Bible Study and Discipleship

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A key component in personal discipleship is the practice of spiritual disciplines.  Spiritual disciplines are not meant to make you more liked by Jesus but more like Jesus.  We discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness (1 Tim. 4:7).

No discipline is more important than regular Bible study because it encourages every other spiritual discipline.

7 Reasons Bible Reading Is Inconsistent

  1. You don’t know where the finish line is.  Don’t approach Bible reading without a plan.  Commit your work to the LORD (Prov. 16:3) and make a plan.
  2. You attempt a marathon before you have completed a lap.  Try reading an entire book of the Bible before you read the entire Bible.  Developing these muscles take some time, so work on gradual maturity (Eph. 4:15).
  3. You don’t have a workout partner.  You are less likely to neglect the gym if you have someone waiting there for you.  Read through the same plan together so you can sharpen one another (Prov. 27:17).
  4. You get stagnate with your time when you don’t have an adequate amount of time.  Don’t neglect reading altogether if you can’t find the preferred amount of time.  Redeem the time you can redeem by avoiding evil distractions (Eph. 5:15-16).
  5. You aren’t preparing yourself for success.  Set your equipment up so that you are ready to read the next day.  There is great wisdom in preparation (Prov. 24:27).
  6. You never push yourself.  Any type of discipline strives not to maintain but to improve.  Keep making progress and pushing yourself in Bible reading (2 Pet. 3:18).
  7. You forget the purpose for why you are running.  If anything other than godliness is your purpose for spiritual discipline, you will lose momentum (1 Tim. 4:7).  Let that thought be the driving nature behind your disciplines – you desire to be more like Jesus.

4 Steps to Bible Reading

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statues and rules in Israel (Ezra 7:10).

  1. Devote – Make your up mind that you are going to devote yourself to read God’s Word intentionally.
  2. Study – Focus on making progress in your knowledge of the Word by consistent study.
  3. Apply – Study until you find something specific you need to apply into your own life.
  4. Teach – Commit to discipleship by finding someone to teach what you have learned that very day.

Practice Time

While Christians talk about the importance of a quiet time, it is rare to hear people articulate how to do a quiet time.

For our course time, I want to model how I do a quiet time.  It is nothing profound, but at least it will serve as an example to gauge your experience by.  You can watch the video above, but I really encourage you to find a spiritual mentor and ask them to show you what they do on a regular basis.