Set Your Alarm Clock: Encouragements on Bible Intake

This past Sunday at Vintage Church, we continued our Dependent series, looking at the Keystone Habit of Bible Intake. I preached from Psalm 119, looking at some of the rich truths about God’s Word that showed us how, in order to be who God wants us to be, we must have His Word in our lives.

After looking into the Scripture, our time was closed with some practical next steps on how to make Bible Intake a habit in our lives. We must: Prioritize God’s Word, Read God’s Word, and Know God’s Word. We all know that this takes a lot of intentionality!

Moving forward from this challenge, I wanted to give everyone a few other next steps that may help you with Bible Intake. There are many ways to take in God’s Word and let it transform your life, but here are just a few:

Read God’s Word

This may seem like an obvious one, but it’s often easier said than done. I believe that there is a tendency to take for granted the reality that we have the complete, full Bible in our language and at our fingertips. There are people across the world that do not have this opportunity, and would give anything to have the Word available to them. We have the opportunity to open up the Bible, read it, and draw close to God. You don’t have to read a lot at one time, just read something! Sometimes it’s one verse, or sometimes it’s a whole chapter or more. The important thing is that we are reading and studying it, aiming to do this on a daily basis.

If you need a helpful Bible reading plan, check out our F260 Bible Reading Plan webpage for resources and more information.

Listen to God’s Word

I believe that the best way to take in the Word of God is reading it, but I also enjoy listening to the Bible sometimes as well. Let’s be honest, there are days when we oversleep, life is crazy, and we miss what would normally be our devotional time. When this happens to me, I like to plug my phone into the sound system in my jeep, and open up the Bible app. I then select the Scripture I want to listen to, hit play, and then start driving. Even for my short drive to work, or wherever I may be going, I find that it does help me and gets me in the right mindset, particularly after an off morning that I may have had. I also find it helpful on long road trips!

Check out more information about the Bible app.

Pray God’s Word

Another thing we can do is, as we pray to the Lord, incorporate Scripture into our prayers. This claims more power and victory! The book of Psalms is a great example of this and even a place to pull prayers from. One thing I like to do after I read the Word, is also journal down some thoughts and prayers as a response. I like to put my thoughts and words on paper, so that I can go back to read my journals later, and see how the Lord has worked. Speaking and writing down God’s Word through our prayers is a powerful tool!

If you need help in the area of prayer, journaling, and knowing God’s Word, check out more information about the HEAR Journal.

I hope you can find these next steps encouraging and helpful. Remember, what really matters is that you’re spending time with God. It’s okay to start small. Just take a step!