How to Read the Bible | Study, Devotion, and Worship

Are you reading the Bible, or truly understanding it?
In this episode, we break down how to read the Bible with intention and clarity, whether you’re:
•⁠  ⁠Studying a specific topic
•⁠  ⁠Spending quiet devotional time with God
•⁠  ⁠Reading during moments of worship
I also dive into why knowing Scripture matters, not just for personal growth, but so you can defend your faith, discern truth, and not be misled by cultural narratives that sound good but aren’t rooted in God’s Word.
The Bible is more than a book, it’s your foundation.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, inconsistent, or unsure where to start, this episode will give you practical ways to approach Scripture with confidence and purpose.

✨ Truth isn’t what culture says, it’s what God has already spoken.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Are you reading your Bible wrong? It just didn't work for me. Like, I like to read the Bible and go to the Bible um in search of answers or things that I'm dealing with. You realize it's actually not in the Bible. Like it's there's no scripture in the Bible that says the Lord will never put more on you than you can bear. That's just something that we as Christians say, but it's it's not in there. It's important that you study the Bible. Um, the Bible tells us to study ourselves, study to show ourselves approved. So it's it's more than just you know do it reading a quick scripture and be like, okay, or you know, um reading because I'm trying to check off I read the whole Bible. No, you're you're studying, you know. Welcome back to another episode of Truth Measured Podcast. Thank you again for tuning in. Um, today I want to talk about are you reading your Bible wrong? And I know that might be a tricky question, um, but there is a wrong way to read the Bible, and so I want to talk about how you should be um approaching the Bible when you read it and how to prepare and all of those things. Um, I've gotten questions on, you know, how do you um study or read the Bible and what does that look like? And quite frankly, I mean I don't think there's any real like right or wrong answer, you know, when your heart and your your intentions and motives are good. Um God is faithful to meet you right where you are. So, you know, if you're a new Christian and you're just now trying to understand, like, how do I read the Bible, how do I really dive into knowing more about my faith, God will meet you there, you know, He He will meet you there. But it is important to um, I think have certain tools and um certain uh things, sort of frameworks, if you will, to approaching the Bible. And so I'll just let you know kind of what I do or how I do it. Um and it had it's changed, right? So when I was um younger, because I'm again I'm a church kid, I've been in church forever. Um, when I would read the Bible, like when I was you know younger in high school, things like that, I thought that I was doing good if I just read the Bible from beginning to end. So I've probably read the Bible from beginning to end at least twice. Um, did I really observe absorb um what I was reading when I read it like that? For me, no. Reading the Bible from beginning to end, you know, and having this Bible plan of like, and I know there's a lot of um, I see a lot of stuff on social media like, you know, read the Bible in a year and get this Bible planner and read it in a year. It just didn't work for me. Like, I like to read the Bible and go to the Bible um in search of answers or things that I'm dealing with, and so you know, the fact that it might be on the Bible plan that I'm supposed to read Chronicles today, I don't want to read Chronicles today, you know what I mean? Unless Chronicles is dealing with what I'm dealing with right now, I don't need to be in Chronicles. So I'm not a big fan of the Bible plan reading a year thing, but to each his own, I'm not I'm not gonna knock it. But it just is something that works for me, it's not something that I do. I have read the Bible from beginning to end, and I again I don't remember everything I read. I didn't I didn't absorb the information that way. Um, but you know, growing up in a Christian going to a Christian school, we had to learn uh Bible verses, and so you know, there were verses that stuck with me because I had heard them so many times. Um, and now, you know, my kids are in Christian schools, and so they weekly have to learn new Bible verses, and so it's it's fun to see um you know how they uh absorb that information, and then especially like if we'll be a church and the pastor will say a scripture and they'll be like, Oh my gosh, mommy, that was my Bible verse, and I'm like, Yes, see, this is why we pay all that money. Um, so for me, learning scripture is more helpful for me, memorizing certain scriptures, um, or if there are passages that are meaningful to me, you know, trying to commit those to memory, um, that's more helpful than me doing Bible plans. But with all that being said, um, I do think that you need to have some again, some sort of framework for reading the Bible. And so before I read the Bible, um, the first thing I always do is pray. And it's just a simple prayer, like, Lord, help me to understand what I'm about to read. Because there's a lot in here that if you try to read it in your own understanding, it's not gonna make