Stuck in Scripture? Here's Where To Start.

Sometimes, the hardest part of studying the Bible is just getting started. In this episode, Ellen and Ashley discuss how they overcame being intimidated by Scripture to develop a regular (and realistic!) rhythm in God's Word. 

Scriptures referenced:

• John 6:1-14
• John 6:16-21
• James 1:22-25

Resources:

Pre-order our book: The EASY Bible Study Method: A Guide to Understanding, Applying, and Delighting in God's Word

Click here to read an excerpt!

Ellen and Ashley's favorite study Bibles:
ESV Study Bible | ESV Archaeology Study Bible | NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

Want to study God's Word for yourself? Try our In-Depth Bible Study Academy
Click here to try a free mini-course!

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Coffee and Bible Time
• 1:45 Struggles with Bible Reading
• 5:30 The Easy Bible Study Method Explained
• 9:45 Understanding Context in Scripture
• 13:50 Practical Tips for Getting Started
• 17:37 Book Announcement and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Ellen Krause: 0:04

At the Coffee and Bible Time podcast. Our goal is to help you delight in God's Word and thrive in Christian living. Each week, we talk to subject matter experts who broaden your biblical understanding, encourage you in hard times and provide life-building tips to enhance your Christian walk. We are so glad you have joined us. Welcome back to the Coffee and Bible Time podcast, where our goal is to help you delight in God's Word and thrive in Christian living. I'm Ellen, your host. I'm so glad that you have joined us today.

Ellen Krause: 0:42

When it comes to Bible reading, it can feel so hard sometimes to even know where to start, especially if you're feeling distant from God or struggling with motivation. So if that's you today, rest assured you are in good company and we are going to get back to the basics of Bible reading. Of course, I wouldn't want to do this topic without my incredible daughter, ashley. We are going to talk about what we have found that works for us when studying the Bible, and that's something that we affectionately call the Easy Bible Study Method. Today, we're going to talk about step one of that method, which is entering into the story. So, whether you're new to reading scripture or you've been reading scripture for years, grab some coffee, pull up a chair and we will have something new that you can learn today. So welcome back to the podcast.

Ashley Armijo: 1:43

Ash, how are you Good? I'm so excited to be here and I'm so excited to talk about something that we have been passionately working on for over a year really hard and that is making the easy Bible study method into a book that anybody can get.

Ellen Krause: 2:01

Absolutely. I think it's important that we ground our listeners with the fact that you and I both struggled initially with reading our Bibles. What types of things did you face early on, Ashley, when you were starting to learn?

Ashley Armijo: 2:17

Yeah, well, I will say this I still struggle to read my Bible.

Ashley Armijo: 2:20

It's probably just in different ways now than it was then, but when I first started reading my Bible so I was very excited and passionate, which I wish I had more of now. Right, because it was at the beginning and I was like I'm so excited to read the Bible, I can't wait to dive in. And I think what was the hardest thing for me was I was just confused about, like, what in the world is going on, especially because I started in Genesis and started reading through the Bible. From the beginning, I had no idea that the Bible was not in chronological order and I was confused about all the laws that when once I got to, like Leviticus and numbers, and there were so many big words that, like I didn't really comprehend at the time probably like atonement and just big Bible study words that you know, completely went over my head. And, yeah, I think I just a lot of what I read. I just didn't really understand, to be honest. But I will say this that, even though I didn't understand a lot of it, god still opened my heart and spoke to me through his word, and so that is why I really do encourage anybody, no matter where they're at, just open your Bible and start.

Ashley Armijo: 3:35

Begin, even if 90% of it is confusing to you and hard. You have to start somewhere and I 100% believe that God will speak to you, no matter what, even if you don't understand everything, even if you're brand new to it or even if you're having to start back over again for the millionth time because you know you've given up whatever so many times. So there's always a chance for God's spirit to speak to you through his word. So, yeah, I think at the beginning I just I really was lost, and that's why we created the Easy Bible Study Method because, like, we remembered what it felt like to be lost when you're reading your Bible and we wanted to produce a tool to help people, give them a little bit of okay, here's a framework of what's going on in the Bible and how you can study it. So, yeah, what was your? I would love to hear what your initial struggles were.

Ellen Krause: 4:30

You know, I went to a Christian grade school and we had Bible reading as part of our class, and for me, I just remember thinking I don't understand any of this, like it was just so hard. Now again, I learned on the King James Version, which made it even harder. What an amazing blessing it is now to have other translations so that, as you're learning, especially learning for the first time, I remember when I switched to the NLT translation initially, when I really started studying the Bible.

Ellen Krause: 5:06

It helped me so much. But we really have gone through a lot of learning and process to come up with some tried and true steps for people to follow in order to begin this process, find joy in it. Let's start, ashley, with what are the steps to enter into the story?

