Sheila longed to grow closer to God, but she struggled with the concept. She envied her friend, Molly, who described God as her “best friend and closest confidant.” She wanted a vibrant relationship with God like Molly had.
So, she asked her friend how she’d developed that close relationship. “Well,” Molly said after thinking for a moment. “It’s like every other relationship I’ve had. I put work into it – I spend time with God. I talk to Him throughout my day. I read the notes He sends me every day.”
“Wait a second,” Sheila said. “God sends you notes?”
“Yes, that’s what the Bible is,” Molly said. “It’s a whole collection of notes God wrote just for me. Each day, I pull it open and see what He has to say to me.”
If you cringe at the thought of spending time in God’s Word or avoid reading yours for weeks at a time, you’re not alone. Many Christians struggle to make studying the Bible a top priority in their lives.
For most people, it’s not that they don’t want to know what God says. They simply view it as another “chore.” It’s one more task on an already overflowing to-do list, and it feels impossible to make time for it.
But what if you changed your attitude toward studying the Bible? What if, instead of being another action item for you to get done, it became an exciting adventure? What if it was the conversation that you spent all day looking forward to? What if you chose to cherish the words between the leather covers?
Here a Christian Women’s Corner, I felt led to encourage women (and myself) to read our Bibles more, and I longed to start free online bible studies for women. That’s why…
In my quest to find a fun and engaging way to read and study the bible, I was fortunate enough to come across Courtney Joseph at Good Morning Girls, a Women Living Well ministry. Courtney has a degree in evangelism and discipleship from Moody Bible Institute and has discovered a fun and really helpful way to read through the bible.
It all begins with starting and leading a Good Morning Girls group. The more I read and checked out her website, the more I wanted to create a group. And I also encourage others to start their own group as well.
A Good Morning Girls group is an online accountability group that encourages women to read and study their Bible. I love the idea of free online bible studies for women and have jumped right in and started a group using the Facebook platform.
You can sign up for our private Good Morning Girls Facebook group by clicking on the button below.
After running a Good Morning Girls Facebook Group for a couple of years, I started looking around for a women's bible study that was more topical and not just focused on books of the Bible. That was when I found Love God Greatly studies.
Most of the Love God Greatly studies are 4-6 weeks long and focus on topics that are important such as, how to be more like Jesus in our daily lives and ways we can learn to love God and serve Him better.
The goal of Love God Greatly Bible studies is to inspire, encourage, and equip women in their faith as they gather together around God’s Word in local and online communities. They do this by teaching women how to love God greatly with their lives through beautifully created women’s Bible studies.
You can sign up for our private Love God Greatly Facebook group by clicking on the button below.
To give you more of an idea of how our groups work, I’ll give you an inside peek.
After you join the Christian Women’s Corner ~ Good Morning Girls Facebook group, you will have access to daily accountability to help you read through the bible, one chapter at a time. And don’t we all need that!
We read the bible together Monday to Friday with the weekends off, one chapter a day for approximately 20 minutes. You can read and study the bible anytime you like, but the resources to do so will be posted in the group around 7am every morning.
They are online self-guided Bible studies for women in which we type or post pictures of our answers and insights to the material in the comments section daily. The comments section is where all the interaction will take place.
There are no specific times we have to meet or places you need to be to use these supports. We do not have online video calls/meet ups for this study. You read and study when you have time during the day or night and check-in with the group as you can throughout your day or night.
There is also no homework to do. Our only goal is to read through the bible. We are committed to working around your busy schedule, and that’s why I love Good Morning Girls so much!
Here’s a video of Courtney describing the heart and vision behind Good Morning Girls.
When you join the Christian Women’s Corner ~ Love God Greatly Facebook group, you will have access to daily accountability and topical studies that teach you more about how God wants us to live on a daily basis.
The studies run five days a week from Monday to Friday with weekends off. Studying God’s Word with us can take as little or as long as you have time to give. Some days it can take as little as ten or fifteen minutes while other days you can spend an hour studying and learning what He has to show you. You can read and study the bible anytime you like, but the resources to do so will be posted in the group around 7am every morning.
They are online self-guided Bible studies for women in which we type or post pictures of our answers and insights to the material in the comments section daily. The comments section is where all the interaction will take place.
There are no specific times we have to meet or places you need to be to use these supports. We do not have online video calls/meet ups for this study. You read and study when you have time during the day or night and check-in with the group as you can throughout your day or night.
Here’s a video describing the heart and vision behind Love God Greatly.
All are welcome to join us anytime, so don’t wait to start when a new session begins. Just jump right in! There are no requirements to subscribe or enroll.
The Good Morning Girls regroup a few times a year. Usually, it is in the winter, spring, summer, and fall. This allows a graceful bow-out time for women who need to leave our group, who might have studies going on in the local Church, or who cannot commit. This also opens the door for new women to join in.
Love God Greatly usually has a two to three week break in between studies. You can join us any time and can even start half way through a study. We encourage you to invite your friends as well.
Each day, in our Good Morning Girls private Facebook group, I will post the bible reading chapter of the day and the verse of the day, and you will post what you got from your daily quiet time. There is also a reflection and one or two daily discussion questions posted. If you are having a hard time finding something specific to share, these questions should help you have a jumping point.
In the Love God Greatly private Facebook group, I will post a short reading from the bible and a verse of the day. You will respond with what you got from your daily study time in the comments section below the post. There is also a devotion, a prayer, and one discussion question posted. These are provided to help assist you in your study and to give you ideas for what to share in the comments section.
This is the method we use to study the bible. If you are not inclined to use the SOAK method, just do it your own way. We only wish to know what you are learning as you share each day in our group.
I particularly like this study method because it gives me a chance to reread the verses, ponder the observations, review my applications and pray my prayers.
If you prefer to write out / journal your SOAK, you can print off a daily SOAK sheet for your own use.
Your SOAK could look something like this on our post thread:
S—Scripture - Verses 1-5 is what stood out to me today (Or—you can actually type out verses 1-5). You can also use our verse of the day if you have difficulty finding a verse. (There is no right or wrong choice— just let the Holy Spirit guide you.)
O—Observation - Share your basic observations here. What stands out to you? What have you learned about the character of God from these verses? Is there a promise, command, or teaching?
A—Application - Personalize the verses. What is God saying to you? How are you going to take what you have learned and apply it to your life? Are there any changes you need to make or an action to take?
K—Kneel in Prayer - You don’t have to type out your prayer, but you can. Remember to follow our ACTS model. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication).
We typically share in paragraph form. Usually, the first 2 -3 sentences are observation and then 2-3 sentences for application.
Basically, there is no right or wrong way to do it. Just share what God has taught you each day!
If you miss a day, go back through the threads and catch up if you need to.
It’s one thing to simply read Scripture, but when you interact with it, when you learn to slow down to really read it, words start popping off the page. By SOAPing your verses, you can dig deeper into Scripture and understand more than if you simply read the verses and then went on your merry way. Let me encourage you to take the time to SOAP the daily verses, and see for yourself how much more you get out of your daily reading.
You can use a special notebook or journal that you set aside just for Bible study to write your SOAP's in.
S—The S stands for Scripture. Write out the full SOAP passage. You’ll be amazed at what God will reveal to you just by taking the time to slow down and write out what you are reading!
O—The O stands for Observation. What do you see in the verses that you’re reading? Who is the audience? Is there a repetition of words? What words stand out to you?
A—The A stands for Application. This is when God’s Word becomes personal. What is God saying to me today? How can I apply the truth of this passage to my own life? What changes do I need to make? Is there an action that I need to take?
P—The P stands for Prayer. Pray God’s Word back to Him. If He has revealed something to you during this time in His Word, pray about it. Confess if He has revealed some sin that is in your life. Remember to follow the ACTS model. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication).
Both the Good Morning Girls and Love God Greatly studies are modeled the same way with just the last letter being different. K- is for Kneel in Prayer and P- is for Prayer. This keeps both studies similar in the way they study Gods word.
