Different ways to read the Bible.
Casually read, and pray something sticks. I don’t mean to sound derisive when I describe this style. If you sincerely pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you and open your heart and mind, He will!
Read and highlight and take notes. This is a bit more complicated, but the dividends can be enormous. It is important that you get highlighters that won’t bleed …
Now both the Old Testament and the New Testament are a collection of many “books”. These books are different writings by different authors. Some people wrote several books, others authored only one book. Some of the books are long, others are very short. Many of what we call books, especially in the New Testament, are really just letters written to a particular person or to a church. …
The New Testament is about God’s new relationship with us through Jesus’ death for our sins and his resurrection. It is the story of Jesus’ life among us and His establishment of a new agreement between God and man. The 4 Gospels are the story of Jesus life on earth as told by 4 different people. Acts is the story of how Jesus’ church started through the work of the …
The Old Testament is also called the Old Covenant and it is about God’s relationship with man before Jesus. A covenant is a sacred or special agreement. Before Jesus, the agreement God had with His people was that if they completely obeyed His law, He would be with them and bless them. The Old Testament is a long description of how this agreement worked out, which was not well at …
The Bible is not one big book, though when you get to know it well you will likely conclude it has one true author because it is so interwoven. No, the Bible was written by about 40 different men over about a 1,700 year period. The different writings of these men were collected and over time accepted as inspired by God. This conglomeration of books makes up the Bible. How …
As you find more and more pieces to the puzzle and put them into place, the picture on the puzzle starts to take shape. You have gone over the pieces so many times you are starting to get to know them really well too. Suddenly you start putting pieces in faster, and faster, and faster. Now all the once it seems like every time you touch a piece it means …
You keep looking through the pieces handling the same pieces over and over and over. Every now and again you find a piece that relates to the pieces you have already put together and you place it in the puzzle. Once in while you’ll be looking at the parts of the puzzle you have put together and you will realize that one of the pieces you saw fits at a …
The next 3 post will compare reading the Bible to putting together a puzzle. It could have been one long post. I’ll put them out quickly so you read together if that is your preference.
Have you ever put together a 1,000 piece puzzle? Were you able to scan all the pieces and instantly see where each piece went? Were you even able to scan every piece at once? Of …
The Bible will change us, but we need to be patient.
Here is a story that may give you some hope and insight.
There once was a young monk who was frustrated with his prayer life and his study of the Bible. He went to an older monk to talk to him about it. The older monk listened, and then told the young monk to take a basket, fill it …
