This story was originally published on our blog in January 2017.

One of the significant milestones in my faith came during my senior year in college. I was at the bottom of an eighteen-month spiral that began with a career-ending football injury. As I sat across the table from my younger brother, Caleb, at a local steakhouse, I remember clearly the words of truth he spoke to me about the dangers of the sinful life I was living and the desire of a loving God to see me return to Him.

Over the course of the next year, God began a work of transformation in my life that, by His grace, continues to this day. One of the greatest lessons I learned during that season was that I desperately needed to know God, and in order to know Him, I needed to know His Word.  

The Bible is one of God’s wonderful gifts to mankind. It contains the very words of our Creator breathed out on every page (2 Timothy 3:16). From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible tells the story of a fallen humanity (Genesis 3) and reveals the depths to which God was willing to go to save His people from their sins (John 3:16). As we read the Bible, we are not just gaining instruction on how to live lives that bring glory to God, but we are also being shown the very nature and character of God (Psalm 89:1-18).

Do you want to know God this year? Then know His Word! Read it. Study it. Memorize it. Meditate on it. Let the words of our God fill your heart and consume your mind this year. Allow me to offer three simple helps that have been of significant benefit in my life when it comes to reading God’s Word.

Three Helps for Reading the Bible This Year

1. Pray

One Pastor encouraged his people to “read the Bible, praying, ‘Father, hold my mind’s attention. Wake my heart’s affection. Speak for your glory and my holy joy.’”

I wrote this prayer in the front cover of my Bible and start there before I do anything else. Being saturated in prayer not only strengthens communion with God, it helps you fight the temptations of sleep, busyness, or apathy as a reason to miss out on knowing God through the Bible.

2. Plan

Reading through the entire Bible is a large task for sure. That’s one of the reasons having a plan is so important. There are many different Bible reading plans available. The Brook Hills website offers several options for you to choose from. Along with a plan, identify a time and a place (add it to your calendar) that you will put the pressures and distraction of the world on hold and spend time in the Word.

3. Practice

This one probably seems obvious, but put your plan into practice. The goal of reading the Bible is not about perfection. There will be days that you won’t read. There will be days that you do read but you might as well not have because of distractions. But there will also be days where the Spirit of God illuminates your heart and your mind to the text, and you will be drawn to worship and transformed even more into the image of your Creator as you begin to know God through His Word. Fight for those days!

Faith family, let us know God through His Word and respond to the truths revealed in it this year!

Nate Farrow serves as our Minister to Singles 20s/30s. He is married to Rachel, and they have a daughter named Lila Ruth. For more information on the available Bible reading plans, visit brookhills.org/biblereading.