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Through The Bible In A year
Bible Reading Plan:
Understanding God's Word: A Guide in How to Study the Word of God
Studying the Bible should be the most sought after time of the day for believers. However, many find that they are left confused and frustrated by their efforts. Where do I start? What is the scripture saying? What is the author writing? Is this for me? How do I tell others? These are just a few of the questions that many of us find filling our minds and hearts as we read.
Dr. Sager teaches that if you know the right questions to ask, the Bible will begin to unfold and teach in a way that brings Christian growth to all readers. Simple steps that we all can apply. What does the verse say? What does the verse mean? What are the facts this verse is telling? What do these facts and principles mean to me? What will I do now that I know these facts? Simple yet profound questions like these help us to understand God’s word.
Through the series ‘Understanding God’s Word’ Dr. Sager taught basic steps to reading and studying the Bible. Many followers of Christ want to study and learn from the Bible, but find that they are met with frustration because they do not know where to begin and how to understand what Christ is teaching them through God’s Word. These basic, specific steps will not only teach you the how to study, but will lay a foundation of growth in your daily quest to have the mind of Christ.
To aid you in studying the Bible, here is a template developed from this series. Example of how to use the template.
Bible Reading Schedule
Jesus said, “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God...” Matt. 4:4
Here are some suggestions which will encourage daily Bible reading!
(1) Make Bible reading a priority
When something is important enough to us, we will make sure it is done first. If we give Bible reading first place, we will schedule the necessary time needed.
(2) Eliminate whatever might get in the way
“Ask yourself what one thing is most likely to get in the way of your Bible reading. It might be television or video games or whatever. For me it was light fiction. When I first got serious about reading the Bible every day, I decided to quit all light reading for a month. When the month was over, I found that I wasn't that interested in reading fiction. I wanted truth. I think this will be most people's experience. If people will make time for the Bible and read it regularly they will love it. I would strongly encourage anyone who is beginning a daily Bible reading program to eliminate whatever they feel might get in the way.” (Sid Latham, evangelist)
(3) Build in accountability
In support of this point, Sid said the following. “Back in December (2005) I did a couple of lessons that strongly encouraged people to read their Bibles every day. One of the guys here came to me and said that he was going to find some other people to do it with him. He set up a web blog. There are eight of us who report in every week. If someone doesn't read we try to encourage them. Obviously you wouldn't have to do this on the Internet. We have a lot of people here who work with computers and it works for us. The important thing is that Christians encourage one another on a regular basis. Most of us will try harder if we know someone is going to ask” us about our effort.
(4) Pray to God for help
Ask Him to help YOU, and ask Him to also help others to attain this goal of daily Bible reading. He has promised to help those who ask for it!
If so, the following list of Bible Helps will be of aid to you as you study your Bible.
Online Resources
Do you ever need help finding a Bible verse for a particular topic? Are there times you need to research a meaning of a verse? Do people quote verses without the references?
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