Grace on Parade

Spreading the fragrance of God's grace everywhere

  • Grace on Parade
  • Home
  • About
    • Books by Karen Wingate
    • Speaking
  • What I Saw Today
  • Grace on Parade
  • Bible Study
  • Recipes
  • Contact

August 26, 2020 by Karen Wingate 1 Comment

Bible Reading: 4 Ways to Get Something Out of What You Read

Bible Reading: 4 Ways To Get Something Out of What You Read

I love how I discover new things about God each time I do my Bible reading. Do you?

This year, my small group made the commitment to read one chapter of the Bible per day. It will take us three and a half years to read the Bible to the end, but oh, we’re getting so much out of our Bible reading. We’ve finished Judges (the gory book of the Bible) and are now into Ruth. To help things move a long a little faster, we’re also reading one Psalm a day.

My Bible reading for one day this past week was the first chapter of Ruth and Psalm 23. Easy day, I thought. Familiar passages. Kick back, breeze through, and consider it a chance to give those spiritual muscles a break. I zipped through my two chapters and started to close my Bible with a snap.

Whoa, wait a minute.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Grace on Parade Tagged With: Bible, Bible reading, Holy Spirit, prayer

November 12, 2019 by Karen Wingate 1 Comment

Understanding The Bible: Discovering God’s Heart

Discovering God's Heart

You CAN understand what the Bible says.

Are you still nervous about reading the Bible on your own? Do you feel insecure, fearful you’ll come to a false interpretation? Worried you need someone to explain it to you?

Fear no more. While understanding the Bible is a life-long process, the Bible can be meaningful and understandable right now.

Hugh Elmer Brown, of the Chicago Sunday Tribune, attributes this quote to Mark Twain:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Bible Study Tagged With: Bible, Bible reading, Inductive Bible study

November 5, 2019 by Karen Wingate Leave a Comment

Daily Bible Reading: 8 Ways To Make Bible Reading Work For You

Read God's Word. "My word will accomplish what I desire and  achieve the purpose for which I sent it." - Isaiah 55:11, NIV

How are you doing on your daily Bible reading this year?

Hear me through. Don’t click out on me yet. Because I’m not doing so well myself.

Maybe you don’t want to talk about it because, the truth is, you are woefully behind. You’re following one of those “Read through the Bible in a year” programs, you’re supposed to midway through the New Testament, and you’re still stuck somewhere in Jeremiah. Or Leviticus.

Maybe, like me, your gut fills with guilt every time you read the Bible. Guilt that you aren’t getting anything out of your reading. Ashamed because you know your mindset. You’re reading just to get through the prescribed chapters for the day and that’s all you are doing – reading.

Let me ease your anxiety and mine. Maybe the problem is not you, but the method you are using. It may not be the right approach for you at this time.

Find the Daily Bible Reading Plan that works best for you.

Let’s look at eight approaches to daily Bible reading and the pros and cons to each method.

Read Through The Bible in a Year

  • Pros: Gives the big picture of the Bible message.
  • Cons: Too big of a daily chunk to absorb, understand, and apply.
    Easy to lose interest and not remember what you’ve read.
  • Solution: Try a Read the Bible Through In A Year program that has you reading from several sections of the Bible at a time. Read the Old Testament section and a Psalm in the morning, then a portion of the New Testament in the evening.
    Don’t feel you have to do this plan every year. Choose to do another type of daily Bible reading every other year. Keep reading for some suggestions.

Random Reading

Open the Bible at random and let the Holy Spirit guide you.

  • Pros: Um, what can I say? The Holy Spirit can lead you but . . .
  • Cons: Too easy to take verses out of context.
    Too easy to be led by your emotions at the moment instead of the Holy Spirit.
  • Solution: Yes, the Holy Spirit can use this method, but I wouldn’t depend on it for regular disciplined reading. Find yourself a more structured program where you are reading consecutive passages and searching for deeper understanding.

Life Application Method

Select a book. Read until something hits you and stop.

