One of YouVersion's best features is the ability to tag and bookmark favourite verses and references.  This makes YouVersion basically your own personal Bible that you can scribble in.  It's just on an LCD rather than paper.

If you have mobile connectivity, you can also access YouVersion remotely, wherever you are. 

Online Bibles are not a new tool.  This one however is different and clever.  It's simple and clean design aids the user experience and prevents distractions from advertising and the like.

I commend it to you!

The Cabinet Office will keep them for future constitutional and special occasions.  Not all MPs swore in using the Bible, but it appears as though a majority did.  Swearing on the Bible is an option in the New Zealand Parliament.

Photo shows Chris Finlayson swearing in on the Bible at the ceremony.  Prime Minister John Key is at far right.  Image from NZ National Party's Flickr site.

If you've never had or used a study Bible, you should have a look at one.  Essentially, each page is half Bible text, half notes about the text.  This one includes fantastic colour drawings of key structures and buildings as well as colour maps.

Reading through Luke, I was impressed with the clarity of the notes.  Compared to the NIV version, the notes are more in-depth.

Book introductions are incredibly thorough, again with colour maps and timelines, key themes and a generous outline of the book's key events.

There is only one problem with study Bibles (well, three actually).  Firstly, they weigh six tonnes and are difficult to lug around, especially if you're a multi-locational quiet timer!  It seems as though Crossway (publishers) have already had some feedback on this monster's weight.  Check out the three year old kid - their proof that the Bible isn't too heavy!

The second problem is the price - the cheapest ESV version is $79.95.  But putting that into perspective, I guess it's a small price to pay for the minds of 95 scholars at your fingertips.

The third is something that I will blog about soon - they increase the risk of your quiet time becoming a Bible study rather than a dialogue with God.

Aside from that, this certainly is a valuable tool to have and will help you see the world behind the biblical text.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:32

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. Psalm 23:1

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1

In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.  John 14:2

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

"Who did God choose to start the nation?" I asked, referring to the nation of Israel.  Vacant stares greeted me.  "What was his name?" I probed.  Vacant stares.

"Abraham.  Abraham," I said.  Vacant stares.

Reading the Bible has always been important to me.  But it wasn't until about six years ago when someone gave me a copy of The Bible Unwrapped by David Dewey that a light went on.  It has several chapters that summarise the Bible story.  All of a sudden, I worked out how it all fitted together.  I worked out the story.  It was a great moment for me.

Now, I can't read a book in the Bible without refreshing my memory of where that books sits in the grand story.  Why was it written?  Who wrote it and when?  These are important questions.  Try reading Lamentations with no context.  Yes, it still has impact.  But try reading it knowing why and when it was written, and it's more than impactful.  It's powerful.

Recent Bible Society research has shown that a lack of understanding of the Bible is a key barrier to Bible reading.  There is a general lack of understanding of the Bible story because most Christians just get tiny snippets each week at church.  They don't read it for themselves (check out our research that shows this) and so the two verse sermon they get on Sunday is their week's worth of scripture.

I also believe that there are many Christians who may only read the New Testament.  Why, because it's instructional, easier to understand and easier to apply to our lives.  But I find so much application and learning in the never ending cycle of sin, oppression, repentance and deliverance the Israelite people go through in the Old Testament.  It's so encouraging and powerful.

We're working on a Bible story resource as part of our Bible engagement strategy.  I can't wait to get it out there!  In the meantime, refresh your memory with the story here.

Stephen

We took 400 Bibles and gave away about 350.  I was intrigued by the reactions of some when asked if they wanted a free Bible.  Some were overwhelmed, some very underwhelmed.  Some took a free one for a friend, others said "No thanks, I've already got one". 

Whatever the reaction, it was clear that Samstockers held the Bible in high esteem, even if many of them didn't know much about the story. 

I ran a workshop which focussed on the grand story of the Bible.  I summarised it into 15 minutes, and included some interactive group work.  I believe that a lack of knowledge of the grand story is a really inhibiting factor when coming to the Bible.  Not much makes sense unless you know why and when a book in the Bible was written.

Blank faces greeted me when I asked the crowd about Abraham.  I didn't ask anything after that.  At the end of the summary, they broke into groups to create an expression of what they'd heard.  I was wearing a sweatshirt with the 50 word Bible on it.  I challenged them to come up with something similar, but to let their thoughts go wild.

Here was one group's work:

HE created
HE guided
HE came
HE ministered
HE saved
HE died
HE rose
HE transcended
HE lives
FOREVER

I like it.

More from Samstock soon.

When I was young, my mother gave me a God's Word for Students Bible which broke the entire Bible up into 365 readings.  I knew in my heart that the Bible was an important book, but having only a King James from my Grandma, it wasn't accessible for a Gen X growing up in the 90s.

But the God's Word version was better.  It had daily readings, that quite frankly somedays were too long.  But I forced myself to read it, day after day, if only to say that 'I did it, I read the whole thing'.  That was the motivating factor, reading the entire thing.

While I know God was working in me and teaching me about the habit of Bible reading, the words were more or less just words.  I learnt stuff, and I am sure there were times when God did speak to me through it.  But it's my motivation that I'm talking about.  It was simply to get to the end.

But now it's changed.  My motivation is very different.  Getting to the end doesn't matter anymore.  What does matter is encountering God.  What matters is change within. And that's my motivation.

So how did I get to that point, and what was the point of the daily reading when I was young?  I have no doubt in my mind that the daily reading time was the seed that he used later when the time came to test me.  By putting me under pressure, he wanted me to seek him through his word.  And I did.  I looked for him there and found him.  Then, all of a sudden, the words became life to cling to.  It was like peeling the skin off the banana and finding the good stuff.  That got me through difficult times and I learnt more about God, myself and his plans for me than ever before.

The older I get the more I know through experience that God's ways are mysterious.  He chooses times and places to make himself known, to take us to the next level.  Everything comes in steps.  For me, love for the Bible came from a daily commitment to read it through, then ultimately through God testing me and pointing me to his words.  Now they're much more than ink on a page.

I was watching a DVD in my small group recently.  The presenter said something that blew me away.  He wondered aloud if he was busier than Jesus was.

It made me think: am I busier than Jesus? 

It's easier to think 'yes'.  Jesus didn't have kids or shop at the supermarket or have to go to Baptist church meetings.  But, somehow I don't think Jesus spent a single moment of his ministry days wasting time.  I'm sure there was always someone for him to speak to, heal or pray with.

Take for instance Matthew 14.  This chapter essentially represents a 24 hour period for Jesus.  He first hears about the death of his friend John.  He then retreats in a boat but finds a crowd of people waiting for him on the other side.  He has compassion on them and heals their sick.  When evening comes, he provides food for them (we're talking 5,000 men plus women and children).  After dinner, his day still isn't finished.  He sends his disciples away and goes up a mountain alone to pray.  Very early in the morning he walks on the water to go and help his struggling disciples.  When they finish their boat ride, more sick people were brought to him at Gennesaret.

Maybe he slept on the mountain after he prayed?  Maybe he just prayed through the night?  We're not told either way, but whatever he did, we can't say he wasn't busy that day.

Jesus sets the example here.  Twice, according to this account of the story in Matthew, Jesus sought solitude to pray.  The second time, after the first didn't quite work out, he actually sent everyone away so he could be alone with God.  He made time as it was a priority for him to do so.

How can you make time for solitude with God?  It's those ugly things that we hear in solitude and silence that God wants to work on.