So in the previous article I made reference to 1Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 which says that the natural man cannot receive or know the things of God because they are spiritually discerned. Then I said that meant the flesh part of the intellect or the brain. But I want to add also that the natural man in this scripture is referring to the sinful nature in humans. As long as people are living according to the sinful nature, they cannot understand the things of God. People are naturally accustomed to living their lives by doing what ever the sin nature tells them to do instead of listening to the leading of the Holy Spirit. This relates to understanding the bible and how to read it. If sinful people are to ever read the bible and understand it, they must become born again.
The Holy Bible is not just any book. It is not like any other book in the world. It is a spiritual book. And therefore must be read with spiritual understanding. It's not as difficult as it may sound.
Many people have said that they tried to read the bible but they couldn't understand it. There are a few things we should understand first that will make bible reading easier and joyful.
The bible is almost like a written code. For people to understand it, they must have the proper code key that will help them break the code so they can understand it. This code key is the Holy Spirit! If you really want to read and understand the bible you must have the indwelling Holy Spirit who will assist you in reading, and who will reveal the Word of God to you! This is the main key. If you ever want to understand the bible. This one factor is the most important thing for you to have.
Remember, reading the bible is part of the relationship you have with God. It is not a religious ritual!
So now with your relationship with God, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit, you are equipped and ready to read.
Now don't try to read the bible like you would any book, like a text book or encyclopedia or something. It takes more than your brain to read this book. Remember the scripture reference and what I said earlier about the brain and the sinful nature not understanding God? The bible is a spiritual book. So you want to read it with your heart(spirit). In order to do that we must pray. Praying is opening our heart to God and preparing ourself to be able to receive what it is that the Holy Spirit may want to teach us. So pray first and ask God to help you to understand what it is that you are reading. Believe that He hears your prayer. (Believing that He hears you is faith in action). And then He will hear and answer by revealing Himself to you as you read!
Another tip to reading the bible is the way you read it. By that I mean there are many different ways to read the bible. Some read through from cover to cover in a year. Some will open it randomly and just read anything. Some will try to read a chapter a day. The best way is to do what you sense the Spirit of God is leading you to do. I like to read by jumping around and connecting verses that relate to each other. And at other times I will just read a chapter at a time. Doing any of these is better than nothing at all. Just pick it up and start reading.
If you have never read the bible before and don't know how to begin, try to start in the gospel of John. The gospel of John in the New Testament is one of the easiest and most important books in the bible. Some other places to start reading is the other three gospels, Matthew, Mark, or Luke. And then Psalms and Proverbs. Or you could just start at the front in Genesis. If you start out in Genesis, it can be a long way to getting to the gospels which is the most important part for brand new Christians.
Another tip is, try not to cover a lot of chapters in a hurry so that you could say that you read it all. People that speed read the bible never develop a relationship with God. Sometimes you can sit down and read just one verse. Read it slow, read it over again and again. This procedure will plant the scripture deep in your spirit, grounding you in the Word of God, and building your spirit up strong. Read this way through a chapter until a verse seems to jump out at you. When this happens, you want to stop on that verse and begin to read it over and over. Dwell on that one verse. When a verse jumps out at you, that is God speaking to you through that verse. So you want to spend more time on it. This way of reading scripture will feed your spirit and is the best way to read. It's not just reading it but praying the scripture as you read. Remember the Lord is with you in this helping you understand it.
Now to summarize the most important things to knowing how to read the bible properly for understanding are:
1) you must be born again according to scripture with the indwelling Holy Spirit.
2) reading the bible is not ritual, it is working out a relationship with God.
3) read with an open heart not just with your brain.
4) you must pray and ask God to reveal Himself to you as you read.
5) read slow and prayerfully to digest the Word.
What should be number 6 is, read the bible everyday. You will notice your progress and spiritual strength increasing. But if you slack off and stop reading, you will become weak in your spirit and more vulnerable to temptation. Keep reading to keep out of spiritual problems. God bless you! I hope this helps you to develop a better relationship with God!
An article post Coming Soon: How to know which Bible version to choose ...keep visiting this blog!
