Ten Excellent Christian Resources For Building Faith and Living Joyfully
For me, the essential part of finding joy in daily life is my faith. Christian beliefs and the faith journey are such a personal and intimate part of someone, but I believe we help each other by sharing our experiences, our favorite resources, and the ways we find joy and grow in our faith. I’m not a Biblical scholar. I am just a woman trying to follow Jesus daily and to deepen my relationship with Him. Today, I am sharing a few Christian resources that I enjoy that have helped me grow in faith and live more joyfully. Drop me a comment if anything resonates with you, or if you have a question email me at karen@whatagoodday.com
1. A Bible you'll want to read.
Having a Bible that I enjoy reading and using makes a huge difference in enjoying my devotional time. This one is the One Step Closer Bible in the New Living Translation. I love reading it because it is understandable, it has insightful devotional parts all along, and handy lined margins for notetaking. I have several other Bibles in different translations, but the other one I use most is my old New International Version Study Bible (see more below). My suggestion is that you try reading some passages on an app (coming up below) to see which version you like best then look around for a Bible you will love reading and using.
2. A Study Bible
If you enjoy reading your Bible and want to go deeper into the scriptures as you read, you may want to invest in a Study Bible. My study Bible is over 35 years old and falling apart. I need to update to a new revised version, but I haven’t because mine is full of my own notes and is so familiar. In a study Bible, the bottom part of each page has additional information about the scriptures on the page; word meaning, translations, explanations, related verses, etc. For me, it is a must if I want to study the Bible in more depth. There are many study Bibles available so you can find one that appeals to you.
3. The YouVersion Bible App for your phone.
This is such a great app. It provides access to numerous translations of the Bible, devotionals, reading plans, and study resources. It is very user friendly. You can switch between translations quickly to compare the scriptures. It keeps up with your reading plans or devotionals so that you know where you stopped. One of my favorite parts is that it also includes audio of many of the translations so that I can listen to the Bible in the car or using earbuds. This app is free and offers so much right at your fingertips.
4. A praise and worship playlist.
Other than my Bible reading, having my praise and worship playlist is one of the main things that builds my faith and brings me joy. It is easy to create a playlist on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and more. You can also curate a station on Pandora for praise and worship music. Listening to music speaks to our souls like nothing else can. It also allows us to bring our praise through music.
5. Jesus Calling devotional book by Sarah Young
When I retired from teaching in 2013, my good friend, Delores, gave me this devotional book. I have other devotionals but this one is my favorite by far. It has a devotional for every day of the year. I have read it over and over and it continues to give me encouragement, peace, and assurance. It’s a resource that I think everyone should have on hand. There is a handy app you can download to your phone as well. (Click here to see the book on Amazon.)
6. A prayer journal.
I started keeping a prayer journal a few years ago when I did a Bible study about prayer. It is so helpful for looking back and remembering what God has done in my life. I write down people and concerns that I am praying about, gratitude notes, answers to prayer, questions I am pondering, and anything else that is on my heart or mind. A prayer journal is a very personal item so no one’s will look like someone else’s. I do not use a formatted type prayer journal because I like the freedom to write and adjust as I go. I do like that this one has a Bible verse on each page.
7. The Bible Recap books and podcasts.
I discovered The Bible Recap when I was recovering from foot surgery last year. It became a great resource to keep me reading and studying the Bible. It is a chronological reading plan of the entire Bible in a year. There is a daily podcast you can listen to or the One Year Guide is the podcast lessons in book form, The Bible Recap Journal is a way to write down your thoughts as you go through the Bible. You read or listen to the Bible passage for the day, write down thoughts in the journal, then listen to Tara’s podcast, or read in the One Year Guide, and make more notes if you want. It doesn’t take much time and gives lots of information. Links are below for your convenience to see more about them on Amazon. They are not required. You can just read the passages and listen to the podcast if you want. That’s how I started.
8. A Verse Mapping Journal
I started learning about verse mapping this year so I am pretty new to it. This book was recommended to me by my daughter, Jamie, and I love it! It is amazing how much I am learning by focusing on one verse, discovering its background and meaning. I love looking at the verses in different Bible translations and finding other verses that relate to it. This book has pages for 52 weeks so it’s a verse a week. I really love this way of studying the Bible. A link is provided below if you’d like to see it on Amazon.
9. First 5 App from Proverbs 31 Ministries
The First 5 app has been one that I have enjoyed for years. It’s called First 5 because you can read it on your phone in about 5 minutes at the beginning of your day. Each day has a lovely image that features a thought from the devotional. It’s a Biblically based devotional with a summary and ways of applying it to life. If you want, there are plans available on the app that you can do or you can do the one that is currently going on. It’s a great way to start the day and it’s free!
10. Faith Based Podcasts
In the post, Ten Podcasts You’ll Love That Will Keep You Listening, Jamie shares about The Bible Recap (Tara Lee Cobble), How to Study the Bible (Nicole Unice), and Wake Up Call with J. D. Walt. Check her post to learn about these and other great podcasts. I’d like to add a few more podcasts for growing faith to her list. Encouragement for Today by Proverbs 31 is weekly and features timely, short devotionals for women. Joyful Journey is updated twice monthly. The podcasts are about many topics. I like to pick the ones that apply to me. Living Proof with Beth Moore is a podcast that is taken from her teachings over the years. I enjoy her Bible studies so I like listening to these. There are so many podcasts for Christian women that you can do a search and be sure to find one you’ll like.
The Best Resource of All
All of these resources are definitely helpful, but are basically only tools toward having better understanding, a closer walk with Jesus, and helping me be intentional in my faith journey. The very best resource that I would recommend for building faith and joyful living is one that is free to everyone. We all have access to God every second of every day through a relationship with Jesus. I recommend enjoying that one above all else!
Have a good day!
Karen
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WOW. This is the most in depth blog I have read. It speaks to my heart. It will be read again and again. I am presently learning so much from the Bible Recap. After years of JESUS IS CALLING, I had to order it in large print. What a way to start your day!
This comment made my day! I pray that this post will encourage everyone who reads it to get to know Jesus better. Thank you for letting me know that the post touched your heart! ❤️