Hillside Senior High TNT
 

How to Study Your Bible
     

 

Text Box: Basics on How to Study the Bible   Pray for Wisdom and Understanding The most often overlooked and under-valued aspect of Bible study is prayer.  Yet prayer is essential to gaining wisdom and understanding when you read God’s Word.  Determine to begin each study with prayer – only God, through His Holy Spirit, can give you the wisdom to understand His Word and the strength to live it out!  Read the Bible in an Orderly Manner It is important to read a book of the Bible as a whole, not simply skipping around from verse to verse. Think about it, if you received a letter from someone and you read only a few sentences here and there, the letter would not make as much sense.  It is the same with the Bible.  A Possible Reading Plan is:   (try to make a set time and place that you do this daily) Read the Gospel of John – this gospel was written so that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God.  Then, after you have finished reading John, read the rest of the New Testament.  Then go to the Old Testament. It would be good to have a Bible with a translation that you can best understand: NIV, NLT, NKJ are possibilities. It would also be very helpful if this was a Study Bible that has extra notes and historical information. - - - - - - - - - - A Great Way to Study the Bible - - - - - - - - - - 1. Pray for insight and wisdom in understanding the Bible every time you start! 2. Read the book of the Bible you desire to study all the way through several times in a month’s time -to get an understanding of it as a whole. (Read quickly to get the total overview – the more times the better!) After reading in a sitting, spend a few minutes thinking about what you just read – praying for the Lord to reveal to you personally important truths from His Word. 3. Having read through the entire book one or more times as an overview, you are now ready to really get in close and check out the details.  Now you spend your time reading slowly, underlining meaningful truths, writing down questions or thoughts that you have in a journal and/or in the margins as you go.  You might only get through a couple of verses, or a paragraph, or a whole chapter in one sitting – don’t worry about how far you get, simply seek to understand what you do read. 4. Meditating on God’s Word is of Utmost Importance!!  As you read, it is important to meditate – or process – what you are reading and then write down your thoughts in a notebook or journal.  Some GREAT questions to ask yourself: Questions about the text:  What is the main subject of this passage?  To whom is it written? Who is speaking? About what is this person speaking? What is the key verse? What does this it teach about the Father, Jesus, and/or the Holy Spirit? Questions for you personally:  Is there any sin mentioned in the passage that I need to confess or let go of? Is there a command given that I should obey? Is there a promise made that I can apply to my current circumstances? Is there a prayer given that I could pray? 5. Pray for the wisdom and strength to live these Truths out in your life.  Remember that many times Bible study is tough to keep doing because you don’t always get “exciting truths”. But please push through these times, because the real excitement and understanding come over the persistent discipline of staying in the Word of God!  Just think, a little every day adds up to a WHOLE LOT over the year!