  • Pros: Manageable chunks of Scripture.
    Encourages you to personally engage with and apply the Scripture to daily life.
  • Cons: Easy to base application only on what you are currently facing in your life.
    Temptation to seek comfort, not conviction.
    Some sections of the Bible are for understanding. Not every verse or section has a life application.
  • Solution: This method is fine as long as you balance it with other kinds of Bible study. If you are getting theological teaching or big picture study through sermons, Sunday School, or your small group, this method might be best for you in your daily private reading. It fuels your tank for the day.

Devotional Guides

There are so many devotional guides out there. How do you choose? Shouldn’t you just be reading the Bible?

  • Pros: If you are a new Christian, this is a great method to guide your thoughts on a single topic.
  • Cons: If you are a new Christian, it’s tough to wisely choose which devotional guide is best.
  • Solution: A good devotional guide should drive you toward the Bible, not away from it. Select a guide that gives you more than just one verse to read, asks questions, and references other passages on the topic within the text of the devotion. A good devotional will lead you to say, “The Bible says . . .” not, “Karen Wingate says . . .”

Bible study guides

  • Pros: Gets you deeper into the Word of God on a particular topic.
    Engages you in Scripture by asking questions.
  • Cons: Time consuming
    The quality depends on the study guide
  • Solution: I have absolutely no problem using my quiet time to answer two or three questions a day for my small group Bible study. from the study guide. In fact, this is the method that works best for me. I don’t have the time or energy to devote one or two hours during my week to complete my small group preparation. This method gets me to think and apply what I’m reading in Scripture all week long and forces me to apply Scripture to my own life instead of thinking only how I will teach it to others.

Read Repeat

Read the same passage of Scripture every day for a week. Record what you learn each day.

  • Pros: Great for delving into more difficult passages of Scripture.
    Divides study of weightier topics into more manageable chunks.
    Avoids the “read it and forget it” temptation.
  • Cons: Can get stuck without moving forward.
  • Solution: Vary your study by reading the same passage in different versions of the Bible.
    Read commentaries and study notes about the passage you are studying. Use other resources such as a Bible Atlas, Bible Dictionary, Manners and Customs of the Bible resource, or a word search resource such as Vine’s Expository Dictionary of the New Testament.

Topical Study

Choose a topic and read verses in the Bible that pertain to that topic.

  • Pros: Great for learning about a subject you want to know more about.
  • Cons: Time consuming. It’s easy to lose track of time.
  • Solution: Keep a notebook. Using a concordance, spend one or two days writing down all the verses you can find on that topic. Then, during your daily Bible reading time, select two or three passages to read, recording what you learn from each verse. I recently did this method with the topics sight and light. What a wonderful study!.

Question starters

Select a book. Before you start, ask questions you want answered.
Job: Who is the main character of Job? (It’s not what you think!) John: What evidence does John give to show Jesus is the Son of God?

  • Pros: Makes reading intentional.
    Narrow your focus and keeps you from reading haphazardly.
  • Cons: Can get time consuming and go deep – but what’s wrong with that?
  • Solution: Again, break your reading into manageable chunks. Read only a section, not an entire chapter. Keep notes brief.

Which method is best?

The one that is best for you at this moment. No Bible reading is bad; we just want to make it better. God promises that His Word will accomplish what He sends it to do. When you read the Bible, you plant the Word of God in your mind and soul which gives the Holy Spirit within you something to work with when you need that insight or verse. The important thing, no matter which method you choose, is that you just do it.

Looking for a digital reading plan? Check out these links:

Bible Gateway:

YouVersion

What method of Bible reading do you currently use? Do you use a method other what we’ve covered here? A combination of several from the above list? Share in the comments below or on my Facebook page.

Filed Under: Bible Study Tagged With: Bible, Bible reading plans

May 31, 2016 by Karen Wingate Leave a Comment

Why Memorize Scripture?

What do you do when you are caught without your Bible?

Where's my Bible? You might get caught without it.
Where’s my Bible? You might get caught without it.

I grew up with the story about J. Russel Morse who spent several years in solitary confinement in a Chinese prison for the crime of being a missionary. Rumor has it that Morse had committed the entire New Testament to memory. Morse retained his sanity by quoting to himself huge chunks of Scripture he had memorized.

