Study the Bible

The Bible is a book that is not for casual reading but rather for studying so that it can be applied to our daily lives. God says to “meditate on it day and night” (Joshua 1:8) and “not forgetting what he has heard but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:25).

There are many ways to study the Bible. Every person has a unique way of learning. What is best for me may not be best for you. First you need a Bible to read. There are many different versions so my suggestion is to get some counsel from a good friend or pastor who would be able to help you pick one that will be the easiest for you to understand.

One thing that is vital for everyone studying the Bible is prayer! Before you open your Bible to read and study you should ask God to open your heart and mind to the understanding of His words. Psalms 119:130 says “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” I don’t know about you but sometimes I have such a hard time understanding what God is really trying to say to me. Once I pray and take myself out of the picture it becomes a little clearer.

This next part is where people tend to get lost. They don’t know what to study or read. For beginners I suggest reading anything in the New Testament. Maybe starting with the first 4 books and then moving to James or Timothy, etc. Whether you’re a beginner or not, pick a book in the Bible to read. Read it all the way through and take notes as you do. Write down the words or phrases that stand out. Highlighting, underlining and circling are a great part of note taking. You should see parts of my Bible. If something jumps out at me or if a verse is speaking to me I write it next to the verse or anywhere on that page.

There are also many tools to help you study. There are study Bibles that help you dig deeper, concordances, Bible dictionaries and many more. After reading a complete book go back and start picking that book apart verse by verse. Hebrew 4:12 says “For the word of God is living and active”. Isn’t that exciting! In the Greek the word living is ‘zao’ meaning, “not only living, but causing to live, quickening.” So now you can rephrase this, “God’s word causes life to come about; it quickens”.

There are many more ways to study the Bible. Here are some ideas: you could study with a friend or pick something that is happening in your life right now and conduct a word study. For instance, I studied the word perseverance and what it meant to persevere. I have also done a study on worship; how to worship and why we worship. There are group studies and much more. Just pick one and have fun with it!