Posts Tagged ‘Scripture Reading’

11 Tips for Better Bible Reading (Part 3)

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

“God is speaking through what He has spoken.
Read the Bible and hear the clear and present voice of God today.”

Over the last two posts, I have shared the first two installments of my 11 Tips for Better Bible Reading.

This post I want to conclude. I hope that these have energized you with some fresh ideas for your own time with God.

As a recap, here’s the first six tips.
1. Pray before you read.
2. Read your Bible out loud.
3. Stop reading Bible verses. Start reading Bible paragraphs.
4. Read the same book/section every day for 30 days.

5. Consider what is happening before and after the passage.
6. Bombard the text with questions.

Here are my final suggestions…

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11 Tips for Better Bible Reading (Part 2)

Monday, July 19th, 2010

“Tons of material have been written about the Bible…but [I've] discovered that the Bible can shed a lot of light on the commentaries.”
- Johnny Cash, The Man in White (xvi)

Last time, I shared the first four of my 11 Tips for Better Bible Reading. This post I want to share part two of that list. (I was originally going to make this a two-part article, but due to my verbose wordiness I now realize that it needs to be at least three. Besides, it’s my article…I can write as many parts as I want. Ha, ha!)

While you may not need all of these tips, hopefully, you can pluck one or two of these suggestions out and use them in your own time with God. A few small changes can make a very big difference.

For starters, let’s review the first four tips:

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11 Tips for Better Bible Reading (Part 1)

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

“Show me a Bible that is falling apart and
I will show you a Christian who is not.” – Credited to D.L. Moody

If you’ve grown up in the church, as I have, you probably can’t count how many times you’ve been taught to “Read your Bible.” When I was just a sticky-faced, ankle-biting preschooler, I remember my Eager Beaver leaders taught me this. As a pudgy-faced preteen my RA & AWANA guides taught me this. As a zit-faced teenager my youth pastor taught me this. Add to these my parents and Christian school teachers and it’s easy to see that throughout my entire life I have been taught to “Read your Bible.” Some of you have had that same experience. This is a lesson you learned early and often.

As soon as I could read, I tried to do what I was told. However, I spent many years frustrated. I would read the Bible and find my mind wandering from boredom or my head-spinning from confusion. This was because, while, many people taught me TO read my Bible, nobody had taught me HOW to read my Bible. Like an intern on his first day working at a TV station, I knew that there was something powerful and awesome in front me, but I felt overwhelmed and lost.

If you’ve ever felt that way, then…

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The Most Neglected Form of Worship Today

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

One of the most neglected aspects of worship (in my experience) throughout Baptist churches is the public reading of Scripture.

I find it terribly ironic that we Baptists, especially us Southern Baptists, fought the innerancy fight for two decades (or more) and yet when it comes to actually reading the Bible aloud in church,…

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