sense. Um, you're you're not gonna understand, okay, God, why why are we talking about this right now? You know, why why was this scripture placed here in this chapter? What does it mean? How does it tie all together? And so by starting out any time that you're spending reading the Bible with just a simple prayer of Lord, help me to understand what I'm reading, you know, Holy Spirit lead me into all truth as I'm reading and give me understanding of wisdom and knowledge. Um, that is that is my prayer, that's my precursor prayer, if you will, to uh anytime I pick up the Bible. And so my reading um usually is it falls into three categories, if you will, like three or three purposes. Um, so I'm either reading because I am studying something, I'm studying a particular topic or subject that you know I might have a question about, or you know, like Lord, what does this mean? Or, you know, why why do people say that? I think at this this stage or phase of my journey with God, a lot of what sparks my um curiosity, if you will, has to do with, you know, why do I know this? Why do I believe this? You know, when you've been in church for so long, so it's so many things become cliches or start to sound like cliches to you. And then sometimes the things that people say, you realize it's actually not in the Bible. Like it's there's no scripture in the Bible that says the Lord will never put more on you than you can bear. That's just something that we as Christians say, but it's it's not in there. And so um, a lot of my study time is me trying to unpack things that I thought I knew or things that I've believed or things that I've said or I've heard people say, and I'm like, okay, what is help me understand more? I want to do a deeper dive, if you will. Other times I will be reading for like a devotional purpose, so you know, just having that time with God. Um, I definitely could be more um disciplined in that area. You know, there was a time where it was like, okay, first thing I do in the morning is read my Bible. Um, and that's my devotional time. These days, my devotional time doesn't necessarily have to happen when I first wake up, me sitting at a table reading a Bible. It could be me listening to um about the Bible app or something as I'm driving, or it could be me listening to it as I'm, you know, um running an errand or if I'm on my way to work or whatever. So it's not necessarily confined, but I do try to make space and set aside a separate space for my devotional time, which includes reading my Bible. Um, and then there's other times where um I may be like worshiping and God will give me a scripture, put something in my heart, and then I'll go to the Bible and look for it. So that's kind of where um my Bible time comes in. Like I said, I I know I definitely could um and should and need to, you know, be more uh disciplined in my devotional time because at the end of the day, like this is we're basing our whole life on this. Like, you should know what's in here. No one should ever be able to come up to you and and tell you something that's in here and you not know if it's true or not. In a similar vein, you should be able to defend what you believe. So if somebody asks you, you know, why do you believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, why do you believe that in the Trinity, you should be able to answer that. And it comes, I mean, this is the the answer is in here, right? So it's important that you know the Bible, it's important that you study the Bible. Um, the Bible tells us to study ourselves, study to show ourselves approved. So it's it's more than just you know doing reading a quick scripture and be like, okay, or you know, um reading because I'm trying to check off I read the whole Bible. No, you're you're studying, you know, when you're studying something, you're um you're not just reading it and then you know going on. So one of the things when I'm studying um the Bible, I'm studying up a particular topic, I usually will have other resources to help me understand. So this Bible that I've been um mainly using, it's Amplify version, it's a Joyce Meyer Bible, and I like it because it has great references in it. So, like, you know, when you open it up, you might be reading um from I just opened it just now, so I'm looking at Isaiah 60, but like in in this chapter, there are references to other scriptures, and so as I'm reading, I can go to these other scriptures, which is gonna either give more clarification or it's gonna tie together, you know, certain things. A lot of references in Isaiah point to the New Testament because um, you know, in the New Testament, Jesus says that he came to fulfill the law, and so there's a lot of uh references to prophecies in Isaiah that are then fulfilled in in Matthew, and so you're able to see how you know what the prophet Isaiah was talking about in you know years before Jesus even came along is then fulfilled in Matthew. Um, and so I love how it gives you those references so that you can can see how the Bible is intertwined, how the scriptures are intertwined, how the Bible is really alive, right? All the all these years prior to Jesus even coming on the scene, um, and then then those those prophecies being fulfilled just shows you how alive the Bible is. And so I like the the references in here, and then another good thing about this Joyce Meyer Bible is that um it has these