Ashley Armijo: 5:32

Yeah, so well. First of all, for the EASY Bible study method it's an acronym with four steps to the method. E-a-s-y stands for easy and the first step is E enter into the story. And this is such a simple and easy step. That's why it's step number one, because anybody can do it and it's so refreshing and fun.

Ashley Armijo: 5:55

There's so many incredible stories within scripture. In fact, the entirety of scripture is one big story and within it there are a bunch of little stories that you can enter into. So for step one entering into the story it's literally that you read it and you put yourself in the story and you think, okay, for example, in John right, our big example is Jesus feeding the 5,000. So if you imagine yourself being there in the moment and seeing like, okay, you're, let's say, you're somebody in the crowd and you're hungry, you're starving, you've been following Jesus, you know, you see Jesus perform this incredible miracle of multiplying the bread and the fish, and I mean I just think about the wonder and awe of that moment of seeing, you know, just this humble man, this gentle, loving, caring man, provide food for over 5000 people, giving thanks to God in heaven.

Ashley Armijo: 7:08

And I mean I love just the opportunity of entering into the story, because I think in our society today we go so fast through everything, right, because of TikTok and reels and and YouTube and just wanting to get through information so quickly. But when you enter into the story you have to slow down, you have to put yourself there and really like, put your imagination skills working and think, okay, what would it be like if I were there or if I had interacted with Jesus at that moment, or if I would have eaten the bread that he miraculously gave to me? It really does connect you to the story in a deep way and it helps you see who Jesus is and I just think it's a beautiful emotional way to connect with the text.

Ellen Krause: 7:56

Absolutely. It kind of reminds me of like in songs. Of course you have lyrics, but a lot of times people will sing songs, sing the lyrics, and not even think about what it means, and I feel like when you're entering into the story you're actually stepping into it. That time when that happened and I was thinking just of the Samaritan woman and putting my own self maybe in her place and just imagining Jesus looking at me in the eyes, this woman that felt ashamed, who probably had her head down and what it must have felt like to have Jesus. Just look her in the eyes Right.

Ashley Armijo: 8:41

I mean it's just so incredible. I mean story. You can do this in scripture, but yeah, I'm thinking about when Jesus called his first disciples. I mean imagine like having Jesus look at you in the eyes and be like Ashley, I'm calling you, I want you to be my disciple. How incredible is that? Like he invited them to where he was staying. They ate a meal with him. I'm sure they ate a meal with them. So much conversation and sharing laughter and stories together. It's just like these stories really did happen. And you're right, sometimes we can read it so almost like mindlessly, but it's like okay, these stories happened and they're real and I get to partake in them by reading them now. And the goal really is to know Jesus on a deeper level and I do believe entering into the story is a great step in that direction of knowing Jesus personally through his word absolutely part of that context is also understanding who the original author was and who was that author speaking to.

Ashley Armijo: 9:47

Right, yeah, so that's a big step in entering into the story is figuring out the context. And if you've been around the Bible study world long enough, you know that a lot of teachers, pastors, bible study teachers emphasize context and it is huge. It helps you understand the story so much better. And going back to when I first started reading the Bible, that wasn't on my mind at all, that wasn't on my radar, I didn't even know that word, probably even existed. And that's okay.

Ashley Armijo: 10:18

You can read the Bible and not know the context and God will still speak to you, but it does really help you stay grounded and gives you a foundation of okay, for example, the book of John, what we've been talking about realizing this was a real letter written by a real man, john, one of Jesus's closest disciples. I mean it, like I still my mind is blown that we have a resource, a letter written by one of Jesus's closest best friends, like we have the words of Jesus, because Jesus's best friend wrote it right, of course, filled with the Holy Spirit, he wrote these words down and I'm like whoa, like we get a picture into who Jesus is through the lens of his one of his closest friends and disciples. And I think knowing that before reading John is like, okay, wow, like I really am seeing a firsthand witness of Jesus and his words, and I also understand, okay, he was writing to Jews and Gentiles right during a very specific period likely, when there was persecution, when the church was beginning to grow and the roots were starting to form, and he's writing this you know account of who Jesus is and his words and his commands and everything like that, and it just definitely adds a lot more of more of a foundation to like, okay, I, I kind of am starting to understand what's going on. And the cool thing is is that's just the book of John, right?

Ashley Armijo: 11:50

There's tons of books in the Bible that each have unique authors, that each have a unique, different time period and has a unique audience, and so I really do think that figuring that out is helpful A lot of times. You can find the context of a book in a study Bible, in a commentary. You can simply do a Google search for it. It's super easy to find usually and, yeah, it'll just really help you gain a better understanding of the text that you're reading.

Ellen Krause: 12:21

You know, we've just been studying James in our community and thinking about the author there being, this brother of Jesus on earth, thinking about how he did life day in and day out, how he knew Jesus, how he was with him all the time and yet didn't believe he was the Messiah initially right.

