Bible Reading in the New Year (Pt.3)
By Pastor Andrew Gordon
Originally posted in the New Year season of 2015.
This is the final installment of a group of posts concerning Bible study in the New Year. I hope that these posts might give you some practical tools to discipline yourself unlike the typical New Year’s resolution. In this post I will share examples of how I structure my time in the word.
In “Bible Reading in the New Year (Pt.2)” I explained that I try to go through one book at a slower pace to listen to what God is saying at the verse and paragraph levels, while at the same time reading larger chunks of scripture to try to grasp what God is saying through the overall flow of a book and scripture as a whole. Here is what that looks like for me:
3-4 days a week I am in a book studying smaller chunks of the Word. I try to be going through a book rather than randomly picking a new passage each day. This helps to really get to know the purpose and flow of the book. I read the passage once, then go back through it again. This is how I set up my page for taking notes:
The observations help you move toward the author’s Big Idea–what did this writer try to communicate to his audience? Then the Big Idea helps you move toward a Theological Principle. In other words, each passage teaches us something about who God is that is applicable for all times. So the Theological Principle helps us see specific applications for our own lives.
The other 3-4 days, I read a chunk of scripture. This is often 3-5 chapters. Take notes about the main themes, repeated concepts, and what you’re learning about God and his people through the passage.
Note: In 2017, we are going through the Journible for the Gospel of Mark. The set up is different than the note page above, when I was going through James. But hopefully with several different examples, you will find a method that works best for you.
You can decide how this looks, but I usually do not go back and forth everyday between small passages and large ones. Normally, I let the structure of the smaller passages dictate when I break from that to longer reading. For instance, maybe I want to get through a section in Mark before I go back to Genesis for a few days. Maybe you will want to split it between the first half of the week and the second. It’s up to you. If you are trying to keep up with the Bible-in-a-Year plan and the Journible, there will be some built in “catch up” days. After all, it gets easier and easier to quit altogether when you have a stack of unfinished days to check off the list.
In all of this, I cannot over emphasize the importance of prayer in this process. Each day, open with a prayer of praise to God, confession of sins, and a request for insight and wisdom from your Bible study that day. After studying and meditating on the Word, pray that God would help you apply it in meaningful ways throughout your daily life. Look for opportunities to specifically plot out how you will apply it, and ask God for his help.
Memorize the Word
“I have stored up your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). This is one of the best ways to understand the passage. It will also bring the passage to your mind throughout the day to fight off temptation with the Word of God like the example of Jesus in Matthew 4 in the wilderness. Start with one verse at a time. or even work through a chapter over a longer period of time. Repetition and being full of the Bible will help shape you in a Christlike way into a person who bears the fruit of the Spirit.
For memorization I use note cards, repeated writing, and multiple readings of the passage. There are also helpful apps available for your devices. I find the app FighterVerse is particularly helpful.
Submit to it!
Look for specific areas of your life where you can apply what you are learning. God’s Word will push you to grow and change. But if you are not submitting to that growth and change, you will soon come to believe that you do not need it and will fall away. But if you submit to the Word you will experience this type of clarity:
“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
–To see what we are doing at WBC in 2017, check out this post here.
January 3, 2016 @ 2:02 pm
I don’t really understand “the theological” point? The outline i think will be helpful for myself as well as the points on prayer.