Today, we’re talking about Bible study! I hope to dedicate a future post to my methods for studying the Bible, but today we’re going to talk about what you might call the foundations of Bible study, from learning how to set aside time for it to knowing what supplies might make it better for you, read on for my 3 big tips!
1. Consistency. Most people (myself included) like routines. Not to say that everything in life must be planned out extensively, but having a structure & a framework in mind is something that we can use in order to be more productive. When we start getting into the habit of doing something on a repetitive basis, it becomes easier to maintain.
Personally, my times set aside for Bible-reading are in the morning, when I first wake up, & at night, right before I go to bed. No matter when you choose to spend time with God & in His Word, when you start doing it consistently, you will develop a habit & eventually make it an integral part of your day that you will look forward to.
Of course, there will be times when we don’t end up following through with it, & that’s alright. There is no such thing as the “perfect” Christian, so don’t let your pride tell you that reading your Bible every day makes you better than another Christian, or that not reading your Bible every day makes you a worse Christian. As you grow in faith & mature spiritually, you will need to dig deeper & fill your heart & mind with God’s Word, & you will need to strengthen your roots & work to develop the self-discipline of prioritizing God, even when you don’t feel like it, but let your motivation be God-centered & not self-centered.
Seek God in order to know Him more fully, to understand how to live by His ways in this world, & in order to love & serve Him more whole-heartedly.
2. Quality over quantity. In a world where “more” always seems to equal “better”, it’s easy to think, “Why not apply this to Bible study?”, but the fact is, “more” does not always equal “better”. We could spend all day & all night reading God’s Word, but if we do not let it sink in past the surface, what good are we doing in our own hearts?
Sure, I can do 5 Bible studies at once, but if I don’t have adequate time to think about, reflect on, & pray about the Biblical principles that I am learning, then all my work is in vain. You see, God’s Word is a beautiful gift, & yes, you absolutely should get as much of it as you can, but if you put an entire steak in your mouth at once, it becomes hard to chew. More so, if you gobble that steak down, you don’t have the chance to savor the flavor, & you won’t digest it very well if you haven’t broken it down before consuming it. In the same way, studying the Bible is like eating the choicest of meats.
God might use His Word to reveal something absolutely amazing to you, but if you snatch it up & then shove it in the back of your mind while you read the other five chapters in your Bible reading plan, you won’t be able to receive His ministering & revelation like you would if you stopped & pondered for a while about that one verse that jumped out at you.
You see, it’s not about reading five or ten or twenty chapters of your Bible in one day, or about reading the entire Bible from cover to cover. It’s not about making sure you’ve checked off all your assigned readings for the day, but it’s about sitting down at the table to feast on God’s Word, one juicy bite of steak at a time.
3. Supplemental tools. There are a few things that make studying God’s Word better & more beneficial. Some are necessary, & some are about personal preference. Let’s start with the biggest key to understanding & receiving God’s Word that you will ever have. His Name is Holy Spirit. Going back to the concept of quality over quantity, in order to have that beautiful steak, we really should have a fork & a knife so we don’t have to pick our steak up & tear it apart with our own hands, thus destroying the grain of the meat & letting the flavorful juices spill out all over the place.
You see, the Holy Spirit is immensely important if we want to study God’s Word & receive it to the fullest. The Holy Spirit is our direct two-way connection with God. Through Him, we receive salvation, we obtain wisdom, & we hear the voice of God guiding us in His ways & revealing to us the unsearchable things of His Word that we otherwise would never know. Without Him, we can read the surface of God’s Word, but we won’t be able to dig deeper & understand the true meaning of what is being said, & we won’t be able to receive the full depth & breadth of God’s message of love to us.
Another integral part of Bible study is prayer. Prayer goes right along with the Holy Spirit, because, as I said, The Holy Spirit is our two-way connection with God. The Holy Spirit is the Connector, but prayer is the phone that you have to pick up & dial to in order to reach God, & you have to pick it up & listen when it rings in order to hear what God has to say. Prayer is a tool that must be implemented in the life of a Christian. After all, as I’ve said many times, a relationship must be tended to in order to grow, & in order to do that, you must spend time with the other person.
You cannot get to know someone without communicating with them, & a relationship with God is no different, so use the gift of prayer extensively! Ask God to give you His wisdom, to open your heart & mind to receive His Word, & for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to lead you in living out what He reveals to you.
Now, we’ve covered the bases on what (& Who) you undoubtedly need in order to study the Bible, so now let’s look some additional resources that may prove helpful to you, as they certainly have to me.
Firstly, pens, highlighters, or anything that you can mark, write, or draw with. Whether it be drawing/writing in your Bible, or in a notebook/journal, going beyond simply reading & going the extra mile to write down your thoughts & highlight verses that touched you will help you to develop a deeper connection to God’s Word. I like to write personal notes in my Bible, such as things that God says to me while I am reading, verses that minister to me during a specific time in my life (especially during hard times), & tidbits from sermons, Bible studies, & devotionals that I want to remember. Another thing I like to do is write the date I wrote what I wrote, so that I can look back on seasons of my life where God answered my prayers & brought me through difficult circumstances.
My one rule for writing in a Bible is this: never write anything that covers the words of the Bible or interferes with your ability to read them. It’s hard to do if you don’t have a journaling Bible with large margins, which is why I also use handy dandy sticky notes.
They come in all shapes & sizes, & are easily removable for when you need to read what’s behind them. My next favorite tool is a notebook. I have one dedicated to sermon notes, but you can go a step further & use one for your day-to-day personal Bible studying. Write down principles & passages (even if only the references) that stick out to you, & even write down prayers & petitions & praises. Involve your hands & your mind in your study in order to better absorb what you’re learning.
If you’re a visual learner, try writing out Bible verses in a pretty script or a design that you like, & then either hang it up somewhere, or use it as a bookmark in your Bible. If you’re an auditory learner, you can try listening to spoken versions of the Bible found on tape, CDs, & online through websites & apps such as Bible Gateway & the YouVersion Bible app.
No matter what you do, use God’s Word as the foundation, & then find ways to learn that make it easier to absorb. There isn’t a black & white method for studying God’s Word. We have talked about foundational principles, but beyond those, we have many resources that can help each of us learn & retain God’s Word in the way that works best for us!
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
- 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV
- 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV
What is your one tip for improving your Bible study?
PS: This was a collaboration with some other Christian writers on Instagram! I've linked each of their posts below, so feel free to take a few moments & read through their tips as well!
Blessings, Allison