Friday, January 24, 2014

My five favorite methods for studying the Bible

Make running lists on themes that run through the Bible. I've made several... "The Lord Is..." "What is the Lord doing?" "Who am I?" "What pleases the Lord?" "What does the Lord hate?" "What does the Bible say about my words?" "What does the Bible say about my time?" etc. My favorite is "The Lord Is..." Whenever I come across another name for God or a character trait of His, I add it to the list with the verse reference. I don't embellish it with any of my own words, just a short phrase straight from the Bible. It's a long list, with entries from all over the Bible, and it is really amazing to just read straight through it.

Get to know the original Greek or Hebrew words. Pick a key word in the Bible that will really help You get to know God better or live a better life as a Christian if you were to deeply understand what it means. I suggest something like "grace" or "faith" or maybe a virtue such as one of the fruits of the Spirit, which is what I'm doing right now. Then find out the original Greek and/or Hebrew words that are translated into your chosen word and start studying those, one at a time. (For example, if you want to learn about gentleness, and there are two different Greek words that mean "gentleness," start with one. When you finish, then study the other. They might have slightly different nuances of meaning.) From this point on, you're studying the original words, not the English translations. Try to ignore definitions you've heard before, and let the Bible explain itself. Look up the Bible verses that contain your word and try to pick up from the context every bit of information about your word topic- a definition, an opposite, a practical application, what the results are, where it comes from, etc. Write it all down of course. I usually get through only two or three verses at one time. It's slow-going, but it's really helpful in grasping spiritual ideas that are often so fuzzy in our minds.

Read through different sections of the Bible at the same time. It's amazing to see how often what you read in one part directly relates to another part. It's also a helpful technique if you want to read a lot of Scripture at once but want to keep your attention span. There are a lot of one-year Bible reading plans that combine a Psalm, a section of Proverbs, another Old Testament passage, and a New Testament passage for each day. I made a plan of my own with six parts: Law, Old Testament History, Poetry, Old Testament Prophecy, New Testament History, and Epistles. I did it this way because I thought it gave some of the lesser-known sections of the Bible equal treatment. I spent more time reading things that were semi-new to me (The book of Isaiah? I had no idea it was so hopeful and encouraging!). The sections aren't equal in length, but when I came to the end of one section, I just started it over again.

Memorize passages that encourage/enlighten/convict you. Just pick one you like; if it speaks to you, then you'll be more motivated to finish. When you memorize something, you end up spending a lot of time thinking about it, and thinking more deeply about it. Every single word starts to be important, and your understanding of what the passage is really saying grows. If your mind tends to wander when you sit down to meditate (Mine does...) memorization gives you something to concentrate on, and if there's something there worth meditating on, it will just happen naturally.

Start a private devotional blog. With all the note-taking you have to (or want to!) do, a blog eliminates all the paper and notebooks you'd have to find space for the old-fashioned way. It makes it easy to add, change, and rearrange your information over time, for example, when you make lists. You can also do that easily in Word, and organize all of your devotional documents in the folder system. It's probably safer in terms of privacy, since devotions are really personal. If you have a blog, though, you can tag all your posts by topic, book of the Bible, even verse if you want to; when you've been studying the Bible for a while, it's a helpful tool if you want to review what you've learned before. You can also link to devotionals or other articles you've read online that relate to your study, and upload your own videos or pictures if you're a multimedia kind of person. And of course, you can make it an inviting little space where you want to be. It makes it easy to come back to your devotions if you've lost the habit.

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