How to Start Reading the Bible!

Simple Steps to understanding God's Word!

By Scott Cheatham
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view
a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative
Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.

Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations are from:

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV)
Copyright 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Quotations labeled (LNT) are from:

Malcolm L. Lavender, Lavender's New Testament, A Literal Translation of the
Robinson-Pierpont Majority Text (1995)
Copyright 2015 by R.L. Lavender

Cover Image:
Courtesy of Arvind Balaraman
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1058

This work was originally written in 2012. Edited in 2016. (version 1.01)
by Scott Cheatham, BS, MA, MRE, ABD
To reach the author, visit:
http://about.me/scottcheatham
Introduction

This book was born from the passion I have for God's Word. There is no other substitute for the pure spiritual
milk (1 Peter 2:2) that will help you to grow in your faith. My desire in 2012 was to see the church I lead refuel
its passion for the Bible and make daily reading of the scriptures a habit for life.

This book was not intended for commercial release but rather, to provide the congregation a practical guide to
take simple steps to grow in this all important spiritual discipline. It is therefore imperfect by professional
publishing standards. If anyone has profited from this work, I am thankful. You may freely pass it on and share it
with others if you find it valuable. I only ask that you give me credit for my work. Please contact me at:
scottcheatham@about.me or pastor.cheatham@gmail.com if you have any questions or if you use this text in
any way. I would be humbled to hear your story of how this helped you.

In Joshua 1:8 we are told:

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you
may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then
you will have good success.

The only way we can truly know the heart of God and bring the mind of Christ to our daily lives is an infusion of
the Bible each and every day. In today's fast paced, instant gratification society, the discipline of slowing down to
read scripture and actually ponder what it means is an art that is quickly dying. Hosea 4:6 warns: My people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Let's take steps right now to make daily Bible intake a priority and my
prayer is that this little eBook will help you achieve just that!

In Christ
Scott Cheatham (February, 2012)
Getting Started! - Pick a Bible
Pastor, what bible should I use to read? It's a question I'm asked frequently. My stock answer is usually The
one you will USE. It's true that there are no end to the choices we have when picking a bible today. Various
translations are now available and to make it worse, each one has various helps attached depending on what
stage of life or spiritual growth goal you may have. For example, a recent trip to my local Christian bookstore's
bible section featured bibles for young mothers, single men, senior adults, and women in general. This was just
the first shelf! You get the picture. So what is best? The following is my own advice and is preferential to say the
least. You will eventually choose what you feel is best for you but the idea here is to make a choice that is
uncluttered as much as possible and to focus on the text of the bible itself.

Translations
My preference is for you to use a word-for-word translation. What does that mean? Well, we could spend a lot of
time here but my focus is to get you reading the bible and not write a dissertation on translation issues. For
brevity's sake, the bible is published in one of three ways: Word-for-word, Thought-for-thought, and
Paraphrased. As you move from one style to the next, you get further from the original languages but in theory,
you get closer to more modern word idioms that make the text easier to understand. In short, I have bibles in all
three genres and all three are helpful for my study. When reading, however, I focus on a translation that is
essentially literal meaning that it stays closely to the original wording of scripture but yet is modernized
enough for daily reading. My personal bible translation of choice is the English Standard Version which was
originally released in 2001. If I could pick just one translation to use and recommend (as of this writing), it would
be this one. I've found it to be a wonderful modern equivalent to the King James Version that I used until
switching in 2003. The cadence of the passages in the ESV align closely with the KJV so my daily reading has been
familiar with my years of reading the King James Bible. There are a number of great bible helps that I will discuss
later in the book but many of these can be used profitably with the ESV as well so overall, I think it's the best of
the modern translations in use today.
That doesn't mean that I don't care for or am critical of other translations. In fact, another favorite reading
bible of mine is a paraphrase completely removed from the word-for-word style and that is The Message
which was written by Pastor/Author Eugene Peterson. I wouldn't recommend this translation for serious study of
the biblical text and neither would Peterson. The idea behind The Message was to get people reading the bible
in larger doses. For long reading and reading by book, I've found The Message to give me a fresh insight on the
overall 'big picture' of a writer's intent and to bring vibrant words to text that can get all too familiar in our daily
reading of the bible. I've used passages from The Message more to compliment my word-for-word study as
one might use a commentary. In 2016, a new translation of the New Testament was released which is a literal
modern translation of the Greek text. Lavender's New Testament by Dr. Malcolm Lavender is an excellent
word for word study text of the 27 books of the New Testament and highly recommended for your Bible library.

