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Having devotions is a catch phrase that Christians use. It means spending quality time with God through prayer and Bible reading. This article is geared to specifically help you with the Bible reading side. The advice here is geared for someone just getting started, although there's good stuff in here for anyone.

The Bible is special because unlike any other book because it was inspired by God. We can know this from reading 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correction and training in righteousness." The Bible is the Word of God. Yes, the Bible was written by human authors using their own personalities and their own writing styles, but God oversaw everything to make sure that even the very words written were the ones He wanted written. This is what Peter meant when he wrote 2 Peter 1:21, "For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." The Greek word for "carried along" is also used for the wind carrying along a sailboat.

Everything that the Bible teaches is true. Think about it, the Bible says that it is God's Word and God can't lie (Hebrews 6:18). Therefore, the Bible can't lie. And if God knows everything, the Bible can't make mistakes either. Now, this doesn't mean that you can rip something out of context and say it's true. You can't read Genesis 12:2 which says, "I will make you a great nation" and then call God a liar because He didn't make you a great nation. This is a quote of God talking to Abraham, not you. You also need to remember that the Bible uses everyday language and figurative speech. If it says that "the sun set," it isn't wrong because it should have said "the earth turned on its axis."

2 Timothy 3:16-17 also tells us that ALL Scripture is useful for (1) teaching, (2) reproof, (3) correction and (4) training in righteousness. That is, the Bible is useful for (1) teaching us what we should believe, (2) teaching us what we shouldn't believe, (3) teaching us how we shouldn't live, and (4) teaching us how we should live. Many people have opinions on what is true and what people should do, but God's Word is the only true authority on what we should believe and how we should live. Therefore, it's important that we study it to see what it has to say! Even though the Bible was written a long time ago, God had it written in such a way that it is relevant to our lives today. Every word in the Bible is there for a reason. With practice, effort and help from God, we can unfold the meaning of the Bible to see what He is telling us.

The Bible was written over a period of about 1,500 years by about 40 different human authors. The first book of Genesis was written about 1,400 BC. The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi was written about 400 BC. (BC means before Christ.) In the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (called the Gospels) record the life of Christ. Most scholars think that the letter of James was the first New Testament book written (in about 45 AD.) The last book of the New Testament is Revelation, which was written by John near the end of the first century AD.

The Bible is divided into two halves, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is the 39 books that were written before Jesus was born, and the New Testament is the 27 books that were written after Jesus was born. Even though the Bible is one big book, it is actually composed of 66 smaller books. To make parts of the Bible easier to find, each of the books was divided into chapters. To make things even easier to look up, someone then divided each of the chapters into verses. So when you hear a Bible passage referred to such as John 3:16, John is the name of the book, 3 is the chapter and 16 is the verse. If we didn't do this, it would be pretty tough to find the part of the Bible that someone was talking about. (If you have trouble finding where the specific book is, there should be a table of contents in the front of your Bible.)

The Bible is not just a collection of different works that don't relate to each other. From the first book, Genesis to the last book, Revelation, the Bible has a unifying theme running through it.

The Bible starts out telling us that God created the world and that He created mankind. The world and everything in it were perfect when He made it. However, we went bad. The first people, Adam and Eve sinned against God by disobeying Him and this introduced sin into mankind. Sin is rebellion against God. Ever since Adam and Eve first sinned, sin has spread like a virus to every one of their descendents (that's everyone.) Now, the really bad part is that unless sin is taken care of, anyone who is a sinner (again, that's all of us) has to go to hell forever. This is because God is so holy and just that He can not tolerate to have sin in His presence.

But right from the beginning God lets us know that He has a plan to take care of this sin problem. He's going to send a Savior into the world. God chooses the Hebrew people as the nation that the Savior is going to come from. So the Old Testament give us the history of the people of Israel (the Hebrews, or Jews) and the message that the Savior (or Messiah, or Christ) is going to come from them.

