What are the basic practices for reading the Bible in one's daily devotional life?

Ishmael LaBiosa: Welcome to the You Ask Podcast, where the goal is to answer common questions about Christianity. Let's listen in as Pastor Rusty answers today's question. Today's question is: what are the basic practices for reading the Bible in one's daily devotional life? Well, I'm glad this question is asked because this is very important. If you don't develop a relationship. with the Bible or relationship with God on your own, your Christian life will be profoundly diminished. So in many ways, there isn't a simple or one size fits all answer for this question. Kind of the bottom line is do it. Engage with the Bible in some meaningful way and have a devotional life in some meaningful way every day. I only have three big ideas that I want to share with you. That I think will bring about some of the best practices for reading the Bible devotionally, and maybe broader than that, just having a devotional time. The three big ideas, the first one is if you're going to have a devotional time, you need, here's the first one, a consistent time. Some people are great in the morning, some people are great in the evening, or maybe you have a commute to work. Or you have an extended lunch break, you need to find the time that works best for you, that you are the most alert and the least distracted. Not only do you need to pick a time, say right when I wake up in the morning or after my first cup of coffee or late at night after everyone has gone to bed, I also think you need to not be overly aggressive with the amount of time that you allot. I think if you say, I'm going to give 10 to 15 minutes, I'm going to do some type of devotional, I'm going to have a time of prayer, and that's it. And it's going to be contained within a 10 to 15 minute time period. That is going to be something that is doable for the long time for the long term. Sometimes people say, I'm going to wake up and I'm going to read my Bible one hour a day. And that's a nice thought, but often people get discouraged. And rather than doing something small, they take on something big and then end it too early. So two big ideas there in relationship to time. You need to pick a time of day that can be consistent. And then you need to set a time, maybe even set a timer, to say I'm going to spend 10 to 15 minutes of uninterrupted time to. ⁓ study the Bible and to have a devotion with the Lord. The second big idea that I'd like to share with you is not only do you need a time, you need a place. You need to find a place. Maybe it's a room in your house, maybe it's in your car, maybe it's in your office. You just need to find a time that kind of sets the tone. You know once I'm here I am in a place where I'm not going to be easily disturbed. And everything that I need, my Bible is there, a pen and pad is there, my prayer list is there, whatever you need. And you need to kind of decide upon this dedicated place. I think it's not only important to set the time, but indeed to set the place. The same place every day trains your mind to kind of enter into ⁓ I'm ready to meet the Lord mindset. These are, I would say, foundational to the third area, and that is not only a time, not only a place, but a plan. There are so many options now for you to do devotions to read with helps. Maybe my first big point would be as far as basic practices re reading the Bible in one's daily devotional life is to first of all find yourself a nice study Bible. It is really amazing what has happened with study Bibles. Study Bibles in years past, meaning more than 30 years. Study Bibles used to not be written often by the best scholars. There were some good scholars. I'm not minimizing every study Bible older than 30 years old, that's for sure. But what often was the case is one author would write the study notes for the whole Bible. And now what you have in several study Bibles, the ESV, the CSB, the NIV. These study Bibles really do go and find some of the top scholars, the top evangelical scholars that have given their whole life in scholarship to a particular book of the Bible. And rather than have to wade through the commentaries of these scholars, these scholars have simplified their notes and put them in the study notes. In your Bible. So what you're really getting in many of these study Bibles is an expert opinion who's really getting to the point. So, first of all, I don't think you should underestimate the study Bible. Also, you ought to notice that in many study Bibles, there are articles in the study Bible that really, if you sat down and read one of the study Bibles I just gave you, ESV, CSB, or NIV, if you just read the notes, you would have a ⁓ Seminary level overview of the old and new testament. That if you sat down and like read the whole thing straight through, every note on every page, you'd have a seminary-level education of Old and New Testament survey. And that is at your fingertips, and you should not be unaware of that. Also, we have technology. I think about some different places like the U Version Bible app, for example. I also think about The Bible project. Those two really have so much content that can enrich your study of the Bible. Another area that shouldn't be overlooked is YouTube, just YouTube itself. Now, everything's on YouTube, that's for sure. But the truth is, pastors and theologians and Christian writers, they're on YouTube. sharing their ideas. So sometimes you don't have to read their book about the Bible. You can listen to them one on one. Now I would not substitute your Bible reading for just listening to somebody talk about the Bible, but I I do think sometimes you need some help to get started or to help get it having clarification. And so that's something that could help. Also, you're listening to a podcast right now ⁓ lots of pastors now are doing podcasts. And so that's another area of resource for you. I do think it's important for you to be motivated when it comes to your own devotional life. I think about my own devotional life. I ask the question, you know, what is God doing in my life? What questions do I have? What burdens am I carrying? And sometimes in my devotional life it's more prayer-focused. Maybe I I feel that my intake of God's word. is being satisfied maybe in other areas, but I need to spend some time writing out prayer requests, praying for specific needs, journaling my thoughts and asking for God's direction. And other times in my devotional life, I feel, well, I need to learn something, or there's an area of interest or an area of deficiency that I have. And other times there are particular pastors or ⁓ Christian thinkers who get my attention and I feel that God has brought them into my life for them to teach me. And so I'll really give myself to ⁓ reading their books or listening to ⁓ their material. But this never substitutes, none of this substitutes for the slow and methodical reading of the Bible. That really is uttermost. And I do think maybe lastly, if you haven't thought about doing read through the Bible plan, and you may try to read through it fast, you may try to read through it slow. I think one of the helps, if you wanted to read through the Bible and you feel, okay, this is a pretty daunting task, I would really point you to the Bible project. They have excellent overviews of every single book of the Bible. So that's the Bible project. I would watch the video that kind of describes the major content of the book, and then I would go about reading it. Also, if you have your study Bible there in front of you and you say, Well, I have a question. Well, you look at the study notes. And then there you have a comment on the verses. And then you have outside of just a reading of the Bible, you have many good resources on the Bible and Christian topics. So what's my simple advice to you? If you want best practices for reading the Bible in one's daily devotional life, a time, a place, a plan. That is key. And more importantly than anything that I've said is just do it and be consistent and see what God will do. Thank you for listening to the You Ask Podcast. This is a ministry of Liberty Baptist Church. And we pray this podcast enables you to more faithfully live out your Christian life.