A vital, strong Christian needs both devotional time and study time. They are distinct.
The purpose of a morning devotion time is to reconnect with the living God, the Author and Perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). You must discover what practices are helpful to you in this. For myself, the most reliable approach is this sequence:
A moment of deep breathing, laying aside the things of the coming day that worry or excite me.
I open my Bible to my “daily” bookmark and begin reading where I left off yesterday.
I read until something “grabs” my attention and I sense a connection, something meant for me today. That’s usually a few verses; there are mornings where I might read several pages.
I stop there and pray over that word, phrase, or verse.
I express my gratitude to God for his power, truth, provision, and care.
I pull up my lists of people and issues for intercession, asking God to work, seeking the good of others.
Another helpful practice for me is singing a few verses from a memorized hymn or praise song.
The purpose of study is to deeply understand with your mind. This is the work of preparing your mind for action (1 Peter 1:13) that we might better love the Lord and love our neighbors and fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).
Your devotional time should always come before your study time, because you need the Living Teacher to instruct you. (John 14:26))
Separate devotion practices from Bible study. When doing both in the morning I’ll actually get up from my seat, walk out of the room, and then re-enter the room with “Now I am studying” as my mindset.
The foundation of all Bible study is a systematic, daily reading approach.
I’m occasionally asked what Bible reading plan I recommend. Any plan you follow which brings you to the Bible daily is helpful! When you’re ready for a larger systematic reading challenge, try either Professor Horner’s plan (10 chapters a day) or M’Cheyne’s plan (4 chapters a day).
The best challenge is to read the whole Bible in 30 days. You’ll see and grasp things you won’t catch by reading a little bit here and another bit there. I published my 30 day reading plan.
Some tips for this 30 day challenge:
1. Use a Bible without footnotes and study aids; focus on the actual text.
2. Don’t get stuck in details. Read for the big picture. If something catches your attention, make a note to come back another time.
3. This is about 50 pages a day in many Bibles. Create the time to read this much by suspending other reading, TV watching, etc. Most often you’ll need 2 or 3 reading times each day.
4. Identify a theme or set of questions that are in the back of your mind. This gives you the framework for considering what the Bible says about Redemption, Anger, Relationships, Wisdom, Praying, Serving, Ethical work practices, etc.
5. Doing this challenge with a friend is helpful. Encourage one another and share what you are learning.
6. If you fall behind, just begin again. Finishing in 40-50 days is still an excellent accomplishment.
You should also tackle specific studies to be better equipped for ministry. This might be a detailed study of one book of the Bible. Prayerfully read it over and over again — seek to understand its structure, its themes, the context (e.g., audience and timing). Read aloud to slow you down and “hear” things in the text you would otherwise miss.
You might do a theme or topic study of part or all of the Bible. Pick something that is significant to you, or to people you care deeply about. You might do a character study, looking at the biography of a major or minor figure in the Bible.
Most people jump too quickly to study helps. Struggle with the text. Think hard and pray for insight. You’ll be blessed as you do.
Specific recommended study helps:
Thompson’s Chain Reference Bible
Nave’s Topical Bible
A Bible atlas for maps
Commentaries on books of the Bible
Online searching tools like biblegateway.com or blueletterbible.org
The overall rhythm becomes:
Daily:
Devotion time to reconnect with God
Systematic reading plan
Several days each week:
Study project work
Occasionally:
Reading challenges like going through the whole Bible in 30 days
I hope you find these practices helpful as they have been to many thousands of your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Very helpful!!! Appreciate so much!!!!!
Insightful! Thank you for the article. The 30-days whole bible reading is certainly worth a challenge. How can you manage to find the time to read so much in a day?
Just a side note, the link to 30-day reading plan (“http://teachtochangelives.com/30dayplan”) is not working.
Hendra, the way to get more time to read is to “steal” it from something less important. You won’t be hurt by giving up news, magazines, other books, TV programs, etc for a month. Sorry about the broken link. I’ll set up a new page for it.
Everyone, here is the plan:
https://encouragingpress.com/read-the-bible-in-30-days/