Bible Reading – Just Do It!

And after that you can also talk about it, what you actually read and what can you take out of what you read. And that's probably also very helpful to have a friend, a spouse, or other family member where you can talk about what you just read to the person. Ladies and gents, welcome to Voices of Life, the podcast with topics related to the apostolic faith in the 21st century. Let's talk about what interests you here on Voices of Life. Hello, ladies and gents, it's me and my other 3 friends. Welcome to Voices of Life. Today we

have a very important topic. Of course, every topic is important, but it's about a very important tool that we use in our faith. And it's very important in the whole world. It's 1 of the most-sold books, I would say, in world history, with 5 billion times it was sold. And it's about the Bible. Very important, a very important tool in our relationship with God. It brings life. It brings everything that we need, but sometimes we still have problems to read it in a consistent basis. So today we want to talk about how we can read it

in a consistent basis, Or we want to give you tips how you can get into the reading of the word.

Yeah, that's right. We want to talk about different ways that you can read the Bible, different approaches that you can take. And we want to give you 1 important thing, and that is more important than all this theory and all the perfect kind of ways that you might be able to read the Bible is that you just do it, that you just read the Bible. And don't try to do the perfect plan, you know, perfect reading plan and perfect strategies behind it. Don't make too much theory out of it. Just do it. And that's what will

matter at first the most, that you just do it and just open that book and put yourself into it. And the rest will come then with time.

It won't help you to just be a theoretical reader and just have this great master plan, but what's most important to start is building that daily routine, building that habit of reading the Bible, because the more often you do it, the more it will become a habit and the more it will be able to impact your life.

Yeah, and the important thing is that it becomes a habit. And it doesn't mean that you have to read every day at least 2 chapters of the Bible, because if you have that goal and maybe once in a while you are not able to reach that goal because of the busyness of life, then you may just start reading faster or you may just read so you can check it off your list and say, well, I've read today the Bible, but that is not the goal, actually. We should read the Bible because we want to learn something

from it. We want to be involved in His Word. We want to get the Word of God into our lives. And if you're just reading it because we said, well, we have to read this amount, that is not really helpful. So there are sometimes days where You may read 1235 chapters or maybe even a whole little book of the Bible and then there may be some other days where you just read 1 Bible verse, maybe 2, and that's it. But if you really think about it and work with that verse that you've just read, then it's

more beneficial than just reading a huge portion out of the scriptures and you haven't understood anything of it or you really can't remember anything you've read. I guess a lot of us are guilty sometimes that we have done it already. We've read and then when we closed the book we were thinking, what did I read actually? Because we were not really concentrated in it. So read less in this case, but focus on it.

Yeah, What can help with that as well is reading it aloud and not just reading it in your heart so to say or quietly because while you read it at least that's how it is for me. Oftentimes when I read something loudly I notice when I skip something or I notice when there's something not right in a sentence and I skip the whole column or section sometimes. And if I don't read it aloud, sometimes I also forget what I just read. I read through it or I scan through it sometimes and I just read fast. I

tell myself I read fast, but probably not reading. And then I forget, okay, what was the sentence before that? Where am I in the story? What happened the last 5 sentences? So reading aloud can help you to focus and concentrate even more.

Yeah, there's that saying that you understood something when you can explain it to someone else. And I think in the same way, when you read loud to someone else or no 1 else, but you read out loud, It's even better if someone else is there, like your spouse or a friend, that you read it too. And then I think you can be sure that you also know what you just read with certainty. I made that experience with my wife when we read the Bible together, that I was just getting much more the whole context and also

trying to pronounce everything the right way made me realize more where are the points, the important ones, or what is actually happening here, what atmosphere is between the people that talk here, what feelings are involved maybe in the scene that I'm reading about right now. And so different things like that, you can have them if you read it out loud.

Yeah. And after that, you can also talk about it. What you actually read and what can you take out of what you read? And that's probably also very helpful to have a friend, a spouse, or other family member, where you can talk about what you just read to the person.

And to me, it feels like our pastor is very good in doing that, to bring stories alive. When he preaches, sometimes the characters become alive for me. They just jump out of the page. And I think that's something you can do very good. Maybe you can explain a little bit what you're doing when you're reading something like that.

