106 | 3 Life Changing Ways To Understand The Bible

Hey Mama!

Do you ever feel overwhelmed when it comes to reading the Bible? Maybe it's the sheer volume and the length that keeps you from reading it. Or perhaps you feel you need to be much further along in your journey to be able to finally understand what the Bible is saying. 

 Well, whatever it is, Mama, in today's episode, I'm going to share three life changing ways to help you let go of the stress and  pressure when it comes to reading and understanding the Bible. Whether you have an hour or a few minutes to read God's holy words, you'll finally be able to gain a deeper understanding of what you're reading and most importantly it's going to help you grow in your faith.

🎉Key Takeaways:

1. Pray before you read

• This creates space for you to slow down 

2. Study/read With a friend (or spouse)

• A great way to grow your friendship/relationship with your friend or spouse

3. Take the time to look up words 

• Gives you a more in-depth understanding of what God is saying. 

Ready to get started? Let's go!

Related Episode(s):

93 | Overcome The Overwhelm: 3 Easy Ways To Start Bible Reading Today

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"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me"- Philippians 4:13

Transcript

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Have you ever felt intimidated when it comes to reading the Bible? Maybe it's the sheer volume and the length that keeps you away from reading it because, well, it just looks intimidating. Perhaps you feel unqualified to read the Bible or to even understand it because you're a new believer or you have this assumption that you have to be at a certain level in your faith journey to be able to finally understand what the Bible is saying. Well, whatever it is, Mama, in today's episode, I'm going to share three life changing ways to help you let go of the stress and pressure when it comes to reading and understanding the Bible. So no matter how long or short you sit down with God's holy words, you'll finally be able to gain a deeper understanding of what you're reading and it's going to help you grow. We're talking about all of it on today's episode. Hey mama, you're in the right place if you're ready to get God centered confidence. Having unshakable confidence comes from an unshakable God. So let's get to know him together, my friend. My name is Caroline Thao, I'm your host for The Restored Mind, and I'm also a Biblical Confidence Coach where I teach you how to get confidence through scripture. Let's start building that framework for you so that you can begin to thrive. Are you ready? Grab your Bible, break out that journal, and get something to write with. Let's go! Let's go! Come hang out with me beyond the podcast inside my free community where other mamas just like you are thriving while building God centered confidence. Inside that group you get to connect with other mamas. We also have fun challenges in there and it's just so fun. I can't wait to meet you inside that free community at Building Confidence Through Scripture for Christian Moms. I'll go ahead and leave that link in the show notes for you mama. So before we get started, I just want to say thank you so much for your genuine support and all of your sweet reviews on Apple Podcasts. I appreciate it so much more than I could ever express. So whether you are new or returning listener, I just thank you for your support. Now, it might come as a shock to many of you, but I was not always a Christian, nor did I grow up in a Christian home. My first encounter with the name Jesus actually took place on a school bus when I was in elementary school. I remember it like it was just yesterday. There was a young girl that came and sat next to me and she asked if I know about a man named Jesus. So I looked up and I looked around because I thought maybe there might be someone there named Jesus. So I turned back around to her and I said, no, I don't know about a guy named Jesus. She reaches into her book bag and she pulls out the children's Bible. And she tells me that Jesus is coming back and she didn't want me to get left behind. Now, I'll be honest with you, I didn't read the Children's Bible, but I did look at the pictures and I remember being so fascinated by them. Then that night, my dad saw the book in my book bag, he pulled it out and asked me very angrily, why did I have this book and who gave it to me? I remember he threw that book across the living room and asked me very angrily to return that book and to never bring anything like that back into his household. Now, as you can imagine, as a little girl, I had no idea what was going on. I didn't even know the significance of that book or why he was so angry, looking back, I realized how important this whole situation is from the young girl who asked me if I know about a guy named Jesus to her handing me the Bible to me, honestly, not even reading it, but just looking at the pictures and then to my dad who finds it and gets mad and then throws the book across the room. And I'm forever grateful for that situation because Admittingly. I was not always a Bible reader clearly, as you could see, especially since I didn't read the Children's Bible when it was handed to me. As a matter of fact, throughout the majority of my Christian life, once I converted, I only relied on sermons to teach me about the Bible or tell me what the Bible says because reading it felt like a chore. there was also this unspoken pressure and guilt that came from not reading the Bible. Especially the pastor would encourage that I read the Bible and I just knew that I wasn't reading it. And the reason why is because most of the time I felt unqualified and silly for not understanding what I was reading. So for many years, I just backed off because I didn't like to feel inadequate or unintelligent. Let's just be real, right? Nobody likes to feel inadequate or unintelligent. So maybe some part of my story, is speaking to you right now. Because you know, maybe you should be reading, but for whatever reason, you're not. My friend, I hope that today's conversation is going to