PursuingHim.com

“I want to study the Bible, I just don’t know how,” said John.  I’ve heard people say this time and time again.  Reading and studying the Bible is not as difficult as people make it.  A lot of times people just don’t know where to start.  The key is TO start.  Below you will find six steps to help you study God’s word.  These are six steps that I’ve found useful in my own Bible study times.

1) Decide what you are going to read

Decide what you are going to read.  You can choose an entire book, a chapter, a number of chapters, a verse, a group of verses or a specific topic.  The key is to start reading.  If you are wanting to read on a specific topic most Bibles have a Concordance in the back where they identify a word and verses that use that word in them.

2) Take a moment to Pray

Once you’ve identified what you are going to read, take a few moments and pray; asking God to help you understand what you are going to read.  God wants you to understand what you read.

3) Begin your reading

Start reading your chosen text.  It may be as you read you find that you jumped into the middle of a thought.  Don’t be afraid to back up to the beginning of the thought and read forward again including the section you previously read.  Also as you read, sometimes you will note footnotes that suggest other passages.  Take a moment and read those passages and see if they provide more insight to your topic.

Depending on what you choose to read, allow me to make a suggestion.  If you are going to read a just a single verse, I would suggest that you expand your reading to include several verses before  and several verses after your chosen verse in order to capture the context and thought behind the verse.  If you are reading concerning a specific topic, I would suggest this as well.  For example if I wanted to read John 11:35, I don’t get the full context as to why Jesus wept.  If I jumped back to John 11:30 and read through to John 11:36, I see how much Jesus cared for Mary and Martha and how deeply he was affected by their sorrow at Lazarus’ death. By reading the extra verses, I gain context or have a better understanding as to what was happening in that specific verse.

4) Note your observations

As you read, something may stand out to you.  I would encourage you to take a moment and write it down.  Note your observation in a journal or inside the margins of the Bible next to what stood out to you. (Yes, you CAN write in the Bible! A bolt of lightning will not come out of the sky and strike you dead because you wrote in it.)  The reason for noting your observation allows you to come back to it at a later date and have a better insight as to what you were thinking or why it stood out.  If applicable, make note of the date that you made the observation as to allow you to see your growth over a period of time.

5) Further study (Optional)

For further study, you can look up your reading selection in a commentary or the definition of nouns in a Bible dictionary.  A useful and free site that contains commentary’s and Bible dictionaries can be found at BlueLetterBible.org.

6) Reflect on your reading

After you finish reading and noting your observation, spend some time reflecting on what you read.  Ask yourself some questions referencing the text you just read.  How does what you read impact your life?  How do you apply what you read to your life?  Does what you read challenge you to make a change in the way you think or in your actions? Does what you read challenge the way you perceived a specific thought?  There’s more questions you can ask yourself, but the key is that you ask yourself questions regarding the text.  This action of reflection speaks to the real issue as to why one studies God’s word.  The whole point of studying God’s word is to take action in our lives  based on what we read.

So there you have it, six steps to take to study God’s word.  The steps (decide what you’re going to read, take a moment to pray, begin your reading, note your observations, further study and reflect on your reading) in themselves are not difficult.  For most, the biggest hurdle is just getting started.  So what are you waiting for?  Jump on in…