Ellen Krause: 12:44

But, then, later, we see, as he wrote the book of James, this fiery passion about telling people not just to be hearers of the word, which you know, with the Easy Bible Study Method, our ultimate goal is to get you into the Word so that you can be a doer of the Word. And I find that, knowing that context of James and how he became this true proponent of who Christ was and his passion for helping people understand that, we want to live it out. We want to make Jesus known when he's not here, by us representing Jesus, just as he would have himself. Well, as far as this whole first step of the Easy Bible Study Method entering into the story, what would you say to people who are maybe, you know, a little bit anxious about starting? I mean, you and I are just hitting only the tip of the iceberg here about a lot more detail that goes into it. What would you encourage them?

Ashley Armijo: 13:52

Yeah, I mean a lot of people say I want to read the Bible, I just don't know where to start. Well, we've been giving you a lot of examples from the book of John and I really do encourage people to start in John If they're wondering where to start. I mean you can start anywhere in the Bible. But if you're brand new or you're just feeling like, hey, I'm stuck, I need somewhere to start, john is a great book. It's about the story about who Jesus is, his ministry on earth and his death on the cross, his resurrection, and so it's a great place to just begin and my encouragement would be just to take it. You know what? You could take it one chapter at a time, but I would even encourage taking it verse by verse at a time, like telling yourself okay, maybe I'll read five verses a day. That's like so simple. That could take you five minutes and just you know, taking it slow, being prayerful and saying God, you know what I'm starting here. I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know what's going on, but speak to me, I want to know you. Like that's the point of reading the Bible is really coming to Jesus and saying I want to know you more. I want to know about your story. I want to know how I can play a part in your story, because it is about a larger redemptive story of Jesus, like I said, coming, dying for us, saving us from our sins, redeeming us. And we're still today a part of that story because Christ is still yet to return right. So it is about asking Jesus what is your story and how can I be a part of that? And I think that's a beautiful thing.

Ashley Armijo: 15:19

It really simplifies Bible reading and you're not going to understand everything. You're just not. The most incredible scholars don't understand everything. So don't let that stop you, don't let that trip you up. Keep going. A lot of people read the Bible for a week or two weeks and then they stop, or a day, and then they feel like I fell off the wagon, I'm too far gone, I can't do this. No, come back. Jesus is always there with open arms. He wants you to know him, even if that means you haven't read your Bible in years. Just come back. He's there, he's waiting for you and he has open arms. So, yeah, don't beat yourself up too much. Just keep coming back, keep trying again. Ask the Spirit to give you a strength to carry on and a willingness to love God through his word. So, yeah, I think that's kind of my biggest advice is to just start. Really, I do tell people that Just start, even if you don't know what's going on, and keep going.

Ellen Krause: 16:14

Absolutely, you know, and as a mentor, I would just further encourage people like if you are super stuck, get in a group because that holds you accountable to you, don't want to show up and not have done it Right.

Ellen Krause: 16:30

So I know from my years and years and years of being in a mom's group where I led Bible studies and I just know even myself as a leader wanting to be prepared, and it's just a great way, especially on those days where you're like I just don't feel like doing that today, but ultimately you're always blessed once you go in there and you do read god's word yeah, and I will say with our book, we really did create it as a tool for mentors who want to use it as a tool to help lead their mentee through bible study.

Ashley Armijo: 17:05

so, whether you're a mentor or you're someone who wants to be mentored, I'd suggest you pick up this book. Especially if you're someone who wants to be mentored, I'd suggest you pick up this book, especially if you're someone who's like, okay, I want to mentor. Go to your local church and say, literally, ask a pastor or anyone who works there. Do you know of anyone who could mentor me and walk with me through this book, the Easy Bible Study Method? Each chapter has discussion questions You'll also go through, like I said, you'll go through the chapter in John about Jesus feeding the 5,000. Or you could grab a friend. You could grab a friend, you could grab your spouse and just read this book together, because it is a tool that we created to do in community and with other people.

Ellen Krause: 17:43

Yes, and there are group discussion questions which make it fun to have a conversation about it as well. And people can go to coffeeandbibletimecom and just right there on our homepage we have information about it and you can get a free excerpt of the book if you go in there. So do it, go, do it today and I think you will be really blessed by that. Well, ashley, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today, for helping share the first step of the Easy Bible Study Method, which is E. Enter into the story For those listening, if you have loved this conversation and want to go deeper in our new book. The Easy Bible Study Method is available now for pre-order and it officially releases on August 5th 2025. This book will give you the step-by-step guide through all four parts of the method and it's filled with examples, prompts, tips, mentoring, group discussion questions so many things to make your Bible study more personal and powerful.

Ellen Krause: 18:54

We will have a link to this in our show notes and again, thank you so much, Ashley, for joining us, for our listeners, for being here. Please share this episode with a friend, we would be so appreciative. And until next time, keep seeking Jesus and don't forget God is waiting to meet you in his word.