BONUS: How to Get the Most out of Reading Your Bible

A root canal story sparks a candid look at spiritual health and why honest questions about Bible habits matter. We share three practical tips for deeper engagement and announce a shift to five episodes a week to help build steady rhythms that lead to real change.

• don’t isolate verses; read whole chapters for context
• separate sacred focus from phone habits with a paper Bible
• aim for four or more days a week to see measurable life change
• use simple questions to move from hearing to doing
• expanding what is offered in this podcast to support daily rhythm
• invite prayer and partnership

At outloudbible.com, you can find free resources to help you study the Bible. And while you’re there, send us a message to say hi, or start a conversation about having us at your church or event. 

If Outloud Bible has been a valuable part of your understanding of the Bible, please consider supporting the ministry by visiting outloudbible.com.

Transcript

A Root Canal And A Wake-Up

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Hey, welcome back to the Outloud Bible Project Podcast. This is Mike. I'm excited to share a bit of a bonus episode here with you today, and uh it's gonna be accompanied with a fun announcement here at the end of the episode. Uh but first I was I was at the dentist earlier this week, okay? And uh I had a root canal. Not super thrilled about that. I had gone to the dentist a couple weeks before that for a uh cleaning and and they were poking my gums. And then the dentist had the audacity to tell me, hey, Mike, your gums are bleeding. And I'm like, well, yeah, you just sh poked them with a sharp metal object, of course. They're bleeding. Well, I don't know. Apparently, come to find out, healthy gums aren't supposed to poke or bleed when they're poked. Uh I don't know, could have fooled me, but apparently healthy gums don't bleed when they do what they were doing to mine. So they're asking these questions about how often do you brush your teeth, how often do you floss, and how much soda do you drink? And I'm like, these these are this is just getting personal. You're just being judgy, right? Like I just feel so judged. And it's like that's that's just between me and Dr. Pepper. Okay, this is just that's that's that's for me. That's between me. Um but it reminded me of how often if if if you're around church for any length of time, a good church anyway, you're going to be asked questions like, How often do you read your Bible? How often do you pray? What what's your giving like? You know, and and these tend to poke us and we tend to be like, ouch, hey, hold on, these are personal questions. Like, hey, that's between me

Spiritual Health And Honest Questions

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and God, okay? And we kind of get defensive and we kind of feel judged. But you gotta understand just like healthy gums won't bleed when they're poked by the dentist, a spiritually healthy person won't get hurt by these questions about spiritual habits, reading the Bible, praying, and so on. And just like how flossing and brushing your teeth are indicators and help you maintain oral health, reading your Bible and praying help indicate and maintain spiritual health. And so when we are in these conversations, when we we feel like a pastor or a mentor or a Christian friend or something, it feels like kind of poking with personal questions and it hurts a little bit regarding these sort of spiritual habits. That's not them judging. That's not anything wrong with them. That just indicates that, hey, maybe you there's an area to improve. That poke comes from not them really, the Holy Spirit, who wants to just make sure that your spiritual health is being maintained and growing. And so, uh, of course, we're here on the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast, Carrier, very much about reading the Bible as as a regular habit. Uh, not that we, not that prayer is not as important. I think it's two sides of a conversation, right? You you read the Bible to hear what God is saying to you, and when you pray, it's just asking him for help and and continuing the conversation back and forth, and maybe he'll respond through your prayer. Maybe he'll respond by sending you right back to the Bible and and hearing an answer that he's provided in there. So that's one of the reasons why reading your Bible, engaging with the Bible is so important. And today I want to talk about how to get the most out of reading the Bible. We can consider it a little bit of a spiritual health checkup. If one of these kind of pokes you, like, ooh, I'm not really doing that, ow, then maybe that's

