Journey to Eternity Podcast

Practical Tips for Building Consistent Bible Reading Habits

• Luisa and Mike Sirignano • Episode 45

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Could a simple habit transform your spiritual life? Discover how incorporating Bible reading and prayer into your daily routine can overcome common obstacles and deepen your relationship with God. Join Luisa and Mike on this engaging episode of the Journey to Eternity podcast as they share insights and practical solutions for tackling the challenges Christians face. From addressing the excuses that keep us from engaging with God's Word to exploring the benefits of listening to the Bible for those who struggle with reading, this episode is packed with valuable advice.

Learn the profound impact of Bible reading on building a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Luisa and Mike discuss the transformative power of praying before reading to invite the Holy Spirit's guidance and how starting with a short book like 1 John can spark a deeper connection with scripture. Discover different approaches to note-taking that can enhance your spiritual journey, and gain practical tips on how to manage your time effectively to prioritize Bible reading amidst modern life's demands, inspired by reflections on Psalm 90:12.

What's the secret to consistent Bible reading? Find out as Luisa and Mike emphasize the importance of creating a regular habit, regardless of the time you have each day. This episode covers strategies for reading and absorbing scripture, the benefits of meditation and application, and overcoming the fear of Bible conviction. Learn how spiritual insight grows with consistent reading and the role of mutual support among believers in maintaining a faithful walk with God. Don't miss the invitation to connect with the Journey to Eternity community through their website for further engagement and support.

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Luisa:

Welcome to the show. I'm Louisa.

Mike:

And I'm Mike, and this is episode 45 of the Journey to Eternity podcast.

Luisa:

In every episode, we help Christians use God's Word to navigate everyday life in a sinful, fallen world.

Mike:

Everyday life for a Christian has a few components that don't apply to the rest of the world. We already live in a space of too much to do and only so many hours in a day.

Luisa:

And the two main things that Christians have to include in an already busy day are the Bible and prayer.

Mike:

And make no mistake, these are not only important but must become a part of our everyday life. Ever notice that when we're looking to do these basic tenets of our faith, that there always seems to be an obstacle in the way, a distraction, something more appealing?

Luisa:

And then it doesn't happen or we rush through it.

Mike:

Right and sadly it's something we all experience. So in today's episode we're going to look at five obstacles we encounter when it comes to reading the Bible and we'll give you some practical solutions on how to overcome them. And truthfully, the word obstacle is being kind. It's more like we're making excuses for our lack of obedience. But before we get started, let's pray.

Luisa:

Oh, father, god, thank you for your goodness to both Mike and I, allowing us to speak into the hearts of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We ask that you use this episode to stir the hearts of all who listen. Help us to get out of the way of the Holy Spirit, knowing that only through your strength are we able to do the work for your kingdom. That your name be honored and glorified. We pray this in your son's name, amen.

Mike:

Amen. So let's get right into it. In almost every podcast episode, you hear me extol the benefits of reading and studying your Bible. To me, it is the basic way to navigate everyday life in a sinful, fallen world. Now, I'm banking on that. Being a Christian, we have the desire to read and study the Word. If you call yourself a Christian and don't have the desire or think you can get through your walk with the Lord without Bible reading, that's a problem. But for today, we'll say that the desire is genuine.

Luisa:

We all struggle at times with our Bible reading. Mike and I have gone through slow seasons and dry seasons, so we are all in the same boat. But when you get right down to it, we are just making excuses. This is a quote from Charles Spurgeon. Half of our fears arise from neglect of the Bible.

Mike:

Amen. Now, before we move on, I want to be sensitive to those who struggle in their reading skills or maybe can't read at all. Now, in this age of technology, everyone has a cell phone. There are countless Bible apps and almost all of them have an audio version, so you can listen to the Bible whenever you want. In fact, in the book of James, in chapter 1, james talks about people listening and hearing God's Word. Bibles were not available in that time and the majority of people couldn't read anyway, so the Word of God was learned by listening. It's effective and it's a great way to study the truth.

Luisa:

And that means listening to the actual Bible.

Mike:

Yeah, I want to make that distinction. We often hear people say, well, I listened to a sermon today, or I listened to sermons, and there's a difference between the Bible and a sermon.

Luisa:

It can't be substituted for the Bible.

Mike:

So when we want you to listen to the Bible, that means actually taking the Bible app. It means actually finding a book or a chapter that you want to focus on and just listen to them. Recite it to you. You could do this in your car. I think it's a great way to pass the time on a long drive. You could sit there and put on the Gospel of Matthew and probably by the time you get to the end of it, you'll be where you want to go, and you know that very well because you do a lot of driving and that's what you do, and I do it when I walk.

Luisa:

When I walk, I put a sermon on Right.

Mike:

How many times when you can't sleep, do you tell me? Well, I went down inside and I laid down and I listened to the Psalms all night.

