Reading the Bible for All It's Worth

I was recently asked by a friend about reading the Bible for all it's worth.  Here is what helps me: I read the Bible according to my learning style and personality: goal oriented, extrovert, tactile... and I love to teach, so I read with that in mind.

I have to have a goal - e.g., I read a Bible book to find out everything I can about it, it's fun for me to see it as a challenge, not too bogged down in details, but enough to really get a handle on it, like reading the gospel of luke, etc.

I need a more specific goal however, so when I read a Bible book, I pose learning questions that apply to my life or the life of those I am leading and discipling...

I need to touch and feel it, so I interact with the bible by note taking, journaling, printing it up and looking at it, etc.

I talk about it right away with those I am discipling so I can pass it on, I remember what I am learning that way - if it has immediate value like that kind of application, I get motivated.

I then apply what I am learning devotionally as I go, which is also very helpful for me....

What is not helpful: just read "devotionally" in a vacuum. I find that boring and going no where. The above approaches turns into devotional reading but I have to have my whole person involved...

Lastly, I read to obey - I constantly am asking myself, what is it that God is saying now to me to obey?

And my final thought, I ask questions of the Lord about life situations, marriage, family, ministry, church, concerns, etc, and I ask God to give me passages to speak into the situation I am presently faced with, and that becomes the word from the Lord I am to obey or to pray for others to obey. I journal this process and it is rich.