5 Ideas to Keep Your Bible Reading Fresh and Exciting

With the launch of the new year, many of us are thinking about Bible reading plans and how we can delight ourselves afresh in God’s Word.

Yet, while we know reading the Bible is important, so often it can grow dull, boring, or become a duty and obligation.

In this episode, we discuss five ideas which will help your Bible reading this year stay fresh and exciting as you continue to grow in your Christian faith. And if you need a Bible reading plan, we have that for you too.

Listen to and Download the Episode

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Episode 49 Overview

In this episode …

• you will hear about George Müller who read the Bible nearly 200 times, 100 of which were on his knees
• you will gain access to several Bible reading plans which will help you navigate and stay on track as you read God’s Word this year
• we will discuss five ways to keep your Bible reading fresh and exciting all throughout the year

Show Notes / Additional Resources

5 Ways to Read God’s Word to Keep It Fresh and Exciting

1. Start Afresh

Consider changing the Bible translation you read from.While I think a solid word-for-word translation is necessary for your Bible study, reading other translations has often given me a renewed love for reading God’s Word. In doing so, I have found these benefits:

• a new translation can give a freshness to your reading
• it allows you to see and discover things you might ordinarily gloss over
• it changes the style and emphasis of your reading and can make it exciting to keep going

2. Start Listening
Listening to an audio Bible while doing other life activities (like chores, driving, exercise, etc.) can be a great way to make use of the time you have. And since the Bible was written for an oral culture, when you listen to an audio Bible, you approach the Word of God differently … you are drawn into its pages unlike when you read the text.

Over the years I have purchased several audio Bibles—and here are a couple thoughts to consider when looking at getting one:

• what translation do you want to listen to?
• do you want one person reading the entire Bible or do you prefer multiple voices?
• do you want an audio Bible that is dramatized (where there are different voices, often a music soundtrack, etc—almost like a movie without the images)?
• how much do you want to spend?
• Need a place to start?—check out ChristianAudio.com or Audible.com and search for “Bible.” One of my favorites is the Word of Promise.

3. Speed Up
One great idea is to challenge yourself to read through the entire Bible in three or six months. It may take 30 or so minutes a day of reading, but you’ll be surprised at how much the Bible comes alive. You’ll see connections between books and stories that you can easily miss when reading slowly.

Two great ideas to get started:

• take the total number of pages in your Bible and divide it by how many days you want to read (90 days, 180 days, etc) and find out how many pages you need to read each day.
• determine a set amount of time you want to read each day and hold yourself accountable to keeping it

4. Slow Down
In contrast, slowing down your reading has a way of reigniting passion for God’s Word.

Consider reading just the New Testament through over and over this year … or pick a book and read it daily for an entire month. The time to ponder, reflect, pray, and think about the text as you read through it slowly and often can be an enrichment to your understanding of the Bible.

5. Stay Focused
Again, there is no substitute for discipline and diligence … sometimes we just need to buckle down and be purposeful in reading and studying the Bible—regardless of whether we feel like it or not.

Additional Resources

• Listen to Episode 14: Seven Bible Reading Plans to Help You Read God’s Word
• Read: How to craft a plan to read the Bible
• Read: Why This Is The Best Time To Start A Bible Reading Plan
• Read: Ten Ways to Read the Bible
• Read Andrew Murray’s article: 4 Ways to Read God’s Word

Join the Conversation

Question: What is your favorite way to read the Bible?

Leave a response or ask a question and we will try to address it in a future episode.

The difficulty with podcasts is that they are one-sided—so each week I ask one question for you to participate in the conversation. Head over to the deeperChristian Facebook page to leave a comment and join in the conversation.

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About NRJohnson & the Deeper Christian Podcast

NRJohnson (Nathan Johnson) is a Christian who has an overwhelming passion for Jesus, the Gospel, and Studying God’s Word. He is a writer, teacher, and communicator who helps other believers understand and apply the Bible as they grow and mature in their faith—desiring that they gain greater intimacy with Christ, experience the victorious Christian life, and transform the world through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Read more about him here.

The Deeper Christian Podcast is the podcast to help you study God’s Word, know Jesus intimately, and discover how you can build your life around Jesus Christ. This weekly audio program, hosted by NRJohnson, dives into Scripture and encourages Christians to keep their focus upon Jesus Christ—equipping believers in how to study the Bible and know God’s Word, grow in their spiritual lives, and change the world. Main discussion topics center around practical advice on Christian living, Bible study, prayer, the Gospel, freedom from sin, evangelism and how to share your faith, the Christian disciplines, and the lives and messages from the Christian heroes from yesteryear such as A.W. Tozer, Charles Spurgeon, Major Ian Thomas, Oswald Chambers, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, Corrie Ten Boom, C.T. Studd, George Müller, Andrew Murray, Leonard Ravenhill, E.M. Bounds, and others. Learn more about the deeper Christian life.