Luisa:

I love the Psalms.

Mike:

And you could get to like Psalm 25 and eventually you might fall asleep.

Luisa:

Sometimes you get to Psalms 50, okay, and you're still awake, like I am. But you know what? I'm just letting all that soak into my spirit, exactly, and it calms me down and it brings me peace, because God's word is peaceful. It is.

Mike:

And we want to really make that distinction, that listening to a sermon you have to be careful who you listen to.

Luisa:

Right, there are many false teachers out there.

Mike:

You can listen to a lot of sermons, but you're not hearing the truth. God's word is the only truth. So when you are actually listening to the Bible, you know you're getting the actual truth of the Bible. Amen, amen. So let's look at God's Word. In Matthew, chapter 4 and verse 4, jesus responds to the devil's temptation by using Scripture to make a point.

Luisa:

He answered Amen. Man must not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Mike:

Amen. Now Jesus quotes from the Old Testament, which was all they had at the time, and this is actually from Deuteronomy, chapter 8 and verse 3. Notice that Jesus says it is written, because the only place that you're really going to get the true thing that God says is in the Bible. You can't get it from any man. You can't get it from any man. You can't get it from any preacher. Yes, they can explain the scriptures through preaching, but if you just want straight up what is God saying, you have to read and study the Bible. Now this analogy of using food and scripture makes a point. Jesus says you must not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. So if you don't eat food, you will eventually starve physically and then die physically.

Luisa:

And if you don't read and study the Bible, you will starve spiritually and die spiritually.

Mike:

Amen. So the number one reason people give us when it comes to not reading the Bible is I don't know where to start and I think we've all been there.

Luisa:

We certainly have I have to be honest, like when I first started reading my Bible, I was a hot mess. I was like where do I start? What do I read first?

Mike:

It's a big book.

Luisa:

Yeah, it's a big book, and it was very confusing and I just didn't have anybody to say to me you know, start here, Louisa. I had to really sit quiet with myself and just let God lead me to where he wanted me to start. In Isaiah, chapter 55 and verse 6 is a warning for all of us to heed. It says seek the Lord while he may be found, Call on him while he is near.

Mike:

Amen. Let's look at that nice Bible sitting there on your coffee table. Sure does look good, but it does no good if you never open it. That's the truth. I just want to tell you that God is sitting right there on your coffee table, or on your bookshelf, or on your nightstand.

Luisa:

Waiting for you to open up the book.

Mike:

Right, he's there watching you watch that TV show. He's there seeing you spend hours on your phone.

Luisa:

Right. So every time you ignore your Bible, every time you watch television or scroll your phone instead of opening up that book, you are effectively ignoring him. Think about that, Think about that. Think about that. It's like ah, I'm so ignored, yeah.

Mike:

You know, god is everywhere, right, all right. He's in all places and he's sitting right here in the room with us as we're doing this podcast. So if you're sitting in your living room watching TV, he's sitting there watching that show. He's everywhere we go, he's watching that same show you are.

Luisa:

So think about that.

Mike:

Now, as far as not knowing where to start, we're going to try to make this as easy as possible when you don't know where to start, just start. Sometimes we overthink this and it's really not that complicated. You just kind of open the Bible and start.

Luisa:

But the key is, yeah, open it and start. The key is to create the time to open it and start.

Mike:

We waste a lot of time making excuses as to why we don't do something. Have you ever heard the expression life is short? Well, according to the Bible, it is.

Luisa:

James, chapter 4 and verse 14 speaks about the shortness of life. Okay, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Mike:

Amen. The only way to know God is through his word.

Luisa:

We want to just help you to understand that. That's the only way you're going to know God.

Mike:

If you're not reading your Bible, you don't know God. Right, and if you don't know God, you are not going to get the chance after you vanish from this earth.

Luisa:

And you know what? Now is the time, babe. You know, tomorrow is not promised to any one of us. No and a lot of times you know human nature is I'll do it, start tomorrow, yeah, I'll start tomorrow. I'll start tomorrow, I'll start tomorrow, Okay. And then the gets the best of you and you never start.

Mike:

Exactly.

Luisa:

And the tomorrow is a month. Okay, I'll do it next month, or I'll do it once summer's over, or I'll do it in the beginning of winter. Whatever excuse we use, that's the problem.

Mike:

Right, you don't want to not take this seriously.

Luisa:

Right and there has to be a sense of urgency, guys, about this. It is not about gathering head knowledge. It's about being in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. You only get that through his word yes.

Mike:

So let's come up with a few things to help you get started.

Luisa:

We don't read the Bible like a romance novel and I think that's a big problem that people don't understand. People open up the book like if it's a novel and it's not a novel.

Mike:

No, there is a beginning and an end, but you don't have to start at the beginning.

Luisa:

Right.

Mike:

You can actually start anywhere you want, right? First thing we want you to do is To pray before you start.

Luisa:

I always pray before I start and I always ask the Holy Spirit to come into my reading and studying, because in my own flesh, I'm really stupid when it comes to reading the Bible. I really just no. I really sometimes no, in my flesh, babe. This is my honest truth. If I don't invite the Holy Spirit in to show me what God is trying to show me, then I'm just reading it in my flesh and I'm not getting the spiritual understanding that I need to get.

Mike:

There's really a reason for praying and it sounds like we're repeating ourselves because we talk about this all the time but praying before you start reading it'll put you in communion with God.

Luisa:

Right.

Mike:

It's going to get you into the space. You want to be in the right frame of mind.

Luisa:

And you want to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to you in everything you read. I need to do that. I want to see Jesus in my reading time Right, and you just want to ask for help, because we all need help when it comes to this.

Mike:

This is not a natural thing for us, and this is why.

Luisa:

I was saying that, when it comes to me and my flesh, I'm dumb. When it was reading the Bible. I could read a novel. I could read books. You know I'm an avid reader, I love to read, but I don't read. The same way that I read a book, my Bible, I don't, I can't.

Mike:

Everyone has what yours is, and start there Mine is 1 John.

Luisa:

That book has always been a book that has helped me to really understand Jesus Christ. Okay, it's a short, it's five chapters and it's just, it's practical and it's not too long and it's full of rich wisdom To take a book like that.

Mike:

what you can do is read the entire book, from start to finish, and then read it again, and then read it for 30 days. If you could set a goal to read a short book like that for 30 days straight. You'd be amazed what you're going to learn and what you're going to understand and how much you're going to enjoy.

Luisa:

My reading time with the Bible is what it is today, because that's how I started. I started 30 days and I didn't do anything else. I didn't read anything else, I just, every single day, I sat down for 30 days and read the same chapter book Right Now.

Mike:

You could read 1 John probably in about 15 minutes. But read it slowly, you soak up God's inspired word.

Luisa:

I mean read it and just think Don't just read. And then say okay, I read it and da, da, da, da.

Mike:

Right.

Luisa:

Just you read it slowly and you just absorb what the book is telling you and it's just such a gift for you, right it is.

Mike:

You do it for as long as it takes and let it seep into your mind and your heart, and then maybe you could start to like break it down into passages. Maybe you could just look at a few verses. But you really want to start. Just read the book, start to finish, for 30 straight days and see where you're at.

Luisa:

And I'm telling you, after those 30 days you're going to see so many things that you didn't see in the first day.

Mike:

That's the key, exactly Okay.

Luisa:

And that's the gift. So take some notes about what you read and how it affects your life.

Mike:

Right, you can write stuff down Now. Some people write in their Bibles I do that.

Luisa:

You know that. Right, some people use a notebook. That's what I do.

Mike:

Okay, for some reason I like my Bible clean. I don't know why. But then I look at your Bible and-.

Luisa:

It's a mess, but it's my mess. It's not really a mess, but it's.

Mike:

God speaking to you that this is what you're getting out of it. However you do, it is perfectly fine. One is not better than the other. Again, some people write all over their Bible, and then some people don't, I don't even like to highlight in my Bible. I don't know why.

Luisa:

You have the most cleanest Bible I see. All the time. I look at your Bible when I come into the prayer room and I see your Bible next to mine, I'm like, oh, this is so neat, but that's who you are, that's your personality.

Mike:

My pages are wrinkled though. Okay, Because my pages are wrinkled from turning them. I'm not going to say that, and you know what babe Writing?

Luisa:

what God is speaking to you. It will be embedded in your mind and in your heart, and that's the key, you know.

Mike:

And then talk to the Holy Spirit. He's going to let you know when it's time to move on. All right, Spirit. He's going to let you know when it's time to move on, All right. So when you're done with that book whatever book you have chose pick another book and do the same thing and make sure you pray. Make sure you pray and give thanks to God for giving you the desire to read his word and for helping you to understand it.

Luisa:

Reading and studying God's word is one of the most important things in your Christian walk. The enemy wants to stop you, distract you, take you out of your relationship with God. There's an urgency here. Our soul depends on it.

Mike:

Let's look at Psalm 1 and verses 1 to 2.

Luisa:

How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers. Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction. Amen.

Mike:

Now here's really the whole truth of the matter. We get to choose. You can choose the advice of the wicked or the Lord's instruction. Let's take them one at a time. The advice of the wicked comes in many forms.

Luisa:

It sure does.

Mike:

There's a whole list of them here. Number one television. We watch a lot of television.

Luisa:

How many people really can really be honest with themselves and say they watch a lot of TV, that it's become a habit for them, right?