things called life points, and so comments on certain parts of the scripture. Now, obviously, this is her commentary or whoever else is contributing to the Bible to this um this Bible. So the commentary is not uh the word of God, right? This is her uh commenting on the Bible in the same way I'm commenting right now on what she wrote, um, but it helps to give deeper insight, and so that's why I like it. And there's even in this Bible um longer uh sort of topic explanations and things. So, like, you know, if you're dealing with frustration or um you're dealing with conflict, um, there are different topics within the various chapters that will will talk on those things and tell you basically tell you what the scripture is saying about those topics. So my study time looks like again, reading the Bible, going and checking out the different references um that are in the scripture. It also might be looking at different commentaries. Um my mom got me a I think it's called a Dake Dake or Drake Bible. I'm probably saying it wrong, but Dake or Drake, one of them. Not as in Drake, but it's probably Dake. Anyway, um, but it's a it's a study Bible, and it also gives a lot of commentary. It even gives like the Hebrew words, Greek words, um, and it gives a lot of historical context too, which is important when you're studying because it's important to know when you're reading the Bible and you read certain things, who was the the author of that particular uh book or that chapter? Who were who are they talking to? Why were they saying this to them? You know, I love how so many people have really started to um study the Bible when it comes to women and women being teachers, and they have have been vocal about rejecting this idea that no, the Bible says women's supposed to be quiet in church. Do you know who they were talking to? Why did Paul say that? What was going on? What was the historical context of these women? What was what was the reason that this was said and and did was it meant to apply to every woman everywhere, you know, till the end of time? And we know the answer was no. Um, but you wouldn't know that if you just read the Bible without looking at the historical context, without understanding what was going on during that time. And so a lot is true of um other things that come up, you know, other topics that come up in scripture. Um, you know, it's important to look at the context. Now, you know, even with that being said, there's historical context for sure, and then there are some things that that are universal. So, you know, regardless of the um historical framework, it applied then and it applies now. Um, but it's important to be able to understand that as you're reading so that you can not just be reading what's on the page, but you can get understanding with your knowledge. Um, and you can can understand fully what you know God is saying um through those scriptures. So um, and and it's okay to um look at commentary, you know. Obviously, I would you you want to judge the commentary, you know. Um, I wouldn't be just listening to everybody. There are certain um commentaries that are more established, if you will. Um I sometimes I will, if I'm studying, I will go between the different translations. So, you know, primarily because right now, like I said, I'm I'm looking at this uh Joyce Meyer book. This is Amplified Version, but um sometimes I like to go to the King James Version because it gives me a different meaning. And sometimes, you know, I learned a lot of uh scripture through King James Version, so sometimes I'll read the Amplified Version and I'm like that don't sound right. I like the way the new King James Version sounds. Um, and so sometimes splipping between translations can help you understand. The Amplified is much easier, I think, to read. There's not a whole lot of the they thou's. Um and so it's it's um more palatable, if you will, uh, for me. This and the new new um new international version or NIV. So, you know, having other um resources to help you when you're studying is is good, and that's what I found to be helpful. Um, when I'm doing devotionals, I'll also have other uh resources. Sometimes, like I mentioned, I might have the Bible app. Um, that's a great little um, they have like little schedules on there where you know, again, you can kind of pick if there's a topic or you know, something you're dealing with and you're like, I want to want to know what the Bible is saying about marriage, and so you want to do devotionals with about marriage. Me and my husband um would do that because when you're if you both have the app, you can like share plans or whatever. And so we would do the marriage devotionals and then talk about it. Um, and so that's on the Bible app. And so you're reading scripture, you're also reading commentary again. Um, and that is it's a it's a tool to assist you in, you know, your your study and your your time with with God as you're reading. And so I I encourage um you to look at other commentaries and things like that, especially if you are if this is like you're new to the Bible and this just seems overwhelming because again, so this it's a big book, there's a lot of things in here that just don't make sense when you first read it. Um, and then if you're I'm hoping you're part of a local church and you know you have Bible study. I know our church has Bible studies on Wednesdays, and