Yeah, that is also a tip actually that I wrote down, or I have written down, is to just read between the lines. And those characters in the Bible, they are not just characters, they are human beings. And so you have to describe them or think about them like a human being. And they had their own failures, they had their own attitudes, they had the emotions and things like that. And you just need to think about that. And Usually when I read books or I read the Bible, it doesn't matter, when I read stories, it is like

a movie in front of my eyes. I start to think about how the locations look like, how the people look like, how they talked, the whole situation, how it might have smelled there or whatever. And when I think about it, then those stories in the Bible, they become alive. So it's just, it is important also when you explain things in the Bible, if you are able to, let's say, to make a story out of it, it can enrich you. So I like that. But usually it's like a movie in my head that I describe.

I was about to say, this man has a wild imagination. In the preaching sometimes I sit there, I was like, wow, where did he get that from? It's just, yeah, just crazy, but it's, but it's very helpful. And yeah, I can relate to that. If you really think about what's happening in that situation, It helps you to want to also read more what's written in there. And also if you, if you set yourself into the story, you could say that also really is very helpful and you can relate to different things. I think, and then that's

also a very good thing to do.

And sometimes I think, how would I have reacted in certain situations that I read in the Bible?

And that can be very hard sometimes, because it's a different culture, it's a whole different background that they had, but it is interesting. It helps a lot, and it helps you to remember those stories. That's something that I noticed. It just sticks more to you when you put a little more effort in it and not just, as we said, skipping through, reading through just to get a checkbox done. But that is not the only way we can read the Bible. They also, through technology, we have audio books, we have audio Bibles. And for me personally, I'm

not that much of a Bible listener. I like to read it more. How about you? How is it for you?

Well for me it's, I don't listen to it all the time over audio. I listen to it when I want to go to sleep, you could say, or when I'm on my way to work with the bus, because in the morning it's hard to read sometimes. So that's why I just listen to it. But I can understand for not always wanting to listen to it, because in your mind you sometimes just shut off. So I understand it and that happens to me especially in the mornings where I just sit there and I listen to a whole

chapter and I have no idea what this person just read to me because I was just so in my mind. So it is, it can be difficult, but I understand what you're saying, but it helps me because sometimes, especially at night, when I, in my thoughts with by reading, of course, it helps me to sort things out because especially when you're at, when's the daytime and stuff like that, you have people around you, stuff around you that you have to think about. And so at night you have the moment where you just can slow down and

just have that word is read to you, put it in your mind and think about it and just try to, whatever you need, if you need to relive it or just, yeah, just think about it. It just helps a lot. Yeah.

Yeah. Just 1 thing that's so important there that I know from personal experience is that you don't push it too far then to the evening or to the late hours, and you do all the things that you can while you still have the energy and while you are still not as tired, and then the Bible reading stays as last thing, but only comes when you already are almost falling asleep. And then, yeah, it won't be fruitful for you. You will just be there and dizzy reading through it, but not able to process what you're reading there.

Of course, yeah. You are limiting very much then the quality of the time that you can have.

That's true. It feels like a good intention though, to say, oh, the last thing before I go to bed, I'm going to read the Bible, I'm going to pray, I'm going to do all the spiritual things, and I think that's also something I told myself often, yeah, it's such a, oh, it's so good, I spent the last time I have in my evening with God, but now I actually changed it because I noticed for myself, it just doesn't work that consistently. Because either I'm very tired and just like, oh, okay, I'll do it tomorrow morning. And

then, oh, I overslept in the morning. Oh, well, okay, I'm going to do it tonight. So putting it off till the very last minute seems, at least it seemed for me like a good intention, but in reality, like you said, put it somewhere where you're still able to focus and concentrate, where you still have that time, and maybe push other things off to do it before you go to bed.

Yeah, the main objective is to get the Word of God into you. Because in the word of God it's the word of life and we need life. So that's why we try to get as much word of God in us as possible. And while Justin was talking about the listening to it, it just came to my mind that it is not hurtful if you listen to it, or it speaks to you and you're really not listening, you're just hearing it. It's still... Your brain will process everything that comes in. It is subconsciously, but it is still

processing it. But of course, it should not be just, you know, subconsciously reading the Bible. You should also consciously read the Bible. But there's a mix. It does not hurt, you know. Some people have worship music in the evening before they sleep, which is a good influence because you subconsciously also get all that into you. So if you listen to bad stuff, that also gets into you. It's better than to listen to the Bible, even though you are not really listening and understanding everything, but still subconsciously you get some information. And while I'm listening… First,

before, let's get a record straight. I'm not just listening to the Bible, right? I'm just saying, It's not the only moment I just go to sleep in the morning. I read the Bible as well. I just want to get through it, get the records straight. Okay, you can go. I'm sorry.

