Digging Deep in the Word

Happy Wednesday morning friends! About two weeks ago my friend Sandy @ Creating Kilter e-mailed me and asked if I would be interested in doing a linked-up post on my personal Bible Study. She was asking one of our other college friends Anna, over at Grace Happening ,to do the same. So today's post is how I dig in the Word of God.

I have to say right off that I love to study, I love learning new things, in a variety of subjects. And the one place that will always have more wisdom and knowledge than I can ever completely learn is the Word of God. That's what makes it so exciting! I will never learn all there is to learn in the Bible, the Lord will always have something fresh for me to learn. But sadly some days I rush, or I read with distractions clouding my mind. You will only earn a reward when you put the time and effort into it, and Bible reading is no exception.
Background
Let me give you a little background of my life in this area...
As long I can remember, when I would wake up early enough, I would find my mom sitting at the kitchen table reading her Bible. That old, falling apart Bible that she had since a child, lovingly protected in a Noah's ark Bible cover that was one of us kid's castoff. The big concordance would be there too, along with her cup of coffee. Sometimes I would come out and she would be praying, sometimes she would be writing or sometimes it would be the familiar zip, zip, zip of the Bible cover being closed for the day. That's what I grew up with, it's what I knew, what I thought was normal.
Can I say one thing here? If you are blessed with children let them see you spending time with your God, let it become normal in their minds. That's what you do when you first get up...you read your Bible.
I would say in my early teenage years was when I really started reading my Bible every day, besides Bible class for school. I used to use a teen devotional, but branched out as the years went by. Once I made it a habit, it hasn't really been a struggle for me. It feels so strange to not do it. And over the years I've done many different things. And I think variety is the spice of a thriving Bible study time.
Currently, because our set up (half of our things with us, half packed away at my father-in-law's) and because of the busyness of life and traveling so far to church and such, I haven't had my normal set up for study. My Bible study books are packed away, I don't have my desk to work on, ect... so no in depth Bible studies going on at the moment.
Method

But here is how my time with Him in the morning looks:

• This year I started the "read through the Bible in a Year" guidelines on the back of my Life Application study Bible, but about a month in I quit because they kept dividing it up weird. Some days they would have you read 3 chapters and then the next day it would be like 8. No thanks, it makes me feel like I'm just reading to check off that I did my reading for the day. So I just kept reading on my own pace, and I'm about half way through Deuteronomy, and through more than half of the epistles(which I will return to in a minute). I am also reading through Proverbs this month, one chapter a day.
• Back to the epistles. Sometimes I zone out when I read. I see your guilty face, you do it too. So I discovered if I have a topic to look for while I'm reading it helps me focus of the Scripture. This time reading through the epistles I decided to record every time Paul mentions thanking God or praying for something. I wanted to study how Paul prayed for other believers, what he specifically asked for the Lord to do in their lives. Some books have more than others, and some books you can tell how much the believers were an encouragement to Paul.
  
  I just started on Philippians today. Paul said every remembrance of the Philippians gave him joy. What a blessing to see the example they set, the one I want to follow to be a blessing to my pastor but most importantly, to my Lord.
• There are two devotional books I am reading, one only on the days when I feel I have the time. The first one is a 365 devotional by Shirley Starr called The Place where the thoughts for the day are only half a page, plus the Scriptures you look up. She gives you good, sound nuggets from her Bible reading time. Another plus is she divides the months by a topic, January was Walking in His Ways, February - Biblical Hearts, ect.. The second is a book I happened upon at the local library, the title is Hands Free Mama by Rachel Macy Stafford. The heart of the book is about laying any electronic devices aside and spending meaningful time with those who are around you. Whether it's children, spouse, friends, neighbors, church family, ect...they deserve your undivided attention, even more than the person texting you that you feel you must reply to within 2 minutes of their text. Whatever person you are with at the time is more important. It isn't really a devotional book, more of a self-help sort-a. She claims to be saved and the book is more of a testimony of what the Lord did in her life. So, not a lot of Scripture references or anything, but my pastor just finished preached a great series of messages on Biblical Discernment in a Digital World. Isn't it amazing how the Lord coordinates things to solidify teaching in our lives?  I won't go into more detail, maybe that will be a post to come.

I hope maybe this has given you new ideas for your time with the Lord. It's so important to spend time with Him everyday. Check out next week for a FREE Printable to use in your Personal Time with God. And don't forget to run over to Creating Kilter and Grace Happening and check out what they are currently studying!

What are you reading in the Word?

What has the Lord spoken to you about lately?