Don’t Read A Verse, Read A Chapter

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just something to lean into. Maybe that's the Holy Spirit saying, hey, you know, let's let's just work toward this goal, let's work in this direction. Here's one piece of advice of how to get the most out of reading the Bible. I'd say, don't read a Bible verse. Okay, I know it sounds kind of counterintuitive, but here's why I say this: don't read a Bible verse, because most of the time, a verse cannot mean what it's intended to mean when it stands on its own. So much of our social media interaction is with individual verses on a pretty pack background of like the mountains or rivers or something like that. Like, and that's great and it's good. It is those are like handing out little candies, though, that just, you know, ah, that yeah, makes me feel good. And and there's nothing inherently wrong with that, but we do run the risk of not actually understanding what that verse intended to mean when we don't have an idea of the context. So when I say don't read a Bible verse, really the flip side of that is then, so read a chapter of the Bible. Don't read a Bible verse, read a chapter. If you open the Bible, make sure that you're engaging with at least a chapter. Of course, many chapters also have a context too, that's important to understand, the context of the book in the whole, or the context of that genre of the Bible, you know, and and what is this book here to do and the chapters in it. And while, yes, chapters also have a context that's important to know, you're less likely to misunderstand or misapply a particular verse when you know the chapter that it's from. So make sure you read at least a chapter when you crack open the Bible. Here on the podcast, of course, we read usually a couple chapters at a time and get a good sense of the context and can pull out some verses to then apply to our lives. And uh just make sure that you don't build a whole theology or a set of behaviors or make decisions based on one verse that appears in your social media feed. Uh, they can be great, but make sure you at least go check out the chapter that they're from. They should be referenced. Go check out the chapter, see what it's about, and that might even mean more to you when you realize the context behind it. So don't read a Bible verse. That's tip number one. Tip number two, um, I I I got this from I went to a men's conference uh two years ago, uh, a Christian men's conference. And the speaker at the time, he was speaking to us in May, that May, and that he was referring to a time just the previous December, so just a few months prior to him speaking on this stage. And he was saying, yeah, just last December, I I found myself falling out of love with the Bible. I just felt uh I just felt like I I wasn't engaged with it anymore. It wasn't doing anything for me. I had a hard time staying with it or or being invested and reading the Bible. He just, I just fell out of love with the Bible. And now this guy's a pastor. He's a he's a pastor of a church in Florida, and he's speaking to this room full of a few hundred men and admitting, uh yeah, I just I just didn't love the Bible. And he had been a Christian and been a pastor for a while. What happened? Well, he also wanted to know what happened, and and he didn't want to stay this way. He cared about his relationship with God, knew that the Bible was important, so he prayed. He said, God, like what I just help me to, I don't know, like the Bible again. I don't know what's up. And he felt God was pressing on him and bringing to his attention, well, pull out your Bible. And he pulls out his phone, and he he felt God was saying to him, You interact with the Bible on the same device on which you interact with everything else you love. And he felt gut punched. Maybe you feel a little bit poked in the gums right now, too, at that thought. But he was convicted that his the majority of his interaction with the Bible was through an app, was through a digital Bible on his phone, alongside all the

