Try...
¨ Find a place where you can study without been distracted and have some privacy. That might be your bedroom, or some where else...a cafe, a library, the train...whatever…
¨ Choose a time when you're going to be awake! Quality v quantity...
¨ Pray before and after you study
Reading…
¨ Don't just start reading the Bible from the beginning...this puts a lot of people off. Instead, try start with smaller books such as James and Mark in the New Testament.
¨ Try read a book several times before you move on to another...it will help you to remember it and understand it
¨ Read "byte size" chunks...not too much...or too little...
¨ If it helps, read aloud...
¨ As you read, ask yourself questions like why? how? where? when? why did they say that? how did they say it? how did they react? how does this help me? how does this apply to my life? what came before this passage? what comes after?
Going deeper...
¨ Try using a Bible commentary. These aim to expand and explain what the Bible is saying. You can buy these from most Christian book shops. One popular range is called Bible speaks today...try seach for it on http://www.amazon.co.uk/
¨ If you'd prefer to use the internet, gospelcom.net has some commentaries at http://eword.gospelcom.net/comments/
¨ Alternatively, try speaking to your minister - maybe he / she will loan you one
But I don't like reading / find it hard to read!
Try listening to the Bible online or download mp3's for your iPod / mp3 player. As well as this, there are a growing number of Churches uploading sermons or 'pod casts'. If you have a long journey to school / work, why not use this time as part of your studies?
Check out some of these sites:
¨ http://www.tonycampolo.org/media.php
¨ http://www.gotquestions.org/audio-Bible-questions.html
¨ http://www.sermonaudio.com/ lets you listen for free / download if you subscribe to their weekly news letter
¨ http://www.essentialchristian.com/ have lots of well know speakers and cover conferences such as Spring Harvest. Note they charge for downloads
¨ http://www.audiotreasure.com/ let you listen to the Bible on-line or download each chapter as an mp3 file.
Use Bible Notes
Bible notes suggest what bits of the Bible to read each day and try to explain what they are about. Have a look at some of these:
¨ http://www.word-on-the-web.co.uk/
¨ http://www.ucb.co.uk/index.cfm?itemid=1429
¨ http://www.ucb.co.uk/word_for_today
Notes from http://www.scriptureunion.org.uk/ include:
¨ Ignite
¨ Dayzd
¨ Airlock
¨ One UP
Note that UCB will post you are free copy of The Word 4U 2Day every three months if you sign up at http://www.ucb.co.uk/signup_w4u
Read the Bible in a year
You can buy Bibles made for this purpose, or you can follow a plan such as that on http://www.ucb.co.uk/bible_in_a_year
Look a different topics
Some people prefer to look at specific issues in the Bible. If that's you, checkout:
¨ http://www.gotquestions.org/
¨ http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermonstopic.asp
¨ http://www.youthideas.co.uk/yw/talk/index.shtml
Mobile phone
Get messages sent to your phone. See http://www.thewordismusic.com/mobile.php
Read different versions of the Bible
A Bible verse can make more sense in one translation when compared to another. Try comparing different versions at http://www.biblegateway.com/
Paraphrased versions of the Bible
These are shortened versions of the Bible that miss out some of the details, to make them easier to read. The main ones are:
¨ The Message - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Message_(Bible)
¨ The Street Bible - http://www.thestreetbible.com/
¨ 100 Minute Bible - http://www.the100-minutepress.com/
¨ The Brick testament - see http://www.thebricktestament.com/
Lecto Devina
This is a way of reading the Bible...have a look at http://www.meditationforchristians.com/sec2pt8.htm
Blogs
A blog is a journal that anybody can read. Sometimes reading about other peoples spiritual journey can help us think about where we are at.
You can read blogs using a web browser or a news alligator such as feedreader...a program that periodically checks a blog to see if there is something new for you to look at. Feed reader can be downloaded from http://www.feedreader.com/
Once you've installed feedreader, try subscribe to some Atom feeds / RSS feeds:
¨ http://www.gotquestions.org/gqaudio.xml
¨ http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/index.rdf
¨ http://www.ucb.co.uk/rss/word4U2day.xml
¨ http://www.youthideas.co.uk/yw/blog/atom.xml
Note that Atom / RSS feed links often appear as XML or RSS icons
TV and Radio
¨ UCB radio (Sky channel 875, 886, 884, 885) and TV (Sky channel 766) have quite a lot of stuff from the UK
¨ The God Channel (Sky 671) has a mixture of American and UK programs
¨ iTunes ’radio’ include some Christian stations. You can download it for free at http://www.apple.com/itunes/
Books
¨ Young Believer Instant Message published by Tyndale kids
¨ Ask Hayley / ask Justin by Hayley Morgan, Justin Lookadoo
¨ A->Z of being a girl of God, by Dawnie Reynolds-Deaville
¨ Street life by Rob Lacey & Nick Page
¨ Answers to Tough Questions, by Josh McDowell & Don Stewart
¨ Teenage Boy's Survival Handbook by Nick Harding
¨ Sex has a price tag by Pam Stenzel
Book shops
¨ The Good News Bookshop, Pickering http://www.goodnewsbookshop.vze.com/
¨ Lighthouse books, Saville Street, Malton http://www.lighthousebooks.co.uk/
¨ http://www.wesleyowen.com/ are a large chain of Christian book shops
Christian Websites
¨ http://www.biblegateway.com/
¨ http://www.gotquestions.org/
¨ http://www.thebricktestament.com/
¨ http://www.word-on-the-web.co.uk/
¨ http://www.cartoonchurch.com/blog/
¨ http://christiananswers.net/
¨ http://www.beingyourself.info/
¨ http://www.careconfidential.com/
¨ http://www.christiansinsport.org.uk/
¨ http://www.ship-of-fools.com/
¨ http://web.ukonline.co.uk/paradigm/index.htm
¨ http://www.clubberstemple.com/
¨ http://www.christianmetal.com/cmn/cmnmenu.htm
¨ http://www.emergingchurch.info/prayer/lamp.html
¨ http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/
Other Websites
¨ http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/talis.htm
What if I don’t have the Internet?
Most Libraries in North Yorkshire provide free access to it’s members!
Print this page out
You can download this page as a double sided leaflet (PDF file) that folds in three here
Copyright 2006 Nigel Coates