The B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me!

While in high school I became quite fond of reading books on theology and the Christian Life. I can remember many days (while doing school) wanting to go read a book on biblical relationships, biblical femininity, God’s holiness, etc. But I can’t recount many days that I ran to my Bible with excitement. When I did read my Bible I viewed it as a daily chore… Though all the books I read were great and helpful, it didn’t take long for me to realize that those books were not where my true source of joy was going to come from.

Over the past few years, by His grace, God’s placed a desire and delight in my heart to read scripture and learn more about Him. One of the greatest means of helping me get to where I am now was listening to a message John Piper spoke at New Attitude 2008, “Fighting for Faith with God’s Word.” If you haven’t already, I HIGHLY recommend you listening to it! Recently at a church singles meeting we listened to that same message again. One thing John Piper encouraged us to do was memorize and write out scripture. Shortly after New Attitude I began to memorize different passages of scripture that I felt would be helpful for me to have in my head while struggling in different areas or verses I found to be encouraging while journeying through different seasons. I've benefited greatly from doing that!

One thing I’ve always been prone to do when reading the Bible is jump straight to The New Testament. There are books in the Old Testament that I enjoy reading (especially The Psalms) and many verses I love, but I’ve never read completely through it. If I did read the OT it would be something I would read over really quickly and then wouldn’t spend much time afterwards studying or meditating on it. So with that said, something I’ve recently started doing and have found to be a tremendous help, is writing out scripture. I’m not just talking about writing down a verse here and there, but writing large passages. This practice has required me to think hard about what I’m reading especially if it’s really early in the morning. :) I started in Genesis and have been working my way through. Yes, it does take more time than just reading the passage, but it’s totally worth it!

Maybe this is something that would be helpful for you too! May I encourage you to try… it doesn’t take much, just a pen and paper. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes!