Devotionals, Bibles, & Spending Time with God! Where to Start!

Hey sis!

Today I am answering a question from the community, “Stef, what do you do during your morning routine? What devotionals should I start with? When should I read the bible? I’m unsure of what to do in my hour spending time with God! Help!”

I loved this question so much because it’s more than what you should be doing and more of what season you’re in and what God is leading you to. I walk you through my own morning routine and share some of my personal favorite devotionals. I also explain how I’ve gotten the most out of the bible, and more.

I pray this episode blesses you! Enjoy.

Screenshot today’s show and share it on IG stories, tag me, @stefaniegass and you could win free Starbucks coffee!

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:01):

Hey girl, I had a great question come into my DMS the other day. And it was Stef, how do you know what to do in your God time? Like if you have a morning routine, what am I actually doing? Am I reading a Bible? Am I doing a devotional? And am I praying?

(00:14):

Am I just steering at the wall or walking in circles? Because I have no idea what to do and I loved it and it was great. And so today I’ve just put together for you guys. What I actually do in my own morning routine slash time with God, and then how some other ways that I experience God on a daily basis.

(00:33):

And then how to know what to do with your morning time and which devotionals start with which Bibles you might start with, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So hope you enjoy today’s episode hopes. You

(00:45):

Dig into all of the fruit that God has for you. Oh my goodness. Did you know that I’m giving away some free coffee,

(01:53):

New and it’s super fun and it’s like such a win-win when you guys, all you gotta do is stop this episode. Don’t even stop it. Take a screenshot right here. Right now, share it in your Instagram stories and tag me @stefaniegass. And I have given away two Starbucks coffees today. So do the thing, girl. Let’s dig in what to do in your God time.

(02:20):

So why I’m not specifically saying it has to be in a morning routine is because it doesn’t, you guys can do your God time in the morning at lunch in the evening. It doesn’t matter to me, but all I know that I know for sure is when I personally start my day with God, my day is totally different. So I, in the morning wake up an hour and a half before the rest of my family.

(02:48):

Yes, that is super early. It’s 5:15 AM. And it’s so dang worth it. I didn’t start there. I started 15 minutes before them and it was just prayer. And then I scaled it back to 30 and it was a quick devotional and prayer. And then I scaled it back to an hour on and on and on.

(03:04):

So it’s just grown. It’s been an evolution over the past year, a year and a half. And I don’t think that you have to do it the exact same way that I do it. I think you have to find what works for you. But since I got this question and I thought it was so wonderful of what do I do, because she doesn’t know.

(03:20):

She’s like, am I reading a Bible? Am I doing a devotional? Am I doing all of it? I don’t know which devotional. It’s like so many options stuff, which I totally get.

(03:30):

So I’m going to walk you through my thing and then we’ll go through some ways for you to pick what could be the best plan for you. So I get up at five 15 and before I even get out of bed, I pray, just pray over my day, my family, myself, the words that are gonna come out of my mouth that day.

(03:47):

The actions that God would lay my steps before me, that he would prepare my thoughts, that he would cleanse my heart, aunts, that I could make it pack that day. Right. And my family and my marriage and in my business. So the next thing that I do is OB VI make coffee or lately since my stomach was giving me some issues on the dock had me stopped drinking coffee for a bit, some mud water, which go not too sure.

(04:15):

Okay. It’s a little grainy. It’s a little grainy. I told my friend that recommended it. It tastes like dirt and water. And she’s like, well, yeah, it’s called mud water. So well y’all will have to try it and decide for yourself cause I’m not too sure. So I have my beverage and then use the restroom and then I head it to my comfy couch. So one of the things I love so much is finding a spot that is just brings you joy.

(04:41):

Sitting at the kitchen table does not bring me joy. Like I want to be on my couch, the corner couch. That has a huge, beautiful window. If you guys watch my stories, you totally know the couch that I’m talking about. I sit there and the sunrises and I have my coffee on my right. It’s got a beautiful, warm light on my right.

(04:59):

My doggy sits with me. I’ve got my cozy blanket. If you don’t have a cozy blanket yet, it’s going to change your life. Okay. Not sponsored cozies blankets. It’s like a hug. It’s a hug. So then I sit down and you have some choices to make at this point. So if you haven’t prayed at this point, this would be a great time to pray. Cause you’re all settled in. You’ve got to invite God into this study with him.

(05:23):

And to this time with him, now I’ve done so many things. Guys, I’ve done Bible studies on eating, I’ve done Bible studies on loss or provision or your business or seasons of life that you’re in. I’ve just straight read from the Bible. I’ve had I’ve done studies on the Hebrew calendar that compared to the Gregorian calendar, like there’s so many cool things that you can do.

(05:49):

So I think the first question that you have to ask yourself before you go sit down at five 30 in the morning. Okay. So you need a plan before you do, this is what season am I actually in and find a Bible study or a plan that’s going to work for where you are. Okay. If you are in a season of, I just want to learn how to even begin having a personal relationship. God, I probably wouldn’t jump into a Hebrew calendar study. Okay.

(06:20):

I probably wouldn’t jump into some type of crazy advanced, old Testament Bible study. I would start with a soap. You guys. I absolutely love the soap Bible studies from her ratio printing. I use them now, but they’re such a beautiful introduction to just opening up to what God has in store for you. These beautiful Bible studies are based on seasons of your life.

(06:46):

So there’s four different studies that you can order. They’re very affordable. I have a $10 off coupon code that I’ll share with you in a moment. So you can get your first study for $15, but you go based on what season that you’re in.

(07:00):

They have a season for let loss a season for trust, a season for growth, a season for dreaming, like all the different things you could think of. And you choose that, that season that you’re in and you start with that study. Okay? Now it gives you one verse and then you really dissect the verse.

(07:17):

So you read the scripture, you observe the scripture, you then apply the scripture and then you pray over the scripture. Now that’s a great study. It will take you about 30 minutes a day. But what I think is so wonderful is if you actually dig deeper into the soap studies and you read the ch the corresponding chapter that goes with the verse.

(07:37):

Now I get it. Some chapters are really long. So maybe you’re just reading a couple of pages the page before and the page after that verse. But it’s going to give you that context of who’s talking in the verse and who are they talking to? Right. So that would be a great place to start if you are new in the devotional space.

(07:55):

And you’re like, I just want to begin to have this closer, deeper relationship with God and to hear from him at a deeper capacity, the soap as OAP studies are for you. You guys can grab those at bitly.com/stef10horacio, and your code at checkout is going to be STEF10, S T E F and the number 10.

(08:26):

And that will save you $10 off of your order. I am not just telling you that because I affiliate for her ratio. I affiliate for her ratio because I love the products so much because they changed my own life that I became an affiliate for her ratio. So you’ve got to try those studies.

(08:45):

The other study that I think is so amazing for beginners is Quiet time for Busy Women, the workbook it’s six weeks to consistent in your daily devotions. This Bible study blessed me so much. It’s by Asher Rita. I have no idea if I’m saying that, right. It’s A S H E R I T A H. But again, that is called quiet time for busy women workbook.

(09:14):

I’ll link those below for you here as well, but that one it’s like, it’s so wonderful because it reads it, read you a verse or has you go read some verses and then it really takes you on a deep dive of how that pertains to you as a busy working mom slash busy entrepreneur mom, like it’s so specific to the lives that we are all living.

(09:35):

And it’s, she’s also a huge encourager of experiencing God outside of the typical like, oh, you have to experience God in the Bible. Well, that’s just not true, right? God is everywhere. He is in nature. He is in our conversations with our children. He’s in their eyes, he’s in our spouses hearts, he’s in the wind, he’s in the bird like he’s everywhere.

(09:54):

And we have this beautiful opportunity to experience him in a hundred, 101 different ways every single day. And so I love that she really drives into that. So that’s another great Bible study. Now, if this was me and this was my study, I would do the same thing that I recommended for the soaps. I would read the verses that she recommends along with a few pages to the left and to the right of that verse. Then I would dig into the study.

(10:16):

That’s going to take you 45 minutes. Okay. Why do I think that’s awesome because you really get more context than just one verse and it gives you, you get to tiptoe into reading scripture, which one of the most overwhelming things for me when I got started was, oh, great.

(10:34):

I’m going to read the Bible now. And I started in the new Testament and it would get so overwhelming that by the story of job, I was like running for the Hills. You know, it was like, I, this is too much for me. And so it helps you to just lightly dig in and start to experience scripture. So those are some great studies to start with.

(10:55):

Now, if you’ve been hanging out for a while in this space, and you’ve been doing all the studies, I want to encourage you to take a moment and just read God’s word.

(11:07):

And I, it’s so fun when I just have those, those weeks or even those months where God will kind of put on my heart to just dig back into scripture, just have nothing other than his word in front of me in the mornings.

(11:21):

And that is some of the coolest rev, you know revelations that I’ve had is just reading his word, but really reading it, not just reading it to say, I’ve read it, but sitting there and maybe even stewing over one page for 10 minutes seriously guys. So here’s what will help you if you choose to do this.

(11:43):

And I think this is for those of you who are like, I’ve done the studies, I’m ready for some deeper work. Let’s go ahead and dig into the new Testament. Now this is just my opinion. There’s a lot of people out there that have really cool resources, but this is just me based on what I’ve done.

