How to Read the Bible with Life and Revelation

We have been on a journey together exploring how to approach the Bible. Let me be clear about this: reading God’s Word should bring life, not become a religious duty that leaves us bored or confused. If we are not enjoying the process, then God is not enjoying it either. The Bible is not always the easiest book to read, but when we realize it contains promises from our Father, backed by all of heaven’s resources, it becomes glorious. Just as I had to write a large check for repairs at our church, putting my name on it with the church’s resources behind it, God has exalted His Word even above His name. The resources of heaven stand behind His Word.

The Bible as Our Inheritance in Christ

Let me share this foundational truth: all of the Scripture is for us, but not all of it is primarily written to us. We can learn from every part, receiving revelation from it all, but some portions describe who we are in Christ Jesus more directly than others. For example, when we read messages God gave to the Jewish people thousands of years ago during times of rebellion, we should understand what we have been redeemed from. There is error in saying certain parts do not apply and skipping them, but we must read with discernment.

As it is written in 2 Corinthians 1:20 (NKJV): “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” All the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ, to the glory of God through us, but we only possess the ones we put our foot on, just as the Lord told Joshua about the Promised Land. From the great river to the great sea, the land was theirs, but they would only get the part they put their foot on. In a similar way, we must claim these promises. People say we are name it and claim it people; yes, absolutely—I have named it, claimed it, live in it, and get to give it away to others.

If we approach the Bible realizing this is a promise from our Father to us, with God’s power backing up His promises, it changes everything. Sometimes it is easier to read the book of Psalms than the book of Leviticus, unless you are a butcher, but there is power and truth in both. The bottom line is, if we are bored, lost, daydreaming, or just going through motions like some religious duty—praying through a string of beads without getting life out of it—why would we think God designed it that way? There is hard work at times, things we enjoy more than others, but the goal is to receive life.

My Approach to Reading the Bible

For many years, here is how I have approached reading the Bible. I divide it into five different categories and prioritize those categories. If I only have a little bit of time, I put nearly all that time on category one or maybe category two. If I have more time, I go on. Ideally, every time I read the Bible, I try to touch all of these five different areas of Scripture. What I generally do is cycle my way through all five parts.

The five are these: first, the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. I read them, then go back and read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John again. Jesus is the key to everything. Job is filled with questions; Jesus is the answer. You will not understand the book of Job until you understand the Gospels of Jesus. So number one for me is always Jesus in the Gospels—cycle, rinse, repeat.

Secondly, the New Testament epistles. I include the book of Acts and Revelation in that as well; let us just call it the rest of the New Testament. The book of Acts is more history, obviously. Revelation is a strange book, but it is actually an epistle—the epistle of Jesus to the church. The epistles are so important because they describe who we are in Christ Jesus, our inheritance in Him.

As it is written in Ephesians 1:3 (NKJV): “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Thirdly, what I would call the wisdom literature in the Bible, primarily the book of Psalms, but also the book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, portions of Scripture like that. Generally speaking, with the book of Psalms, I will just cycle my way through—Psalm one, two, three, and so on; when I reach Psalm 150, I go back to the beginning. Somebody once said to me as a young man, there are thirty-one chapters in the book of Proverbs; read a chapter a day. I do not always do that anymore because I would end up reading Proverbs more than the Gospels, but there is power in the wisdom of God.

Fourthly, I would go to the history, primarily Old Testament history—the history books, right from Genesis all the way through to portions of Scripture like Ezra and Nehemiah, which describe the events, really the last events recorded in biblical history. I cycle through those history books. I place less emphasis on those; probably each year I want to read through all of the history of the Old Testament once a year.

And then my last category would be the Old Testament prophetic books—the minor and major prophets: major prophets like Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah; minor prophets like Hosea, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi, all those. That is my approach; it is not a perfect one, but it is a pretty good one for making sure I have a good stable diet in God’s Word. You could just start at the beginning in Genesis one, and I think there is nothing particularly wrong with that.

Reading the Bible in the Holy Spirit

This took me many years to get to, and it makes perfect sense to me, but I have met many people who really do not get this. Here is what I have learned to do: firstly, before I read the Bible, I actually want to connect relationally with the Lord. Lord, I love You. It is so easy for us to allow God to become a concept in our mind, and suddenly we are reading a book about Him. If I had a book today about Donald Trump or Tony Blair or Bill Clinton, whoever—I do not know them, I have never met them. I could learn facts about them, hold opinions about them, but there I am reading a book about somebody I have not known. That is functionally how a lot of people actually read the Bible.

So what I want to do is, the first thing every day, just sit there in silence before the Lord. I am not trying to come, oh, where are You? I am abiding in Him. I am saying, Lord, I thank You; in that day You will know I am in the Father, You are in Me and I am in You. I am abiding in Him. And then what I want to do is actually read the Scripture with Him—not read about Him, not read to Him, not learn, not seek knowledge about Him, but actually read it with Him. And literally hear Him speak the heart of what He is actually saying to me.

Of course, when we are reading Scripture, we are reading, let us say, Jesus on a mountain talking to His disciples. But I can hear Him speaking to me through that. We are hearing maybe Paul writing a letter that will be circulated around the churches of Asia Minor, but I want to hear the Holy Spirit in Paul speaking to me as part of the church.

As it is written in John 6:63 (NKJV): “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” I would encourage you to not get into a place when you read the Bible that you are ticking a box, that you are going through a spiritual devotional. About three days a week, I will go to the gym, and it is not like I enjoy it in the moment—I enjoy it long term. I will literally have a system; I go through intervals about every three minutes, I up the pressure on the unit I am pushing. If I am really honest, I do not want to be there; I do not want to be doing what I am doing. I am not enjoying it in the moment; I am enjoying it for the long-term benefits of it.

My point is, the danger is bringing that to God’s Word, where if you come and you feel, hey, I need to read three chapters a day and you are trying to plow through this and you are not getting anything out of it, but you are just trying to be faithful—well, there is some benefit in that, but you would be better reading three verses a day and actually hearing from the Lord into your heart and actually saying yes and amen in your heart to Him as you read than simply going through the motions.

Again, there are times when it is good to be faithful and it is good to press through and it is good to just say, hey, here is what I am going to do, whether I enjoy it or not. But I encourage you to slow way down, to let your imagination kick in, to invite the Lord into His Word. And most importantly, Jesus said My words are spirit and they are life; have the life and breath of the Spirit speak into and through His Word to you.

My last thought as well is I will always read my Bible with a journal, with a notepad and a pen, because I expect to hear Him speak to me. I will underline my Bible. You will get out of it what you put into it, and you want to go on a journey. But again, it is not a journey about learning about a God who is far away; it is about a journey of learning to know the God who has already drawn near, who is in you.

Engaging God’s Word with Expectation

Let me challenge you to consider this: the Bible is our inheritance, filled with promises we must claim by faith. Through the Gospels, epistles, wisdom literature, history, and prophets, we build a stable diet in God’s Word. But beyond structure, we must read relationally, abiding in Him, hearing His voice in the Scriptures. Slow down, invite the Holy Spirit, and expect revelation that brings life. This transforms reading from duty to delightful communion with our Father.

Selah.

Scriptures for Further Study: 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Joshua 1:8, Psalm 119:105, John 5:39, Hebrews 4:12, James 1:22-25, Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4, Psalm 1:1-3, Proverbs 2:1-5, Isaiah 55:11, Jeremiah 15:16, Luke 24:27, Acts 17:11, Romans 10:17, 1 Corinthians 2:10-16, Ephesians 6:17, Colossians 3:16, 1 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Peter 1:19-21, Revelation 1:3, Psalm 119:11, Proverbs 4:20-22, John 8:31-32, 2 Corinthians 3:6.

10 Questions for Reflection:

1. What promises in Scripture have I put my foot on and claimed as my inheritance?
2. How can I prioritize the Gospels in my reading to keep Jesus as the key to everything?
3. In what ways have I allowed reading the Bible to become a religious duty rather than a relational encounter?
4. What does it mean to read the Scripture with the Lord, not just about Him?
5. How might slowing down to three verses a day change my experience of God’s Word?
6. Where in my life do I need to apply the wisdom literature more consistently?
7. What Old Testament history reveals truths about what I have been redeemed from?
8. How can I invite the Holy Spirit to breathe life into the words I read?
9. What expectations do I bring to my Bible reading, and how can I cultivate more faith for revelation?
10. In what areas am I abiding in Him as I approach His Word?