And I don't think that there is a perfect time that we can set and say that's for everybody the perfect time. So we are all different. Some people are very active in the morning and they can concentrate in the morning. It's not the case for me. It's really not in the morning. I don't know. I can't think I can't talk. It's even worse than right now. So it's even worse than speaking English.

For me as well, yeah. It's the same. Like, it does not make sense the first hour of the day for me to do anything that needs concentration or is supposed to have a productive outcome or something like that.

For me it's also like that. I like to study the Bible in the evening, late evening usually. So Bible studying is usually more towards the weekend, because if I have to get up early in the morning, I can't study till 1.30 at night, it's not possible. But on Saturday to Sunday, because our services start in the afternoon, so that's very perfect for me. After eating, usually I have a little down after dinner, and then around 10 o'clock in the evening, that's when I get awake again. And then I can really study and concentrate myself. But In

the morning in general, I'm not up to studying. But anyway, it's like, you need to find a time that you can reserve to read the word of God. It can be in the morning, it can be in the evening, but it also can be during your break time at work, at lunch time. It does not matter. And also, it is good to have a fixed time to do that, but still, maybe not every week is the same for you. Maybe you have different weeks, and we talked about it earlier in our German episode, that in my

case, maybe there's a week that I just am working remotely from home the whole week, so it's easy to get some time to read the Bible. But then there's another week where I'm gone for some shows, trade shows and exhibitions and so on. And I'm gone and it is a little more busy and I don't have the time to read exactly at the times that I've read the week before. So then change it. Read on a different time or read in your hotel room or wherever you are. And sometimes, you don't have to read a whole

chapter. It is just a few verses. That's also fine. So don't be accused by the devil that you just read 2 verses this day. But yesterday, you've read a whole chapter. So well, what's the big deal? You read a next day, maybe more.

Yeah. And if you're following maybe a yearly plan, like a lot of people like to do, then if you don't need a year, but you need a year and a month or something like that, so what, you know, don't, Don't be discouraged if there is a day where you just don't manage to read, or some very busy times that just push it a bit to the back, the schedule, so to say.

As long as you do it in a constant basis, that's the most important

thing. Yeah, exactly. And because the point of it is not that you do those checks that Herster talked about earlier or that you have that perfect streak where You never fail and you are so good. You are a performer, a high performer, always reading everything. That's not the point of it. The point is to emerge yourself into the Word of God, into His truth, to seek Him and to have Him as influence in the midst of this world that is surrounding us and trying to make us crazy sometimes maybe and influence us, we need Him and

we need His word and that's why we read it. And that should be the motivation.

Yes. That's very important. In a German episode, we had a lot of Bible studies that were shown by us or told by us. Our pastor, he told us a few Bible studies. Can you tell us if the Bible studies are also here in this English episode?

Oh, you're talking about the different study Bibles?

I'm sorry. Yes, that's what I'm talking about. The study bibles, the study... No, no, no, the study bibles.

I was confused a little, sorry. Anyway, yeah, there are some different study bibles that you can use that help you to understand what it's all about. For example, a chronological study bible that will help you to know what happened in human history during that time. And it can give you a better understanding why people thought the way they thought, why people did the things they did, and so on. And it gives you a broader perspective of what you read. And then maybe they're in an archaeological study Bible, so you can also see things that were excavated.

And that's also very interesting to see how those seals looked like that they used in the Old Testament and many other things. And it helps you to understand the Bible better, and it makes it more, I would say, more alive for you, the reading of the word of God. And the chronological, we talked about it, and then there's another Bible type, it is called the inductive study Bible, and that is very helpful if you not just want to read the Bible, but also study the Bible. And I just mentioned it briefly because we are not talking

about Bible study. But anyway, in this inductive study Bible, it will give you questions to answer, for example, or give you some jobs to do. Let's say you start reading the book of Job. And then in the beginning of that book, there is a list of things that you could do, you know, underline what the friends of Job said to him and stuff like that, and what accusations they had, where they write, and so on. And it helps you to study the Bible, because usually people that just are new in our faith and they say, well,

you have to read the Bible, we tell them, and you have to study the Bible, then reading, they may understand, but how do I study the Bible? So this inductive study Bible will help you to get started, let's put it this way. But that should be all about Bible study.