um, the thing I like about Bible study is because it it's different than Sundays because usually the pastor or whoever is teaching is taking the time to do the deeper dive and go more in depth about the scripture than you're gonna get on a Sunday, right? On a Sunday, you've got you know first-time visitors, you got people that are um maybe just you know ain't been to church in a while or whatever, usually you're not doing a whole it's it's not not so much teaching on Sunday, whereas on you know, the Bible studied nights, um, they usually are more um geared towards teaching and breaking down the scripture. And so if you are part of a part of a local church, um that's that's one way to sort of help you in your reading is because if you go to Bible study and you know you hear a message or whatever, you know, go and then that'd be the end of it, that'd be the last you read of it. No, go home and like if you're taking notes, go ahead, go home and and dive deeper into what it is that um was being taught so that you start to know this for yourself. You start to know the Bible for yourself. And oftentimes what I found is I might hear something at church and I go home and God will give me something completely different or like add to what was said that is very uh personal or you know pertinent or relevant to what what I'm dealing with. Um and so you get that that extra layer, if you will, um, by doing your own study at home. Rely solely on anybody else for what you're supposed to know in this book, right? Um and so you have your study time, you have your devotional time, and then like I mentioned, sometimes I may be just in my like worship time where I'm you know listening to worship music or I'm just sort of sitting still quietly and just letting God speak to me, and he might drop a scripture into my heart. Um, and then I'll go and read on it, and it'll be like the scripture literally just jumps off the page. It amazes me because I could read certain scriptures like hundreds of times, like I said, memorize them, remember learning them in school, and then God give you something else from that scripture, like you have you see it and understand it in a whole new way. And that's where um I believe we're gonna work where Jesus talks about how he shares uh his secrets and and mysteries with those who have the heart to receive, um, and and have the heart to not only just hear, but hear with your heart, hear and see and understand with your heart in a way that you know you're not just reading the play the pages, um, the black and white pages off of here. You're allowing Holy Spirit to speak to you and allowing Holy Spirit to really help you understand what um is being explained and how it applies to your life. And so, you know, reading the Bible, it's sh it, I know it can be it can be boring. I know sometimes when I was younger, you know, I would read the Bible and like I would literally fall asleep reading the Bible because it was just I think it was because it was just a lot of information that I just didn't understand, I didn't fully understand. And so it became boring in the sense of like, I feel like I'm I'm doing this, I'm just reading this out of a duty. I'm reading this because that's what I'm supposed to be doing. But once you start to get to the place where you're you have a hunger, you have an appetite, you have a desire to know more more about God, reading the Bible becomes something that you you can't live without. Like I have to read, I have to read my Bible, you know, and if I don't, if I go too many days where I haven't sat down and taken the time to to come to um a place where I've just I stop and I read the Bible, I feel weird. I feel off. It feels like I'm empty, right? I I start to feel like okay, my My gas is almost empty here. And again, you know, the thing about God is He's faithful to meet us where we are. He's faithful to give us exactly what we need. There's so many times where I'll open the Bible and I'll be like, I don't know where I'm going with this. And I'll just open it a scripture and it'll be right on point to what I need to hear on that day in that moment. A lot of times when I do my devotional, I like to start with the Psalms as well because I feel like with Psalms, you're going to Psalms always lead you back to recognizing and understanding who God is. So it's almost like it leaves you, every scripture leaves you with the perspective of who God is. You know, no matter if it starts out with um with David being like, Lord, kill all my enemies and pull their teeth out. You know, at the end of it, he's like, but Lord, you are my refuge and and the hope of my salvation. So it's like every emotion sometimes you can get in one chapter or one scripture, but it's always gonna lead you back to knowing and understanding who God is. And so that's why a lot of times I like to start my uh devotional time with reading of Psalms because it just kind of gets me into focus, it gets me back into okay, I got a lot going on, I feel like you know my day is super busy, but God, you're you're the source, nothing matters, it don't matter what else I got going on, you are my focal point. And and Psalms always centers me in that way. Um, and so it may for you too. So if if you don't know where to start or how to start, my suggestion, you know, with with your devotional time would be to start with the Psalms. Um, and you