Our elders and teachers told us this story as a motivation for Scripture memory. “You can’t always depend on having your Bible with you,” we were told. “Someday we may be like the people in China and Russia who have had their Bibles taken from them.”

I listened, wide eyed. Imagine a life without a Bible readily available. It seemed unfathomable. While I agreed in principle that it was great Mr. Morse had memorized all that Scripture, the chance of that ever happening to me was beyond remote. Still, through church camp competitions and a special course taught at my church, I did commit a number of individual verses to memory.

I’m so glad I have. The reason for Scripture memory, always apparent in my walk with Christ, never became as clear as in the last few weeks.

eye surgeryDoctors opted to perform my recent surgery for a torn retina under local anesthesia. My family doctor and a former surgical tech assured me I would be sedated enough to be dimly aware of my surroundings without remembering anything afterwards. Wrong. I was “out” for the pain block that numbed the upper left quadrant of my face. Beyond that, I heard, knew, and remembered everything. I saw lights that were lasers and straight green lines that were needles. I heard the doctor ask for a bigger bit-head for his ultrasound instrument. I heard him ask his assistant for suture material. The surgery was lasting longer than he had predicted and he was obviously doing more than he told me he was going to do. I couldn’t take it anymore.  I began to repeat some of those Scriptures I had hidden in my heart.  The needles and the “shop-talk” slipped to the background.

Here are some of the verses that sustained me during that difficult time of endurance. Perhaps they can help you as well.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from?” – Psalm 121:1 (NIV)

“So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him
and He will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5,6

The truth of the matter is this. You don’t know when you may be caught without your Bible or your Bible app on your smartphone. It may not be ripped from you before you enter a jail cell. But you may have your glasses—or your sight—taken from you. You may be strapped to a surgical table or, as I was, face down for a week as your body heals. A power outage or a tornado may silence your smartphone. A traffic accident may fling your phone out of reach. There are many times when your Bible won’t be within easy reach. It may not even be you who is in crisis but someone else who needs you to encourage them with the Word of God. Even if it were in your hands, you wouldn’t know where to turn in times of crisis if you were not  familiar with the verses Scripture memory 2beforehand.

You don’t think you can memorize? Here’s an easy way to do it. Choose one verse, just one. Write it out several times and place it where you will see it. Repeat it to yourself every day, several times a day for seven weeks. Keep reviewing it. Soon, it will be imprinted upon your heart, ready for the Holy Spirit to bring to the forefront of your memory when you need it most.

In spite of the physical and emotional discomfort of being awake during that surgery, I’m glad I was. Near the end, the surgeon spoke to me. “I’m a cautious man and I don’t like to make predictions. But we’ve been able to correct some other problems with your eye and I think I can guarantee that you will see better than you ever have before.”

Psalm 37:4, a verse I’d quoted to sustain me now rose in praise: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” In the late summer of my life, the Lord is giving me the gift of improved sight. Yes, I’ve wanted better sight all my life, but early on, even as a child, I had surrendered my life as a visually impaired person to the Lord. He was giving me the deepest longing of my heart even though I had told Him years ago that it was all right if I couldn’t as long as He would stay with me.

Share with us. Encourage the rest of us. What verse will you memorize this week? What Bible verse has sustained you when you didn’t have your Bible nearby?

Filed Under: What I Saw Today Tagged With: Bible, Karen Wingate, Memorize the Word, retina surgery

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »

Follow Me on Social Media

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Subscribe

Meet Karen Wingate

Invite Karen Wingate to share with your church group at your next Women’s Ministry event the incredible story of how God gave her better vision than ever before. Contact her at karen@graceonparade.com [Continue …]

Recent Posts

  • Moving toward a New Normal: 4 Ways to Cope With Life’s Big Stresses
  • Palm Sunday Parade: Imperfect Praise Is Still Praise
  • Country Crust Bread: The Perfect Giveaway
life changing miracles
Get Your Copy Today
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Christianbook

Follow Me on Social Media

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Subscribe

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him."
- 2 Corinthians 2:14

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact

Copyright © 2021 · Karen Wingate | Grace on Parade
Designed and Hosted by Coastal Waters Creative - Local Business Websites and Digital Marketing