There's no end to translations but just a few that I see that tend to be more popular include: New King James,
New American Standard, New Living Translation, New International Version, New Century Version, and the Easy
to Read Version. Again, my personal preference is to pick a word-for-word translation and stick to it. Augment it
with a paraphrase like The Message for times when you get stuck and want to read a text again. Look online for
helps in picking a bible in one of the three genre's mentioned or contact me directly and I'll be glad to answer
any questions you might have.

What about Study or Devotional Bibles?

There are many great study and devotional style bibles available today. These include helpful notes to further
give insight to the text of scripture. I personally have the ESV and NASB (New American Standard) study bibles in
my library along with a few others but for daily reading of the bible, I would suggest that you pick up a copy of
the bible that is the text itself WITHOUT study notes. Why? Because I'm a big believer that the text of the bible
will transform you as you read it daily. I say this from my own experience. Study bibles have their place but I
found that I spent a lot of time in the notes as I was reading and this took my focus off the text itself. When I took
the distractions away, my focus improved and my comprehension of the biblical text improved dramatically. Even
if you are brand new to the habit of reading the bible, I am a believer that the bible itself can illuminate itself and
if you are armed with a notebook and pen, you will find scripture is its own reward.
"Now everyone who hears these words of Mine and keeps on doing them, I will compare him to a wise man who
built his house upon the bedrock; and the rain fell, and the rivers flooded, and the winds blew and beat against
that house; and yet it fell not, because it had been founded upon the bedrock. But everyone hearing these words
of Mine, and does not keep on doing them, will be compared to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand;
and the rain fell, and the rivers flooded, and the winds blew and beat against that house; and it fell. And the fall
of it was great."
(Matthew 7:24-27, LNT)

In Summary
Pick a bible you'll use and USE IT. My personal daily bible is a Giant Print ESV bible with 14pt font that is easy on
the eyes, easy to highlight, and one that I take with me everywhere I go. Digital bibles are all the rage these days
and if you want to download the text to your smart phone, tablet, or PC be my guest. Just dive in and start
reading. I love the feel of the bible in my hands though so although I read eBooks (and have written this one!),
my own personal preference in daily bible reading is to use a standard codex of the scriptures and to make it a
part of my daily life!
How to Read Scripture

So you now have your bible (be it digital or paper) and now it's time to start reading. So where do you begin?
Good question. There are many different ways to read scripture but remember, you have in your hands a
collection of 66 books from many different literary styles all bound into one volume. What makes scripture so
unique is that despite the variety of viewpoints, backgrounds, and literary backdrops that make up it's parts, its
whole is the mind of God. Jesus quoted from the Old Testament during his ministry on Earth and he was the Son
of God. Prior to his betrayal, crucifixion, and resurrection he told the disciples that after he was gone and until he
comes again we would be aided in our walk of faith by the Holy Spirit...

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, that One will teach you all things...
(John 14:26, LNT)

If you know Jesus as Lord and have given your life to Him, then the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit,
lives in you and is ready to help you understand scripture (among many other wonderful things in your life). That
is why I said in the last section that you really need to start reading scripture alone without any study notes,
devotions, or other material that would detract your reading from the text of the bible itself.

