Where do I start?

[SweetlyBroken79]

I really want to get closer to God but I am so overwhelmed on where to start. So much I know I need to change and want to change. I want to include my kids also so they learn at the same time. I know reading the Bible is the best place to start but I am so overwhelmed with everything that I have to take in. It's not easy for me to learn things to begin with. In the past when I did try to read the Bible, it was too much so I stopped. Anyone else like this? 

Edited July 14, 2017 by SweetlyBroken79

[4LdKHVCzRDj2]

29 minutes ago, SweetlyBroken79 said:

In the past when I did try to read the Bible, it was too much so I stopped. Anyone else like this? 

Yea, there is something that really tries to discourage us from reading.

 

You do not have to read it all in one day, just start by reading a few minutes a day.

That was how I started, it was hard to start. I started from the New Testament, Matthew and forward.

Some questions may appear while you read it, with careful web search and asking God for understanding everything will be fine.

 

There are more advanced guides to read in a specific order. You can try that if you are interested. Just do not get anxious to "read it all".

 

I never read the Bible for real before, but some things made me think about it: I had time for every thing in my life but I did not have time to read the Bible? How is that? I was obviously deceiving myself. I had more than enough time to read it, I just had to start doing it.

 

I can tell you that it has been amazing experience so far, now I read it everyday. Today it became a pleasant activity; I have learned a lot.

I have learned a lot about God, Jesus, His mercy, His Power, His love, His plan of Salvation for us.

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:16-17

 

I believe there is only one valid excuse to not read the Bible: You have perfectly memorized it all.

Otherwise you should still read it.

 

I thank God!

[other one]

I mostly listen to the Bible these days.....   you could do that with your whole family.

There are several places you can download the Bible for free, or just listen on line.

[wingnut-]

1 hour ago, SweetlyBroken79 said:

I really want to get closer to God but I am so overwhelmed on where to start. So much I know I need to change and want to change. I want to include my kids also so they learn at the same time. I know reading the Bible is the best place to start but I am so overwhelmed with everything that I have to take in. It's not easy for me to learn things to begin with. In the past when I did try to read the Bible, it was too much so I stopped. Anyone else like this? 

 

One suggestion I would have in regards to reading your bible is maybe get yourself a good study bible?  Many of them will have reading plans in them, with different approaches based on the pace you wish to go at.  It's hard to say a lot more without knowing more information, such as whether you attend a regular church or not?  This is helpful of course in regards to your children, to have them attending church regularly and making friends their age who attend church as well.

God bless

[JTC]

8 hours ago, SweetlyBroken79 said:

I really want to get closer to God but I am so overwhelmed on where to start. So much I know I need to change and want to change. I want to include my kids also so they learn at the same time. I know reading the Bible is the best place to start but I am so overwhelmed with everything that I have to take in. It's not easy for me to learn things to begin with. In the past when I did try to read the Bible, it was too much so I stopped. Anyone else like this? 

I was going to suggest what OO did, try listening to the Bible. On Biblegateway.com they have several audio Bibles including 2 or 3 dramatized ones. I love these bc the different voices make it obvious who is speaking. For Example the voice of God is always louder and bolder than the people. This is very useful in the OT where I was always confused by when the words were God speaking and when they were the prophet. I listen to the NIV dramatized. I also love the book of Acts in the dramatized versions. Try it.  You might also mean you get confused bc there's too many questions. I had the problem for a long time. So I used to take a break from the Bible. Don't worry, you will always come back to it. Sometimes your mind just needs time to digest what you read. This is 1 reason Christianity is a lifetime thing. You can't fully appreciate this until you've been a believer 20 or more years. But you will see that God never leaves us and neither do we leave Him. Take a break if you need one and don't feel guilty, you will go back to reading the Bible when you're ready.

[SweetlyBroken79]

10 hours ago, wingnut- said:

 

One suggestion I would have in regards to reading your bible is maybe get yourself a good study bible?  Many of them will have reading plans in them, with different approaches based on the pace you wish to go at.  It's hard to say a lot more without knowing more information, such as whether you attend a regular church or not?  This is helpful of course in regards to your children, to have them attending church regularly and making friends their age who attend church as well.

God bless

Yeah we do attend a church. We've been attending there for 9 years now. I am also a greeter there once a month. But we haven't been attending as much as we should. U always go on the days I am up to greet but otherwise I dint always go. Weve been going thru a lot lately so I feel myself drifting bc of it all. But I would like to get back on track now. 

[wingnut-]

1 hour ago, SweetlyBroken79 said:

Yeah we do attend a church. We've been attending there for 9 years now. I am also a greeter there once a month. But we haven't been attending as much as we should. U always go on the days I am up to greet but otherwise I dint always go. Weve been going thru a lot lately so I feel myself drifting bc of it all. But I would like to get back on track now. 

 

Nice, I would definitely recommend making a more concentrated effort to attend each Sunday.  The audio bible suggestions are a possibility as well for a family activity.  I will say that as a child one of my greatest influences was my great grandmother, whenever she was around I would sit on her lap and read the bible to her, so another possibility is just to gather your kids and have a family bible reading time, where they can take turns reading a passage and then afterwards discuss what was read.  Probably best to keep it to smaller amounts at a time so no one gets overwhelmed.

God bless

[hmbld]

God is drawing you in, giving you the desire to know Him more, just ask Him for help, for understanding what you will read, ask Him to draw you in more when you feel discouraged from reading scripture.  I started randomly reading.  This grew my desire to know, and started at page one reading and taking notes on what stood out to me, even when I didn't know why the verse stood out, I just copied it and continued on.  I guess I didn't make it a goal to understand everything, I just wanted to get God's word in me.  

[Reinitin]

On 7/13/2017 at 10:56 PM, 4LdKHVCzRDj2 said:

Yea, there is something that really tries to discourage us from reading.

 

You do not have to read it all in one day, just start by reading a few minutes a day.

That was how I started, it was hard to start. I started from the New Testament, Matthew and forward.

Some questions may appear while you read it, with careful web search and asking God for understanding everything will be fine.

 

There are more advanced guides to read in a specific order. You can try that if you are interested. Just do not get anxious to "read it all".

 

I never read the Bible for real before, but some things made me think about it: I had time for every thing in my life but I did not have time to read the Bible? How is that? I was obviously deceiving myself. I had more than enough time to read it, I just had to start doing it.

 

I can tell you that it has been amazing experience so far, now I read it everyday. Today it became a pleasant activity; I have learned a lot.

I have learned a lot about God, Jesus, His mercy, His Power, His love, His plan of Salvation for us.

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:16-17

 

I believe there is only one valid excuse to not read the Bible: You have perfectly memorized it all.

Otherwise you should still read it.

 

I thank God!

you might start with topics of things that come to you. using the bible as a life tool and Gods advice and councel gives you purpose. Just reading gets more enjoyable when you understand more. Example if your worried use index and find scriptures on worry and anxiety.

[NOONE7]

Praying for you.