How to Build a Culture of Consistency in Bible Study

The clanking of pots coming from the kitchen prompted Deborah to rise from her study table. She stood disappointed at the human figure she saw in the kitchen.

“And what do you think you're doing?" She said and the person in the kitchen was so petrified the gas lighter in her hands fell.

“Why would you sneak up on me like that?!" The person said wearing an angry face.

“I didn't sneak up on you. I simply walked down here but you were too busy to hear me coming. I've been here for over a minute and you didn't even perceive my presence..." Deborah replied with her hands folded behind her.

“I'm not omnipresent. How was I supposed to know you're there." The person replied, anger still written all over her face.

Deborah chuckled. “There's nothing omnipresent about you not being able to figure out that I've been standing behind you. Plus..." 

She checked her wristwatch.

“Favour, it's just some minutes past 7am and you're already battling in the kitchen. Any peculiar reason?"

Favour frowned, releasing some layers of anger. “Is there a specific time to resume the kitchen?"

“Well... Except you're a nursing mother or a pregnant woman, or you have to cook for your husband, why would you be in the kitchen at this time of the day? Last I checked, you're none of the above."

“Deborah, I'm not in for your pep talks this morning. What's the problem with a woman wanting to fix herself a meal early in the morning. I'm quite famished and I need to eat. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!" Favour replied and bent over to pick up the gas lighter.

“Have you taken the food that's more important than the physical food you so long for?" Deborah asked with all seriousness.

“What do you mean?" Favour asked with the lighter in hand.

“Your Bible. Have you feed on your Bible this morning before feeding your stomach?" 

“I'm hungry, I can always read my Bible later but I cannot postpone my hunger." Favour replied.

“Where has that gotten you for the past 6 months. We talked about this some weeks back. Still, it's the same story daily. You do things that are not as important as Bible study and later you claim not to have the time to study. It's unfair to yourself and not to God. You're starving your Spirit man and feeding your flesh. Remember, the strongest man wins in any battle."

With a bit of remorse, Favour replied. “Sincerely, I had it in mind to do that before food today but there was this strange pang of hunger that captured me this morning. My body is shaking all over like I didn't have dinner last night or like I've been on 3 days dry fast."

“You see, that's exactly how your spirit man feels. Your flesh is just trying to deceive you. Your spirit man has been on a complusory needless fast and is staggering and will soon fall if the right food is not quickly administered. Don't you find it weird that you're extremely hungry this morning. Sometimes you don't eat breakfast until 11am or even past 12pm. That's lunch already. Most days, without fasting, you eat late in the evening. Why is it today that you chose to take Bible study seriously that hunger decided to feast on your stomach?"

Favour made a face such that lines formed in between her brows but she said nothing.

“Even on days you don't eat dinner, you don't wake up so hungry. So why today? I'll give you the simple answer. Because your flesh is aware you're about the feed the one who will fight him so he is trying to subdue that man so as to gain more strength against him because the moment you eat now, it's either of two things, you either go back to sleep or you get so busy that for the next 3 weeks, you'd forget your commitment to Bible reading, daily."

Favour still said nothing. She was listening. Deborah then continued.

“We look for different excuses, even legal excuses like work, even church activities in order not to carry out spiritual activities. If you do not sit down to make a plan that between the flesh and the spirit, the spirit will always have the upper hand, you'll keep drawing and drawing away from God until you've gone far away but God doesn't go anywhere. You'll have to be the one to find your way back."

“Just in case you've forgotten so soon, I'd reiterate what I told you weeks earlier."

1. First off, you need to know why you want to be consistent with reading your Bible. The why brings in the what. After you make the decision that you want to study your Bible in order to have an indepth knowledge of God's Word for yourself, not because you want to sound deep to others, then that's a good start because you can have a wrong why for studying your Bible. 

2. Create a Specific Time for Bible Study

Now create a specific time that you must follow through with that even if it's raining fire and brimstone, you'd still study at that particular time. You can make it immediately before or after your prayer time. You can make it in the morning or at night or even both but what's more important is that you don't go a day without the Scriptures.

3. Start with Little, Baby Steps

After you decide on when to study your Bible, start with as little as a verse, two verses or a chapter. Don't try to start with a whole book of the Bible at once. You'll find it very tasking, boring and “unenjoyable”: You can enjoy the Bible because it is one interesting book to read as it has everything a believer needs in it. It's our manual for living. If you don't read the manufacturer's manual, you cannot properly use the equipment well. Don't try to bombard yourself with bulky books of the Bible at once. Once you can go successfully with a verse for a week and half, then move to a chapter. If you can succeed with that in a couple of weeks, move to 2-3 chapters. Before long, You'll be able to exhaust a whole book of the Bible in one day. You can never actually over read the Bible because each time you read a particular Scripture again, another revelation dawns on you. Even the Bible says “God's words are new every morning."

4. Put a time frame on yourself.

You can say you want to study for 15 minutes a day. Stay with it and be consistent with it. When you can successfully go with that, move on to 30 minutes. Do make sure you're making progress as you do so. Don't just try to study in order to exceed the time frame. Make sure you make that time worthwhile. Little by little, you'll be able to go an hour or more daily with the Scriptures but remember to take baby steps.

5. Let the Holy Spirit Lead You

When you want to study the Bible, a prayer as short as “Holy Spirit, I want to study my Bible now. Please teach me by Yourself and open my understanding, in Jesus name, Amen" will go a long way in your Bible reading. I tell you, you'll be surprised at how much you'll lay hold on when the Holy Spirit does the teaching of the Scriptures to you by Himself. 

6. Leverage Technology in Your Bible Study

In the case of not being chanced to sit with the Bible for a day or two, technology has made things very easy. That's why we have audio Bible and in different translations at that. I even heard that there's a particular audio Bible that dramatizes whatever is being read. For example, if you're listening to a particular verse that talks about the sound of many waters, you'll hear the background sound of water beneath the reading. It will even interest you that way.

7. Switch between Bible Translations

If you have issues understanding the KJV, there are hundreds of other translations in different Bible apps. YouVersion is a very good example. 

There's actually no excuse good enough to not be consistent with your daily study of the Bible. You only need to be resolute with your decision to do so and need I tell you that 60% of the time, you won't always feel like opening the Bible but you have to be decisive. Who gets to eat, your spirit man or your flesh? It is important to eat, fine but when you keep feeding your stomach and not your spirit man, kwashiorkor is bound to set in. However, those are the days audio Bible comes in handy. Just put in on, plug in your earpiece or Bluetooth, lie on your bed and listen. If you fall asleep doing that, it's very beautiful. You wake up to it again. Say you don't have the luxury to lie on your bed, still put on the audio Bible and go about your thing. Your spirit man is hearing and will be fed. 

Remember you get to decide who gets food DAILY. Your spirit man or your stomach?