We are revisiting an article from Substack where Cory teaches us not to rush into Scripture like it is just another task on the list.
Here is a quote from the article:
God does not love us more because we prepare, but preparation helps us become more present and aware of His voice.
Expect practical encouragement to slow down, pray first, remove distractions, tell the truth before God, and enjoy the meal of the Word.
Prepare to Read Yo’ Bible
When you’re going to play a football game, you stretch first. When you’re going to play a round of golf, you hit the practice range. When you want to grill some chicken, you marinate it hours before dinner.
But when you want to read your Bible, how do you prepare?
We prepare for a lot of things, often trivial things. Yet we can rush into spiritual things like they don’t deserve the same attention.
This is why a church service often begins with worship before preaching. We talk to God before we ask Him to talk to us. We offer praise to Him before we expect to receive.
For years, I didn’t carry that same approach into my quiet time. I would just open my Bible and dig in. I was feasting on my daily bread without praying, like the heathen kid at dinner who starts eating before anyone says grace.
And I’m grateful Abba Father didn’t look at me with distaste when I lacked reverence for His Word. He knew nobody taught me. He knew I loved Him, and He loved me too.
Eventually, the Lord lit my path toward Better Man (which is a great ministry), where I learned about having a simple process before you read your Bible. When I began preparing my heart, mind, will, emotions and soul before I read the Word, everything changed.
Praying before the meal slows you down and helps you enjoy it more. The ingredients of the meal are no different. God doesn’t love me more because I’m reverent, but I get more out of my quiet time when I prepare than when I rush into it. I’m not more holy because I prepare to read my Bible. I’m just more present and aware of God’s voice.
I call this a morning ritual.
Much like the Lord’s Prayer shows us how to pray, this ritual is to show you how to prepare to read your Bible. It’s not something to recite the words of. For this to matter, you have to engage in the process. The Lord’s Prayer is a structure that shows the elements of effective prayer.
I am not Jesus, so I can’t give you the perfect elements of a morning ritual. But I will share with you what He showed me. It works for me. And God is always revising and changing the process as I listen to the Holy Spirit. If you begin this preparation before you read your Bible, God will clarify what needs to change, if anything, for your morning ritual. This is to allow you the opportunity to engage with God better in your quiet time.
Alright, that’s enough preparation…Let’s dig in.
1) Stage the environment
The first element of your quiet time is to be ready.
Make your coffee the night before. Go to bed on time. Lay out your clothes in advance. Set your alarm. Prepare to have a clean and quiet place to read your Bible. Put your phone on silent.
This is staging the environment so that you can remove any excuse to entering into your quiet time, and remove as many distractions as possible from your quiet time.
2) Greet your Heavenly Father
The second thing we need to do to prepare to read our Bibles is say Hey to our Heavenly Father.
When you say hey to your spouse, your boss, or some famous person you just met, you sound different.
Do you approach God as El Shaddai, God Almighty? Do you talk to Him like you recognize how much He loves you?
Greet God like He is God, like He is in the room with you, and like He knows you by name.
3) Worship the Lord
The third element is to praise the King of Kings.
If you can, wait a moment and sing what God puts on your heart. Sing like God is worthy of your praise. Don’t sing halfway. Sing the song that’s in your heart to honor the Lord of heaven and earth.
Be genuine. You don’t need to sound good. Psalms says to make a joyful noise. So sing to the Lord with a smile on your face.
4) Thank the Lord
The fourth element for preparing to read our Bibles is to express our gratitude for God.
Don’t just think about it, talk to God. Tell God how thankful you are. Say what He means to you. Honor what He has done before you ask for anything else.
Before you try to get some more bread, give thanks for His mercies that are new every morning. Look at what the Lord has done and say thank you.
5) Tell the truth
The fifth element for preparing to read our Bibles is to confess our sin to God.
Repent for what happened yesterday, but tell the truth. If you lie and sugarcoat your sin, then you are sinning as you confess sin.
Just be real with God. His mercy is more than whatever happened.
Jesus’ blood can wash us clean if we confess our sin. Ask the Lord for forgiveness. Ask Him how to avoid that sin next time, and build a new rhythm or mindset that gets you out of that sin pattern.
6) Pray in Faith
The next element is to tell God what you need today. Be real with Him.
Pray in faith. Act like God can do what the Bible says.
Don’t carry your burdens into the time where you will read. God wants to meet you where you are and carry those burdens Himself.
An unchained, undistracted, worry-free, blood-bought, and peaceful child of God can grasp way more of what the Bible is saying to them.
7) Chew your food
The seventh element is what we do while we read the Bible. We should read it slowly.
Here are some things that are going to slow us down:
- Write your questions down as you read.
- Write down what God teaches you as you read.
- Read the passage you’re studying twice.
- If you can, read the passage in a different translation.
- Ask God to explain His Word to you if it doesn’t make sense.
- Take the time to look at the footnotes in your Bible.
- Talk to somebody about what you read today.
- If your translation is dense, then get a different one so you can actually read your Bible.
Enjoy the meal of the Word of God and don’t rush it.
Start somewhere
You might be thinking: Cory, that’s a lot. I get it.
But start somewhere. This process really doesn’t have to take more than five minutes to prepare to read the Word.
Maybe over time, your preparation will get better. Practice does get easier when it’s routine. Just don’t recite the same things endlessly. Be genuine. Be yourself.
Learn to pray before your meal. If it makes a difference, then tell someone else about this process too.
I think more of us would read our Bibles if we prepared to read them. The more of us that come back to the Good Shepherd for His leading by the Word, the more our world will look different.
So don’t be the heathen and eat your food as quick as possible. Pray first, and eat your daily bread slowly.