give you the encouragement that you need to pick up and read the Bible for yourself. God's words are living and breathing and I know it's going to breathe so much life into you the more that you continue to read and not give up when you don't understand whatever it is that you're reading. So, the first life changing way to understand the Bible is to pray before you read. Because it is going to be such a beautiful way to slow down and come to God's word without the idea or the mindset of being in a rush to do something else. Oftentimes, we can look at reading the Bible as a something to check off our to do list so that we can move on to the next thing. But when you pray before you read, it prepares your heart, your mind, and your eyes to receive God's words. Now, you might not understand all of what you're reading, but there is going to be something that sticks out to you. And that's something is going to be how you slowly start to understand the Bible. Now, I'm not going to teach you what kind of prayer to say or share with you what kind of prayer I say, because I think that you already have such a wonderful teacher who does this, and that is Jesus. He teaches his disciples to pray in Matthew chapter 6. It's called the Lord's Prayer, and it's such a great go to, the way that the framework is built around that is absolutely beautiful because it points everything to God first. And also, if you don't have anything to say, if you're not sure what to pray, just say the Lord's Prayer. So don't think that, you know, you have to come up with some fancy prayer. You can just pray the Lord's Prayer. it's going to be so good for you in that moment as you prepare your heart to receive God's words. the second life changing way to understand the Bible is to read or study with a friend. This is perfect for accountability purposes, my friend. Now, it's not about who knows more, who's studying better. This is not a competition. It is not about being perfect, but instead it gives you the opportunity to grow together as friends and build a stronger relationship with one another. Let me just pause here and say that you don't have to necessarily study with a friend. It could be a family member like your sister or maybe your mom or whomever, and it could also be your spouse. As long as you two are committed to studying together, Now you might be thinking, well, Caroline, what happens if we're both beginners and we don't know what we're doing? This would be a great time for you to maybe pull someone in that is a little bit further along than you to study alongside. Side you. That way you can observe how they're studying and pick up some things along the way. if no one comes to mind in the moment, just start anyway there are resources that can help you and I'm going to share that and my next point. but yes, there is a reason that Jesus sends his disciples out two by two. You can definitely read alone, but I think there's so much value in conversation when you are studying with someone else. What I want you to do also is to remove the pressure of thinking that you have to fully understand what you're reading when you first read it. read a passage. Sometimes, to be really honest with you, it takes more than one time of reading to wrap your mind around whatever it is that you've read. Other times, it takes you actually going through something to see more clearly what scripture is talking about. Now, I'm a firm believer that no matter where you are in life, you can read the same passage in a different season and you'll get a new nugget of wisdom anytime you go back to it. So let go of the pressure of thinking that you have to know everything before you read the Bible. That's absolutely not true 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 and 17 says all scripture is breathed out by God and Profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God which by the way the footnote says That is a messenger of God. Now, it continues to also say, May be complete. So the whole verse reads, That's the man of God, may be complete. Equipped for every good work. I was reading from the English Standard Version. And this verse right here. Tells me, my friend, that no matter how seasoned you are, you're still going to be learning, you're going to be getting corrected, and you're going to still be trained. This is a marathon, so buckle up and get ready because you're in this for the long haul. The best practices to take when you are studying with someone is to decide if you want to do a Bible study together that has already been put together by someone else, or if you simply just want to read straight from the Bible. And if you decide that you want to just read a book from the Bible and a Bible study that someone else put together, that's completely fine too. Just be sure that if you're picking a book from the Bible, whatever it is, you just read it from the beginning to the end, word for word. That way, you can get the full understanding of what's happening versus you jumping around in that particular book. Also, set a time and date that you both can commit to on a regular basis. Yes, I get it. Life happens and sometimes you may not be able to meet on said time and date, but the overall goal here is to be consistent. Just like with anything else in life, being consistent is going to make a difference. The third thing I have here is very optional, but I do highly recommend that you get a journal and you write down thoughts or questions as you're reading. So that way you can bring it into the conversation and it'll help you stay organized and focused as you are taking this time to worship and to fellowship with one another about God's good words. Now, if you're already thinking, okay, this is way too advanced for me. I feel like it's going to be a lot more work than I anticipated when I clicked on this episode title. Well, mama, don't worry. I want you to go and listen to episode 93, where I'll talk about three very easy and simple ways you can begin to read the Bible today. They are very practical and also they're really fun. Once you listen to that episode, come back and finish this one. What I don't want you to