Mike:

Now, I'm not saying television is inherently bad, right. I'm just saying that when it becomes an idol and gets in the way of your Bible reading, that's when it's a problem.

Luisa:

And again, we were both there. There were times when me and you were so addicted to TV it wasn't even funny we used to run home to watch things that we wanted to watch because, it did become an idol for us.

Mike:

Remember when you used to come home and you, this was our Sunday. Okay so we'd we'd get out of church.

Luisa:

Okay, baby, go ahead. It's time to spill the tea.

Mike:

We'd run home from church. We went to the nine o'clock service in our old church, right, all right, just so we could get out of there by 1030, just so we could get home by 11 o'clock, so that Louisa could watch.

Luisa:

Oprah, oprah.

Mike:

And then when Oprah was pushing into the 1 o'clock hour and I'm saying hey, wait a second.

Luisa:

Mike was not happy because Mike wanted to watch Football and that was our addiction of TV. Yeah, it was bad and it was all the time, and that's what we did, right, and that's why, you know, we don't have a TV anymore, because we knew that it was getting in our way with our walk of Christ.

Mike:

We shut the cable off.

Luisa:

Yeah, shut, it down.

Mike:

Now we have a big black box on the wall that sits there and Stares at us. Stares at us. Another thing is the internet and email. I can't tell you how much time people spend checking email in a day. Surfing the net, social media, Social media is a killer.

Luisa:

Social media is a big scourge. Yeah, I have to admit.

Mike:

And that's just the electronic portion of things. How about family and friends? Sometimes you're family and that'll keep you from reading God's word.

Luisa:

And look how many times when the girls are over here with me, they already know my schedule and what I do. And sometimes they want to do so much and it's like I need some time, like when Leah comes with me during the week. She knows I come in here at a certain time and I sit down and I read my Bible because it's important for me. Okay, we have to establish that with our friends and our family too. We have to establish those boundaries.

Mike:

And sometimes your church. If you're in a wrong church, you're not going to be getting the truth and that's going to deter you from God's word, because a lot of churches don't preach the truth.

Luisa:

Right, and I just remember all the time in our old church it was because I read my Bible. Amen I know it was because I read my Bible when they were up there and I was very aware of the false teaching that was going on in that church. Yes, yes, Because I read my Bible, I studied my Bible, I knew what the Bible said and thank you Jesus.

Mike:

Exactly.

Luisa:

And that's why it's so important to read the Bible because you have to understand how we're going to walk.

Mike:

The Lord's instruction comes from the Bible, plain and simple, right. So in the rest of that verse the psalmist is saying his delight is in the Lord's instruction and he meditates on it day and night. So where do we get our instruction from the word? We get it from God's word, and we also see how often we are to read his word, and it says day and night In a literal sense. You just want to have a consistent time.

Luisa:

It doesn't mean when the sun comes up and when the sun comes down. That's not what it's saying. You just want to read. Often you want to be consistent.

Mike:

You want to create that habit. Every day, Every day have a habit, and this leads us to our second reason as to why we don't read and study our Bible, and we hear it over and over again, and that is I just don't have the time. Yes, you do.

Luisa:

You know why? Because we all have 24 hours in a day, every single one of us, and this comes under the category of excuse.

Mike:

This is sure an excuse. There are reasons why we don't, there are obstacles that get in the way, and then there are excuses that we make.

Luisa:

This is an excuse.

Mike:

There are so many things that compete for our time and attention. It goes back to what we were talking about before Television.

Luisa:

Do you?

Mike:

know, the average person watches three hours a day of TV.

Luisa:

That's the average person.

Mike:

Three hours a day. That means some are watching like six to make up for those who don't watch it at all.

Luisa:

And internet and email is just like a lot too.

Mike:

Two and a half hours a day. Okay, I Googled all this, so these are not numbers I just threw out of my head.

Luisa:

All right, babe, come on, hit us with the social media.

Mike:

Social media Average time per day is three hours. Instagram, facebook, youtube, x oh X, twitter, whatever you want to call it, it's X now, baby.

Mike:

Check your screen time on your phone. If you look at your phone okay, and everybody should really be honest with this go into the screen time app on your phone and it's going to tell you exactly how much time you spend on your phone and it's going to tell you everything you looked at. It's going to tell you everything how much you spent on it. We think we're busy. Okay, we're not busy. We think we're productive. We're not productive.

Mike:

If you really are that busy that means you just have to sacrifice something, and the word is sacrifice.

Luisa:

That's the huge word right there.

Mike:

There's a lot for us to choose from when it comes to what we can sacrifice in order to spend 10 to 30 minutes a day.

Luisa:

You think you can do that. The question is are you willing to do that Right? That's the question.

Mike:

You can make the sacrifice, everybody can make it. It's a choice.

Luisa:

Here are a few things to overcome the time excuse.

