At age eleven I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I was told that if I wanted to really grow in my new relationship with Him I should begin spending time reading the Bible. And that sounded great to me.
Even though I was still a young kid, I saw what life without God looked like and what life with God looked like in our home. Before I accepted the Lord, I felt so lost… empty and worried about a lot of things. I knew there was a void in my heart and I knew that someday I wanted to be with God in heaven. Sound familiar? If you are a Christian, I’m sure you can relate to my experience.
The idea of opening my Bible and reading this powerful “message from God” sounded so appealing. I had heard that the Bible was a real, true, life-changing book and I wanted the change it could bring.
So I opened it and started to read it. It felt good to know I was being obedient to God by reading the Bible because I knew He wanted me to. But just like a lot of people, I ran into obstacles that slowed me down. To be honest there were obstacles that I allowed to not only slow me down… they stopped me in my tracks! They are probably the same obstacles you have faced. Over the years, I’ve learned more about these obstacles and how to work toward overcoming them.
1. Finding Time To Read The Bible: There are always things going on in my life that are competing for my time and attention. It feels like I’m so busy and even though I want to read the Bible, I don’t always feel I have the time. But let’s be honest… I have time to do what I choose to do and so do you. I’m more of a morning person than I was in my younger days.
Now I read my Bible in the mornings but years ago I found it almost impossible to read in the mornings so I read at night just before bed. For me, the key is to choose a time to read and be consistent. Find a quiet place and set aside the cell phone, TV and other distractions and commit to spend some time in His word.
2. Struggling To Keep Up With A Bible Reading Plan: I tried to read the Bible through in a year by following a reading plan. It’s great to read the entire Bible in a year if you can keep up the pace but the idea of reading several chapters a day was a struggle for me. I would get behind and eventually give up on the goal.
Several years ago I adopted a different mindset. My goal is not so much how many verses or chapters I read each day, but the goal is this… fellowship with God. I can honestly say that there are days now when I read as few as three verses and I am so moved by the power of those verses that I just stop there. I re-read the verses and really let it soak in to my mind and heart. I pray about the message and talk to God about the fact that I’m seeing ways I need to change and grow.
I look for “action steps” within those verses and try to determine what I will do that day to put these things into practice. Some days I might read ten to fifteen verses or even a few chapters. My goal is ultimately to read the Bible until I am truly moved by the truth and power of His word and know that I have fellowshipped with God.
3. Becoming Distracted and Struggling To Focus: Don’t be surprised if you struggle with distractions while reading the Bible. The Devil doesn’t want you to spend a lot of time alone with God.
The best thing I’ve found to help me stay focused is keeping a journal. I call it my spiritual journal. After reading the scripture, I often write in my journal as if I’m writing a letter to God. My journal entry is an opportunity to record on paper what I just learned from my Bible reading and put on paper my thoughts as God is leading me.
I can write about the specific things God is doing in my life right now including things I’m excited about and things I’m concerned about. I basically put it on paper and leave it in God’s hands for the day! I’ve found this to be very freeing and it gives me so much more focus.
These journals are encouraging to go back to. I have journals from 25-30 years ago and they are a treasure to me now as I recall how God has been so faithful in my life. Did you know that Christians who keep a spiritual journal tend to read the Bible at least 4 days each week on a consistent basis while only 20-25% of Christians in general ever read the Bible at all?
4. Finding It Difficult To Understand: God’s word is alive. It is His message to us and it has the power to change lives. 1 Corinthians 2:14 tells us that the natural man cannot understand the things of God. It’s important to know that if you do not have a personal relationship with God, you are going to find it very difficult to make sense of the Bible.
As a Christian, I enter into Bible reading with a prayerful heart, asking God to reveal to me His truth and make it understandable. Don’t get too bogged down if there are parts of the Bible that you don’t understand, but focus on the parts you do understand and allow it to change your life.
5. Truly Believing It Will Change My Life: For some reason, early in my Christian life, if I were honest about it, I’d have to say I don’t think I truly believed that being faithful in my Bible reading would be that life-changing. I realized that a lot of my Christian friends didn’t read the Bible and they seemed to be doing okay. So in my heart I reasoned that I could “get by just fine” as a Christian without making time to be in the Word.
It’s sad… but it is a reality of the Christian life that most Christians don’t actually read the Bible. But I can tell you that nothing has changed my life more than a regular and ongoing infusion of God’s word into my life. If you read Psalm 119 (it’s a long chapter) you will see all the ways the word of God will deeply change your life. And I want that change! I want forgiveness of sin, victory over sin, peace in my heart, wisdom and guidance and God’s blessing. These are just a few of the promises that come to those who read the Word.
So why not commit to God today? Tell Him you will make it a major priority to take time and fellowship with Him by spending time in the Word.
For more information about growing as a Christian or keeping a spiritual journal visit https://kenturnerministries.org/keeping-a-spiritual-journal/
Ken Turner
