How to Read Your Bible

One of the most difficult books I have ever read is the Bible.

Truly it is 66 books, written by over 40 different people, spanning thousands of years. Any cursory examination of the evidence shows that the Bible is historically accurate. Comparisons of early and later manuscripts demonstrate a similarity that is supernatural. We have in our possession quintessentially the same Bible as the early church.

That being said, it is considered very difficult to read the whole thing. I concur. Without a little instruction and advice, I may never have completed the task.

To help with anyone wishing to read the Bible all the way through, here is some advice.

• Pray. It may seem cliché, but if you really want help reading through the Bible, pray before you read. Ask God to make what you read understandable. Ask for wisdom to discern the truth. Invite the Holy Spirit to teach you the Word.

• Choose an approach. When deciding where to begin, you may want to keep in mind that you should just eat the elephant one bite at a time. You may want to start in Genesis and read straight through. You may want to begin with Jesus and track his life. Wherever you decide to start, do your homework as you go so that your understanding is complete. 

• Use some study tools. In this digital age, there are dozens of websites, online libraries, and other tools to help you understand what you are reading. One of the oldest and most reliable sites is www.blueletterbible.org. Here you can compare versions, read concordance information about the original languages, and even link to the Blue Letter Bible online study courses (they are FREE).

• Bible Teachers. I am forever in debt to the late Chuck Missler for his series “Through the Bible in 24 Hours”. I read through the Bible by myself and found myself disturbed about many apparent contradictions I discovered. I decided to try and find out what exactly was going on with those contradictions. Chuck Missler is not for everyone, but his research is exhaustive. His Christian think tank, Koinonia House (https://www.khouse.org/), produced the series that taught me the Word. You can link to the series for FREE on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRj8AJuzeJRwHdeFua3pzmwPB_JCS0mIq. Watch the video and get an overview of the Bible. Then read the assigned reading at the end of each video. By the end of the 24 videos, you will have read the entire Bible and been given a guided tour of what it all means!

• Find a friend to read with you. There is no better way to discover the truth of the Bible than with a friend. Having someone to read with you will hold you accountable to continue with the effort. Having someone to bounce ideas off will help in understanding what you learn. Besides, everything is more fun with a friend!

When you observe life with a Bible filter, everything makes sense. The state of our country, the tensions that rule the world, and everything in between is mentioned in the Bible. Chuck Missler was fond of saying that no education is complete without a working knowledge of the Bible. No matter how or why you begin, reading the Bible will be the most rewarding experience of your life. It gives understanding and power to those who apply it to their lives.

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