Yeah, if you want us to talk about Bible studies or how to study the Bible 1 other time, leave a comment and we'll put it to our list of topics that will still come.

Yeah, especially those study Bibles that are very important or helpful also to actually read the Bible for yourself. And that's also very important just to read that book by itself is so important. And I thought we could just talk about the importance of reading the Bible, because I heard a lot of people, especially from pastors, that say, if you actually read the Bible—and I probably said this in another English episode before—but if you actually read the Bible, it actually really physically sharpens your mind. And so it's not only for your spiritual life, life of good things,

but it's also for your physical life, a very good thing. So, yeah,

it's very important.

When you say that, I was pretty good in German, like in reading the books and in interpreting them and all those kinds of things. And I'm 100% sure that a big part of this is because when I was in Sunday school, I started to actually go into the Bible and study topics like baptism and take out the tracts that we had and search for the scripture verses and try to understand things. And I would not have done that at that early age without the Bible. And I don't, and I think I was trained a little bit

through that and it helped me in the physical, like you say. And I mean, it's, you don't need to be smart to know that books may make people smarter.

Yeah. Yeah. Of course.

Yeah. I mean, everyone knows it, right? That reading sharpens your mind and Bible reading is still reading.

Yeah. Even

though it's a special and

special reading,

even more important kind of

reading because The content is a lot better.

Better and helpful, of course. Very, very helpful. And I think sometimes also it's for us, like, if we read the Bible, it's like a really, a real letter from, I mean, yeah, of course we preach about it every time, but sometimes if we have that mindset that that's actually a letter from God to you, that's also, I think, very helpful to have that mindset of actually reading the Bible and it helps you to stay motivated because it's a word from God for you to get over your life, your spiritual life. So yeah, I just can say

it's just so important just to read that big book.

It's also helpful to have a notebook next to you when you write. Get a pen, get some paper or notebook. It's better to have a notebook than just paper, because paper is flying everywhere. I would put it in a notebook and then you can write down some things that you've just learned while reading the word of God. Or there are also Bibles that have a broader margin on the sides, so you can write down on the sides, make some notes, and that is also very helpful to do that. So, it can be very beneficial sometimes when

You open the Bible again and you read the remarks that you've wrote some years ago, maybe, or you open your journal, your book, your notebook, and you read some of the things that God told you, and that could strengthen you again.

What's also helpful and what I really like about my Thomson's Study Bible, that's how it's called, are cross-references where it shows you other passages that are in some way related and it can really open up your understanding about things. For example, just a few days ago I was reading through the Unforgivable Sin, how it's called, blaspheming the Holy Ghost, and the first time I saw that there's a cross-reference to another verse that points to Luke, where Jesus talks about that whatever is in your heart, that will bring out fruit, and you will see thorns, or you

will see this or that. And so I realized, yeah, I understood better now what He says about blaspheming the Holy Ghost, because if you actually utter words that are blaspheming the Holy Ghost, it shows something much bigger that has already grown inside of you. And that probably shows that you have hardened yourself up against God completely like Pharaoh, you know, when he said, no, no, no, no. And if you say constantly no to God, you will reach the point where God will also say, okay, I'm done with you. Because we read about Pharaoh then that during

the last plagues, it was God who hardened his heart because he said, okay, I'm done with you. So that's what I like about cross-reference. It's that it just gives you different verses that are in some way related and help you then to understand what you read in even more context and even better.

It feels like We talked a lot about physical Bibles now, and cross-referencing this, and marking this. Just putting it out there, there are also digital versions of the Bible. You probably knew that. What?

They probably knew that, right?

The 21st century?

