Thanks for the comment! I have to say that "connecting God's truth with real life" is a very good description of your blog. I always benefit from reading it.

Something that helps me to read the Bible more effectively is to keep reminding myself to apply it to my own life instead of others'. For example, when reading about the foolishness of sluggards in Proverbs it is easy to think, "I know someone like that! What a fool!"

That's when I need to ask for God's forgiveness of my self-righteousness and ask Him to convict me of this sin in my own life. I can usually find it in my own life when I really look for it.

Bring some friends with me to like God's word who have more knowledge then I do, friends like Matthew Henry, John Calvin, Charles Hodge, etc.

Sound advice Stephen A. There are thousands of devotional writers out there for all kinds of people, which i think is good and bad. The only Teacher i need for my DAILY devotionals is the Holy Ghost. I ask him what HE wants me to read and then we take it from there. I read very slow, meticulously, and for the last year and a half i have read nothing but the amplified Bible. When i do deep studies i pull from the resources of my library and my elders.....
PS: Theology mixed with the Holy Ghost is nothing short of awesome!
Ben

Ben,

Thanks for the encouragement, but this post actually came from my dad. He's much wiser than I am!

Great advice! If I may add, take some time, maybe once a week, to review what you've read recently. See how your daily reading has affected your daily living by keeping short notes of how Scripture was applied during the day and going back over them later on.

Stephen,

Great reminder to seek to apply the word to ourselves instead of others. I think we're all prone to the kind of self-righteousness you described. I know I am. Praise God for the blood of Christ that cleanses us.

Mark

Excellent, Lew.

Yes, sometimes a commentary by one of your friends and other godly men can really help open up the Word. Thanks for adding that comment.

Mark

Hey Ben,

How true it is that we need the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our hearts. We can't possibly understand the Word of God withoug Him. And since we're reading God's word, reading it slowly and meticulously to get as much out of it as possible is well worth it.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Mark

Thanks jtr,

Great advice to review and see how you're applying the Word. How do you keep your notes - do you keep a notebook with you during the day, or jot down notes at night?

Thanks for your comment.

Mark

JTR has hit the nail on the head; read it, learn it, understand it. Ezra says of himself in Ezra 7;10;
For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
Read it
Live it
teach it
The true mark of any disciple of Christ.
Can i get an Amen!!
Ben

My wife keeps hand-written journals and this practice works great for her. I've picked up one of those PDA-phones that you can type long messages into so that I can have a "journal" with me at all times, anytime I see something I want to write down I can get it down electronically and have the ability to store on a computer and search later on. It seems everybody has a system that works for them right...

Ben, AMEN my friend, AMEN!

jtr,

Thanks! Praise God for technology!

I'm going to sound very "girltalk" here, but one thing that helps me as a mother of four is to rise early before my children wake up to spend time in God's word. this means going to bed earlier which is often a harder discipline.

thanks for the encouragement, Mark.

Thanks Laurie!

I appreciate your commitment to getting up before your 4 children to read the Word. And I agree, it takes a lot of discipline to get to bed earlier. I certainly could grow in that myself...

Godly mothers are worthy of praise and appreciation!

Mark

Something that has helped me - Dale Ralph Davis' book "The Word Became Fresh" - his book deals with how to read Old Testament narrative with an eye to seeing the author's intent. As folks are trying to read through Scripture without pre-made, pre-digested devotional material, it is helpful to think through the genre of literature you're currently studying.

Memorizing Scripture has been fruitful for me at various times. I don't do it nearly as much as I wish I did, but I think it is a valuable use of "devotional time." The greatest benefit is that I can meditate at different points during the day. It is often helpful in prayer too.

ACF,

I completely agree. For many years I spent the first 10-15 minutes of my devotions memorizing Scripture. I can't commend this practice enough.

Thanks for the comment!

Jeffrey,

Thanks for mentioning this book - I haven't heard of it. I want to check it out. Seeing the author's intent is really important for understanding Scripture. Appreciate your comment.

Thanks for the insight. I have used for several years now M'Cheyne's Calendar for Daily Readings arranged by Robert Murray M'Cheyne. It has 4 readings for the day and you go through the entire Bible in a year and the Gospels more than once in a year. I look forward to this everyday and it keeps one from being random. I ordered copies of the plan from Mt Zion Bible Church in Pensacola, FL

Thanks for all the great tips! You really laid out an example plan for digging deeper into the Word. I just discovered Bible Study Tools that lets me highlight, journal, and get help from commentaries, lexicons, etc. all for free. It has 29 translations and a split-panel screen so you can read things side-by-side. I could never afford these books nor would I have the time to search through all of them!

I hope you get a chance to check it out! It's been a blessing for me and I want to let others know that they can find tools to understand the Bible without having to go to seminary!

Thanks for your comment Heath,

Programs like that are also excellent ways to keep from aimless reading. I've used similar ones myself.

Mark

Thanks Kristie,

I can't wait to check out Bible Study Tools. It sounds great.

Mark

Great post and by the way you are on the ESV Blog if you did not already know. Congrats on that. You unseated me. They were gracious enough to comment on my blog last Friday and it got me a lot of traffic.

RC

Thanks RC,

I'm just grateful anyone would even read our blog.