I am going to share 25 ways to get into the Bible more this year. Sometimes we just have to change things up, get a little creative and keep Bible reading fresh. You will gain a new ideas for making the Word a more important part of your life and feel more accessible at all times, whether you are a new Christian or someone who has walked with God a long time.

At the end of this post I will address what to do if you just do not “feel” or desire to get into the Word or read your Bible. I have been there. But there is something we can do about the lack of desire to read our Bibles. Remember that reading our Bible is like drinking salty sea water, the more we drink the thirstier we will get-and that is a GOOD thing!

And I heard this quote recently, it isn’t if the storms of life come, but when and when the storms come and we begin to bleed, let us bleed the Bible.

So if we are going to bleed the Bible, it better be in us…so here are 25 ways fresh ideas to get the Word in us and to create more nudges to be a Bible reader:

1. Lay Out Bibles in All the Spots We Linger in Our House

Make the nudge to get into the Bible like little shoulder taps all around the house. In the book Tech-Wise Family the author makes the case that we should set up our house with all kinds of nudges for who we want to be. Aka if you want to watch less tv, move the tv out or at least out of the heart of the home. I believe this is one reason people had big family Bible’s sitting at the heart of their home. It was a BIG nudge to read it.

We can do the same by adding one in all the rooms we would sit and lounge or even one that stays by our bed. I get that this is a total luxury to have this many Bibles, but then shouldn’t we use that luxury to our advantage?

2. Carry Smaller Bible to Church and in Car

When we listen to sermons we will get so much more out of it if there is an actual Bible on our laps, but when we have big ole Bibles it can be hard to be motivated to carry it on the go. If there is always a small Bible in your purse or the car it is going to be a nudge to open up the Bible on the go.

My roommate in college was obsessed with Gilmore Girls and so I have watched more episodes that I would like to admit, but one thing that stuck with me was that Rory Gilmore always took a book with her no matter where she went. So why not make it a habit to take our Bible with us everywhere we go?

“I just take a book everywhere with me. It’s a habit.”

― Rory Gilmore

3. Print and Laminate a Chapter of the Bible

This is one of my favorite ways! Paper doesn’t feel important until it is laminated. I am currently reviewing daily Romans 8, but that is only because it is laminated. When I wake up I have that laminated sheet there and it nudges me to read it and meditate on it.

Laminating scripture is also a great way to take the Word to messier spots and chores around the house. I used to be so  intimidated of laminating, but it is a super handy tool to have around the house. My laminator is a little old, but here is the top reviewed one on amazon and the paper that goes with it. Laminating is so quick and oddly a satisfying to do.

4. Choose a Book of the Bible and Be Reading That Book All Month With a Friend or Spouse

My husband and I hang out in the same book all month. This month it is Colossians. We will both be reading it over and over. Then when we sit down to read the Bible together we just open up to “a spot” in Colossians, instead of feeling the pressure to both we pacing our reading to the same spots everyday.

It always gives me a sense of accountability, but also it takes away the decision fatigue of what I am reading today. I love making as many pre-decisions especially in the areas that we want to become habits.

Finally, there is something so special about reading a part of the Bible aloud with someone else, so definitely try to get together and read aloud part of that chapter as much as you can.

5. Memorize a Portion of Scripture with Friend or Kids

The kids and I are memorizing Romans 8 (thank you laminated page!) when we start our homeschool day. I set a 5 minute timer and we all say the first 8 verses we have memorized. Then we work on the new verse we are trying to memorize. I will start adding a minute slowly to our timer as we go. But this short timer is doable and they remember a lot with these short memorization sessions.

Little tips that have helped me with this is to bring an excited attitude, have the laminated or at least printed scripture ready to go (double spacing it helps so you can find your place quick), add hand motions and collaborate with your kids on what hand motions make sense to them for certain words. We also do a check chart and for every 10 checks we get (check for each 5 minute session) they earn a small fun experience. Just yesterday they earned ice cream cones with sprinkles, so they are looking forward to that. It just keeps the motivation up and makes it feel like a game.

I also have them spread out all over the carpet, pick a spot and stick there. Of course it is messy and we have issues, but it is worth it to me to get scripture in their hearts and minds for the future. Our goal is to learn 50 verses this year, so we’ll just have to go little by little.

The good news is, the Bible is getting into me this way! If you want to learn, be the teacher, right?

6. Write a Book of the Bible in a Journible or Notebook

I think I could just go on and on about my love for Journibles. They are a handy tool, but more than that it is the practice of writing out scripture that has been so powerful for me. You do not need a journible, it just makes the practice of writing out scripture a little easier and organized. Here is a post I wrote telling your more about Journibles.