Yeah, but some people are really... I think that way, okay, I just have to read the book. If I don't read the book, it's not really Bible reading, and that's just not true. But what I noticed for myself is reading the Bible on a phone or on a very little screen, it's very hard. And I can hardly keep anything or mark anything or do any of the stuff we just talked about, because it's just so small and so little. So an advice would be, if you read digitally, read it on something bigger that you can actually

read more than 1 verse or 2 verses on 1 screen and that helps to get also the context of a text and you can mark it and you can also mark there are different programs you can mark verses you could put the notes in there So if you're somebody who just doesn't like writing that much with pencil and paper and notebooks, then you can use it digitally too. Just make sure that you have an order or some plan with it. And don't be like me in the beginning, just Marking everything and then think, oh wait, well,

all of it is important, but it's just... She did that? Yeah, I did. A

whole verse or

a whole chapter? Not a chapter, but there were a lot of verses sometimes I marked. And then I look back and I'm like,

Why did I mark them?

Yeah, what did I think when I marked all of it?

Okay, so you mark and then you just leave it? Or do you put a side note?

Yeah, I do now. I do now have like a note or something why I marked. I mean, I have different subjects, so to say, for example, 1 God or oneness of God or love or forgiveness. And they had different colors. And so I put that in these and then also put a little comment to it to remember them. Why you actually? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Why did I mark them? Because sometimes it doesn't have the word or something in it, but just something I may have experienced myself or I heard preached or something, and then I put

that together and then it makes sense again.

Well, yeah. Want to say something?

Oh, go ahead.

Okay, sorry. I mean, digital is good and fine and everything but for me, especially with the cell phone, I mean iPad is not that much but especially in a cell phone when I read the Bible on a cell phone, I lose focus very very quickly. Especially when you have a pop up of WhatsApp message or some news, big news report. Someone scored a goal. You just have to scroll up and then you go to the next page and then you're like, oh, let me read this for a couple minutes. And then you read, read, read. And

then it's a half an hour later and it's almost midnight and you're like, oh, I didn't read the Bible. Well, I can do that tomorrow. So for me, I think, I mean, of course, it's a good tool to have, especially when you're like not at the house or not really don't have a bi with you, you can always look up over your cell phone or over your iPad. But for a longer reading, for me, it's probably better to actually have the book in front of me and put the cell phone in the other room because that

thing can, yeah.

Yeah, I'm also very old school. I like to read a physical book, the physical Bible in this case. I prefer it over reading it on my cell phone. I do have the app somewhere on my smartphone in case of emergency that I have to grab it real quick and find the verse or so. Yeah, but usually either it's on my iPad, computer or physical and I really prefer a book to read and it is, I don't know, it's hard to describe why, but I like it better. Even though when I'm at home sometimes and do study

for a sermon or a Bible study, and I get those verses on the screen and it says, well, here you find this, this, this, and that, then instead of just clicking it and reading it on the screen, I open the Bible and read it in the Bible directly in the book. Yeah. But on the other hand, those digital resources are also very helpful. I do have a study tool that I really like to not mention it because I don't want to do a promotion right now. But the thing is, what I like there, you can do

notes on the different Bible verses. And then some day later or so when you search for something, the program not just searches the Bible or different books that you've bought in that Bible study resource, but it also searches through your notes. And so you can find them easily again and say, oh Yeah, I've read that verse already and I had some ideas already on it and so on. And many other things you can do with that program. So that is helpful and beneficial, yes. But when it comes to just reading the Bible, I like to have

a book. Yeah, I'm old.

Yeah. Apparently we're all old.

Yeah, I wanted to say that reminds me of another tip that you gave earlier, that is make sure you have a Bible that has big enough letters for you that you don't get a headache every time you try to read it. Or when it's getting darker, you know, and you don't have daylight anymore, make sure that you have the right 1 that is good for you.

Or get a book lamp. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you have an actual Bible in front of you.

Yeah. Well, everything that is important, the devil will fight against it. So what he does, he will make you busy the whole day, so you are very tired in the evening. And then you have a small print, and it's so hard to read, you just started to read 1 or 2 Bible verses, and then you say, oh, I fall asleep. So when you have a big print or bigger print at least, then that helps also.

Yeah Someone else has something to add? No? Then I would say we will come slowly but surely to an end. Thank you very much and hopefully you liked our content. I hope you you like the tips that we gave. If you did, give us a like, give us comments. We need a few topics for the future episodes, So just write down some topics if you want and we're excited to read them and hopefully to use them So see you soon Well, till

next time. Yes, looking forward to hear or see you next time.

Happy Bible reading!