Studying the Bible can be difficult, but in this video, author and speaker, Kelly Minter, offers some tips to make studying the Bible easier and help make it a habit.
The entire video is above, and the complete transcript is below.
When I sit down, typically in the morning, and it’s my time to be with the Lord. It’s the time that I’m listening and I’m learning before I start my day. Studying the Bible is interesting. It can be very overwhelming. I’m sure you guys know. And let me just say this, I don’t think it becomes a whole lot less overwhelming the older you get.
I mean, the Bible is extensive. It’s over centuries. It touches down in different cultures. It’s pulling from different languages, different customs. So there’s a lot there.
And I will tell you this, here’s something that’s very, very simple that will be enormously helpful for you that’s enormously helpful for me.
The first thing is, you just gotta have some sort of a plan. So, for me, that could be, I grab a Bible study like an eight-week study say on Galatians. Or maybe I want to do something in the Old Testament and I do a ten-week study on the book of Ruth. Or whatever it might be. And so that can be really helpful. There are also different types of plans that will help you go through the Psalms or might help you understand just how the Bible fits together as a whole. But having a plan is gonna be huge.
Second, there are other ways to do it too, where you may not have a Bible study, but you’ve just got a reading plan. That’s something that I’m doing right now. I’m halfway through the year. I should be halfway through the Bible. I’m close. I’m a little bit behind. But every day, I’ve got my reading plan so I know what I’m doing. I know what my start is and I know what my end is. And that’s really helpful for me.
So I would just say, come up with some sort of a plan and that plan might change. You might get to the end of a ten-week study and go, “Wow, I sure did love that topical study. Now I want to study a book of the Bible.” Or “I have done Bible studies for a number of years and I think I’m ready just to do reading plan through the Bible.” And there are lots of different plans out there. So, have a plan.
I would also say, try to have a consistent time in your day. I really love the mornings. I’m not saying we have to be legalistic about it. I do think you’ll see a lot in the Bible about even Jesus or the psalmist, David, studying in the morning. But, I would have a specific time where you’re getting with the Lord.
And then, maybe even a place. Sometimes this changes up for me. But I kinda have this spot in my living room on my couch. And typically I’ll get my morning cup of coffee and I’ll make that my space.
And then I would also really encourage you to add prayer to that Bible study time. And that’s trickier for me. I’ll just be honest with you. I can read the Bible and I can just go and go and I can hunt down passages. And when it comes to prayer, it’s a little bit more difficult for me to focus and to be intentional. But I would add that there. It is huge.
I’ll just tell you for me, one of the things is that I like to move a lot, especially while I’m talking. And so for me, once I’m done with my Bible reading, I actually get up. I start walking around my house and I pray. Just because that’s just how I think.
So whatever it is that works for you, have a plan, have a time, have a space, and be consistent with it.