Tools & Apps to help you read your bible more intentionally
The first goal of 2022 I was working toward is reading my bible every day. I’ve done fairly well with this in the past but I really want to make this process more intentional and carve out a full 30 minutes every day to not just read my bible but actually digest the information.
In the past, I’ve always used the Bible app by YouVersion, and while I still love that app, I think that the newer system I’m using is a little more focused and easier to keep up with. If you like being able to pick and choose your Bible study plan, or you’re looking for a more community-based app, Bible is a great one. If you’re a newer Christian, or if you just want to work on building up good habits, Glorify is perfect for you;
[embed]https://share.glorify-app.com/o2yyypVK2lb[/embed]
The glorify app (above is an affiliate link) is a daily worship and wellbeing app that helps you create space and structure to connect with God every day. Glorify is literally built to help you get into good worship habits using bite-sized content that is quick and easy to complete. Each day there’s a quote, bible reading, and devotional as well as additional guided meditation, prayers, and worship music.
I have absolutely loved that I don’t need to hunt down a bible study plan or reading plan that has biblically sound commentaries or devotionals — this whole app is curated by an amazing team with extensive knowledge. I know I can just open the app and get true and good teachings without all the extra fluff.
The main reason I’m using this app is that whether I have 5 minutes or an hour, I can dig into the word with hand-picked content for the day and work on building a daily habit. This app is so well designed and easy to use, it’s the first thing I open in the morning.
For those days when I am able to take more time for my Bible study, I like to choose some worship music or meditation from the app to play as background noise and I’ll do some bible journaling — either on the passage from the day or from my reading plan.
Currently, I’m working through reading my entire Bible in two years and I’m about 6 months into it. Every day there’s a chapter or two from the Old Testament followed by a chapter from the New Testament. I usually read these within the Glorify app and then re-read them in a different version while jotting down notes.
As much as I love being able to write in my physical bible, my carpal tunnel has been pretty bad lately, so using a digital journaling bible has been a little more accessible lately. I use the ESV version on Goodnotes to do this. I can either write on my iPad or type notes from my desktop.
[embed]https://share.glorify-app.com/o2yyypVK2lb[/embed]
One of the great things about digital bible journaling is that I can easily export the passages I’ve noted into my Notion account as a PDF or image. If you haven’t watched my previous video about creating a bible study hub in notion, check it out below. It’s a free notion template and I’ve loved using it to store my sermon notes, digital bible journal pages, and all my resources.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4FmVxkY1Eo[/embed][embed]https://share.glorify-app.com/o2yyypVK2lb[/embed]
Obviously, at the time of writing this, we are well into 2022, and I can say that over the last couple of months, this system and these tools have worked really well to help me read my bible every day and intentionally digest that information. I hope these tools can help you in your relationship as well.
