You may have searched everywhere for how to start a relationship with God and wonder where to begin with alone time with Him, or even where to start reading His Word. I am here to tell you something, sister, that will bring you relief. The moment God knitted you in your mother’s womb, He had already formed a relationship with you. He has chosen you long ago and loved and covered you under His wing all along. Why do you think you have suddenly been having these desires to know Him and change your life? Why do you think you have been having encounters lately and seeing signs and wonders about Him? It is not by coincidence, but by His Will for your life to draw near to Him. You are coming to an awakening in your life where your desires are bringing you closer to Him, and you want to pursue Him.   “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.  For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.  And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:37-40   For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—  to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.  In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.  And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:4-14   But can I tell you something? If you don’t know where to start, what to say, or when to make this happen, all I can tell you now is to JUST START! You cannot fail when you choose to start from where you are, with what you have. God has formed a relationship with you from the start, and though it has been rocky and on the back burner for so long, you can thank God for being the type of Father who is all forgiving and cleans your slate for a fresh start. Now, this is the only relationship in your life that is all-forgiving and can never fail you! So, whether you are just in your room, awake all hours of the night and restless, keep in mind that those hours are maybe the only quiet hours you have in your 24-hour span when you can listen and just randomly talk to Him. Talk about what? Anything! When you just begin to talk to Him, He will help guide your conversation to where it is meant to go in the end, and you will more likely feel some type of relief. He may even give you thoughts you would like to discuss with Him along the way, and may feel led to pray to Him. Or even better, over time, when you are talking to Him, whether in those hours or when you are doing chores, taking a drive, or even going on a walk, He will give you revelations that will suddenly start to make sense of everything you have ever wondered or experienced! I personally love those moments because they make you realize how He has always taken care of you and had His hand on you, guiding the way. So yes, you start by talking. It can feel awkward, even for a faithful follower who has been through a tough season and may have kept their distance from Him. He doesn’t care; He just wants your time and attention to hear from you. He just wants your heart that will soon be a faithful heart that understands it needs a Savior. A Father! From that first conversation to the many that will follow, you will be surprised by how He responds to you and how He will just reveal Himself to you. Now that I have given you insight into where to start, I want to share with you how to begin reading your Bible. I know there are going to be MANY people who suggest that you read from the New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John). Then there are people who would suggest you read from beginning to end, but honestly, I think that no matter where you start, you first need to understand the truth of what you are reading and why. First, you need to know that the bible is a story about God redeeming His people overall, through a Savior named Jesus. I know there are many translations of His name, but we were just going to use the commonly known name, Jesus, here. The Bible is not centered on you or your thoughts and beliefs. It is not meant to be a Google book to nitpick scripture for your advantage, but it can be used to help guide you in knowing such wisdom and truth behind the people in it, which all leads to God’s glory. The bible is about God and His redemption through Jesus for the day of consummation that you will be apart of rather you giver your life to Him or not, (In that I mean, rather you decide to be baptized in His Spirit, repenting, and surrendering your life and claiming Him as your Lord and Savior by dying to yourself daily, choosing to live the life that He has called you to live!). NEXT STEPS… What’s the Next Step? Now this is where you get to choose your level of introduction in studying the bible. Now MANY people would suggest that you pick out about five different bibles, two different dictionaries, commentaries, websites, and more which in my experience took my joy of diving into my Word and the journey of furthering my knowledge because of the stress in research of what is right and fearful of getting it wrong, that I would suggest to you to just keep this journey simple! Grab yourself a few simple items and just get started.   Beginner’s Tips & Needs Reading The Bible: 1. Pray When you have gotten to a place where you feel comfortable talking to God and spending devotional time in prayer to Him about all of His goodness and the other important things in your life, then you should also apply that same prayer to your reading time, which will transform your life as well. Before you begin reading your Bible, pray and talk to God, and welcome Him into your reading time, allowing Him to guide you in the Word to what He wants to reveal. Pray that you can receive such beautiful insight from such a beautiful source during y’all’s time together. 2. Have An Open Heart, Eyes, Ears, & Receiving Spirit There are times when you might desire to read your Bible but choose to be entertained by TV, or you may decide that rest is more sufficient for your body than actually following through with the first desire to read, but sister, that is again why I suggest you pray before you read your Word. Sometimes we have to get out of our comfort zone of needless entertainment and ask God to bring such a desire towards reading your bible that it physically makes your body naturally gravitate towards opening your word, rather than it feeling like a chore that you have to do because you know it’s something you should do. {Like think of it this way: If you have a significant person in your life who you love dearly, and that person who supposedly says they love you and have a desire to pursue your heart and take care of you, yet when given the opportunity to pursue they then do things in a complaining manner where it makes you seem like a burden and that you would rather not even have them pursue you if it’s going to be done without love or even just simple generosity, yet they can find the energy to do for their co-workers, friends, family, and even strangers… Now, how would that make you feel? Like, wouldn’t you want someone who is eager to spend time with you and is actually engaged in what is being said or happening, bringing light, joy, and the spark you want to keep burning? Now that is how we should approach our alone time with God, and that also includes the bible. We should pray that we can dive into our Word eagerly, being consumed in Him and His presence and revelation. That is why, when you pray, I encourage you to ask for ears that are open to hear His Word for what it is. To hear Him fully. I encourage you to ask for eyes that are open to see in the Spiritual realm and hearing to see as He sees. I also encourage you to pray for an open heart and a willing soul to receive His Spirit of truth and all that He has for you. All this to say that in your reading time, you can’t go in ready to shut God down, unwilling to learn, or even halfway, not really applying yourself. Like that can be pointless. (But I will say that God is so good, loving, and powerful that if He wants to, He can still use that hardened heart and soften it in that moment), But I am saying this to say, be all in! Dive into this experience ready for the exposure of Truth and Life. The living bread, and that change of perspective of just wanting to be about Him and in His Word, will be a game changer in your reading experience.   The Parable of the Sower That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.  Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.  Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. … Continue reading Beginner Tips On How To Have A Successful Bible Study Journey