There are many ways to start reading but for me, I like reading in several places at once. The reason I say this is
because I like to see the cohesiveness of scripture over many years, both in the old and new testaments, and to
discover how the bible interprets itself. This will make more sense as you read but I would suggest you start with
a plan that has you reading from both testaments each day. The bible reading plan by 19 th century Scottish
preacher Robert Murray McCheyne is an excellent plan that you can use that guides you through the New
Testament and Psalms twice and the entire bible once in the span of one year. If you follow the readings as
outlined in the plan, you can read both in the morning and evening less than 20 minutes at a sitting (most
readings are less than 15 minutes).
Many would say that they can't find the time to read but the key here is prioritizing your time. Most people
waste 40 minutes a day (or more) on social networking sites like Facebook or watching a favorite television show
and think nothing about it. You CAN read the bible if you really want to.

Another way to read the bible is book by book. There are plans for this that are easily found online and a great
book on this topic is published by bible teacher Woodrow Kroll. His book Read Your Bible One Book at a Time
breaks down each book of the bible, focuses on key verses, shows unity within the whole of scripture, and even
contains several reading plans to help you get started. Again, it's a matter of priority. Do you really WANT to read
the bible or just talk about it? I'll discuss commitment in further detail later in the book but for now I want to
encourage you to look at your day and find the time to sit down and really read God's Word. There is no short
cut for this discipline. Either you want to grow or you don't. I speak from experience having worked a secular job
that ate up 60+ hours of my time each week and still, I found the time to read the bible each day. I just had to
drop some other things from my schedule that didn't have the payoff I really wanted.

Today, I read the scriptures using a plan from college professor Grant Horner. The Horner plan has you read in ten
places in the bible each day. TEN. I love this plan. 70 chapters a week (10 chapters a day over a week) may seem
like a lot but it's truly not. Most days, I go through my reading in about 30-40 minutes and the way the plan is
laid out, I find so many wonderful tie ins with various places in scripture that I have to keep a note book with me
to jot down all my findings! You can find Horner's plan online by simply searching for Prof. Horner's Bible
Reading Plan. There are apps available for smart phones and tablets and printable bookmarks highlighting the
ten areas you will read from each day that you can print out and place in your bible. Professor Horner has made
complete instructions available in PDF form that can be found on many sites including social networking sites like
Facebook. Just look for it. It will not take you long to find his work.

This leads to another question I'm often asked since I am a pastor. Do you consider your sermon preparation
time in your reading of the bible? My answer is no. Some pastors do and some do not. In my own circumstance,
I see the need to read scripture in a devotional manner in the same way I recommend to my congregation. In my
devotional reading, I may find outlines, notes, or references that I use in my sermon preparation time but I do
not merge the two as far as time goes. I read as I ask my congregation to read. My sermon preparation time is
my work just like a regular job. Certainly ANY time in the Word of God is profitable but I see the two practices as
being related but different.

In Summary
To bring this section to a close, let me recap my own reading plan. I use Professor Horner's plan that has me
reading in ten places at ten chapters a day. This plan is not tied to a calendar so it's easy for me to double up if I
want, encourage others to start at any time of the year, and to not feel bad if a day goes by that I cannot read or
have to read less. Whatever your choice, be it the Horner plan, McCheyne's, or another that you find (Wayne
Cordeiro's Life Journal reading plan is another excellent choice), be consistent in your reading. Have tools
ready to capture your thoughts (which by the way is the next section of this eBook) and spend time pondering
what you've read. If you do, scripture will reward you with surprising clarity and insight you thought only came
with the clergy. You CAN do this. The key is to plan your time and make your bible reading a non-negotiable
appointment like you would a doctor's visit! Be intentional, be consistent, and be expectant as you approach
God's Word!
Tools For The Journey

I've found over the years that it's essential to have some basic tools with you as you begin to read scripture.
Pastor and author Wayne Cordeiro is one of my modern day heroes of the faith. He suggests the following as you
prepare to read1:

Your Bible
Your Bible reading plan (or bookmarks if you're using the Horner plan like I do!)
A Pen or Pencil
Your Journal (for capturing your thoughts)
Your Daily Planner

You might say to yourself the first four make sense but why the last one? Simple. As you prepare to read, and
ESPECIALLY as you begin this discipline, Satan will do all he can to keep you from the Word of God. Let's face it,
your life is about to change for the good and the Devil doesn't want that to happen. So as you sit down to read,
things will pop in your head such as that appointment with your boss, picking up the kids from school, or a few
things you need to get at the grocery store. If your daily planner is with you, you can jot those things down as
they come to you and keep your head clear as you read. Don't let anything keep you from giving your attention
to your reading. Stay focused as you read. If you're not the type to write in a journal, keep a notebook or some
index cards handy to jot down some simple thoughts or a passage that especially strikes you as you read. Believe
me, you will begin to see things as you read that you will want to remember or explore further (The last section
of this eBook!). This happens as you come to your reading expectantly. What do I mean? If I were to tell you that
Jesus was coming to your home or would be meeting with you at your local coffee shop you would be ready to
capture all that he shared with you. You would likely bring a notepad or digital recorder to record His words. You
would be ready to receive from Jesus all that he had to say. SCRIPTURE READING DOES THIS! When you come to
1 The Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordeiro (pg. 85)
your day's reading expecting God to speak HE WILL. Sometimes powerfully but other times in ways you did not
expect. But if you are ready to capture the thoughts and wisdom your reading will bring, you will be ready to
receive from God what he has for you that day. Having your tools at the ready ensures a successful time in God's
Word!

As you sit down to read, don't forget your most powerful tool first. PRAYER. Quiet your mind for a second and
then open your heart and ask God to give you something from your reading. Admittedly there will be days when
reading the bible will seem dry or you'll come to the time of your reading after an especially trying time or
perhaps a bad night's sleep. Many times in the shower I've told God I might just skip my reading and try to catch
up later. Usually by the time I'm getting dressed I've realized that again, Satan is trying to keep me from the
Word. You have to understand this threat to your reading. The Apostle Paul warns us that the spiritual war we
are in is very real and we had better realize what we are up against:

For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of first rank, against the authorities, against
the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual forces of the wickedness in the heavenlies.
(Ephesians 6:12, LNT)

To me, this is a very sobering thought. Satan warring against ME to keep me from my spiritual growth. We tend
to think our hurried pace and desire to skip our reading is just our own mismanagement of our time but the
truth is the plan was set up from the beginning to gradually take us away from God and keep our minds
elsewhere. Again, scripture warns us Satan is well prepared to capture our minds. Why?

...so that there may not shine forth to them the enlightenment of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the
image of God.
(2 Corinthians 4:4, LNT)
With this in mind, realize that your daily reading is imperative to your growth. You will have many opportunities
to get busy and skip your daily food of the Word. Several days of this and you will begin to starve and your
growth in Christ will be stunted the same way your physical growth will cease if you stop eating healthy food.
The sad part is, research groups are showing an alarming trend that most people who call themselves Christians
barely read more than a chapter of scripture a day IF THAT and that most of their intake of the bible is left for
when they attend church, which by the way for most people is not very often if you read reports from those
same research groups! I cannot stress enough to you that you MUST make time for this. Even many Christians
in churches today will look at you a bit oddly as they see your passion for God's Word and may even think that
you're a bit over the top in your zeal to get your reading done each day. Do not let them lead you but rather,
you lead them!

In Summary
Prepare yourself to read each day. Use the tools you know you will be comfortable with and be intentional about
putting them to use. It will take time for this to become a habit but trust me, if you give yourself to this
discipline, it WILL become second nature to you. In my own practice, I use the tools I mentioned earlier. I use a
few bible highlighting pencils and a pen to mark my bible as I read it. I take notes on a notepad for later
reference and I always have a planner handy to keep my mind focused as I read. I try to focus on the reading
itself rather than give in to my tendency to want to make study notes and look at something closer. This in itself
can be a distraction from Satan as you seek to read so I make a note to come back to something for later
reference AFTER I'm done with my reading. The rewards of being disciplined in this manner are clear:

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
(Psalms 119:11)
Bible Study Aids

I've saved this section for last for good reason. So many times when a person gets serious about bible study and
spiritual growth they will run out and buy what they feel are the needed additions to help them along. Bible
study tools, when used wisely, are great helps to the student of God's Word but in my practice I've found them to
be a great hindrance to the new believer or biblical neophyte wanting to deepen their knowledge of scripture.

Let me state again that these aids have their place and in fact, I encourage their use. I just don't encourage using
them at the very beginning of this journey. I say this for the same reasons I stated when picking a translation of
the scriptures for your reading; because man's notes are not necessary for you to understand God's Word. I truly
believe that God intends for you to understand the bible without all the extra stuff even many well intentioned
Christians tell you is necessary. In fact, using these aids too early in the process of building a scripture reading
habit can actually deter you from your goal, making you feel like it's too overwhelming and leaving you to quit
which is exactly what Satan wants you to do! If you give up early on, you will rely on devotional books and man's
words which can be a comfort but does not substitute for God's Word which prepares us for the attacks that
inevitably will come in our lives...

so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his devices.
(2 Corinthians 2:11, LNT)

Essential Study Aids

So with that said, let's assume you've begun the habit of regular scripture reading, you've been taking notes, you
have some verses you've highlighted for additional study and now you are ready to delve a little deeper into
these passages AFTER you've finished your daily reading. Where should you start? The following are suggestions
from my own study of God's Word. There are many tools available and just as many bad choices as there are
good ones. Here's are my recommendations in no particular order:
Nelson's Cross Reference Guide to the Bible
If I could recommend just one book other than the Bible itself for a person's bible study it would be Jerome
Smith's life work found (currently) in this volume. Smith is a bible teacher that released a wonderfully updated
and expanded edition of the New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge several years ago and most recently had his
cross reference work packaged in this book which further builds on his studies. Many bibles come with a center
column cross reference built in (look for that tiny print in the center column with all those numbers and book
abbreviations) but this book is the best there is for allowing scripture to interpret itself. It's organized just like the
bible in the same book order. You simply look up the verse you are wanting to study and you will find a plethora
of verses listed by Smith that you can turn to that will build on the verse's meaning. There's a simple system of
symbols included in the book that will point you to key references within the list and help you build a subject
chain of references for a topical study as well. I believe this book to be the best addition to bible study that's
available. It's depth of learning is such that many Christian bookstores today do not carry it in stock but it can be
special ordered or found online. Get a copy!

A Good Concordance
A concordance is a listing of words found in scripture. Many good bibles have a simple concordance found in
their back pages and for many students this is sufficient. You look for a word in the concordance like you would a
dictionary and you will find a listing of verses where this particular word is found. Many times, the concordance
will list a phrase in the verse so you can find that particular verse you may remember from your reading. Serious
students will want to get an exhaustive or complete concordance for their studies. What's the difference?
Most concordances found in bibles limit their listings (due to page limitations) to only the most common words
in scripture. A complete or exhaustive concordance will list every instance of the word. For many bible
students Strong's Exhaustive Concordance is the standard. Since I use the ESV as my primary study translation,
I use the Crossway Comprehensive Concordance of the Holy Bible for my word/verse studies. If you take the
step of purchasing a stand alone concordance, make sure it's keyed to the version you are primarily reading.
Even paraphrased bibles like The Message have their own concordances available!
A Simple Commentary
Commentaries are simply a person or group's notes on their in-depth studies of the scriptures. Most are peer-
reviewed meaning that other notable scholars will review and endorse the work giving it some credence. Many
study bibles are created in this manner. The MacArthur study bible is built on the lifelong studies of bible
teacher John MacArthur. The Living Insights study bible is the work of bible teacher Chuck Swindoll who
named the bible after his popular radio program. There are commentary notes built on subjects like Life
Application or Leadership (John Maxwell's work). As I stated at the very beginning, you can find a bible for just
about any life situation you find yourself in.

