Sometimes, if I’m honest, my quiet time gets stale. My passion for the Word wanes and I find myself reading but not hungering for Scripture.
Maybe I’m alone, maybe I’m not. But, I have discovered that one of the best ways to jump start my quiet times is to interact with the Bible in a different way.
For most of us, our quiet time involves sitting quietly and reading our Bibles, taking notes as we go or journalling our insights. But reading quietly to ourselves is not the only way to embrace God’s Word.
Today, I want to encourage you to consider interacting with Scripture in a different way. Why? Because in my experience, using one of these techniques can help you immerse yourself deeper in the Word and they can also help you with embedding the Bible into your heart.
- Read your Bible aloud. This is one of my favorites! I love to hear the Word and when I read it aloud I find that I interject more expression and thought into what I’m reading than when I read silently.
- Read the same passage several times throughout the day. I have found that the same passage often speaks a different word of encouragement to me at different points in the day.
- Personalize a prayer based on Scripture. Using Scripture as the foundation of my prayers has become one of my spiritual disciplines. I often use Psalm 139 as a guide for praying.
- Describe a scene in the Bible. This one might appeal to the more creative among us. Read a passage and write a description of the events. I have found this to be a great way to explore the life of Christ.
- Write out a passage. Once when my quiet time was especially dry, I began writing out the words of Isaiah … when God was speaking of His disgust with the Israelite’s rituals and calling them back into communion with Him. Writing out those words helped me understand their application to my own life.
- Draw a representation of a passage. Similar to creating a written description of a biblical scene, illustrating a section of Scripture can help us see deeper into the message.
- Act it out. This one is a great one to use with your kids! Read a passage and then act it out.
There are so many ways to interact and connect with God’s Word … I encourage you to be willing to stretch yourself and explore God’s Word in new ways. {You might also want to read 10 tips for a great quiet time for more encouragement in establishing this important habit of daily time in God’s Word.}
What are some ways you interact with Scripture?
What a great challenge, Teri Lynne! I like to read religious novelizations, they really seem to bring the Scriptures alive in new ways. My favorite authors in this genre are the Thoene’s (their AD Chronicles are about the life and times of Jesus Christ) and Francine Rivers (her compilation of novellas – A Lineage of Grace – is one of my all times favorites, it’s about the five women of Matthew 1). Thanks for your great suggestions of ways to interact with Him through His Word.
Debbie, I love Francine Rivers!! And I have found several other great novelizations as well for my kindle. The Lineage of Grace series is one of my favorites of all time.
I love this list, Teri Lynne. You should see the drawings I made when I read through Revelation. Well, maybe not. :-) (I have zero drawing skills.) But I found that using that part of my brain helped me connect in a different way with what I was reading.
I bet, Lisa! I’m a terrible artist but somehow the act of creating images to go with the words helps me to embed the truth better.
I love this! I like reading the Bible with my little girls. Sometimes reading their Bible helps me to understand the passage/story more. Or if they have a question about something, it makes me dig deeper into the Bible to find out the answers for them.
Yes! Do you have the “Jesus Storybook Bible”? I love it!! My daughter is 11 (almost 12!) but she loves it too. Esther Burroughs highly recommended that every family have a copy when she spoke at the dotMOM conference in September.
I’ll have to check that out.
Great list, Teri Lynne! #2 is a fantastic one for me… it supports how living and active God’s Word really is! #5 is another great tactic. That act of writing appeals to both the visual learner in me and cements the words into my memory through the kinesthetic act. Thanks for these ideas!
Thank you, Caroline. I love writing verses out … for the same reasons as you.
This is great! My 3 year old girl and I love acting out the Bible stories we read together. She likes it because playing make believe is her favorite thing to do right now. I love it because it reinforces the Bible story to her. Each day at some point she will say something like “Mom you be Goliath, and I’ll be David.” or “You be Moses and I’ll be Pharaoh.” :)
The other way I try to familiarize her with Scripture is by trying to tie a verse to our everyday life. When my girl was two and struggling to put her shoes on I encouraged her, “You don’t have to get upset. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you!” I’d quote Philippians 4:13 to her every time she said ” I can’t do…” Then after having heard the verse from me about ten times, she was struggling with her shoes one day, since the tongue kept getting in her way. Before I could say anything she stopped, smiled and joyfully proclaimed “Ohhhh! I know! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” And at that she put on her shoes like a pro! God is so good!
Love the idea of tying verses to everyday life. What a great way to teach your child (and remind yourself) that God’s Word and His promises and truth are relevant to every single part of our lives. Thanks for sharing!
I appreciate this article – it is very timely for me!! Do you have specific passages you use from Isaiah?
My kids really love to act out the Bible stories while I read them. It has helped me to remember to read to them because they are asking me about different stories that they can act out.
I love making bible art as a part of my worship routine. I also have a scripture necklace with charms that have scripture on it inspired by a verse in Proverbs about having God’s commandments around one’s neck. I’m also interested in exploring different types of bible study like verse mapping as well as translating scripture into music form!