Bible Study How much Bible study/ reading do you do?

[Taafe]

I’ve never read the Bible fully before (I’m a new Christian), but I’m curious about how people dedicate their time to God's Word. Currently, I read for about 30 minutes each night in bed.

Ideally, I would love to study the Bible more deeply because I feel I’m missing out on a lot of its deeper meanings. Is Bible study something separate from Bible reading? Would it be beneficial for me to read a study Bible from cover to cover so that I can gain a better understanding of both?

I want to deepen my understanding of the Word, but I often find that much of it doesn’t make sense to me. This might be due to my lack of familiarity since I haven’t read the Bible before and don't really know much about it.

I do enjoy watching YouTube videos like Bible Project for overall book explanation.

We currently don't have any Bible study groups at our church and would love to find a friend who has a passion for God’s Word, so we can spend time together studying and discussing it.

 

[WIP]

Currently, I have made it my challenge to read and audibly listen to the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation by reading five chapters every day. For the audible part I am using the NIV Dramatized audio Bible found at BibleGateway.com. I also have a NIV version on my phone so I follow along reading the text.

For the past eight years or so, I have made it a point to either read or listen to the entire Bible starting on January 1. This year I got a one month jump start because for some reason I thought December 1 was January 1. Getting older is confusing sometimes.

For the past 20 or 25 years I have been attending a weekly Tuesday morning prayer breakfast sponsored by a member of a neighboring church. We spend about an hour reading a chapter or two from Scripture and discussing what we've read. We include breakfast and spend time in prayer where we pray for anything that we feel a need.

For the past two years I have been a member of The Gideons International and in addition to Bible distributions at local schools, local vacation Bible schools, replacing missing/damaged Bibles in hotels, resorts, hospitals, nursing homes, veterans care facilities, county fairs, and so forth, we also get together weekly for a prayer breakfast.

Our church also sponsors a monthly men's Bible study meeting at someone's home. Prior to the pandemic, we had quite a large group with about 20 men attending regularly from many denominations including our own Lutheran, Babtist, Catholic, Menonite, and Amish. It was very interesting. Since the pandemic our group is quite a bit smaller, which is a little disappointing but we keep moving forward.

Those are some of my current regular activities but over the years I have also attended Bible study groups at other churches, participated in gospel choirs, and since 2010 have been a member here at CFnet.

One last comment I'll leave here is that the more I read, listen to, and study the Bible the more I find new things I never thought of before.

 

[Arial]

I’ve never read the Bible fully before (I’m a new Christian), but I’m curious about how people dedicate their time to God's Word. Currently, I read for about 30 minutes each night in bed.

Ideally, I would love to study the Bible more deeply because I feel I’m missing out on a lot of its deeper meanings. Is Bible study something separate from Bible reading? Would it be beneficial for me to read a study Bible from cover to cover so that I can gain a better understanding of both?

I want to deepen my understanding of the Word, but I often find that much of it doesn’t make sense to me. This might be due to my lack of familiarity since I haven’t read the Bible before and don't really know much about it.

I do enjoy watching YouTube videos like Bible Project for overall book explanation.

We currently don't have any Bible study groups at our church and would love to find a friend who has a passion for God’s Word, so we can spend time together studying and discussing it.

When I first became a Christian the one thing I knew was that every word in the Bible was true, so I began reading it to see what those words were. I started in Gen 1 and Matt 1, reading simultaneously. That was in 1983. SInce then I have read it cover to cover several times. You never stop seeing things you had missed, or remembering things you had forgotten. And you never stop learning new things.

A good study Bible is very helpful. I suggest the Reformed Study Bible for the wealth of information it contains, and its integrity and reliability. It is important to read the book prefaces. And remember that even though it contains many things, the Bible is God revealing himself; it is the historical account of redemption from beginning to end; it is integrated in all its parts and consistent with itself in all its parts. It is God entering into our history for the sake of a personal covenant relationship and redeeming a people for himself, rescuing them from one kingdom---the kingdom of darkness ---and bringing them into the kingdom of the Son he loves.