Once again, let me state that I'm not critical of these works but find myself shying away from them simply
because the added notes are too much for me when reading. I have several good study bibles but refer to them
only AFTER I've done my own work first. For the new believer, I recommend a decent one or two volume
commentary that gives practical helps with your reading. One of the best I've found for my use is Jon Courson's
Application commentary set which consists of three volumes (Two Old Testament volumes and one New
Testament volume). Again, these volumes are the life work of Jon Courson who has been a bible teacher for
many years. I've found them to be practical and respectful of differing viewpoints within evangelical Christianity.
Having been written in our day and age, these volumes also address life issues from a perspective that many new
Christians will be able to easily identify with. Another benefit is for those who are inclined to purchase digital
editions of books, these volumes are also available on eBook devices so as to make them accessible without
having to lug large books around in your car or to your bible study! Of course there are works dating back 100
years or more than are solid (and somewhat more affordable due to their age) such as the JFB commentary (also
available digitally) and Matthew Henry's commentary. I use both of these but warn new students to keep in mind
while such work is solid and worthwhile, it must be read from the perspective of the authors who were writing
these works in the 1800's (as is the case for the JFB commentary) or the early 1700's (Matthew Henry). As such,
the authors viewed life through a bit of a different lens than we might today, thus my recommendation of
Courson's work.
Other Aids
There are so many tools available to the reader today that I cannot make an exhaustive list but rather, have
recommended that which I feel can be of most benefit once the reader decides to go a bit further. There are
some other great tools out there so for brevity's sake I will list a few here under a more general banner. One tool
you might wish to explore is a good bible dictionary. Vine's is most well known though there are others. Topical
bibles such as Nave's are popular too, though not as much today as they were perhaps a few decades ago. The
reason for this is because so many people simply search scriptures on their smart phones or eReaders that they
no longer use tools like Nave's. Again, using scripture in this way is dangerous because if you're not familiar with
the text itself, you can easily take scripture out of its intended context and get a wrong application. Many still do
it though and again I will hammer home the point that nothing will ever substitute for reading God's Word
without man's added insights. Another helpful tool I like is a one volume overview of the scriptures. Talk Thru
the Bible by Bruce Wilkinson and Kenneth Boa is one I would recommend. I like it's charts, outlines, and simple
notes for understanding the whole of the Bible.

In Summary
There are so many tools available that to list them all would be more than the scope and intended purpose of
this eBook. I've already given this topic more space than other sections to give you suggestions for your own
study. My recommendations and lists are not perfect and I have many good friends in ministry who would likely
prune this list and add others. Their recommendations would be sound also. My thoughts here are to be choosy
when adding a study aid. Keep it simple and allow the aid to augment the text and not merely restate it or give
the author's viewpoint as the only valid one. In my own study, I always carry Jerome Smith's cross reference
guide with me. For additional study, I use a decent concordance, Courson's commentary (along with a couple of
others), and study notes found in bibles like the ESV study bible, NASB study bible, and the Renovare Group's
Spiritual Formation bible (found only in the NRSV version of the scriptures). As I stated earlier, if I had to
recommend only one other book when you start out, I would start first with Smith's work in the Nelson's Cross
Reference Guide to the Bible.
Final Thoughts

I hope this little eBook was helpful. For some, it might simply be a restatement of things you already knew and
perhaps added a few new ideas. As resources change, the book will be updated regularly and new editions will
always be free. If you are interested to know when or if a revision is made, contact me at the information listed
at the beginning of this book.

I want to thank my own Pastor, Reverend Roger Hogan, for his encouragement over the years. As a young 21
year old newlywed, Roger became a trusted friend to someone searching and my life was forever changed as a
result of his influence. Next to my Father, there is no man I admire more.
Jerome Smith, the Bible scholar extraordinaire, your life work is a bright light in a world of darkness. Your
friendship means the world to me. Through the wonder of the internet, God allowed our paths to cross and for
that I am forever grateful. The results of your labor will only be known one day when we see each other in God's
kingdom. Your crown I suspect will be full. Your gift of it to Jesus will be incredible I'm sure!
To my family, especially my wife Becky, your sacrifice to be my better half is more than I deserve. The scripture
says Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all (Prov. 31:29). This woman is you! To my
children and grandchildren, your presence is another reason I love your Mom/Grandmother so much. You are a
wonderful and amazing gift from God.

To my students, I pray for each of you. You will do incredible things! Stay in touch.
To my church, you are am amazing group to lead. No Pastor could be more blessed than I am.