Daily Bible Reading

We want to approach God’s Word rightly, and prayer helps us to focus our hearts and minds. Ask God to help you hear what He’s saying. We’re not pursuing mere knowledge; we’re pursuing God Himself.

We prepare before we read because the Bible is about God, not us, and it tells one unified story from beginning to end. Each book fits into the metanarrative: the overarching story of creation, fall, redemption and restoration.

We also prepare because the books of the Bible were written over 2,000 years ago by men who were inspired and directed by the Holy Spirit. We need to understand the original author’s intent for the original audience.

Before you dive in, start by looking for the genre (literary style) of the book, the author, date written, purpose in writing, audience and key themes. One collection of resources to help find this information are the Bible Project’s “Intro to the Bible” videos on each book. In addition, many study Bibles include an overview at the beginning of each book.

Write down these main facts somewhere you can refer to as you read through Scripture. We encourage creating a dedicated place to keep your notes, whether you write in your Bible, in a journal or digitally.

When you’re ready to begin this step, watch the Bible Project’s overview of the Scripture you’re reading.

What did you learn from the video? Do you have any further questions? Write down these facts and questions—it's expected that you won’t know the answer to all of them right away. Our prayer is that you’ll grow in confidence in your ability to study any passage of Scripture on your own. Don’t be afraid to seek out other chapters of the Bible to help answer any questions!

For another resource to help you prepare to read, check out the Bible Project’s “How to Read the Bible” series.

This step is one to linger on. Before we can understand a passage and how to apply it, we need to know what it says. Without this step, we risk interpreting it wrongly. Observing Scripture can take many different forms, so try out a few methods and choose the ones that work best for you.

Begin by reading the passage multiple times. What words or phrases stand out? Do you see repeating or contrasting ideas? We encourage you to write down what you observe. This can be in a journal, in your personal Bible, or on Scripture printed out; biblegateway.com is a great resource if you’re interested in printing Scripture to annotate or make notes on.

The suggestions below are starting points to guide your observation. They aren’t a checklist of requirements to complete your study, so we encourage you to try them gradually and return to or adapt the ones that suit your learning style.

Outline

The subtitles and paragraph breaks you see in your Bible weren’t part of the original manuscripts of Scripture. They were added by publishers as a helpful tool for today’s readers, meaning they vary between Bibles and translations. For this step, read the entire chapter and break it into sections that make the most sense to you. Outlining will cause you to naturally make observations you may have missed on a first reading.

Play “I Spy” with the chapter

• Go through the chapter and underline or circle repeated words or phrases. Repetition usually indicates something important.
• Answer the questions who, what, when, where and why.
• Look for connecting words like but, if, therefore, for, etc. They can help you see important comparisons or contrasts and help you follow the writer’s logic or line of reasoning.
• Look for cultural and historical ideas, things that may be rooted in the culture at the time of writing.

Write down questions

As you read the text, don’t skip over any words or passages that you don’t know or understand. Write down the questions you come up with, no matter how big or small.

Paraphrase

Make bulleted lists or summaries of what you observe. Paraphrasing, or writing in your own words, can help you remember what you’ve read, reveal what you already know, and illuminate the big ideas or themes of the passage.

As you observe Scripture, you might find rabbit trails you want to explore further. We encourage you to follow that curiosity and see where it leads you! Dig into the text a little more by using different translations, commentaries, or study Bible notes. These are great tools for seeking answers to your questions, expanding on connections you’ve made, and affirming or correcting your observations.

First, we recommend reading a passage in at least three translations: NLT, ESV and The Message. Then, after you’ve spent time with the passage on your own, we encourage you to use resources like commentaries, study Bibles and more.

If you don’t yet have a study Bible, we recommend finding one in a translation you enjoy reading (try NIV, NLT or ESV). In the meantime, you can find free online commentaries and resources at these sites:

• www.esv.org (also an app). Click on “Read Now” for the ESV Bible, and click on “Global Study Bible” for a free study Bible with book overviews and verse-by-verse notes.
• www.enduringword.com (also an app). An application-focused commentary on each book of the Bible.
• www.bibleproject.com (also an app and on YouTube). Animated videos, podcasts, and articles covering books of the Bible, themes in Scripture, and much more.
• BibleGateway.com includes a handful of free Bible dictionaries to help define ancient terms, names and places.

By now, you should be able to answer the first two questions from the inductive study: what does the passage say, and what does it mean? Now it’s time to move to application and answer the question, “What do I need to do to obey?”

Over and over in Scripture, we see the importance of knowing and doing. Jesus summarized His famous Sermon on the Mount with a final illustration, concluding that those who hear His words and put them into practice are like the wise builder who built his life on a solid foundation (Matthew 7:24-27). Therefore, every day we’ll ask the same three application questions:

1. What does this passage teach me about God and following Him?
2. What is God saying to me as I read His Word and listen to His voice?
3. What do I need to do to obey Him?

Finally, we encourage you to make a commitment statement each week based on what you’ve heard God say through your study time, prayer and discernment. A few things to note on this:

• Your commitment doesn’t have to be new each week. It might be something you sense God asking you to continue doing or build from the previous week.
• Your commitment doesn’t always have to tie directly to the Scripture you read that week. The most important thing is learning to listen to what God is saying to you and then putting it into practice.
• Try to make this statement as practical and tangible as possible. We recommend starting with “I will” and giving it a timeframe. Some examples include, "I will ask for forgiveness from the person I've wronged,” “I will spend one hour this Monday morning in prayer,” or “I will pray for an opportunity this week to share my testimony with someone.”
• Share your commitment with someone and ask them to hold you accountable for it. We were never meant to walk with Jesus on our own! Whether it’s with one person or a small group, share your commitments, update each other on how you’re doing, and listen to what each person is hearing from God.

Matthew 1
Matthew 2
Matthew 3
Matthew 4
Matthew 5

Matthew 6
Matthew 7
Matthew 8
Matthew 9
Matthew 10

Matthew 11
Matthew 12
Matthew 13
Matthew 14
Matthew 15

Matthew 16
Matthew 17
Matthew 18
Matthew 19
Matthew 20

Matthew 21
Matthew 22
Matthew 23
Matthew 24
Matthew 25

Matthew 26
Matthew 27
Matthew 28
Mark 1
Mark 2

Mark 3
Mark 4
Mark 5
Mark 6
Mark 7

Mark 8
Mark 9
Mark 10
Mark 11
Mark 12

Mark 13
Mark 14
Mark 15
Mark 16
Luke 1

Luke 2
Luke 3
Luke 4
Luke 5
Luke 6

Luke 7
Luke 8
Luke 9
Luke 10
Luke 11

Luke 12
Luke 13
Luke 14
Luke 15
Luke 16

Luke 17
Luke 18
Luke 19
Luke 20
Luke 21

Luke 22
Luke 23
Luke 24
John 1
John 2

John 3
John 4
John 5
John 6
John 7

John 8
John 9
John 10
John 11
John 12

John 13
John 14
John 15
John 16
John 17

John 18
John 19
John 20
John 21