Dear Friend,

Here are a couple of ways to study the Bible that have been very profitable for me.  I hope this might be helpful for you.

The first thing you do is pick a topic.  To do this, spend some time in prayer and ask the Lord to reveal to you an area you need to work on.  When you choose a topic, be sure to be specific.  A topic like “good works” may be too broad.  Instead, topics such as gentleness, patience, how to speak, etc., may be a better choice.  Look your word up in the concordance.  Write down every reference on a piece of paper.  Look up the verses.  If a particular verse has no real connection to your topic, cross it out.  For example, if you are studying ”speech” and a verse says something like Moses SAID to the people..., this would have no real connection to your topic just because it contains the word ”said”.  Write down any verses that do apply in a notebook.  I like to write the entire verse not just the reference because it helps me to remember them.  Beneath the verse, journal what this verse says to you; the more we write the more we learn. This is true because we are internalizing our thoughts and thinking them through more thoroughly.  Pray and ask the Lord to show you what He wants you to know.  Prayer is so important. Anyone can study the Bible for “knowledge” but we want to know the One who wrote it! Many of my notes resemble prayers.

After you have studied a verse, study the cross references for that verse.  Don’t forget to study the cross references of the cross references, if they apply!­Once you have studied all the cross references, go back to the list you made from your concordance.  Study the next verse.  You may find you have already studied many or all of these verses through the study of cross references of your first verse.

Instead of picking a topic, you can pick a book of the Bible and study it the same way.  Study verse by verse, using the cross references.  The one major difference is that usually you will have several topics instead of one.  I love to study the smaller books this way, especially Philippians, James, and 1 John.  However you choose to study God’s Word, don’t feel it is necessary to read a certain amount of verses a day.  If a particular verse has a lot in it for you to meditate on, then stay with that one verse.  This time is between you and the Lord.  The only goal is for you to know Him better!

In His love, Penni

• Post A Comment! • Send to a Friend!