7. Lay Out Bible, Journal and Pen on Desk for the Morning on a Flat Clean Surface

I find that if I sit at a desk with clear working space that I stay in the Bible longer, dig deeper and get less distracted. It also helps to keep a separate Bible by my bed so that I can read a little at the end of the night too. But if I am shifting Bibles all around, then when I sit down to get a focused minute in the Bible, then I spend half the time hunting my Bible down.

8. Read Commentaries Alongside Your Bible to Understand More

Oh how I love a good commentary! And yet at the end of the day they are still man’s thoughts and not the Word of God. So to get the most out of a commentary I try to read the paragraph of scripture first, analyze it myself and THEN bring in some commentary. When I do it this way it feels like I am getting to chat to a friend about the Word vs. asking my friend to interpret the Bible for me.

BUT when I use a commentary like Christ-Centered Exposition honestly I linger longer digging in the Word and get even more out of the passage. Matt and I have gathered a collection of Christ-Centered Expositions and have loved every one we have used. I like that they are written by a group of trusted men and then edited by another group of trusted people.

9. Try Reading Different Versions of Your Bible

My favorites are the ESV and CSB versions. I would say after that I enjoy the NIV.

10. Listen to the Bible App on Your Phone

So much money has been put into this FREE Bible App and I am truly thankful for it. To think we live in a time that we can have tons of translations at our fingertips and LISTEN to someone read us the Bible! That is amazing!

We all learn in so many different ways, maybe you learn on a deeper level by listening. You could even listen and read along. I love that this is another way to get the Bible into us.

11. Listen to the Message Bible (More or Commentary vs Translation)

After staying awhile in a chapter or paragraph of scripture, one of my favorite ways to go deeper is to hear how Eugene Peterson, author of the Message, puts scripture into today’s language. And to be honest when my heart is feeling cold to scripture and I just don’t want to listen to my Bible, mixing it up with the Message helps me so much.

Of course my caution is to not use the Message as your everyday Bible, I truly do not think Eugene Peterson wrote the Message to be used this way.

12. Hang Up Laminated Chapter or Portion of Bible in the Shower

The shower is 5-10 minutes daily where you do not have a phone in your hand. So one idea is to take a chapter of scripture, laminate it and use shower safe velcro to put the scripture on the shower wall. This would be a great example of habit stacking that I am going to talk about in another point. You are already taking a shower, so why not stack your Bible memory practice to that time?

13. Bible verses for the Job

Place Bible verses all over your house as it applies to the task or job you might be doing in that area. Think through your bathroom sink area. This is where you see your reflection and make judgements about your appearance, so why not verses like:

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Then in the laundry room you could have a verse like:

“But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:26b-28

Other ideas…where you wash dishes, make meals, and change diapers. Another way to think about it is this, “where are you tempted to grumble or get frustrated or even angry?” Add a tool of truth to the part of your home and life, then when you are tempted to complain or slip into victim mode, BOOM there is truth ready to help you!

14. Listen to Podcasts that Read Scripture: “Oh, Hey Truth!”

A fun podcast to check out is “Oh, Hey Truth!” They have great episodes to help with learning how to dig into your Bible more, but one of my favorite episodes they have is where they simply read scripture. The gal who reads does a great job and it is nice to hear scripture from someone who sounds like me.

15. Make Art or Calligraphy with Scripture

I am not super artsy, but it does bring out the inner child in me to just open up my journal and draw as beautiful as I can a scripture that I am trying to memorize.

True story, when my husband was taking Neuro in Physical Therapy school his teacher made it mandatory that every student have a big pack of color pencils. These doctorate students were tempted to think this class was going to be a breeze, but they found just the opposite. Neuro was one of the most complex classes they would have, but the teacher knew something they didn’t. When you add coloring to the memorization mix it helps something stick. My husband was shocked at how much her methods worked, even though sometimes he felt like all he did was color in her class.

So let’s kick it back to coloring sheet days and get creative with scripture. You could even design pretty decor for your home. Here are some fun pens to get creative with Bible journaling.

16. Put Scripture About the Way God Sees Us Where We Get Ready in the Morning

No doubt, we take a look in the mirror in the morning and what comes to our mind is not always encouraging. We cannot let these thoughts stick, they have to be intentionally replaced. Adding scripture all around your sink and mirror and reading those to combat the lies about who Satan says we are with the TRUTH about who God says we are is key to not falling prey dangerous attacks on our mind.

When we meditate on these verses (meditate means to chew on something, like a dog chews on a bone) then slowly the truth will seep down into our brains and we will be able to recall the verse even when we are on the go and away from our sink.

