I am an advocate that all Christians should be reading the Bible regularly. I hope that does not surprise you! The Bible is God speaking to his people, and therefore it should be a priority in our Christian lives.
Yet it is surprising to me how few people actually read the Bible on a regular basis. Some have never read the entire Bible at all. One of the main reasons some Christians get drawn into false doctrine or deception is because they simply do not know what the Bible says.
It can be a daunting book for some people. So I would recommend a simple approach.
If you are just starting out, take one of the smaller letters from the New Testament – 3 John or Phillipians for instance . Read the whole book every single day for 30 days. The first day maybe tough, and you may not be entirely sure what to take from it. But keep going. As you approach the end of the 30 days, you’ll be much more familiar with the overall message of the book and also some of the key points.
Doing it in this repetitious manner will also help you to remember what the book says. You will be surprised that even many months later when you think about the book, you will still retain some of the important features.
I usually use a computer or phone app to read the Bible. The Bible Gateway or Blue Letter Bible are good options. For this purpose however, I would encourage you to use a hard copy Bible. The reason is because it will help your memory. If you have the book in front of you, and a particular verse stands out, you will remember where that verse is on the page. Your brain is very good at this. If that particular verse stands out to you, you will remember if it is on the left page, second column, halfway down. You lose some of this geographical memory when using a phone or computer.
I would also recommend that you don’t make this into a law! If you decide to do it for 30 days, and you happen to miss a day, don’t panic! No one will be knocking at your door to call you to account. Just make it a personal goal. God is always pleased when we make reading the Word a priority, even if we don’t do it perfectly.
If you find it helpful and want to move on, you can tackle some of the larger books too. Break them up into manageable chunks. Take the book of Matthew for example, and break it into four pieces of seven chapters each. Take the first seven chapters and read it for 30 days. Then take the next seven and so on. In this way you’ll be able to review the larger books as well.
Pray alongside your reading also. Reading the Bible is not an intellectual exercise, but a spiritual one. None of us can understand the Bible without God’s help. Invite the Holy Spirit to join you as you read and ask Him to help you to understand and retain what is before you.
Let me know if you find this helpful. If it’s not for you, then fine, move on to something that does help. I pray your Bible reading is fruitful and it draws you closer to the Father.
Andy Brown 