When The Bible Lives On Your Phone

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other apps, alongside all the other things that he enjoys and all the other things that he does, and all the other work that he does on the phone, the Bible was just a part of that and had lost its special time. It had lost its special, well, we say sancti sanctified, like set apart, it was no longer sanctified, it was no longer set apart in his life. And if you come to think of it, I mean if we can continue this further, when the same action that you use to scroll in an app, for example, in a Bible app, that you the same action you use to scroll down from verse one to verse two to verse three is the same action that you use to scroll down from one thing on your Facebook feed to the next. And the same action that you use to swipe from Mark chapter one to Mark chapter two to Mark chapter three is the same action you use to swipe from one video to the next, or from one potential date to the next, depending on what app you use. I don't know. But the same, and we know these things numb our brain. We know it when we're scrolling or when we're you know swiping to the next video, the next video, it's numbing our brain. Our brains are not active, it's turning off our brains, but we're using the same action to scroll through the Bible. No wonder we get it disengage. Now, look, there's nothing wrong with the Bible app. Like, hey, the Bible app is great, they just celebrated uh a billion downloads, the official UVersion Bible app. And there's other ways to engage with the Bible in apps and stuff. And and look, that's great. I'm glad people have access to the Bible. There's a lot of great study tools and other resources in the app. That's great. But if if you're struggling to feel engaged with the Bible or stay focused or stay consistent with it, and that is the primary way you engage with the Bible, then maybe just consider this a spiritual health check and consider, hey, maybe you should get into a paper Bible. Just get it, and there's nothing magical about paper either, but it separates you and your time with the Bible from the other distractions in life. And there's just uh there's just something about flipping the pages and reading the ink off the paper that just kind of signals your brains like, hey, this is different, this is important. And uh if if this is an area that you struggle with, then this might be a potential solution. So tip number two, I'd say flip some pages, get into a paper Bible. Um, hey, yeah, use the online resources to help, you know, study some more and and engage with the other resources that are available, commentaries, that's great. Um, but yeah, get into a paper Bible if if that's if that would really help solve a problem that you're that you're feeling. And uh finally, one more tip here. Uh there was a study done by the Center for Bible Engagement. Maybe you've heard of it, uh, but I didn't even know this organization existed. Sounds great. Uh they did a study though where they asked people questions about how often they read the Bible, how many times they engage with the Bible in in a week. Um, so for example, one would be going to church and hearing a sermon, that would be one time engaging with the Bible. Maybe you you open the Bible and read it at home, something like that. How often they engage with the Bible in a week, and then they asked them questions about their attitudes in life and their behaviors and habits

Four-Times-A-Week Breakthrough

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that they have in life, and um some spiritual or just kind of regular habits going around your life, that negative habits or positive habits. And so what they found was really interesting that the people who engaged with the Bible once a week did not see any significant change in the rest of their life. Now, people who engage with the Bible twice a week also did not experience any significant change. Three times a week, however, people who engage with the Bible three different times a week still did not see any significant improvement or change in the rest of their life. The real shift came with people who reported four or more times a week engaging with the Bible. Among those people, here's what the study found. They f when looking at their behaviors, they saw a, and I've got the stats right here, a 62% decrease in drinking to excess, a 59% decrease in viewing pornography, a 59% decrease in having sex outside marriage, a 45% decrease in gambling, a 31% decrease in lashing out in anger, 28% decrease in gossiping, 28% decrease in lying, 26% decrease in neglecting your family, 20% decrease in overeating or mishandling food, and 20% decrease in overspending or mishandling money. If any of those behaviors, habits, issues you were struggling with, and you're like, I would like to see that less or gone in my life, how often are you engaging with the Bible? How about some of these attitudes and emotions? Feeling bitter, bitterness went down 40%. Thinking destructively about self or others went down 32%. Feeling like they have to hide what they do or feel 32%. Having difficulty forgiving others went down 31%. Feeling discouraged, experiencing loneliness down 30%. Having difficulty forgiving yourself went down 26%. Thinking unkindly about others went down 18%. Experiencing fear or anxiety went down 14%. All of these attitudes and emotions, all these behaviors seeing significant decreases when the person starts engaging with the Bible four times a week. Now, there's nothing magical about the number four either, but that number does indicate a level of priority and intentionality. Right? That that means that a person has built a little bit of a discipline, a little bit of self-discipline, have prioritized this a little bit, and then the person's carved out some time that they're going to do this intentionally in their life. This is not just accidentally wandering into the Bible a couple times a week. This isn't just, you know, going to church, okay, hear the Bible there, that's good. Uh, you know, maybe you show up to church another night of the week if you got a prayer meeting or a Bible study, that's great. Do that. But if the rest of the week you're just uh kind of hands-off and you don't really get into the Bible at all, then don't expect to see any significant change in these negative disciplines. I'll also add that this study also showed an increase in positive things that that as a as a Christian we should care about to do more, like sharing one's faith went up. And uh the likelihood of pursuing additional discipleship went up. Not just getting rid of the negative things, it's it's increasing the positive behaviors and attitudes. How many times a week are you engaging with the Bible? It's just a health checkup, and and we should seriously consider this. Now, I was also considering this study, thinking about Out Loud Bible Project podcast. Here we are. And I hope this is a way that you are regularly engaging with the Bible. I I am I am privileged and honored to be able to offer that, and I'm so encouraged and blessed by you being here and being a part of this and integrating this into your engagement with the Bible. And I I've said before in this podcast, and I'll say again, like I hope this isn't the only way you engage with the Bible. I hope you you this inspires you to go crack it open, read it for yourself with some greater understanding, greater excitement. We want you to hear it here, but then go love it and go live it. But of course, up to this point, if you've been following with me as episodes are released, if you're kind of up with the most current episodes, you'll know that we engage with the Bible here on this podcast three times a week.