Mike:

Number one change your mindset from negative to positive. Instead of saying I don't have the time, be honest and say I haven't made the time.

Luisa:

Right.

Mike:

Because you haven't.

Luisa:

And you have to be honest with yourself about that. So in Psalms 90 and verse 12 says teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts. I love that.

Mike:

Yeah.

Luisa:

I really, really love that Psalm.

Mike:

Listen, god is warning us here. These are warnings to us. Okay, number your days carefully, because God has only given us a certain number of days.

Luisa:

Right.

Mike:

And we don't know what that is. Only God knows.

Luisa:

Because life is so short, I'm telling you, and we have to learn how to use our time wisely.

Mike:

And we need to look at the choices that we're making because, again, tomorrow is not promised to us.

Luisa:

Right and wisdom comes from reading God's word.

Mike:

Think about how we use our time. We make time to do whatever we want.

Luisa:

Notice, I said whatever we want, and we have to understand, babe, in this Western world, that having our Bibles is a gift to us as. Christians, we have to really really understand that Not take that for granted. Never take that for granted. You go to so many other countries, and there are countries that wish they had a Bible in their hand and they don't. And they don't.

Mike:

We have plenty of them, I know.

Luisa:

And are you really in the space of gratitude that we are so blessed? To have God's word, to have God's word and we are not opening it up Like that. Should be really convicting for everybody, right?

Mike:

not opening it up. That should be really convicting for everybody, right? So when I say we have to make time to do whatever we want, you have to want this really bad, right? It's not more than something else. You have to want this more than everything else because this has got to be the priority and time is fleeting. So the next step is to figure out what you have to sacrifice, what do you have to give up, what do you have to change in order to make God's word a priority in your day?

Luisa:

And then here comes that word sacrifice again, because we do have to get something out.

Mike:

For me it's sleep when I was in a season of where I was really struggling to read and to open the book yeah, it was harsh and it could get away from you real fast. And what I understood was that, yeah, I kept telling myself I don't have time, I don't have time. So I had to make time. So there was a brother in the church who I know reads really early in the morning and I know because he used to send me stuff real early in the morning and I'm saying this dude is up early reading every day studying every day, sacrificing sleep, Sacrificing sleep, and I adopted that.

Mike:

And I listen. Nobody likes to sleep more than I do. Okay so, but I get up now like 45 minutes early than I have to.

Luisa:

But I'm so you know what I'm grateful for, babe that when you were in that season of that, I remember you used to come to bed and you used to read and you used to say, okay, at least I read something. But you really weren't absorbing what the word was saying because you were exhausted.

Mike:

I was tired, so I had to pick a time. So for me it was important to me to get up earlier, because now it's peaceful. It's peaceful here in the morning, I can do my work and then I can go to work.

Luisa:

And look at you creating that habit, babe, that you have. I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you, thank God. And for me it's exercise, babe. That's for me okay, and I know that I have a choice between exercise and reading my Bible. I work from home three times a week, okay.

Luisa:

So I have to be really careful with my time and what I do with it, and I always want to um, I always want to be mindful that I I have to read my Bible in that time. Okay, so either my days could be really busy, my mornings are busy when I work Okay, so I have to create the time to find the time to study, and either is go exercise or study, and I struggled with that. Because I like to exercise, I like to go for my walks, I like to go to the gym, I like to do all that, and I had to find a balance between that. And now I just choose, whenever I have available time, that I know that is my downtime, I go straight in the prayer room and you know that, and I just start reading and I created that habit. Again, it's creating a habit. A long time ago I made a conscious decision to do that and I did, and I just sat down and I said this is my study time and I do it.

Mike:

Right. So it's important, though, because you still get your exercise in, but it doesn't come before God's word.

Luisa:

Right. And then we have to always remember to create a basic structure for your day, and I do that by and this is something that I've done and it's helped me and I hope it will help you what I learned is that, before I sit down to study, I have to have everything there that I need while I'm studying. Okay. So I have my pen, I have my highlighters, I have my Bible, I have a dictionary and I have my cup of coffee.

Mike:

There you go.

Luisa:

Okay, my cup of coffee. This is what I need for me to study. Well, okay, you just can't start. I don't want to be distracted and say, oh, I got to go get a pen.

Mike:

Or.

Luisa:

I don't understand what this word means. Let me see if I can find a Bible, or let me open up my phone to see, and then, once I open my phone, my notification is off the hook. So I try to keep my phone out of my study time. The phone goes somewhere else because that's a huge distraction.

Mike:

Right, so it's important to just pick a time of day when you're alert and able to focus Right and you want to try to be consistent with this. 10 to 15 minutes at the same time every day is going to work wonders. You'd be really surprised. And, like I said before, for me it's early in the morning. At 5 am I get up, I take a shower, the shower wakes me up mentally and then I'm ready to go.

Luisa:

And for me, when the times that I'm home is 10 am and the days that I go to work it's 7 am.

Mike:

Right.

Luisa:

Okay, because I have to. If I don't study before I leave this house to go to work, it's never going to happen. I believe that Because I always tell you oh, I'm so upset because I didn't get to study my Bible when I was work. Hello, when I'm in the office.

Mike:

I don't have no time. You should be working. Right, I'm working, and.

Luisa:

I have to have integrity in my job and I don't want to make it that time, so I have to get up early enough to do it before I leave this house, exactly.

Mike:

Whatever works for you. So it's important that you don't have to do it at 5 in the morning or you don't have to do it at 10 in the morning.

Luisa:

You do whatever works for you.

Mike:

Once you make the time, make a sacrifice and create a slot in your day, that's half the battle.

Luisa:

Right, so now it's time to find a Bible reading plan.

Mike:

Bible reading plans are great and we're going to tell you why in a minute but they also can be an obstacle. So that brings us to the third reason why we may not read our Bible and I've lived this personally myself, and that is my Bible reading plan is overwhelming, and it can be. It can be this is another excuse Right, and we can really let it get in the way. So, for me, bible reading plans are a great way to structure your reading and studying, but not every plan is a good plan for you.

Luisa:

And I'm that person. The Bible reading plan doesn't work for me.

Mike:

Every year, our pastor sends out an email with like 20 different Bible reading plans, and I think that's such a blessing, because if you go through each of them, there's something out there for you.

Luisa:

And we've had, we've done it, we've done it together. I still do it. I still do it.

Mike:

And whatever you choose, you have to make sure that it's something you can stick with.

Luisa:

Right. Factor in how much time you have.

Mike:

Right. If you have 10 to 15 minutes, there are plans out there that are 10 to 15 minutes. If you have an hour, that's great. There are plans out there where you could really delve in deep and get a lot out of it. We all have different amounts of time. The amount is not as important as consistency is.

Luisa:

Right, and that's the key to consistency.

Mike:

If you say my time is 10 to 15 minutes a day, you could do that every day. That's better than saying, oh, my time is an hour, but you do it one day and then take two days off. Better off breaking it down into a smaller increment.

Luisa:

And quality is better than quantity.

Mike:

Exactly Always. So some of these plans have you reading five to six chapters a day. Now that's ambitious, okay. So maybe your capacity is only able to read one chapter a day and there's nothing wrong with that. I read one chapter a day and I don't. I get a lot out of my one chapter, but if I try to read five or six, it's like to me. It doesn't work well for me.

Luisa:

And I think that you have to make sure you don't read more than you can understand in the time you have, because that's what's going to bring the discouragement. So here are a few things to help you overcome the Bible reading plan excuse.

Mike:

I do recommend that you read the entire Bible, but a lot of these plans have you do it in one year, and that's a lot. Maybe for your situation you can do it, but for a lot of us it's too much, and maybe you can do it over a longer period of time. So I do believe that there is a plan for everyone. So what I recommend you do is do an internet search or, if you have a great pastor like ours, you just open his email and he'll show you 20 different plans.

Luisa:

Right and look for the one that you can manage in the time that you have allotted.

Mike:

Amen, so read only as much as you can absorb.

Luisa:

Leave a little time to meditate and think about what you read.

Mike:

Right. So you want to be able to apply what you read to your life. Amen, Just reading and then closing the book.

Luisa:

you want to take time to actually think about what you have, because this is God speaking to us and he wants us to apply what he's speaking to us to our lives. It's so important. People have to understand that.

Mike:

Right and also be consistent every day we talked about before, read at the same time every day, if it's possible. You have to create a discipline that will improve your consistency, and if you miss a day, don't get discouraged.

Luisa:

Right. Try not to miss, though, two days in a row. Right, if you miss two days in a row, it'll become a three-day in a row and it'll become a four-day in a row and then all of a sudden, you're like oh, I haven't read my Bible in five days. I wonder why my life is going the way it is.

Mike:

Right. That's why it's good that if you get one of these Bible reading plans, you could actually print it out and it's like in a checklist form, so you finish your day, you pray, and then you check it off and then you move to the next day. And then you could see where your check marks end. So if you miss a couple of days you got to go back and make it up.

Luisa:

Because you don't want Because you know what Some people are. Visual like that. Yeah, that's a great gift to have.

Mike:

I think it's great.

Luisa:

Moving on to reason number four, I just don't understand it.

Mike:

Psalm 119 and verse 130 tells us where you get understanding. It states the revelation of your words brings light and gives understanding to the inexperienced.

Luisa:

So you can't understand something you don't read, babe.

Mike:

And definitely when you're inexperienced which we all have been at one time in our walk you have to start reading, because that's the only way that you're going to ever understand it.

Luisa:

God's word is alive, it is his message to us and it has the power to change our lives and it's going to change yours.

Mike:

it has the power to change our lives and it's going to change yours, so you just have to read it. So now, on the flip side, if you don't know Christ, you surely will not understand.

Luisa:

This is a valid reason. People don't understand because they don't know Christ. God gives us his understanding of his word to those to whom he has chosen 1 Corinthians 2.14 tells us but the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God's Spirit, because it is foolishness to him. He is not able to understand it, since it is evaluated spiritually.

Mike:

Now it's important to know that if you do not have a personal relationship with God, you are going to find it very difficult to make sense of the Bible. So what do we do when we have trouble understanding? Ask for help.

Luisa:

Before you start your Bible reading, we encourage you to pray, ask God for understanding, ask Him to reveal what he wants you to know, and always invite the Holy Spirit in.

Mike:

Amen, and when you're reading your Bible, don't worry about what you don't understand.

Luisa:

You will never understand everything in the Bible. People have to understand that, okay, and that's what gets people discouraged, because they truly try to understand in their fleshly mind.

Mike:

There are mysteries that God never reveals. So what you really have to do is focus on what you do understand and read it several times, think about it, see how it speaks to you. It's important for you to just not get caught up in whatever is going to stop you not get caught up in the obstacles.

Luisa:

And you know what? Number three, when you are finished reading, we encourage you to pray again. Give God thanks for his word. Give him thanks for what he has revealed to you. I hear so many people, babe, say I want God to talk to me. He does Pick up your word and that's how he talks to you. Okay, that's how he talks to every single one of us. It's not an audible voice people want to hear.

Mike:

It's open up your word and he speaks loudly and speaking of what he reveals to you. The reason number five why people don't read their Bible and this is a really important one is a fear of conviction.

Luisa:

And again, we've all been there.

Mike:

We sure have.

Luisa:

Sometimes I open up that Bible and I'm reading it and I see from the corner of my eye what's the next verse and I'm like uh, uh, uh.

Mike:

Let me shut this Right.

Luisa:

So you know, in Hebrews, chapter four and verse 12 gives us an idea of how convicting the Bible can be.

Mike:

For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Luisa:

And you know what, babe, like we said before, there is stuff in the Bible that you will not want to read.

Mike:

Right, you should read it but you definitely don't want to read it Right. You know why? Because it exposes your sin, not only the physical sin that's on the outside, but the hidden sin that's on the outside but the hidden sin that's on the inside right, and not only are we fearful of what sin we are convicted of, but we have to repent of that sin right.

Mike:

There's action to be taken here. So the bible is always going to convict us, right. If you're a christian, you should always be looking at the bible, and it's always going to be oh again. I sinned again. Your sin will be exposed by the Bible, and it's not enough just to read that and say oh, there I go again. There's action to take, and our fleshly nature does not want to take any action.

Luisa:

So if you're reading your Bible in your natural way, fleshly desire, you're not even going to get convicted of the sin.

Mike:

There's many parts of the Bible God focuses on his wrath and judgment for our disobedience Right, and it ought to scare us into repentance, but sometimes it's going to paralyze you.

Luisa:

Yes.

Mike:

So what do you do when God's word reveals a sin and convicts you?

Luisa:

Once again, we encourage you to pray.

Mike:

We're going to tell you this over and over again. Praying simply means talking to God, and the most important part in confessing your sins to God is that you agree with him that what he has revealed about you is true.

Luisa:

Right, and that's a gift for us, though Okay, if we see it in that way that he reveals it to us, and that is true, then it gives us the opportunity to ask for forgiveness for our sin, ask him to help you to turn away from that sin, because in our own accord, we're not going to do it.

Mike:

Right. We have to be really, really confident that God is going to forgive us of our sin.

Luisa:

Right.

Mike:

And he will help us if we ask him for that help. And the next thing I recommend doing is to find a brother or sister that you feel comfortable with. I'm not saying you have to tell the whole church, you just have to find one person, and I know for me there's one or two guys that I feel really comfortable with in the church, that I can confess a sin to them and I have the same thing with women.

Luisa:

I have women that I sit down and we confess with each other our sins and we encourage each other and we carry each other's burdens, and that's the key because, sometimes you feel you don't want anybody to know your business and as a Christian, that's not how it's supposed to be, it's not going to work either. And I just find myself sometimes confessing because that's what God's words tell me to do. And then, once I confess it, it's like this heavy burden falls off my shoulders.

Mike:

Exactly.

Luisa:

And I'm able to walk the way God is expecting me to walk.

Mike:

And one thing you're going to find when you do that is that you might have a lot of sins in common with other people, and sometimes we get stuck thinking that we're the only one that does this and you find out quickly that no, a lot of these sins are very common amongst Christians. We are still sinful. Okay, we live in a sinful, fallen world, so we are all going to sin all the time.

Luisa:

And we have to ask our brothers and sisters in Christ, when we're sharing our burdens, to hold us accountable. Yes, that's the most important part of this is that you want accountability.

Mike:

I'm not confessing to you, just to tell you what.

Luisa:

I'm doing, I need help. I want you to help me Right.

Mike:

And I want you to hold me accountable. So maybe next week when you see me say hey, mike, how's?

Luisa:

that going with that Right.

Mike:

And you don't have to make a huge deal out of it. But if I know that somebody's going to come and ask me and say, hey, I know what you told me. Are you making any progress with that?

Luisa:

And I think that alone is a gift to us as well.

Mike:

It's a very huge gift. It's so big.

Luisa:

Slow and steady always wins the race Right.

Mike:

A lot of us have a lot of things that convicts us. I know I'm speaking for myself. I look at all the times I get convicted when I read the word, and it might seem impossible to change so many things.

Luisa:

Right, and I always say take one thing at a time.

Mike:

Exactly.

Luisa:

So you don't get overwhelmed.

Mike:

Take the biggest one, figure out what the biggest one is and start with that, and we all know which one that is for us, you know.

Luisa:

and every day meditate, every day meditate on the verse that convicted you. That's so important.

Mike:

Allow it to penetrate your heart and allow it just to get inside you. Romans 8 and verse 1 states therefore there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

Luisa:

Thank you, Lord. If you are in Christ, your sins are forgiven, and that is a promise.

Mike:

Amen. So, in conclusion, we can't stress enough on how important reading your Bible is. Now, there's two ways you can look at this. First off, there's a lot of misinformation out there A lot, all right. Not every preacher is a preacher of the truth, right? So again, we talked about false teachers before.

Luisa:

And we can only know God's truth by reading the fine print.

Mike:

Right, and the fine print is his word the Bereans in the Bible. They fact-checked Paul, so you can do the same thing. You could fact-check your pastor when they are preaching. Have your Bible open on your knee, on your lap so important. When he says I'm speaking God's word, look down. You don't have to look at him. Look down, look at the word. Make sure what he's saying matches what's in the book when you're listening to a sermon online again, it's okay to listen to sermons online but fact check them all.

Mike:

Right, wait a second. That's not in the Bible.

Luisa:

Right. So if they're speaking false lies, it will be very clear to you.

Mike:

Exactly Okay, and we've learned. Yes, we sure have.

Luisa:

We've learned from our old church that Bibles were never open.

Mike:

Right, that's why they kept it dark.

Luisa:

Right, they kept it dark. And whatever that pastor said, everybody believed.

Mike:

Right.

Luisa:

But you know what? My Bible stays open on my lap every time.

Mike:

And if they are speaking the truth, you're going to be able to understand it and follow along Right.

Luisa:

Another way to look at it is God wants us to know how to walk as men and women of God. Amen. We all have a role. Men have a role, women have a role, and if we don't read our Bible, how am I going to know how to be a godly wife? How am I going to know how to be a godly woman? How am I going to know how to lead my children in a godly way? How are you going to know to lead your household?

Mike:

Exactly. God expects a lot from us and we're never going to know what we have to do if we don't read his word. Because that's the only place that we're going to get clear instruction.

Luisa:

Right. So then what happens is that Christians start living the worldly way.

Mike:

Exactly.

Luisa:

Because they don't have instruction on how to be godly men and women and they're listening to the wrong people. And they're listening to the wrong people and they're listening to the wrong people and they're doing everything in their own accord and it doesn't work.

Mike:

The day of the Lord is coming when we least expect it.

Luisa:

And babe, there has to be an urgency about knowing God and His Word. Let's pray.

Mike:

Oh, Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for this opportunity to encourage our brothers and sisters in an area where we all struggle from time to time. Help us not to allow life to get in the way of you. Help us all to see the urgency of knowing you and your word, because the day of the Lord is near. It is in his precious name we pray.

Luisa:

Amen. So that wraps up episode 45. We thank you for listening. We invite you to leave us a comment or a question by going to our website at J T E podcastorg.

Mike:

That's J T E podcastorg.

Luisa:

Click on the contact us page and we will respond within 24 hours. If you don't personally know us, introduce yourselves. We would love to get to know you from across the states or around the world.

Mike:

And while you're there, you can subscribe to the podcast and receive an email the minute a new episode is published. You can also find all of our previous episodes, and we invite you to find one that resonates with you.

Luisa:

And, as always, please support us by sharing this podcast with a friend or on your social media page.

Mike:

So till next time. We wish you God's blessing as you navigate everyday life in a sinful, fallen world.

Luisa:

May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

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Luisa and Mike Sirignano

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