know, it start at the beginning of the Psalms, right? Start with chapter one and then work your way through. Like I said, a lot of times I just open the Bible and Psalms and just go wherever, and every single time it meets me where I'm at. A lot of times too, you know, I may read something during my either my study or my devotional time, and I'm like, God, I don't this doesn't make sense, I don't understand. My my questioning isn't this doesn't make sense. Yeah, see, I knew the Bible was contradictory. No, it's God, I don't understand. Holy Spirit, help me to understand what are you saying to me? This doesn't make sense to me, help me to understand what you're what you mean here. A lot of people, I feel, especially because everybody's educated and we know everything, um, read the Bible, and if something is conflicting or appears to be conflicting to them or they don't understand, then it's like, oh, see, I see the Bible is is is a contradiction. So yeah, it was man, it was written by a man, and this is why it doesn't make any sense. No. Ask the holy go to the one who wrote it, go to the one who inspired, go to the one who gave the inspiration for what you're reading and ask him to help you understand and help you um make clear what's confusing. And again, every time that I've done that, God has given me further expl explanations. Sometimes it could be in a conversation, like literally, I have read something in the Bible and I'm like, I don't, Lord, what why did you have me read that? I don't get it. And then I have a conversation with somebody three hours later, and they say something, and or we just engage in conversation, I'm like, oh, that's why he had me read that. Oh my gosh. Or I go to church and my pastor's preaching on something or teaching on something that helps give clarity to what I just read. And now God is like, see, connecting the dots for me. So it doesn't always necessarily happen immediately, but he answers me every single time, and sometimes it it's it's where God is leading you into more um time with him, you know. So what I've been doing a lot, especially during my study time, is is actually writing out questions. So, you know, as I'm reading, I'm like, Lord, why did why did you say this? Or why did you do this? Or, you know, why did this happen? I'm writing those questions out and I'm asking the Lord to answer them. I'm asking God to answer, lead me into your word to answer these questions and to uh give me uh understanding, further understanding and wisdom on what it is that you're saying. And like I said, he he answers, he's faithful to answer us. And so um study time, devotional time, worship time, those are um the moments that I find myself reading the word of God, going to the Bible, getting deeper knowledge, deeper understanding of who God is, and what is it that I am um living by? What is it that I am trying to live by? Um, and it's important that we know this for ourselves because there's so much information. The we live in the age of information and technology. There's so much information coming at us. You have to be able to hear something and know that it doesn't sound right. Like you your discernment has to be there to be like, you know what, that doesn't make sense, or that doesn't sound right. I think I read that somewhere. So you have somewhere that you can can fall back on, something that you can go back to and be like, no, I remember reading something, and sometimes you might just have to pull out your pull out your phone. We all have Google, we all have Chat GPT now. I I'm quick to be like uh putting in a scripture or what was that scripture where Paul did it, and it leaves me right there. You know, you're there are people that have memorized a substantial part of the Bible of the Bible. I admire those people. You know, I remember certain verses I've committed to memory. I I am not as I'm not a scholar, I don't consider myself a Bible scholar. So, you know, there's some people that I I listen to, you know, they can literally just go straight to the scripture and tell you what it said and and never have to look at it. I I need to look. Okay. For the most part, I need to look because you you think you remember something. Um, and a lot of times you you you've heard people say things, and then like I said, you go to the Bible and it's like, well, it didn't actually say that. It didn't actually say that. It is a little bit of that, but it's not all the way, and so knowing the Bible for ourselves is what will sustain us, it will um allow us to to navigate through all of the things that we're you know receiving on a daily basis, and then you know, at the end of the day, God says He is the daily bread, he is our daily bread. You know, reading your Bible is as if you are eating every day. You know, you don't go unless you are on a fast or unless you're dieting. You don't go days without eating, you don't go a day without eating more than one time a day. And so feasting on the word of God is what sustains us, it gives us our sustenance, it gives us our our ability to to go through life, right? Because we are are feasting on the word of God, and that word, his word, is life. It's life and it is alive. And so hopefully this helps you, you know, in reading your Bible, um, because it's it's necessary. You have to know, you gotta know what you know, and you gotta know why you know it. So happy reading.