Bible Study Tools
by Mark Roberts
I am a huge fan of tools. I love'em. All kinds, but especially power tools. Walking around Home Depot the other day I finally realized this is nothing but a toy store for men. It's great! I believe my love for tools comes because, as all men know, the right tool makes all the difference. You can remove spark plugs with a hammer and a screwdriver but it'll take all day and likely make a mess of your engine. Got a spark plug wrench? The job takes minutes and is done with ease. The right tool makes the difference.
Soon, we will begin a new year, Lord willing, and a lot of people will be thinking about bettering their Bible study habit in 2003. That is a wonderful resolution, but you and I both know that many people won't be able to hold it together and keep that resolution. Come a few busy days in late January or February and suddenly that regular Bible study habit is gone. The right tool makes the difference.
If you try to read your Bible without a plan you may just be setting yourself up for failure. In this article I want to discuss three tools that can help you be a better student and maintain the habit of regular Bible study.
The first tool is for those looking for a simple daily reading calendar. How about trying our special Five Day Reading Schedule? For those Abundant Life readers who do not attend at Westside the schedule is free and can be downloaded from our website, www.justChristians.com. For those who do attend at Westside, just pick one up as you exit the auditorium. Many, many people have succeeded in reading the Bible through for the first time ever by using this simple schedule. The schedule only requires you to read five times a week, instead of seven. Thus, if you get behind you have time to catch up, time to read for Bible class, or time to just miss a day because everything went haywire and you didn't quite get to your Bible reading. With a seven day schedule you then have to read double the next day, and then triple and then... then you quit. With the Five Day Schedule you have plenty of time to make it up. Give it a try!
The second tool I want to tell you about is The Family Together daily devotional series. The Family Together is a daily devotional plan written by Dee Bowman, Bubba Garner, and Jason Moore. All three of these fine preachers have preached here at Westside in meetings and at Youth Lectures and are no strangers to us! They have written some wonderful stuff to encourage daily reading and the daily household habit of thoughtful Bible study, lively conversation on spiritual themes, and worship to God in song and prayer as a family. I really like that their emphasis in particular is to encourage and equip fathers as household leaders to make such habits family habits. The Family Together was published as a subscription booklet, but now you can get it free! That is right: free! Just go to the website, www.theFamilyTogether.com and enter your email address and it will be sent to your email box each day without charge. Each day's message has a song, a reading, and some thoughts about that reading to help bring the Word of God to practical use in you and your family's lives. You can even download messages into your Palm to read "on the go!" At the website you can browse past articles, read today's article and much, much more. This is a wonderful tool well worth trying as a family - and it's all free.
Finally, Gary Henry has written a powerful devotional guide, Diligently Seeking God. This book offers a complete year of meditations that will help you look at the question "What difference does it make whether we seek God?" Each page explores our need for God and invites you into a deeper desire for Him. The style is comfortable but reverent, but be warned: it will make you think, reflect, meditate and take God more seriously. Gary has also spoken here at Westside and is well known for his thoughtful scholarship and passionate concern for spirituality. This book is a tremendous tool for those who want to take their relationship with God to a better and deeper level. I really like that each day's devotion just has a date (like "June 5" or "December 14"). That means you can pick up Diligently Seeking God at any time and just start - you don't have to wait till January 1. It also means you are never behind because each day's devotion and reading is independent of the others. The book is available directly from www.diligentlyseekingGod.com at a special price of $16.95. You can also buy it from Amazon.com. Don't have Internet? See me for order forms. This is a book that won't disappoint you. I am anxious to spend an entire year with Diligently Seeking God.
Dee writes on The Family Together website that "Habits are the stuff of character. To greet each day with a reverent hymn, a humble prayer, and a timely Scripture is apt to make a better man, a better woman - a better family. Begin today. Make it a habit!" Now you know about some power tools to make that commitment and keep it. Let's all make better Bible study a habit in 2003!