but one we can try to tackle!
I love these suggestions! I need to be better about the daily discipline thing.
Sarah – thank you so much for this thoughtful and encouraging post. So often, I get discouraged about my devotions. I tend to rush through and get frustrated with myself that I’m not really soaking it in. I’m glad to know that I’m not alone and that starting with prayer can help get me in the right mind frame and be better able to soak it in!
Great pointers! You’re right, it’s so much more than merely reading, like you’d read the paper or an article. Love your analogy to a medical student. We should be more studious, but also meditative and prayerful when reading. I know I could use more of that discipline in my life.
Oh, how I love this post, Sarah! I’ll definitely be sharing it. I love how in depth you went. I often find myself wanting to sit down and do a devotional or just study the Word and I feel stuck, or distracted, or lost altogether. I love the point about just praying simply before starting. A little bit an go a long way!
Coming Up Roses
Thank you, Erica! they are tips I am continually trying to apply to my own life.