The Savior finally came. When Jesus Christ was born, he was 100% human, yet He existed even before He was born because He was also 100% God! This was very important because He needed to be both to do what He came to do... to fix the sin problem. The Gospels tell us about Jesus' life on earth. They tell us what He was like, how He proved who He was and the things that He taught. They also tell us about how the people turned on Him and had Him put to death by being hung on a cross. Although the people meant this for evil, it was all a part of God's big plan. What Jesus did on the cross was to absorb all the punishment for the sins of everyone who would trust in Him for their salvation. He was like a lightning rod that took God's wrath so we wouldn't have to. Although Jesus was completely innocent, he took the rap for our guilt.

After He died, He didn't stay dead. On the third day, He rose from the dead. This showed His victory over sin and death, and proved all the more who He really was. He appeared to people for 40 days and then left and went to heaven to be with God the Father.

After this, His followers were still on earth. Jesus had left it up to them to spread the message about Him. People needed to know that He was God and that He had died in their place so that they could be forgiven of all their sins if they would believe in Him as their personal savior. The book of Acts tells how the disciples spread this message. The Gospel (which means good news) spread from Jerusalem (where this all started) and by the end of Acts reached the city of Rome, which was the capitol of the world at that time.

The apostles were followers of Jesus who He had personally given a special authority. Some of the apostles wrote letters to groups of believers explaining to them the meaning of what Jesus had done and telling them how they should now live for God. Thus while the Old Testament is about the Hebrews and said that the Savior was coming, the New Testament is about the Church (all true Christians everywhere) and said that the Savior had come. The New Testament ends with the book of Revelation which tells us that not only did Jesus come, but He's coming back one day and then things will be made perfect again like they originally were when God created the world in the book of Genesis

God is the main character in the Bible. Mankind is the supporting actor. In short, the story is the fall and restoration of humanity. Act One: Mankind starts out created perfect in the Garden of Eden. Act Two: Mankind falls into sin. Act Three: God provides salvation through Jesus Christ. Act Four: Mankind is restored to perfect harmony with God in the New Heaven and Earth.

The Bible was not originally written in English. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew (except for a few small portions written in Aramaic.) The New Testament was written in Greek. Now, unless you're really good at reading ancient foreign languages, you're going to want to read a translation. There are plenty of people who are really good at reading these ancient languages and they have done a very cool thing for us by rewriting the Bible in English.

Some translations are better for some people than others. For example, if you lived in England in 1611 the King James Version would probably be the best translation for you to use. However, we don't use English today the same way that they did then. Also, scholars have found some more super-ancient copies of Scripture since the KJV was written which have helped them to do an even better job. So, overall you're probably not going to want to use the KJV.

Some translations stick closer to the original language than others. Some, like the New American Standard Bible try their best to translate everything word for word. This is good because it makes a very accurate translation for detailed study. The more you mess with stuff, the more likely you are to change the meaning. The down side is that some people find the NASB a bit "choppy" to read. (Sure, maybe the words flow well in Greek, but not as well in English.) On the other hand, some versions like the Contemporary English Version and the Living Bible make things very easy to read. The down side is that they can actually be a paraphrase rather than a translation. A paraphrase tries to rephrase the Bible in its own words. The danger is that you don't really have the Bible, you have what the people who wrote that paraphrase think the Bible means. (The Living Bible admits that it is a paraphrase, not a translation. However the New Living Translation is an updated version of the Living Bible that is much more accurate.) Probably the best middle ground is the New International Version. It does a good job of being readable, but still stays as close as it can to the original thoughts. Try the NIV for starters. If you're really having trouble with it, you might want to consider the NLT or the CEV, but don't use it as your primary Bible if you don't have to. If you're a good reader you might want to consider the NASB. It's the best if you're wanting to go into detail about what a passage means. Personally, I study out of the NASB, do a lot of reading out of the NIV, and sometimes take a look at the more loose versions to get a fresh perspective.

Study Bibles are Bibles that give a lot of help to the reader by giving notes for tough verses, maps, introductions to the books, a concordance and other tools to help you out in your Bible study. Some examples of study Bibles include The NIV Study Bible, The Quest Study Bible, The Ryrie Study Bible and The Life Application Bible. Notes can really help you out when you're stuck. (Just don't get lazy and let them do all the thinking for you! The Bible means more to us when we discover things for ourselves. Also remember that these notes are not a part of the actual Bible and are not inspired by God. Don't trust them without question! They can be wrong!) Introductions to each book are valuable because they help you to learn the background of what's happening, who wrote it, when, where and why. A concordance tells you different places in the Bible where a certain word is used.