We use a coloring code chart to help us study the Bible and underline or color the words. It's not mandatory to use this method but we find it helps slow down our reading and gives us a better understanding of what we are learning. Each color identifies the following:
Purple – God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Savior, Messiah
Pink – women of the Bible, family, marriage, parenting, friendships, relationships
Red – love, kindness, mercy, compassion, peace, grace
Green – faith, obedience, growth, fruit, salvation, fellowship, repentance
Yellow – worship, prayer, praise, doctrine, angels, miracles, power of God, blessings
Blue – wisdom, teaching, instruction, commands
Orange – prophecy, history, times, places, kings, genealogies, people, numbers, covenants, vows, visions, oaths, future
Brown – Satan, sin, death, hell, evil, idols, false teachers, hypocrisy, temptation
You can download a Bible coloring code chart bookmark and print for your own use.
And a full-page Bible coloring code chart.
Feel free to print them off and use them.
Here is a video of Courtney explaining the SOAK bible study method and the coloring code chart.
We are huge on creative bible journaling and coloring around here. I will post either mine or another person’s bible coloring/journaling picture once a day, and you can comment underneath with your photos as well. It’s great fun!
Good Morning Girls have a printable Bible bookmark with the reading plan chapters on it that we are currently studying. You can use it to track where you are and check off what chapters you have read so far. The download is available in the Facebook group,
Good Morning Girls also have a printable Bible reading plan of the entire bible. You can use it to keep track of where you are and check off what books of the bible and which chapters you have read so far. It’s nice to look back and see how far you’ve come. You can download the Bible reading plan and print for your own use.
Every week we have a couple of posts. The first is a prayer and praise photo post. On Sunday, I will ask for prayer requests and praise items. Please add your prayer requests by commenting. Let us know any answers or updates. Feel free to post prayers for others as well. I will copy your prayer request down in my prayer journal and pray for you often. Please feel free to do the same!
The second weekly post is a link to Courtney’s blog and video for the week. On Friday, I will point you to Courtney’s blog to read a blog post and watch a video that Courtney provides us, which summarizes our bible study for the week. It’s an excellent wrap-up to what we’ve been learning, and Courtney always has some great insights to share.
Every week we have some posts to help you in your study time. On Sundays we have a prayer and praise post, a memory verse for the week for you to post around your house to help in your memorization, and a reading plan post so you will know what we are studying for the week.
On Monday's we have a weekly challenge post that contains a simple challenge for you to complete. It will pertain to what we are studying that week and help to reinforce what you are learning.
On Monday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's there will be a blog post link that will provide extra learning and reinforcing of the weeks study materials.
Good Morning Girls journals are for sale on Amazon. They correspond with each book of the bible and chapter that we are studying.
Love God Greatly journals are also available on Amazon. They are a bit more expensive but 100% of the funds from Bible study journal purchases go directly toward the development of translated Bible studies for women and children globally.
*Special Note - If you are unable to purchase the journals, that is 100 % okay because I post all the information from the journals into our Facebook groups. The journals are an option and not needed to participate in any of our studies within the groups.
Here is a list of products that I use in my quiet time:
Fine line non-bleeding pens – Sakura Pigma Micron Archival Ink
Colored Pencils - Crayola Twistables, Prismacolor Premier, and Faber-Castell Polychomos
I use the New Inductive Study Bible, ESV version as my personal Bible.
I also use the Crossway Illuminated Scripture Journals for each individual book of the Bible so I won't mark up my personal inductive study Bible. *SPECIAL NOTE: I purchase them individually to save the large up front cost.
I’m excited and hope you will join our private online bible study groups to start reading the word of God daily and have the accountability to keep up this habit with us.
Free online bible studies for women have become very popular because they offer flexibility and accountability for your daily quiet time. You’ll feel connected with a group of women who share the same love of Jesus that you do and will be able to share as much or as little as you want with them.
You can check out the Good Morning Girls/Women Living Well website to learn more about Courtney and her ministry. You can find out more about starting your own Good Morning Girls group if you are interested.
You can also check out the Love God Greatly website to learn more about their ministry. You can find out more about facilitating your own Love God Greatly group if you are interested.
Not only will you get Good Morning Girl or Love God Greatly resources, but you will get Christian Women’s Corner updates and resources as well. These things are meant to keep you fed and help support you on your walk with Jesus.
Grace and peace,
Alicia
Click the button below to join our Christian Women's Corner ~ Good Morning Girls private Facebook group.
Click the button below to join our Christian Women's Corner ~ Love God Greatly private Facebook group.