do is to run away and put it off because now it's sounding like it's a lot of work. Mama, I get it. Hang in there. I know that you can do this. And the last life changing way to understand the Bible is to take the time to look up the words. Yes, I know, it probably sounds really daunting, like it's an extra thing to do on top of reading. But I promise you that the more that you spend time looking up words, understanding the Greek words or the Hebrew meaning of these words, it is going to help you understand what it is that's being said. And I personally believe You'll never go back to simply glazing over the words off the pages You just won't because you're going to want to know what that passage means Think of looking up the words in this way. Picture a gardener. That is tending the soil to plant whatever plant they're putting into the soil. In order for them to put the seeds in the soil, they have to tend to the garden, right? They have to plow the yard and maybe remove some debris, whatever it is that they have to do. And that would be equivalent to you opening up the Bible and reading. Now, the more that you take the time to look up the words, the more the words that you're reading are going to take root. So in order for this to happen, as you're studying, that's equivalent to the gardener plowing the land and watering the seeds so that the seeds can take root into the soil. And that's the most important thing you want to do. You want the words that you're reading to take root. And that is why I personally believe that when you take the time to look up the words, It gives you a more in depth understanding. So I hope that that garden analogy makes sense. A great way to begin to look upwards is to read the Bible footnotes if it's there. Usually it's indicated by a number and the number correlates to the footnotes at the bottom of the pages in the Bible. You can also take advantage of the Bible references that's mostly on the side passage of your Bible. Now if you have a Bible Study Bible, I would also recommend that you read the commentaries. Look at the maps and all of those to help you understand what's going on in that time. Usually, in the Bible Study Bible, at least the version that I have, There's background information that can help you with that. Again, I talk about all of this in episode 93. So if you are thinking about getting a Bible Study Bible, go listen to that episode. It might be very helpful to you. if you don't have a Bible study Bible, you can use resources online.. I mentioned this website a couple of times on this podcast. It is a blueletterbible. org and I know that you're probably tired of me saying that, but it's such a good resource for you to use because it helps you break down the meaning of the words and it's free. So why not take advantage of that? And if you can, if your budget allows, invest in a Strong's Concordance book. That's only if financially it makes sense for you to do that. If not, take advantage of the other resources that I've shared with you and also your Bible. again, remember that you don't have to know everything before you open up the Bible. You don't have to be a seasoned follower. You can read the Bible at any point in your life. You can go to God at any point in your life. So let go of the pressure that is keeping you from going to God's holy words, because it is manna for your soul, my friend, the more that you take the time to spend on the passage that you're reading, especially when you're taking the time to look up these words, it is going to help it take root into your life and in your mind. I know we talked about a lot on today's episode, so to recap on the three life changing ways to understand the Bible, the first point we talked about is to pray before you read. It is going to help you slow down, it is going to help prepare your heart, your mind, and your eyes to receive. See God's good in holy words. And then you can study with a friend, a family member, or even a spouse. It's a great way for you to take accountability and also helps you talk through the thoughts and questions you may have. And the good way to do that is to pick what kind of Bible study that you want to do. So whether it is a Bible study that's already been put together, you're just reading from the Bible. Just stick with it and be consistent in it, set up a start and stop time, write down your thoughts and questions in a journal, and bring that into the conversation. And then the last point is for you to take the time to look up words. This is going to give you a better understanding of what you're reading. It's going to help the words take root into your life, into your mind, heart and soul. There's lots of ways that you could do this, like reading the footnotes or the commentaries. If you have a Bible study Bible, you can actually use resources too. I've mentioned the blueletterbible. org. It's very helpful. And if your budget allows, study alongside the Strong's Concordance. It's going to help you understand the Bible so much more. approaching the Bible can be incredibly intimidating, or even thinking about reading it can feel like a daunting task, but if you're striving for sustainable, lasting confidence, you have to put in the work. And this is one of the work that needs to be done. Get to know who God is by reading his word. I know that this can be hard, but my friend, you can do hard things. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I had such a wonderful time. I cannot wait to meet you again next Wednesday. Right here on this podcast. Mamma. I hope that as you are inspired and uplifted, that you would show up at all the spaces and places ready to serve with a joyful heart. And yes, with confidence. Please take a moment to leave a review on apple podcasts. It would bring me so much joy hearing from you on top of that. If you want to connect even more, join the insider's list. I would love to continue helping you as you journey on in getting God centered confidence. The link to join the insider's list is going to be posted in the show notes.. All right, my friend, this is where we part ways. I hope you have a wonderful day. Go in peace.