Bible reading

[Jun_Canada]

I just finished Matthew .
Now umm some people have said that I should keep going on and reading Mark and then Luke and so on. I have the Life Application Bible and it has a
"reading the bible guide for a year" Since its almost the beginning of the year I thought I should do that but that starts from genesis and moves on from there. Is it a good idea to do what the "bible guide" says or should i read from Mark and go on from there?
2nd Question: And if I read from diff books each day...woudnt I get confused because I wont know what the setting is at the time?
Thank you!
God Bless

 

[dmcintosh]

Jun, I know I'm new here, but I always found that if you always start at the same point every time you will only read the same books over and over. I would just continue your current path and using the guide for the chapters on the daily basis, just on different days

As to your 2nd question, I stay on the same book, but others may differ. It helps keep my train of thought as I read.

 

[tigersnare]

This might be something different for you to try. I've found that if I don't slow down and actually study the book, then I have to end up re-reading it 5 times or so just to soak it all up.

 

[endure]

jun_Canada

you will learn the bible is not a text book, it isnt something you read from front to back.
if the only point was for you to learn from it, maybe you could, but its not.

the bible is not a college professor, the bible is a husband to women, and a wife to men. its a loving, giving, intamite person. in hebrews the bible says the scripture is a HE... it gave the scripture a personal pronoun.

we go into the word to feed and be nourished, not to educate ourselves.
if you do not go on from learning it, to actually receiving it and being nourished by it, youll never become what you need to be.

thats why you dont need a fixed reading schedule all the time, because life has issues, real issues! you know them...
its not preplanned or fixed. and when life has issues, you never know what your going to need.
and thats why it isnt always good to just follow a fixed schedule.
you could be struggling with something kind of sadness or depression...but your schedule has you readin the book of timothy and how to elect deacons in the church, when you really need to go and read the psalms and be encouraged and uplifted.

i believe the Lord leads me in what i read, i try to read entire books, but sometimes i end up opening the bible to someone random page and picking a random scripture that THAT ONE SCRIPTURE MEANS EVERYTHING TO MY LIFE! BUT THATS GOD! AND NO SCHEDULE can do that.

i think it would be better for you to read and understand the new testament and its principles before you dive into things like creation and the principles for the old law and such that youll find in the old testament in certain places.
the new testament applies to you and the things you go through today and was specificly written for people like yourself who need to make it through this life, not all of the old testament does, unless your a scholar.
Jesus is what its all about... the 4 gospels are the truth and foundation of who we are.
but the epistles or letters to the churchs like romans through revelations...are like an x-ray view of the inner workings of the 4 gospels.
they explain them and apply the 4 gospels to your life better.

id easily say you need the new testament, becuase that is what specificly concerns matters you will go through on a day to day basis.
the old testament is vital too, but its a little diffrent, lots of good things, but sometimes it seems like the the good stuff is few and far between.
to me anyway. lots of history and stuff.

though the psalms and proverbs are amasing, they are probly my 2 fave old testament books, david and others wrote the psalms while experiencing things and going through issues, thats why they are so powerful and can mean so much during hard times.

i mean you can get a general view of what you need to read when you understand what books talk about what.
but more importantly, i think you need to go to prayer and worship first before you read, and then the spirit of the Lord will lead you through the bible, and it will do much much more for you.

ask the Lord what he wants you to read, youll often be able to read anywhere you want, but sometimes hell tell you to go read some strange book you never wanted to read before but end up having your life changed from it.
but God needs to lead you, i think too much structure CAN BE dangerous.
listen to God and your spirit, follow your heart.
youll often not feel at peace, if your reading some part of the bible when he wishes you to be be reading somewhere else.
though its not a feeling of worry.


Jesus said the holyspirit will lead you into all truth.
and it really does take him being active in your bible reading for it to really change you.
like the healings waters at the pool of bethesda where people could get in and be healed WHEN an angle came and stirred the water.
it didnt heal people untill God stirred it or touched it and brought it to life.
the bible is not very good to us, unless God touches it and brings it to life for us.
just reading it through, and learning it, is not good enough.
becuase its intended to be breathing life into us, not educating us.

