Back in my primordial bible reading days, before I joined a group
, when I did read the Bible I read it alone in the privacy of my home and respectfully and with a sense of connection. What I experienced is that whatever I needed to know for my own life at that time, well, the words would "light up" on the page and I would be "convicted". I wrote down those passages on a small card and carried it with me -- I meant business because I knew I needed higher guidance.
I can still recall some of those verses, for example, "God is light and within him there is neither darkness nor shadow of turning...", and my lifetime mantra is "All things work together for good...".
When Jesus said ye are my brothers and sisters, and you can do greater things... my heart soared. There are some Christian groups that would like to diminish that or even take that away from me !!???!!!