As Christians, we know how important it is to read our Bibles every day in order to get to know God better and hear from Him. Studies even show how our lives significantly improve the more we spend time in Scripture every week.
We know these things, but sometimes it’s a lot harder to actually do it.
Maybe you’re like me: I grew up going to church, I knew the stories, I memorized verses, but I didn’t have a daily habit of reading the Bible because, quite frankly, I didn’t know where to begin or how to read the Bible.
I want to give you four tips for studying the Bible for yourself in 2025 and actually enjoy the process instead of only doing it out of conviction. Whether you’ve read the Bible for decades or are just starting out, these tips will help you approach Scripture with clarity and confidence.
1. Begin With Prayer
One of the most important things you can do before opening your Bible is pray. Something that I have done with every one of my Bibles since I started taking my scripture reading seriously is write “PRAY BEFORE OPENING” in a Sharpie marker across the first blank page of my Bible. It’s a reminder that this isn’t just a history book that we are reading, but it’s inspired by the living God.
The same Holy Spirit who inspired the original authors is living inside of you (John 16:13). Of course he wants to help you understand what he is saying. Converse with him, ask him what he wants you to know, ask for wisdom, have a heart that’s open and moldable. By starting your Bible reading time with prayer, it helps center your focus on God.
2. Always Read in Context
The Bible is a collection of 66 books written by over 40 authors across 1,500 years. It’s a very large book written to a specific audience at a specific time. Now that doesn’t mean it isn’t written for us today, it is, but we need to make sure we are understanding the background information in order to interpret it in our modern day.
If we take verses out of context, we will create thousands of doctrines that contradict one another. Instead, we need to read Scripture in the context in which it was written. Study the entire paragraph, chapter, and book, instead of getting hung up on one sentence.
Additionally, we need to be asking ourselves questions about the background. Things like:
- Who wrote this?
- Who were they writing to?
- When was it written?
- Why was it written?
- What was the audience experiencing at the time?
By asking these questions, it will help us honor the author’s original intent before we take the verses and try to apply them to our lives. If you don’t know where to find this information, I would recommend investing in a nice study Bible, a Bible dictionary, and a survey of both the Old and New Testament. These can be invaluable and completely shift your understanding of Scripture.
I remember the first time that I realized the letters from the New Testament were written to specific people or places at specific times and it blew my mind. I thought, “Wait, Philippians was written to a church in Philippi by Paul?” It all became so real to me from there, and I know it will for you as well.
3. Shift Your Perspective
As I mentioned, the Bible wasn’t written to us, but it was written for us. So even though we aren’t the church in Philippi, as an example, we can still pull wisdom and understanding from what the author was saying. But we need to do our best to take on the original audience’s worldview.
For us in the West, that can be difficult. You see, we approach scripture from our Greek/Western mindset. We look at the Bible from a perspective of logic and data and analysis and we want to know how, scientifically, God did all of these things.
But the Bible was written in a Hebrew, Eastern context — which means it’s filled with story and poetry and symbolism a lot of the time. To better understand Scripture, we need to think more like the ancient Israelites while reading their text.
Rather than starting out by asking, “What does this verse mean to me?” try asking, “What was the author trying to communicate to the original readers, and how can I live that out today?”
4. Go From Head Knowledge to Heart Knowledge
As much as studying the Bible can sometimes feel like another thing to check off our spiritual to-do list, we need to do whatever we can to fall in love with God through it. It isn’t about learning stories to build up our knowledge. Scripture reveals to us the heart of our Father who wants to be known by His people. When we read the Bible from the place of connection, it changes everything.
We would be doing ourselves and Him a major disservice if we only allow our Bible time to build up our knowledge of Scripture, instead of allowing it to make an impact on our hearts.
That means when we study the Bible this year, we should focus on pursuing Him in the process. Yes, it’s about learning, but it’s far more important to move our head knowledge to our heart. If we don’t allow Scripture to change us from the inside out we are just reading in vain. That’s what makes this book so different from other history books. It’s like looking through a mirror and figuring out who God desires to transform us into, into the image of Christ, going from glory to glory.
Reading the Bible Is a Lifelong Journey
My goal for you is to fall in love with Scripture so you can study it for the rest of your life. This isn’t a one-time read. You’ll never understand everything. But that’s the beauty of it. You can read the Bible 100 times and still find something new every time.
So be patient with yourself this year and allow your curiosity to lead the way. The goal is to be formed by the Bible, one day at a time.
Understanding the Bible starts with an open heart and a fresh approach to scripture.
- Begin with prayer.
- Read in context.
- Shift your lens.
- And learn to move your head knowledge to heart knowledge.
Let this year be the shift you’ve needed to make in order to fall more in love with the Father through His Word.
Go from feeling lost with the Bible to becoming confident in your faith. Get your copy of Zach’s book, The Bible, Simplified today! Then, take the next step with The Bible, Simplified Study Guide, an easy-to-follow, eight-week program with streaming video to help you learn and live the story of the Bible.
Zach Windahl is an author and content creator focused on helping people grow in their faith. He is the author of several books, including The Bible Study: A One-Year Study of the Bible and How It Relates to You. He lives in Orlando, Florida, with his wife, Gisela. You can connect with Zach on social media at @ZachWindahl or at www.ZachWindahl.com.
