KEYS FOR CHRISTIANS
TO JUMPSTART THEIR BIBLE STUDY
Have you ever been stuck in a slump? Too busy? Been on a bible study vacation? Too tired to crack your bible by the time you get to your own "quiet time"? Is your bible in eyeball reach?... If not - it needs to be. Expose your bible to your sight, where you see it often. Prompting a decent schedule of at home bible study for busy Christians needs a little "in the face" strategy. Sometimes we get caught up in whirlwinds - emotionally, mentally, spiritually. Reading the Word can help relieve of mental stress! Can we handle our own day? Yes. But to what degree?... Will we face frustration at some point? Probably. Will we have to deal with our own anger or the anger of others? Hopefully not - but we may. As Christians we don't WANT to sweat the small stuff - the BIG stuff is tough enough to deal with. When we've constructed our way of re-thinking through the Word of God via bible study - what then is better?... Your way or God's?... Keep His word close by - He says what He means and means what He says... trust Him. Keeping my bible on my nightstand at all times helps me to take note that my refuge to a long hard day is waiting to soothe me with comforting words. Before bedtime reading your bible helps knock the edge off your cluttered mind before snoozing. Another small key is to keep a calendar handy that quotes a bible verse per day. By starting off small it may encourage you to reach for your bible and read the scripture below and/or above - again aiding in a little more study. It just might be the "lift me up" you need at that point in your day! I've found this very helpful - especially on the job scene. Keeping a small day-by-day bible verse calendar in plain sight provides added enlightenment and character to my sometimes "pull my hair out" kind of day. We all need that extra shot of encouragment - it keeps us in line with our own Christianity. Just a few minutes here and there adds to bible study in a busy day. A few minutes of bible study in each day is better than - say, studying tomorrow... or the next day... (this means two days have gone by without any type of bible study!) Another helpful key is to EVERYDAY at a random time, before work, at lunch, on break, before bedtime, and yes - even during a TV commercial (whatever works!), pick up your bible. Read ONE VERSE (or more - your choice) but read! I assure you that as you do this you will start building your bible study time up pronto! Try bringing your bible on a trip while you spouse is driving - and if your spouse drives anything like my spouse you'll be glad you're reading the bible! Honestly, reading at those few little in-between moments will considerably add to revitilizing your Christian bible study plan! Should you have your own bible (and most Christians do) - great! If you don't own your own bible - and I do mean your OWN BIBLE - perhaps you may consider obtaining one. Every family member should have their own bible, each spouse, each child. There are childrens versons available as well. When each individual owns their very own bible it instills a sense of security, peace, joy and most importantly - independent reading when they desire to do so. And what about those newlyweds?... Giving a new Family Bible to the young (or young at heart) just starting off in a new marriage is ideal! (I wish someone would have done that for me for my first marriage! - as described below...) Or try giving the bride and groom their OWN bibles. What a unique wedding present - far surpasses candlesticks and picture frames! College kids? Do they have their own bible?... Send their bible off to college with them. If they don't take it - mail it. Sure, they might tuck in in a dorm closet - so what?... Then again...who's to say they won't crack that book on occassion? If they haven't applied a little bible study before now this just might warrant a time to do so! Starting with small efforts will help reap BIG rewards toward reaching your Christian bible study goals!
HELPFUL KEY FOR BIBLE STUDY - OR JUST BECAUSE...To go DIRECTLY to a specific scripture just by typing a key-word into a search box I
use this EXTREMELY helpful and easy reference in guiding my bible study to any particuliar scripture I'm seeking.
How My Bible Study Started On The Job!
ONE Nun, ONE Bible, ONE Lost Soul, ONE GOD
A young new bride of a couple of months with a full time job. It was a small office of about five people - none of which I chose to get close enough to in sharing my troubled mind. No one knew, except for my mother, that although in newlywed status - my marriage was already under fire. As it goes my "other half" became more committed to the bar stool than marriage. Although I knew he had a "more than average" drinking skill - I chose not to base my concentration on the down side - I hoped for the best and chose to think on the up side. I learned that there was no "up side". I could not change him. So, living with the deteriorating marriage my hopes were steadily decreasing. I became withdrawn, depressed, and felt pains of guilt just knowing that as sacred as my vows were to me - they were on the verge of being broken. I felt guilty because I knew that I would be the one to break them. Bible Study Came As On The Job Training
One particular day, April 19, 1979, to be exact, just before my lunch time, I received a turn of events that would make a dramatic change on my life. As I meandered along, going through the motions at work that distinct morning I wondered what the evening at home would be like. Did I have anything left in me to get through just "one more time"? I steadily wondered if he would come straight home or make his "pit stop". My heart was heavy as every other day before this one. Being young, proud and inwardly ashamed to admit that my marriage was failing I found myself weaving a cocoon of spiritual combat around myself. I was riding an emotional roller coaster and fought against my own heart as to how I could go on. I was not happy and I had no escape. I didn't relate my inward stress or troubles to anyone - I didn't have to - my personality reflected it. They knew what I was up against yet they knew me well enough not to ask if they could help me. Stubborn on the outside and crumbling on the inside - I would not let anyone in. I knew deep in my heart that this was my battle and I knew even deeper that I could not fight it forever and it was taking everything I had to deal with it by myself... As it happened that day, I grabbed my purse and was headed out to lunch when I looked up from my work station and there stood a nun - in full habit, clutching a couple of books. She smiled at me and said, "Good morning! I am with the Sisters of St. Paul. Are you interested in purchasing a bible?"... The state of mind I was in at that time prompted only a dead pan look on my face. The only thought I had at that time was... 'she has got to be kidding'. I couldn't concentrate on reading the newspaper nevertheless a bible! However, immediately I emerged from my trance and then it hit me! HOW can I tell this nun that I don't want to buy this bible that she's obviously trying to sell to help aid in her holy order?... I'm feeling enough guilt as it is over ending my marriage (that took place in church!) and NOW if I don't buy this bible I'll have to live with the guilt of turning a nun down in the time of her need! Reluctantly, I took out my check book and felt another pain of guilt - I only had about $5.00 left in my account until payday... (young new marriage, remember?... struggling along on peanuts) But I did it anyway - I wrote out a $20.00 check to a nun for a bible. Three days later I got a notice that my check had bounced. Was I ready for bible study by then?!!.... As it turned out, yes. I took my newly purchased bible home the day I bought it and started reading. And my bounced check?... The bank paid the check and I paid the overdraft fee BUT it was the best money I had EVER SPENT! That was twenty-eight years ago - I still have my black leather bound bible to this day and it reads just as beautifullly as it did back then. Since that day in 1979 I'm still finding a NEW word from God and a new reason for my continuing bible study. The bible I purchased was The New American Bible. The scriptures you read within my site are taken from this source. My first marriage did end in divorce shortly after the nun came by. I stayed single for twelve years. To state it quite bluntly and honestly, when you trust in God and believe all good things are possible through Jesus Christ - you are lead to a higher dimension. I'm happily remarried to a GOOD man, I have a twenty-two year old stepson that is so dear that I can't imagine some of the horror stories I hear of other families where there are "steps" envolved - and there's my beautiful little one - my sweet child who has taught me to make it "simple" and humbled me with his words of spiritual wisdom... "LOOK! WHEN YOU TURN THE CROSS SIDEWAYS IT BECOMES THE KEY TO JESUS' HOUSE... WITHOUT IT YOU CAN'T GET INTO HEAVEN"...
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