 

[Jun_Canada]

Thank you every1 for helping me!!!!!!!
God Bless!!

 

[RAF]

Well said endure. I have just started reading the Bible myself in the last week or so. I have the KJV, the NASV, and the NIV, and I have found that I have an easier time grasping the NIV. I did some research online and printed off a year-long schedule that has me reading some from the OT and NT each night. I'm really enjoying it and I hope I stay consistent with my reading.

 

[tigersnare]

jun_Canada



we go into the word to feed and be nourished, not to educate ourselves.
if you do not go on from learning it, to actually receiving it and being nourished by it, youll never become what you need to be.

thats why you dont need a fixed reading schedule all the time, because life has issues, real issues! you know them...

For the most part I agree with this, the only point I would like to add coming from a different direction, is that once you have gone through the bible as a "text book" it does seem to make opening it right up to me pages dealing with your life much easier. Most people tend gane a general idea where different life topics are handled in scripture, like someone brought up, if you want to see how the structure of the Church should be, you'll know to read Timothy, if you need to know what the cross meant, you'll know to read Romans, etc.

I tend to have a problem with, "Ok I"m gonna just close my eyes, open my bible, and point"...there's a fine line between faith and testing God I believe.

 

[endure]

tigersnare
well the diffrence between partaking of the word and reading it like a text book is that reading it like a text could end up meaning you just read a few chapters becuase thats what the schedule said to do but you didnt receive anything from it.
you read it, but it didnt speak to you.
and we need life, today.... today, we need it now.
we cant wait untill next year to be able to learn where its all at and then receive life.

and yes i know that just opening the bible to a random place doesnt always work, and thats why im not saying you should do that unless you feel the Lord leading you to.
but God has done that for me before more than once.
and then there are times when i tried it and found out
"well....that wasnt God" and it didnt work.

but its also no good to just read a sheduled requirement simply for the schedules sake and not really receive anything from it that means anything to you.
both are present dangers.

the answer is to be lead of the Lord.
he knows what you need, he knows where its at, and if you follow him youll find it.
but just hoping to open to the right page doesnt always work.
but following a schedule wont always work either.

there are times when you have to forget schedules and finishing books, and finishing the bible, and just meditate on just one scripture, becuase that one scripture is what you need in your life today and tommorow and the next day, untill youve grown a little more and can move on to another truth and scripture.
becuase thats what important, your life being changed, not finishing the book anytime soon.
i will be honest with you, ive never even read the whole bible.
but God has so utterly changed my life, and im preaching the word with power in the beginning of my ministry, and i am astounded to say people are telling how God has used what i have done and said to change their lives. people are being changed. but i havent even finished the book...
they are being changed becuase i was changed, not becuase i finished the book.

becuase its about receiving the word into you and being changed, not just finishing the book, it will be a long time before i finish it, becuase im staying where im fed and were im growing, not moving on to books just becuase i havent read them yet.
there have been athiests who can quote entire books of the bible, BUT ARE DEAD! on there way to hell...
becuase they know the word, but it never changed them.
they read it like a text book.
they didnt pick one verse and stay on that one verse for as long as it takes and say "God, show me this verse, open it to me, put it in me, let me be what this one verse says i can be"
Jesus quoted verses of the bible, not chapters.

i know i said alot there, sorry so long.
but do you understand what im saying?

reading it like a text book simply isnt always beneficial at that time, though we do need something at that time, and thats why we cant read it like a book to finish it.
i read the Hardy Boys as a child, just straight through....
becuase my life wasnt changed if i forgot how "Chet's car sounded when he drove up their yard, i didnt need to remember and soak in everything.

but the bible is very diffrent, every little piece means life.
and thats why we have to take our time with and soak in every bit and piece, thought it may take 10 times longer to finish the book, in the end youll be something so much greater.

but the bible is no good if your not led through it by God himself, and that means reading what he wants you to read.