(11:59):

So starting with the birth of Jesus in the new Testament, there are so many amazing books of the Bible that come alive and they’re so relatable to our lives. Incredible. I mean, the book of acts and all the letters from Paul and you can read it all the different apostles and their stories and their experiences and the parables that Jesus shared.

(12:24):

All of it will come alive on the pages, leap through the books, imprint in your hearts and transform the way that you look at your life. So to make this a little more fun, I would definitely get a readable Bible. You can definitely get the new king James, if you’re like, I really need to have the closest translation to the scrolls. Okay, great.

(12:47):

But like, it’s going to be kind of hard to understand. So I also don’t recommend going all the way over to some type of paraphrased Bible, like the message or the passion, because they are not a translation, they’re a paraphrase.

(13:04):

So I would go in the middle somewhere. So ESV version of the Bible is going to be a little bit closer to the original. It’s very easily readable. So the ESV, the one that I usually use is the N L V, which is the new living translation. It’s a right in the middle. It’s got enough emotional. It’s got the context there for me. It’s easy to understand. And Ivy is another great one for you.

(13:31):

And I V so ESB, NIV and NLT are great versions of the Bible. You guys can just order one on Amazon. If you can find one, that’s a study Bible, or that has a lot of notes, that’s going to help you even more because they put in there who is writing this chapter, who are they writing it to? What are some other explanations of this verse? So that the more information that you have is going to help you understand better.

(14:01):

The other piece of advice that I got was to pray over the Bible before you begin. So Lord God, I am leaping into a mark today. I pray that you would just create living, living words for me, this just beautiful experience for me, that these words would just leap off the page and imprint into my heart, that I would have a full understanding that anything I’m supposed to see today,

(14:26):

that you would just bring it to the light, that you would convict me to pay attention to that section and to just write it down and that you would help me to know what I need to from this book that pertains to my life and my actions and my purpose and my calling and the way that I parent and mother Jesus name. Amen. So you’re really praying for God to work through the pages and come alive with.

(14:51):

So when I do those studies, typically I pick a chapter. Then sometimes they pray over that and God will lead me to one sometimes. I don’t know. So I’ll just pick one. And let’s say you just open to the book of James. Well, have your Bible highlighters and a pen. Don’t be afraid to write in your Bible guys. That’s the point, the point of your pen is to use it. So you’re going to get in there.

(15:12):

You’re going to read the word. I underline the things that really resonate with me. I write in the columns. I highlight stuff like it is a immersive engaging experience to read his word. Okay. So that’s another one. Now there times when you’re like, man, like I want to go on a treasure hunt. I want to find out super cool stuff about, you know, times of Jesus or about even deeper.

(15:42):

Hebrew times there are even, there are advance more and more and more advanced studies guys. There are so many cool options for you from studies of the original, the scrolls to studies of end times to studies the Hebrew calendar, which has God’s original timing to studies of the constellations, which are actually stories from the Bible.

(16:05):

And it’s pretty crazy to stories of how numerology is originally, you know, in the Bible, like all these cool things that you can start to dig into as you get more and more advanced. But what I actually do is I just pray like Lord, whenever study is next for me, if you would reveal that to me and show me, that’d be awesome.

(16:25):

Like my heart is open. My mind is open and he will, he will bring me a new study or someone will recommend something to me or I’ll have a dream of a book in the Bible and I just go there.

(16:36):

And so don’t stress out about doing the right things. Just wake up with an open heart and an open mind and began. So that’s my advice for you. Those are some of the studies that I think everyone can start with.

(16:49):

And the most important thing is just praying and really not overthinking your prayers, really allowing God to come in and do a work in you and with you and being partnered with you and allowing the Bible to come to life and whatever version that may be awesome right there.

(17:06):

You can do one version this year and do another, another version of the Bible next year. And some I’ve mentioned some of my favorite studies, the soap Bible studies from her ratio and also Ash Rita’s study that I mentioned, I’ll link those below for you guys again, but that’s it. That’s all I got some of my recommendations for you.

(17:28):

And if you have a favorite Bible study that just absolutely changed and transformed your life, would you pop into my Instagram DMS? I would love to hear from you or come post it over in the Facebook group. Gosh, we should get a thread going in the Facebook group of all of your, if you dropped your number one favorite Bible study in there, I think that would be such a cool collaboration us to create and all work together in. So God bless you, girl.

(17:54):

I will see you back here next week, we were doing something super fun. I’m actually doing a five day series for you on this podcast. All about creating a profit from your podcast. I’m giving away five secrets, one a day to making money from your podcast. So it’s going to be super fun. Be sure you do not miss it. Be sure you are subscribed to this podcast. It’s going to be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday of next week.

(18:18):

They’re going to be many, 10 to 15 minute episodes every day and you’re going to totally love it. And don’t forget to screenshot today’s episodes. You can win some free Starbucks and I’ll see you back here on Monday. God bless you.