When we read the Bible, there are three steps that we need to go through in order to keep from screwing up the message. They are observation, interpretation and application. If you slack off in any of these three areas, you run the risk of making the Bible say anything you want it to say. (That's bad.)

The first thing you need to do is to observe the text. Take a close look at it! Read it carefully! Analyze it. (Actually, you might want to skim it once for the big picture and then go back and read it slowly for the details.) Sometimes a single word can make a huge difference, so be careful! Look for things that are emphasized, or repeated, or related. The object is simply to notice everything you need to. Sometimes we mess things up because we weren't careful. For example, have you ever heard someone say that money is the root of all evil? Well, if you observed 1 Timothy 6:10 more carefully, you would see that it actually says, "The love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil."

The second step is figuring out what the author meant when he originally wrote it. This isn't application quite yet. Application is figuring out how the passage impacts your life. If you jump to application without doing interpretation, you'll just be making something up. What was the author's main point? A very good way to practice doing interpretation is to make your own paraphrase of the passage. Rewrite the passage putting it into your own words. Don't change or update the meaning! Just update how it's said.

Also, don't look for any mystical "secret meanings." For the most part, the Bible is pretty straight forward. There's so much that God is telling us straight up that we don't need any secret meanings. Also don't take everything as "symbolic." If the Bible says that Jesus fed 5,000 people with five small loaves of bread and two small fish, it means it. It doesn't mean that He really just inspired the crowd to share their food that they had hidden. Read the Bible like an ordinary book. Take the normal meaning.

Sometimes people say that we need to take the Bible literally. That's true. However, when they say that they don't mean that absolutely nothing in the Bible is a figure of speech. For example, if Jesus says, "I am the door" He isn't saying that He actually is a physical wooden door. He is using a metaphor. He's saying, "I am like a door." Metaphors are a normal part of speech. Here's the quick rule: Allow for some figurative language, but if the normal sense makes common sense, seek no other sense.

Application is the icing on the cake. Without application, observation and interpretation are like getting to third base but not scoring a run. Application is asking, "How does this impact MY life?" Remember, it's important to do interpretation before doing application so we're not just making stuff up. There is only one correct interpretation. (The correct interpretation is what the author meant when he wrote it. Anything else is an incorrect interpretation.) However, there are many applications. (Notice I said many, not any.) Here is an example of the difference between interpretation and application: Ephesians 5:18 includes, "Don't get drunk on wine." I can interpret this passage to mean that Paul was writing to believers telling them, "It is sinful to drink to the point of becoming intoxicated." However, I could apply that to my life by realizing that I shouldn't smoke crack either. Both wine and crack are drugs which would affect my mind and not allow me to make sober judgements. This is an application, not an interpretation. When Paul wrote the book of Ephesians, he had no idea what crack was. He wasn't writing about crack; he was writing about wine and anything like it at the time. But I can apply it to modern life by taking the original message and seeing how it would fit in my life today.

So... if you read a passage and then say, "This is what it means to me" you are either saying one of three things... If you are really saying, "This is how I apply this passage to my life" that's great. If you're saying, "this is what I think the author is saying" that's fine too, but remember that you may be incorrect. But if you're really saying, "This is my private view of what this passage is saying and it is correct for me even if this isn't what the author had in mind when he wrote it" then you are very very wrong. You can have your own private opinion about what you think the passage is saying, but you can't have your own private truth as to what it actually says.

Context is the "bigger picture." The word "context" literally means "with the text." There are two types of context, the words around the text, and the world around the text. (PS. "text" means written words.)

For example, if you just had the Scripture, "You surely shall not die" you might come up with some weird ideas. But if you look at the context where this is written, (in Genesis 3) you'll see that this was said by Satan who was lying to Eve in order to get her to disobey God. (Avoid the open-the-Bible-to-a-random-page-and-read-a-verse method of Bible study, unless you want to rip a passage out of context bleeding and screaming!)

Another aspect of context is the time, place, culture and situation in which the author was writing. A 21^st century American is going to have a different point of view than a Hebrew living in 1,000 BC. For example, if I say that someone is like a dog, I might mean that they are faithful and loyal. However, when Paul tells people to watch out for "those dogs" in Philippians 3:2, he doesn't mean loyal people. In his culture, dogs were dirty, filthy, diseased, wild animals that roamed cities like rats. A study Bible, a Bible dictionary or a commentary can sometimes be a great help with background information like that. (And you now, finally, have a good reason to pay attention in World History class.)

No, you don't have to read straight through the Bible or straight through a Testament, but I would recommend usually trying to read straight through a book. (When I say that, I don't mean that you have to do that all in one day. Read a little and then pick up where you left off the next time.) Individual books of the Bible were meant to be read as a complete unit. Usually the book will have a main theme and you'll be able to see how everything fits together. This is a very good thing. Seeing how things fit together is part of reading the Bible in context. Reading a little bit of the Bible here and a little bit of the Bible there can sometimes raise the danger of ripping a passage out of context.

It's better to read a small portion of Scripture well, than to speed through six chapters and not absorb it. Find out what's a good size for you. Some people like to read a chapter at a time. There is nothing sacred about the chapter divisions though. Sometimes it's good to focus on just one paragraph at a time. (Because of context, I would suggest not to go less than that.)

One tip is that it's a good idea to not break up a paragraph. Paragraphs are a unit of thought. Don't study half a paragraph without looking at the other half. Sure, you might want to do more than one paragraph a day, but focus on the meaning of each paragraph.

As we read in 2 Timothy 3:16, ALL Scripture is useful. In fact everything that is included in the Bible is there for a reason. However, some parts of the Bible make a better place for people just getting started. Too many times people try to read straight through the Bible but don't make it. Genesis and Exodus may seem pretty interesting, but once you get halfway through Exodus it starts to get pretty boring to most people and they give up. ALL Scripture is important, but some parts are going to hit you more directly than others.

I would recommend starting in the New Testament. Forgive me for using a Star Wars illustration, but it's kind of like how George Lucas decided to give us episodes 4, 5 and 6 first and now he's giving us episodes 1,2 and 3. There is a lot in the Old Testament that is important, but some of it is not as directly important for you as most of the stuff in the New Testament. (Although it wouldn't hurt for you to read Genesis, especially chapters 1, 2 and 3. It's good to know how things got started.)

If you're going to read straight through the New Testament, you might get bored because Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all give the story of Christ, but from different perspectives. By the time you get to Luke, you might be thinking, "I've read this twice already." (Although John doesn't repeat as much as the other three.) Some of the letters of the Apostles are a great place to start reading. They can really hit you where you live. Some are tougher than others. I recommend Ephesians as a good first book. Ephesians is great because it has a lot that is easy to apply to your life. It also has some deep stuff about God, but stuff that's cool and not hard to understand. Philippians is another good one. If you want to read a Gospel, maybe try reading Matthew or John. Some of the Psalms in the Old Testament can also make great reading even when you're just getting started. (The Psalms are a collection of poems. For them, you can just read one Psalm. You don't have to read the whole collection. Feel free to skip around.)

Try some of these and see which help you the most.

Take notes! If you hear an explanation of a passage you don't want to forget, write it in the margin next to that verse. If you figure something out, feel free to write it down. If you see a connection to another verse, write that verse down? or even draw an arrow if it's on the same page. Underline or highlight passages that really hit you.

Get the big picture of a book and also the details

A good way to do this is to read through a book quickly. Don't get hung up on anything you don't understand. Skim through it. Then, go back and reread the book. This time, study it slowly. Examine each paragraph and each part of that paragraph. Try your best to understand each little part before you move on. It might take you a few weeks to get through a book. That's fine!

