5 Strategies for Staying Focused While Reading Large Portions of Scripture

January 1st, I started Knowable Word's 90-Day Bible Reading Challenge. I've read through the entire Bible in a year, but never in 90 days. In order to stay on track and finish in 90 days, I've figured that it averages out to a solid fifteen chapters or so a day. 

Whew. That's a lot of reading every day.  

 

Knowing that each day would require a significant length of time, just to keep on schedule, I knew that I had to do something to keep my mind engaged and focused. I am now 4 days into this challenge (86 more days to go!) and I'm finding a few different strategies to be helpful in keeping my heart and mind focused on what I'm reading: 

Highlighting 

I initially heard about using highlighters for intentional reading of the Word last fall on this podcast episode from the Daily Grace Company. Since then, I've been slowly implementing this approach of using specific colors for specific themes. (I say slowly because I'm currently only working with three colors--I have yet to assign a specific theme to the other three colors that I have.)

So practically speaking, I'm currently only using the blue, yellow, and green: blue for specific references to God and His character; yellow for specific references to Christ; and green for specific commands. I have found it helpful to work with just a few colors at a time (at least now at the beginning) so that I am only focusing on a couple specific themes at a time instead of trying to keep six different themes in mind. 

Breaking it up 

Because it takes quite a long time to do the daily reading, I am finding it helpful to break it into several chunks throughout the day. I've been trying to read a few chapters first thing in the morning, then a large chunk during Talitha's naptime, and then, if I still have more to read, finish it up in the evening after Talitha is in bed. This way I can approach each reading time with a fresh brain instead of getting all foggy-headed because I've been reading for 2 hours! I have found that this approach also gives me more motivation to read ahead, since I'm reading for shorter periods of time. 

Taking notes

By notes, I simply mean jotting down in a notebooks specific things that stand out to me. For example, as I work my way through Genesis, it has been interesting to note how often God's covenant with Abraham comes up. So far it has been mentioned, in some form or another, at least nine times. By taking simple notes, not only does it keep my mind focused, it also becomes a reference for later. 

Markings in the passage 

Reading with a pencil in hand has been really helpful! Once again, as I read Genesis, I've enjoyed looking for easily-overlooked details--details such as Abraham's age at certain points in time, particular locations of events, statements that help explain a previous statement, and so on. Keeping a lookout for these little details has been really helpful.  

Listening to the Bible 

Personally, I prefer to just read, but Isaac has found this approach of using an audio Bible while he reads to be helpful. He accelerates the speed, which then helps him read faster, as well as stay focused. 

Obviously, these strategies can be applied any time we read the Bible, not just when trying to read through the Bible at a faster pace! What have you found to help you stay focused as you read?

Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash