I remember when my parents use to force me to read the bible. I would open up my King James Version and see all the legnthy text it had to offer and my eyes would immediately begin to glaze over, all of a sudden I was sleepy and the sleepiness wouldn’t leave me until I closed the Bible. As I got older I wanted to work on my relationship with God (while also living a life of sin) so I would vow to read my Bible, I’d sit down inconsistently and open my Bible, only for my eyes to glaze over yet again. It wasn’t until last year when I really began working on my faith walk that I took getting into my word daily seriously and actually began to do it.

I started reading daily devotionals from the YouVersion Bible App on whatever situations I was facing, and listening to sermons multiple times a week and before I knew it I had become excited to read my word. At the top of the year I sat out to finally read both the book of Proverbs and the book of Psalms, which I’d tried to do on numerous occasions and failed to do. This time around I found myself not only excited to read those two books but I found that I actually understood what I was reading and I completed both Books.

Three Steps to getting into your word:

1.Start with a Verse

One of the things I love about the Bible App is that each day whether on or offline, it generates a verse of the day. One of the fundamental tools for developing a relationship with God is to read his word. It’s literally the blueprint to how to live and lead a Christlike life. What I’ve began to do here lately is not only read the verse of the day that has been generated by the app, but I also press the dots on the verse to read the full chapter. That helps to give me better context into what was happening for that verse to be written.

2. Find a Devotional / Plan

When I read the book of Proverbs and Psalms I figured that finding an actual plan to aid in comepleting the books would be the best way for me to have discipline and actually read the books. Finding an actual reading plan helped me to finish both books of the Bible in 62 days. Which is another reason why the Bible App is a great resource. You can find a plan or devotional on pretty much anything you are dealing with i.e peace, joy, healing, relationships, biblical study, and an array of other topics. Each plan/devotional takes different lengths of time whether it’s 3 days or 365 days. The bible plans I did for Proverbs and Psalms gave me chapters to read each day. Some of the devotionals and other plans give you an excerpt written by the author of that plan and scripture to back what they have written.

Finding a devotional/plan is the perfect way to not only read your Bible more, but it’s also a great way to read about what you’re going through more easily because all you have to do is search the topic and pick the plan. Once you do that you start your plan, and you can read the verses pertaining to your issue and dive deeper into the Word by opting to read the full chapter or even the full Book so that you can really understand the Word better. What I’ve learned recently is that most Books of the Bible aren’t even that long, and they are incredibly interesting and filled with so many truth’s and nuggets on how to handle every situation we face in our day to day lives.

3. Do it with someone

We all know that it is usually easier to accomplish a goal or task when there is someone to hold you accountable. This is no different. I honestly don’t think that the life of a believer was meant be walked alone, and neither does the Bible. Having someone to talk to about what you’re facing, having someone to read with you, and having someone to push you to stay on track is both therapeutic and beneficial. It’s therapeutic because then we know we aren’t alone, and there is someone walking this journey with us. It’s beneficial because where we would want to slack off or miss a few days, they would remind us why we should keep going and why we started in the first place.

If you don’t have anyone to hold you accountable you are in good company because I don’t either. However the YouVersion Bible App does have a calendar that keeps track of every day that you open your app. Before going on vacation I had a streak of about sixty days and I currently have nine perfect weeks. The calendar helps a ton with keeping me on track. You can also set reminders to tell you that it’s time to read your Bible, plan, or devotional.

The Bible for Kids

If you have children and you want to instill the importance of reading the Bible into them it’s never to early to start. We’ve been reading the Bible to Josiah since he was born. There is a YouVersion Bible App for Kids, it’s extremely interactive and even has little quizzes, we have this one downloaded on his tablet. You can also get The Beginners Bible by ZONDERKIDZ. This was my very first Bible when I younger, when I had Josiah I made sure to order him a hard copy from Amazon and I bought it on iBook as well. It’s colorful, easy to read, and tells the Bible stories in a kid friendly way.

The more I read my word the more God’s truths are being revealed to me, and the more his words are being written on my heart. I am finding myself to be slower to speak and respond to certain situations even though I don’t always get it right. I am finding myself remembering God’s word and promises to the believer because I am constantly downloading them into my spirit. My walk isn’t perfect, I miss a day here or there but I keep going, and I keep pushing myself to not only read the word but to study and meditate on it.

Getting started may seem daunting and overwhelming, but I guarantee that once you start you’ll be happy you did and you won’t want to stop. If you need someone to hold you accountable please let me know and I will!