2 Tips for Implementing Personal Bible Reading

It’s pretty much impossible to turn off “preacher mode.” What do we do then? How do we implement a personal Bible reading time?

By Mike Leake

Lifeway Research’s Greatest Needs of Pastors study surveyed Protestant pastors to identify their greatest spiritual needs. Many identified a need for consistency in personal prayer as well as fellowship with others. And 68% spoke of the need for consistency in Bible reading not related to teaching preparation.

Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 9:27 certainly inform such concerns: “Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified” (CSB).

Unless something out of the ordinary happens, when your wife sends you to the store for milk and eggs, you probably won’t return elated about your experience. The trip is entirely functional. You muscle through the crowd, you grab what is needed to feed your family, maybe get a little piece of candy for your own enjoyment, then head home.

68% of U.S. Protestant pastors say they struggle with consistency in Bible reading not related to teaching preparation. Share on X

For preachers, our interaction with God’s Word can become just as functional. We dip into God’s Word just long enough to get what we need to feed our congregations, grab a little bite for ourselves so we aren’t robots in the pulpit, and then deliver the goods. And if the receiver of the goods expresses the right amount of thankfulness, we can become numb to our own lack of nourishment.

Traversing familiar terrain

There’s another culprit here too—familiarity. If you make that trip to the store multiple times per week, you’ll travel mindlessly over the terrain. You know the layout of the store so well you can go on autopilot.

Contrast this with what it felt like when you were a new driver and your parents trusted you to make a trip to the store. Because it was all unfamiliar, you were on high alert, noticing everything and taking it all in. You felt alive. And because of this you had stories for your parents when you went back home. This was no mere trip to the store.

Do you remember when God’s Word felt that way? Do you remember those first sermons when it felt like you had 12 hours of excited material to put into a hopefully-only-30-minute sermon? The terrain of the Bible wasn’t as familiar. And like a teenager driving to the store for the first time, you weren’t entirely confident you’d make it out alive.  

That is, in my estimation, why so many of us pastors identified this as a spiritual need. We can’t read the Bible like we once did. It’s pretty much impossible to turn off “preacher mode.” Even if we try to read Scripture for only ourselves, we can’t help but see outlines and applications. What do we do then? How do we implement a personal Bible reading time? Here are two tips.

1. Add a step to your prep

Often it’s suggested to carve out a time for just your personal Bible reading and to make that separate from any sermon preparation time. That might work for you. If it does, go for it. It doesn’t exactly work for me, though. It’s not that I’m not a disciple first. It’s just that I’m a holistic being and can’t bifurcate this way. “Pastor Mike” follows me into my quiet time. And “Disciple Mike” is ever present in sermon prep. Rather than trying to separate these, I’ve decided to make them friends.

I’ve simply added a step to all of my preparation and content creation—asking a few simple questions. What is this saying to me? How do I apply this to my life? How do I need the gospel here? And I try to do this even before applying it to other people.

2. Defamiliarize the terrain

What we’re really after is to recreate that experience of driving to the store for the first time. When we talk about reading the Bible devotionally what we mean is that it’s doing work on our own souls. We’re fully present as we’re reading the text, asking questions, and thinking about what it means for our own lives. We aren’t just a lifeless conduit through which the living Word courses but an active participant.

“When we talk about reading the Bible devotionally what we mean is that it’s doing work on our own souls. We aren’t just a lifeless conduit through which the living Word courses but an active participant.” — @mikeleake Share on X

Here are a few suggestions for defamiliarizing the terrain.

Adopt a Bible reading plan

Though I don’t exactly keep my devotional reading separate from my sermon preparation, I spend time each day in Scripture that I’m not currently preaching on. Year-long Bible reading programs can be good if you’re able to stick with them. For me, I’ll try to pick a book of Scripture that’s different than and in a different genre from what I’m preaching.

Use a different translation

If you typically preach out of your trusty CSB, try to use a different translation for devotional reading. Pick up The Message to get a feel for the text. Or consider the NASB and nerd out by diagramming the passage—not thinking about application just drinking in meaning. Switch it up and make yourself uncomfortable.

Journal

Read your Bible with a pen and paper in hand. No, your computer doesn’t work for this. You need ink, and scratch marks on paper. Journaling as you interact with Scripture is a way of saying, “This one is for me”. Nobody else is reading this and you’re pouring out your soul as you interact with God’s Word. If that’s uncomfortable for you…good.

Slow down and ask questions

I live in Southern Missouri. That means we’re surrounded by beautiful streams and creeks. We drive by some of these on a daily basis. In the summer we’ll stop and enjoy them. Slowing down opens up a world of small, often unnoticed details. Big fish. Tiny fish. Crawdads. Frogs. Water bugs. It’s teeming with life—life I don’t notice when I drive by quickly.

Scripture is the same way. It’s inexhaustible and filled with life. Slow down and let yourself ask questions. Though it may be familiar terrain; it doesn’t mean it’s fully known or explored. Reading Scripture devotionally really just means reading it like a kid again. And we do this when we allow ourselves to be fully alive. Even a trip to the store for milk and eggs can be exciting if we’re fully alive.

For permission to republish this article, contact Marissa Postell Sullivan.