Hey, Christian mom! Start the New Year right with Bible study tools you’ll love. Bible for moms doesn’t have to be hard!
Each New Year is a time when we naturally consider new beginnings, isn’t it?
We think about starting new habits. Really, what habit could start the New Year right more than dedicating this next year to spending time in God’s Word?
Start the New Year Right
You can start the New Year right with God’s Word–for you and for your kids.
I love God’s promise that his Word always accomplishes his purpose. God’s Word never returns void. (Isaiah 55:10-11)
There are lots of ways to study God’s Word. Over the years:
- I’ve read the Bible through (and over and over) in 90 days.
- I’ve read the Bible alongside commentaries.
- I’ve also used the Professor Grant Horner reading plan. (Hey! Check out the Unquenched Bible reading app!)
- I like listening to the Bible early in the morning on Bible Gateway.
For fun, I thought I’d show you the Bible study tools I’ve been using lately and explain how I use them. Sometimes it’s really nice to explore God’s Word in a whole new way!
Bible Study Tools You’ll Love
Below are Bible study tools you’re going to love! Keep reading to see how I’m using them in my own life, just like I’m having you over for chocolate tea.
60 Scriptures You Can Pray: Going to God’s Word for Guidance, Deliverance, Thanksgiving, and More
Help Your Kids Learn and Love the BibleESV Study BibleESV Illuminated Scripture Journals | Old Testament
ESV Illuminated Scripture Journals | New TestamentESV Illuminated Scripture Journal: Old and New Testament SetsESV Scripture Journal: New Testament Set (Artwork by Ruth Chou Simons)ESV Scripture Journal: Old Testament Set (Artwork by Ruth Chou Simons)ESV Scripture Journal: Old and New Testament Sets (Artwork by Ruth Chou Simons)uni-ball 207 Colors Retractable Gel PensArteza Real Brush Pens, 48 Colors
- 60 Scriptures You Can Pray – Spend two months in the New Year learning to pray eight types of prayer–straight from the Bible! This devotional will revitalize and deepen your prayer life and your relationship with the Lord.
- Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible – This book is my ultimate way to have you over for tea to discuss reading the Bible with your kids in a way they’ll love! It has stories of my time studying God’s Word with my boys. You’ll learn about how to structure the rhythm of your day to make time for the Bible with your family. There’s a crash course on how to read the Bible faithfully, in a way that honors God’s Word. You’ll find lots of ideas to implement into your household that take your children’s individual ages and gifting into account. There’s actually no tea involved in the book, but it’s the closest I can get to sharing my heart, research, and experience with you!
- ESV Study Bible – I love the notes, diagrams, and maps in my ESV Study Bible. Mine is brown and pink, but this blue one is beautiful, right?
- ESV Illuminated Scripture Journals | Old Testament and New Testament – I LOVE these journals. I’ll show you below how I use mine.
- You can also get the entire set in the original design, or–with artwork from Ruth Chou Simons–the New Testament, Old Testament, or the entire Bible.
- Colorful writing tools – I love my uni-ball gel pens and my Arteza brush pens make really quick watercolor sketches easy. (See how I use these with my illuminated Scripture journals below.)
Oh, hey! Want to just start out Bible journaling slowly? I suggest picking one of these and trying it out!
ESV Illuminated Scripture Journal: GenesisESV Illuminated Scripture Journal: PsalmsESV Illuminated Scripture Journal: MatthewESV Illuminated Scripture Journal: Romans
These are the Bible study tools I’ve been using. Check out below how I’m using them!
Grab your FREE Bible Study Tool Kit–over 130 pages of Bible resources for your family!
Kick Start the New Year with a New Habit
I love Bible journaling. With Bible Road Trip™, your kids will learn to journal through the Bible with guided journals. As a mom, I’ve just always kept plain spiral notebook journals. They weren’t exciting, but they got the job done!
My husband, though, got me the ESV Illuminated Scripture Journal sets for a couple of Christmases, and I love them. A little color and a bunch of space, coupled with the actual words of the ESV Bible make the time I spend reading and journaling so enjoyable!
I’ve been working through Genesis and Isaiah. The pictures below are my Isaiah Scripture journal.
So what do I write in the journals? I write:
- Personal thoughts and notes on God’s Word.
- Quotes from commentaries that I find helpful (like the quote from Calvin’s commentary in the picture below).
- Related passages.
- Verses from other sections of Scripture that tell me how to live (rather than living in the sinful way condemned in Isaiah!).
- Notes on the structure of the book or the passage.
- Things my pastor has pointed out in the past that I wrote in my Bible.
As a really visual person, I like to draw pictures, too, that help me consider what the passage is saying.
Just as a note, the watercolor brush pens are inexact. (I prefer watercolors with fine brushes, but the watercolor pens are really fast, which is what I’m looking for as I journal! If I use the colored pens to outline my sketches, I fine the inexact nature of the watercolor pens doesn’t bug me too much.)
I love journaling my way through the Bible! I highly recommend taking the time to study Scripture this way.
You can use different tools, but I hope this gets you thinking about how you can better get to know and love your Savior… and how you can help your kids come to know Jesus better as well!
Bible Resources for Your Kids
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60 Scriptures You Can Pray
The Bible is full of prayer that you can pray too!
How do you pray when you don’t know what to say? The Bible holds the answer.
God doesn’t expect us to pray without guidance. In fact, Scripture is full of examples of ordinary people approaching our extraordinary God in prayer.
Award-winning author Danika Cooley believes that praying God’s Word teaches us how to best communicate with our Lord:
“There are so many lessons we can learn from Scripture about how to approach God and what to expect when we do.”
Danika’s devotional 60 Scriptures You Can Pray covers eight types of prayer from the Bible, the expectations we should have when we pray, and the right heart attitude for prayer.
- Praise | We adore God for who he is.
- Thanksgiving | We thank God for all he has done.
- Confession | We admit our sin to the God who saves us.
- Supplication | We humbly ask God to provide for our needs.
- Intercession | We ask God to meet the needs of others.
- Deliverance | We cry out to God for help in times of trouble.
- Lament | We bring our sorrow to God, our comforter.
- Guidance | We ask for God’s help in determining his will for our lives.
When you read 60 Scriptures You Can Pray, you will:
- Develop a habit of praying daily over a two-month period
- Learn more about prayer in Scripture
- Understand eight different types of prayer
- Expand your understanding of how to pray biblically
- Become better acquainted with God, His Word, and why we pray
Packed with thoughtful explanations of biblical prayer and practical application in each devotion, 60 Scriptures You Can Pray is the tool you need to learn more about prayer–straight from God’s Word.
Want to equip the women in your church to pray biblically?
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