Hi friends,
What habits sustain your study of the Bible?
I might not have listed your approach - I’m curious to learn how you make God’s word a priority.
I find having a specific book of the bible to study deeply helps me. I’ve never got on well with reading plans because I always feel under pressure to keep up with the schedule! However, committing to studying a book means I can go at my own pace but regularly digest scripture with continuity. Once I’ve finished a book, it’s up to me which book I study next, rather than being dictated to by the reading plan. I take much more ownership of my study and enjoy it far more.
I find two words that caught my attention in this short question. Sustain & Priority.
Based on the title, “Daily Bible study”, I would say I am disqualified to give an opinion as I am NOT consistent with daily my Bible reading, much less a study. But when it comes to the sustaining part, I would say I can qualify to give a perspective.
I am in the habit of maintaining a devotion journal for a decade now. (I think I started journaling around 2013.) Within 10years, I was only able to use—(almost filled all pages, front and back)— two regular sized notebooks, which marks my poor consistency.
When I skim through the pages and notes that I have written, I can almost map out my spiritual troughs and peaks throughout the passing months and years. Often I have quite long gaps lasting into months, maybe two quarters or more. I haven’t noted yet how long was I able to remain consistent without having gaps longer than a month. (I might try to look into that at a more convenient time.)
But talking about sustaining, I was able to sustain this format of Bible study and devotion so far by being persistent. I don’t frustrate myself of reading plans; neither do I use devotionals. I just thank God for every battle won over laziness, poor sleeping/waking habit, or misplaced priorities and go about reading His Word, praying for His enlightenment and listening to that still, small voice of guidance. And there has been a lot of times when what I was reading is just exactly what I needed for a particular situation or moment in my life. It would really amaze you to find a life lesson or real life application from plain reading of the Scriptures. It excites me to share them to my family during our family devotion—(which is also another struggle to be won on a daily basis)—whenever I find one.
So, did I prioritize God’s Word in my life on a daily basis? I miserably failed in that respect. But, have I been able to sustain a Bible reading/study habit? In some degree, I have.
I am definitely not a good example of someone who prioritizes God’s Word in life. (Just like now, while I’m typing this response, my kids are whiling away their time waiting for my prompt for our evening devotion and storytelling before going to sleep.) But I am a living testimony of God’s sustaining grace, despite of my poor sustaining quality.
Will invite my kids to prayer and devotion now 
For many years despite having a desire to read God’s word and having a love for God, after a few months of reading the bible my enthusiasm often flagged. The reason - I could not gather motivation for something I didnt understand. I struggle with making sense of cultural differences compared to the present time we live in, the passages that seem to go against a loving God, and the practical difficulty in remembering all the details of the different characters. So having an overall understanding of the story of the bible, the overview of books in the Bible project videos and having a study guide for each book, have helped me stay the course of reading through the Bible. Following a plan has been more helpful than following no plan at all. I may finish reading the bible in 2 years even with a 1 year plan but having no plan or accountability at all has been a sure way for me to not reach my bible reading goals. Many a times I have experienced feeling uplifted in my spirit as I read some bible verses and that energizes me to finish reading the bible through.
@Carson,
My wife and I have recently found a resource that has really helped us stay consistent in our time in the word.
Professor Grant Horner’s Bible-Reading System has been really exciting to use because of how fulfilling it has been to get the full council of God’s word and exciting to see the Bible provide commentary on itself by reading 1 chapter from 10 different sections of the Bible.
@alison, I’m right there with you.
Another thing I love is that its not driven by the calendar date so when I miss a day or want to read ahead I don’t have to adjust the plan dates. I just move the bookmarks in my Bible. There are numerous YouTube videos about how people keep track of where they are. I’ve been using bookmarks and the Ten Chapters app in the iOS app store, but am shifting to post-its to mark the chapter in conjunction with my bookmarks. Also considering checking each chapter in my Bible to track how many times i’ve read that chapter.
The variety in the readings have kept me engaged and when a new year begins i have often committed to reading the whole Bible but fall short when i get to a “slow” section.
I wanted to share in case others have a similar struggle and are looking to start afresh with the new year.