 

[kdet]

I just finished Matthew .
Now umm some people have said that I should keep going on and reading Mark and then Luke and so on. I have the Life Application Bible and it has a
"reading the bible guide for a year" Since its almost the beginning of the year I thought I should do that but that starts from genesis and moves on from there. Is it a good idea to do what the "bible guide" says or should i read from Mark and go on from there?
2nd Question: And if I read from diff books each day...woudnt I get confused because I wont know what the setting is at the time?
Thank you!
God Bless

My pastor spoke on this Sunday...his advice was to get a bible planner reader,I just downloaded one for my palm from Olivetree...and use that. His theroy is that if you start at Genesis you will get bored and never complete it. This also my goal for the new year is to read the bible all the way through to my family. I've read it myself twice..once with a Bible reader and once starting at Genesis...for the first time I would recommend a bible reader plan.

 

[jbarcher]

His theroy is that if you start at Genesis you will get bored and never complete it.

I would have to agree...all I'm going through is the NT [and some OT], but not reading Revelation...I'll get to the OT and Revelation later on.

 

[tigersnare]

tigersnare

do you understand what im saying?

.

Endure, very well written. I agree completly, infact my earliest post agree exactly with your lastest post.

I was just pointing out that if someone does the extreme of only reading one book in 2 years then they might be missing out on alot of word that would apply to their life.

I belive the best is to find a happy medium between, reading to get through the books so you know what they contain and where to look later, and between slowly reading and letting the word come alive to you. Chances are, most of us have time to do both, I've found myself as an on fire new Christian 7 months ago flying through the Gospels to learn about Jesus, well I now find myself only covering a few verses a night in those same Gospels as to meditate, pray, and write about what I have read and what it means to me.

 

[Jun_Canada]

tigersnare
well the diffrence between partaking of the word and reading it like a text book is that reading it like a text could end up meaning you just read a few chapters becuase thats what the schedule said to do but you didnt receive anything from it.
you read it, but it didnt speak to you.
and we need life, today.... today, we need it now.
we cant wait untill next year to be able to learn where its all at and then receive life.

and yes i know that just opening the bible to a random place doesnt always work, and thats why im not saying you should do that unless you feel the Lord leading you to.
but God has done that for me before more than once.
and then there are times when i tried it and found out
"well....that wasnt God" and it didnt work.

but its also no good to just read a sheduled requirement simply for the schedules sake and not really receive anything from it that means anything to you.
both are present dangers.

the answer is to be lead of the Lord.
he knows what you need, he knows where its at, and if you follow him youll find it.
but just hoping to open to the right page doesnt always work.
but following a schedule wont always work either.

there are times when you have to forget schedules and finishing books, and finishing the bible, and just meditate on just one scripture, becuase that one scripture is what you need in your life today and tommorow and the next day, untill youve grown a little more and can move on to another truth and scripture.
becuase thats what important, your life being changed, not finishing the book anytime soon.
i will be honest with you, ive never even read the whole bible.
but God has so utterly changed my life, and im preaching the word with power in the beginning of my ministry, and i am astounded to say people are telling how God has used what i have done and said to change their lives. people are being changed. but i havent even finished the book...
they are being changed becuase i was changed, not becuase i finished the book.

becuase its about receiving the word into you and being changed, not just finishing the book, it will be a long time before i finish it, becuase im staying where im fed and were im growing, not moving on to books just becuase i havent read them yet.
there have been athiests who can quote entire books of the bible, BUT ARE DEAD! on there way to hell...
becuase they know the word, but it never changed them.
they read it like a text book.
they didnt pick one verse and stay on that one verse for as long as it takes and say "God, show me this verse, open it to me, put it in me, let me be what this one verse says i can be"
Jesus quoted verses of the bible, not chapters.

i know i said alot there, sorry so long.
but do you understand what im saying?

reading it like a text book simply isnt always beneficial at that time, though we do need something at that time, and thats why we cant read it like a book to finish it.
i read the Hardy Boys as a child, just straight through....
becuase my life wasnt changed if i forgot how "Chet's car sounded when he drove up their yard, i didnt need to remember and soak in everything.

but the bible is very diffrent, every little piece means life.
and thats why we have to take our time with and soak in every bit and piece, thought it may take 10 times longer to finish the book, in the end youll be something so much greater.

but the bible is no good if your not led through it by God himself, and that means reading what he wants you to read.

Wow, thank you soo much!
This REALLY gave me a revelation!
THANK YOU!!!