17. Listen to Scripture While You Walk With the Kids or Babies

One of my favorite things to put on in the car or while we walk is the Bible. The kids fight me at first, but after awhile they accept it and we have gathered some Bible time in a matter of minutes. I really think that we are absorbing so much all the time, otherwise commercials and ads wouldn’t be everywhere trying to get into our mind. I think businesses know the science that our minds are taking in information when we aren’t actively trying or aware, so let’s put that science to good use. Especially when our hands are busy.

18. Dwell App for Amazing Voices Reading the Bible

If you geek out on the audible books you listen to or your favorite podcast’s quality sound, then you will really love Dwell. It is like the free Bible App, but with wonderful voices and accents. It is an app with a yearly subscription, but it truly is a beautiful listening experience for the Bible.

19. Make a Big Stack of Scripture Notecards to Carry Around With You

Recently I started reading Sally Clarkson’s Book Leaning on the Promises of God and at the end of each chapter she includes three verses. So I began each day writing those three verses out on notecards. After two weeks I had a great stack of encouraging verses to carry with me on my solo walks around the neighborhood.

I would read one and just meditate on it for a couple of minutes, letting it roll around in my head. But I think just even the act of writing out the notecard helped it go to the next level in my mind and soul.

Do you read Sally’s books? She has been one of my favorite online mamas and mentors.

20. Illuminationed Scripture Journal to Read and Make Notes

These are beautiful thin little books of the Bible that have scripture on one side and a spot for notes on the other side. You can buy the whole collection or just one at a time. These are also handy if you are walking through a certain book on Sundays at church. You could use these Illuminated Scripture Journal for sermon notes, while you have the Bible open beside your notes.

21. Tie Bible Reading to Existing Habit Called a Habit Stack

This one comes from the legendary book Atomic Habits by James Clear. The idea is to take you existing habits and tack Bible intake to the existing habits.

Ideas:

• Read same verse by sink while brushing teeth
• Listen to Romans 8 while you do your workout warm up
• Meditate on a verse while you are making breakfast each day
• Write out a scripture card to go into your kid’s lunch that day
• While your hot water warms up for tea or coffee listen to one Proverb

22. Use Childcare at Gym or YMCA to Have Extended Time in the Bible

I have done this for years. Working out doesn’t take me 2 hours, but the YMCAs I have gone to give you 2 hours a day of free childcare. This is amazing and worth the price of a YMCA membership alone. When my kids were under 5 this is where I did most of my deep studying of the book of John for my Bible Study.

23. Do Mom Swap with Kids to Have Extended Time in the Bible

I currently do not live close to family, so doing a mom swap with my dear friend has allowed us both a moment to breathe. She takes my kids one afternoon every other week and I take hers the other week. It was fun because we got to catch up and get some friend time on the drop off or pick up, but then our kids got really close and had a playtime to look forward to.

Then I could go to a coffee shop and go deeply into the Word. It is just nice to have a moment where I wasn’t interrupted a ton of times.

24. Bible Studies or Small Discipling Groups Where You Are Really Studying the Bible

I am a huge fan of women getting together to read their Bibles. I think women are especially relational and it fills my cup so much to have this time together. My suggestion is to try and really read the Bible and not just a book another person wrote.

We would read a chapter that week and then come together, read the chapter out loud and talk about what we discovered in commentaries that week, what revelations out of the Word we had or what attributes of God we discovered in that chapter.

These groups have also given me accountability to get my Bible reading done and have been a good check up to help me realize, wow its been a minute since I really studied my Bible.

Some healthy peer pressure is a good thing! Many women have gathered group and Journaled through John.

25. Sing the Word: Scripture Lullabies

This is an ancient way to get the Bible into us. So many times I have been reading the Bible to come across a couple of verses that are in a worship song. And I have a big epiphany, oh! I was singing scripture.

Scripture Lullabies are one of my favorite ways to calm the kids down in the car when things feel tense and it is just washing the truth over me. The next family melt down you have, try turning on Scripture Lullabies and see if it can quickly change the feeling in the car or room.

What If I Do Not Feel Like Reading My Bible?

This is very common at some point in our walk and journey as a Christian. There are going to be dry seasons where the motivation just isn’t there. Don’t beat yourself up about it, but do take some strategic action. Check out this post on 3 keys to bouncing back when you just don’t feel like reading your Bible. Also, in that post is one of my all time favorite videos that always gets me pumped to read my Bible again.

Want a Clear Plan for Reading Your Bible?

Check out this FREE Bible Study through the book of John. This study gives you an ebook with top tips, a check list and comes with 22 videos to guide you through each chapter of John. You can even take this Bible Study, grab 4-5 other women and Journal through John.

Save this post to refer back to when you are feeling like you need new ideas for Bible Reading: