But sometimes it’s hard to know where to begin . . . especially when you’re feeling a bit lost in the middle of Leviticus.
Looking for some help? Check out Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin—a book written to help you develop a plan for engaging, consistent, and transformative Bible study.
For more, be sure to check out the infographic (6 Counterproductive Approaches to Studying the Bible) or download a free excerpt from the book!
It can be a challenge to consistently read the Bible, and many times it’s even more challenging to know where to begin!
ESVBible.org has a variety of free reading plans to help you get in the Word and stay in the Word. Examples of these reading plans include a chronological reading plan, the M’Cheyne one-year reading plan, a daily Psalm, or a plan to help you systematically memorize Scripture.
Reading plans on ESVBible.org are available to all users who create a free account. Once you create a free account, you can record your own notes, highlight and share verses, and track your progress.
Visit ESVBible.org and click on the calendar “Plans” icon in the top right corner.
A drop down menu will display all of the reading plan options.
Create a free account and track your progress!
Each Wednesday we share some recent links that we found informative, insightful, or helpful. These are often related to Crossway books, Bibles, or authors—but not always. We hope this list is an interesting and encouraging break for the middle of your week.
Dear Mr. al-Baghdadi,
Recently, you publicly presented yourself as the Caliph, the leader of a new order for the Islamic world. In your inaugural sermon at the mosque in Mosul near the ruins of Nineveh, you said, “If you see me on the right path, help me. If you see me on the wrong path, advise me and halt me.” I’ve given that offer some thought and wanted to follow up with you.
The Scripture recommends beautiful words as like “apples of gold” (Prov. 25:11) and illustrates such words in genres from David’s poetry to Jesus’ parables. How welcome, then, to read John Piper’s bracing Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully, in which the former pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church reintroduces the power of “poetic effort” by considering three titans of Christian rhetoric: the poet George Herbert, the evangelist George Whitefield, and the apologist and novelist C. S. Lewis. I suspect most readers will know something of Lewis, less of Whitefield, and Herbert least of all. But in Piper’s hands, the combination of these three aptly demonstrates the value of Christians’ literary labors for the glory of God and the edification of the church.
When it comes to the resurrection of Christ, there are an infinite number of possible alternative explanations for the development of belief in a risen Christ other than opting for the most obvious (Christ actually rose from the grave). For centuries skeptics and non-believers have offered their possibilities, but, in my opinion, they are never a probability.
Sometimes when we survey the landscape of missions we feel a tremor of despair in our hearts because of either the magnitude or the complexity of the task. My own feelings of boldness come and go for different reasons, and I felt the familiar tremors of discouragement as I read the news this week.
But there is a heart-lifting truth that holds us fast in the midst of the ground-shaking wars and rumors of wars. There is one piece of earth-shaking news that our forgetful hearts need to always remember. We live in the wake of Easter. Two thousand years ago the ground shook as the Son of God died on a cross, and three days later the earth trembled again as he walked out of his tomb never to die again. Our confidence is not in our earthly circumstances, but in a Person.
[Packer] is not naïve. He is 88! There is no romantic idealization for the final years of this life. It will be hard. “Aging,” he says, “is not for wimps.” Some may paint a rosy picture of life after seventy. Even John Wesley, Packer observes, said that at eighty-five “the only sign of deterioration that he could see in himself was that he could not run as fast as he used to.” With characteristic understatement Packer says: “With all due deference to that wonderful, seemingly tireless little man, we may reasonably suspect that he was overlooking some things.”
This is a guest post by Jen Wilkin and is part of Women of the Word Month, a free 31-day campaign designed to encourage and equip women for transformative Bible study. Learn more or sign up at crossway.org/women.
As women, we must often find creative ways to work “time in the Word” into our schedules. Depending on our life stage, we may find ourselves squeezing in fifteen minutes in the morning before the baby wakes, taking two hours on a Wednesday evening that suddenly opens up because of a cancelled meeting, or stealing a few minutes before bedtime when the day’s tasks are finally put to rest.
I’m often asked by women for tips on how to make the most of the time we have to spend in the Word. Here are five ways to make the time you have count:
It can be tempting to want our personal study time to fill our emotional tank for the day. We may rush to find an application point we can act on in whatever time we have. This may mean we limit our time in the Word to devotional reading—meditating on a passage and looking for a way to put it to immediate use.
Devotional reading is beneficial, but it is not foundational, and its benefit actually increases exponentially as we grow in our foundational understanding of the Bible. Draw a distinction between devotional time and study time. Then decide how much time you will allocate to each, based on their relative merits. Dedicate your study time to building a foundational knowledge of Scripture.
It is tempting to read the Bible as a road map for our lives or a guide for abundant living. But the Bible, strictly speaking, is not a book about us. It is a book about God. From Genesis to Revelation, it reveals and celebrates the character and work of God. We do gain self-knowledge, but only as we gain God-knowledge, learning to see our own character in relation to His.
Read asking “What does this passage teach me about God?” Then see yourself in relation to Him: “Knowing that God is longsuffering causes me to reflect on how impatient I am. How then should I live?” Allow application of a passage to flow from seeing God in a particular light.
Think of Bible study as a savings account rather than a debit card. Rather than viewing it as a declining balance you draw on to fill an immediate need, allow it to have a cumulative effect over weeks, months, years. You may not reach understanding of a passage or be able to apply it well after one day’s exposure to it. That’s okay. Keep making deposits into your account, trusting that in God’s perfect timing he will illuminate the meaning and usefulness of what you’ve studied, compounding its worth.
What if the passage you study today is preparing you for a trial ten years from now? Study faithfully now, trusting that nothing is wasted, whether your study time resolves neatly in thirty minutes or not.
Rather than reading passages pulled from different parts of the Bible each day, choose a book and stay there. Jumping around from passage to passage can leave us with spot knowledge of Scripture. We may grow very familiar with certain passages, but we might never learn their context.
Reading a book of the Bible from start to finish helps us connect the dots of our spot knowledge into a cohesive understanding of the text. Be sure to learn the background information for the book (the who/what/when/why/where) before you dive in so that you can place it in its proper historical and cultural context as you read.
We lack wisdom. Never are we more aware of this fact than when we embark on becoming students of the Bible. Pray before, during, and after your study time. Ask God to give you ears to hear. Like the psalmist, pray: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Acknowledge your limitations, and humbly ask Him to grant you wisdom and insight as you study.
He will never refuse your request.
Jen Wilkin is a speaker, writer, and teacher of women’s Bible studies. During her thirteen years of teaching, she has organized and led studies for women in home, church, and parachurch contexts. Jen and her family are members of the Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. She is the author of Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds.
This Q&A with Jen Wilkin is part of Women of the Word Month, a free 31-day campaign designed to encourage and equip women for transformative Bible study. Learn more or sign up at crossway.org/women.
We recently asked readers to submit questions about Bible study for Jen Wilkin, author of Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds.
Yesterday, we published Part 1 of Jen’s response. Here’s Part 2:
Jen Wilkin is a speaker, writer, and teacher of women’s Bible studies. During her thirteen years of teaching, she has organized and led studies for women in home, church, and parachurch contexts. Jen and her family are members of the Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. She is the author of Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds.
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