Write down things that you observe. Write down notes about what the passage means. Write down things about how you can apply the passage in your life. What difference does it make? Write down any questions you might have. Write out prayers to God in response to what the Bible says. Etc...

Rewrite the passage in your own words! This is a technique that I really like because it makes you really try to understand the passage and then reword it so that it has the same meaning. This really makes you think and also keeps you from skipping over stuff. If you're careful not to change the meaning of the passage, this will really help you out with the interpretation step of Bible study. Here's an example: This is what Ephesians 1:3 says in the NIV, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." Now here's a paraphrase I wrote, trying to keep the same meaning but putting it into different words: "Praise God! God the Father has been soooooo good to us! He's gives us so much through Jesus Christ... and I'm not talking about physical things that don't last. I'm talking about eternal gifts that He has given us through Our Lord Jesus." Try it!

Divide the book or passage into different blocks. You can be as detailed as you want. For example, I did a very simple outline of 2 Timothy 3:16 when I listed the four things that it says Scripture is good for. An example of an outline for the book of Acts could be (1) the Gospel spreads in Jerusalem, (2) the gospel spreads to all Judea, (3) the Gospel spreads to Samaria, (4) the Gospel spreads to the ends of the earth. In Ephesians, you might want to notice that in 1:3-14, verses 3-6 talk about God the Father's role in salvation, verses 7-12 talk about God the Son's role in salvation and that verses 13-14 talk about God the Holy Spirit's role in salvation. If you wanted, you could divide things up even more. For example, you could list every detail of what each of them do. Be creative! Make charts and graphs if you want to. Make up an acronym to help you remember things. Make diagrams. Get into it!

Its good to have a specific time of the when you?re going to do your Bible study. Otherwise, you'll end up putting it off and never thinking about it. Get into a habit! Some people really like getting up 15 minutes earlier and doing it in the morning. Yes, you may be tired, but the advantage is that you can carry what you've learned with you through the day. Some people like to do it right before they go to bed, but a danger is that you will be too tired, or forget to do it. Maybe right after school is good for you? Maybe you have a study hall that you could do it in! Set aside a time where you're not distracted by the world so you can have quality time with God. The trick is to have a consistent pattern.

Do enough to keep you challenged, but not so much that it overwhelms you. Find the right amount for you. Later, you can increase the amount to keep you challenged, or cut back if you're being overwhelmed. If you miss a day, don't worry; just get back on track. Sometimes people like to make a rule that if they miss a day, they have to do twice as much the next day. Watch out! Too often it happens that you end up with so much "make up work" that you just plain stop doing it. It might be better just to put the past behind you and get back on track without punishing yourself.

Have someone who is willing to check up on you to see if you're spending quality time with God. Make sure it is someone who's going to actually do it! Here's some ideas to make accountability work better: Share your plan with your partner and have them check that you're doing it. For example, don't just have them say, "How are your devotions going?" Instead, have them say, "How many times this week have you done your devotions?" or, "What have you learned this week from your devotions?" Be honest with them. You could even make yourself a check-list that you could check off each day. Show it to your partner once a week. Even better, let them take a look at your notes or paraphrase. Talk about what God's been teaching you through His Word! If you and your partner(s) all did the same passages and then got together regularly to talk about it, that would be the ultimate!

React to what you're reading by praying about it with God. Praise Him for the things Scripture says about Him and what He's done. Ask Him to help you change the things His Word says you need to change. Ask Him to help you learn and remember the message that He has for you. He's talking to you; talk back!

Don't just read the Bible because you're "supposed to." Don't just study it to become some sort of Bible scholar. Remember, the Bible is God's love letter to us. The reason we read it is to spend quality time with Him and to let Him speak to us. Read the Bible because you have a relationship with the person who wrote it to you.

God's Word is our spiritual food. Spiritually anorexic people are people who starve themselves because they don't read God's Word. However, you could read the Bible for twelve hours a day and it still won't do any good if you're spiritually bulimic. Bulimia is when someone eats a lot and then throws it up right away before the food can become a part of them and bring them nourishment. If you don't absorb what you read, you may look like you're being fed, but you're really still starving.

James 1:22-25

 Written by Nate Archer

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