When I was very young, I was taught to read and loved it at that early age. When I was in middle school... they picked a few kids to try a speed reading class and I was one of those kids picked. That is a useful tool and ability BUT... I found myself doing it when I studied my Bible and that disturbed me because I do know that you drop in comprehension level when you kick the speed reading in. My drop wasn't very big but we're talking Scripture and I wanted to pay full attention. I purposed to slow down but as soon as I got to a spot that seemed to drag a bit, such as genealogies, I'd kick back into that gear and wouldn't stop for many pages later. I needed to try something else because the habit was set in.
I was in the Sunday School room helping to clean up and I saw a box of 12 Crayola coloring pencils and I thought... interesting. Wonder if I could color code the Bible and have that make me slow down. I took the box and it had the primary colors to begin with. Red, yellow, green, orange, blue, purple etc. so I figured I'd come up with a topic for each color. I chose topics and marked it with the appropriate colors in the back of my Bible. Over the years... I went from those basic colors to several others requiring me to get the larger packs of pencils but my advice to start... stay with the 12 pack. Once you get used to reading and coloring... you can add.
Now I mention Crayola... I have used all types. Roseart lead is very hard so while it works... that paper in your Bible is very thin. It is easy to tear. You will even with a Crayola every once in a while but don't worry. A little Scotch tape on one side and another on the other side of the page and you're fixed. But Crayola is the best so far. The lead is softer so you cut through times less. The led is not so soft though that the colors bleed really bad. What you have to watch for is burrs in your lead. You can't see them but you will feel the burr when you color. It will almost be like a scratching feeling when it should color smoothly. Simply stop coloring and rub the burred lead against a piece of paper or box until it is smooth. Don't continue coloring though because if you try and smooth it out on the page of your Bible... you will cause a tear. The cheap dollar store pencils... forget those. The colors aren't consistent from one pack to the next and the lead is very soft thus the colors fade very badly.
Don't be afraid of dark colors like black, brown, blue... etc. Just don't push so hard and it makes a great color for coding. For example... anything to do with Satan or demonic... I use black because it just seemed the obvious color! Lightly color the passage and it works very well.
Do not use a pencil sharpener. You waste an insane amount of lead... I discovered this years after I started coloring and I hate to think of the lost money! Just sharpen the pencil with a knife. You aren't looking for a point anyway... you're coloring. With a knife, I can slowly sharpen the pencil and waste very little of the lead. Take orange for example. I will use a full orange pencil and part of another one to color code a Bible. Before using the sharpener... it took 4 pencils. Orange is the color that I use the most because it is unfulfilled or still being fulfilled prophecy and there is much in there about the return of Christ!
Here is my color code:
Yellow - holiness, righteousness... would also include unholy and unrighteousness too at times.
Orange - unfulfilled prophesy.
Red - Obedience
Purple - Sin
Blue- Healing
Brown - Faith
Green - Holy Spirit
Jade Green - OSAS/NOSAS passages (Once Saved, Always Saved and not)
Aqua - Salvation
Burgandy - Prosperity
Yellow Green - Prayer and Fasting
That you will see in every Bible. I add certain topics with other colors as well if there is something that I want to specifically study... even if it would be covered in one of those topics in general.
Also... what topic you use for a color is totally up to you. That's the topics that I covered a lot so this is my list which is applicable and useful to me. I've done television and radio over the years and another advantage to this system.. it can make looking something up a snap. We'd talk about healing and while most passages on healing are found in the gospels.. trying to find the passage of the guy with the withered hand can take a bit if your concordance is no help. I can save a lot of time by going through the gospels and glance at anything "blue" until I see it. Saves me from having to scan an entire page.
Anyway... told a person on Twitter that I would show this and here it is. It forces you to slow down when you read and if you already read slow still great. It forces you to pay attention to what you are reading because you want to find what color to use if it is covered in your topics.
Another tip... when you start really think it through. My mistake was that I made healing topics blue. There is a good deal in the gospels on healing but beyond that... not a lot. So I have like a gazzillion blue pencils (give extra pencils to kids church but you get the point) and later I added aqua for salvation/gospel. I go through a lot of aqua which isn't a primary color which means it cost me more money! Have to get the 24 box for that color. It would have been much better using blue for salvation and aqua for healing. BEFORE YOU SAY IT!!!!! I know I could just switch but it isn't that easy! I'd colored many Bibles before adding the aqua color. I did try to change but after automatically grabbing the blue and coloring healing passage number 10 or so... the habit was already set in so I just lived with it and gathered many blue pencils over time!
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this. Everyone who has done this has met with success. Add to that... it gives you something to do other than just sit there reading. Makes you more involved with your hands which helps keep you from getting sleepy from just reading and all that stuff. It's a great way to study and it really does increase your comprehension.
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