Tour Through the Bible Pt. 2
Alana’s Story
*Alana is the wonderful assistant for K. Price Ministries, and this was her experience getting to know God’s Word once she was saved!*
“How do you study the Bible?”
“What book should I read first?”
“What are the books of the Bible?”
This is what my Google search history looked like back in 2016. My mom bought me my first bible while I was home for Thanksgiving break and I had no idea where to start. Through all my Google searching I had started working through the book of John using the S.O.A.P method- which was taking the scripture, observing that you could from it, thinking of how you could apply it to your life, and finally prayer.
I started out reading with the NIV ( New International Version) translation. Other translations were hard for me to read and also understand. As I continued to pursue the Lord, and my understanding of Him deepened, I moved on to primarily using the ESV ( English Standard Version) translation as well as using CSB ( Christian Standard Bible) sometimes.
My time in the Word looks a lot different than it looked five years ago. I’ve accumulated more books, study bibles, and commentaries to help me dive even deeper into the Word. I currently have The Reformation Study Bible as well as the ESV Study Bible. Some of my favorite commentaries are those by John MacArthur and Christ-Centered Expositions. If the Lord puts a specific topic on my heart, I love reading articles on Desiring God, a website created by John Piper. I also use GotQuestions for any quick questions I might have. Over the years I’ve loved writing what the Holy Spirit is revealing to me. It is always a sweet time to go back and look at what I have learned. I use Tombow markers to highlight, and a black pen to circle the names of Jesus to remind me that scripture always points back to Him.
My prayer for myself and others within the body of Christ is that we would yearn for the Word of God. That we wouldn’t be afraid to come to it, that it would be a priority to us. Psalms 19:10 says that scripture is sweeter than honey. How do we acquire that taste? By feasting day and night on the Word of God.
Julie’s Story
*Julie is the wonderful intern for K. Price Ministries, and this was her experience getting to know God’s Word once she was saved!*
When I began thinking about what kind of Bible I wanted to get for studying, I decided to go with a Zondervan NIV translation. Many churches use either the NLT ( New Living Translation) or NIV ( New International Version) during services, so I knew it would be a good translation to start with. I had also downloaded the Bible app, which I kept using the NLT most of the time.
When I first started reading my Bible it was a struggle. I didn’t know where to start, or what materials I was supposed to have for my Bible study time. I first started with a notebook, some highlighters, and a pen. I decided to start reading in John because my church was doing 21 days of prayer and fasting at the beginning of the year. John is a great book to study as the first book you read because it goes through Jesus’ life on earth up until his crucifixion and resurrection. I never got bored reading through John; I learned so much about who Jesus is, and the basic gospel message that makes up the Christian faith.
The resources I use tend to vary depending on the season I am in, but a few stay the same. Some resources I have consistently used are Mildliner Highlighters, a notebook, Enduring Word Commentary, Blue Letter Bible App, and multi-colored pens!
One of the biggest challenges I’ve found now is continuing to learn from my scripture readings, and not only going through the motions. It gets easy to fall into a routine of only reading through the scriptures just to say you had a “quiet time,” but you never remember anything or invite God into your reading. The best thing that has helped me is changing up my quiet times when I need to. Sometimes I will pray multiple times throughout my quiet time, sometimes I’ll do three different devotionals before I start my quiet time, and sometimes I will spend more time worshipping and praying. It all depends on what I feel I need for my spiritual health, but more importantly, what I feel the Holy Spirit is leading me to do. I’ve learned to keep grinding and read my Bible, pray and worship even when I don’t feel like it. I’m not perfect at it, but it is a way to crucify my flesh daily and get closer to God.