From Three To Five Episodes Weekly

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Two episodes of reading the Bible, and then another episode Living Out Loud, where Kelsey and I will talk about what we read and and engage with the Bible that way to figure out what we can do. I think that's a great way to engage with the Bible as well. But that's three times a week. And you know what? Let's just let's just go with what the statistics say, that when someone engages with the Bible four or more times a week, then they actually start to see significant changes. Because it's again, it's not just reading it, but it is then living it. It's it's being steeped in that. It's it's regularly letting the word of God speak into your life, keeping an ear open for what God wants to tell you and a willingness to obey and do it. That's what sees the change. But we're not gonna just get it accidentally, you know, by going to church and and catching a podcast here or there a week. So here's what we're gonna do on the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast. Right now, up to this point, we have had three episodes per week. Okay, what we're gonna do is we're going to now release five episodes per week. The weekdays, Monday through Friday, each with a new episode starting right now. This is a Monday as we're releasing it, and this week we're gonna go all in on this and just do five episodes per week. So if you are with me regularly as these episodes release, then join me every day. Let's do this. I hope you have time every day as you drive to work, or maybe this is part of a morning routine, or something to just kind of uh conclude the day and and rest with at night. Whatever your routine is, let's do this more regularly and just see what sort of changes God is willing to do in your life as a result of our regular discipline in engaging with the Word of God. Now, if you started at the beginning of the episodes and you've been trying to listen every day to catch up, uh well, now you get to this point and you're like, oh no, there's so much more ahead. It's gonna be harder to catch up. That's okay, I don't know. Go go at whatever pace works for you. Um, but however often you've been listening up to this point, thank you for walking with me in this in this project, in this reading the Bible out loud in this way. And I'm excited to see what God is willing to do and is what work he's gonna do in and through you as a result of engaging with the living active word of God on a more regular basis. If you've enjoyed Outloud Bible Project Podcast up to this point and you're excited for the direction that we're going and and uh excited about more resources and more live experiences and more opportunities moving forward to help

Support, Prayer, And Next Steps

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others engage with the Bible in this and similar ways, then I would just ask: would you be willing to go to our website, outloudbible.com, go to the support the ministry page or outloudbible.com slash support, and prayerfully consider what you would be willing to give in support of this ministry continuing to grow. Whether it's a a one-time donation, like hey Mike, hey, keep up the great work, keep on going, that's super encouraging. Whether it's a an ongoing, like a recurring monthly donation, that helps us actually plan for the upcoming months better. And that's that's a blessing as well. Um, but thank you so much uh for being here. Uh I would love for you to pray. Can you pray for God to open doors and open hearts, soften hearts and and help people to really hear what God wants to say to them through the Word of God. So thank you for joining me on this journey so far. I'm excited to see you tomorrow. We'll get back into it tomorrow and uh and every weekday moving forward here on the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast. And we'll see you next time.