Tools on How to Study the Bible

Many of us do not have a clue how to study our Bibles. We are just happy if we even end up reading it. Some of us would like to go a little deeper though and understand what it is truly saying. In this article I am going to give you some ideas to help you begin to study your Bible.

The first thing that you are going to want to do is to get a study Bible. These Bibles are great because they give a lot of information that normal Bibles do not give. An example of this would be that they will give you an introduction to the Books of the Bible before you read them. They will tell you information about the person who wrote the book, when the book was written, and what was going on around that time. They will also give you a brief idea of what the book is about. The next thing that you are going to want to do is to find a quiet place to study. Make sure that there are no interruptions so that you can concentrate. Also it is a wise idea that you schedule a time every day to do this. Try to stick to the time. The next thing that you are going to do is to choose a topic to study. Once you have chosen the topic then you are going to decide which type of method that you will use to learn. We will discuss this a little further down in the article.

Before you actually start to study I would suggest that you pray. Ask the Lord what He would like to show to you. Ask the Lord what He would like to change in your life. Once you have done this then you can start to read where you feel led. As you are reading you should take notes. Think and meditate on what you are reading. Some things that you can do that are helpful while you are reading are to ask questions. The questions that you are going to ask are what, where, when, and who. Take down these answers as you go along. The next thing that you are going to look for is any words or phrases that are repeated. This is very important because if God repeats something He is really trying to get His point across. He is trying to get your attention. Don't just scan. Pay attention. The next thing that you are going to look for is to see how things are related from verse to verse. Take notes. Last, you are going to see if you can create some type of outline. Many times there will be a theme. Watch for it, you will see it.

After you get used to studying in this manner you may want to invest in some Bible Study tools. Some really great tools to have are a Bible dictionary. This will tell you a lot about each book and what was taking place at the time. It will also give you the meaning of certain words. Another helpful tool is called a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. This tool will break down the Greek and Hebrew meanings of the words in the Bible. This way you can be sure that you have an accurate interpretation of what you are reading. The most important thing of all after studying your Bible is that you be sure to be a doer of the Word. It will not do you any good to study it if you are not going to apply it to your life. Once you have learned to study in this fashion then you will be ready to teach others how to do the same thing.