A Study Of Gods Word Contributes To Christian Growth
The Word of God is our fuel, our food for growth in the Christian faith. When we feed on its richness, we grow strong and healthy in our spiritual lives. Psalm 1 says:
Oh, the joys of those who do not follow evil mens advice, who do not hang around with sinners, scoffing at the things of God: But they delight in doing everything God wants them to, and day and night are always meditating on His laws and thinking about ways to follow Him more closely. They are like trees along a river bank bearing luscious fruit each season without fail. Their leaves shall never wither, and all they do shall prosper .
Unless the Bible becomes the basis of our faith, we will be swayed by our experiences, which can be dangerous. Do not misunderstand me. There is nothing wrong with experiences, emotions, and dreamsif they are validated by Scripture. But beware of depending only on experiences to build your faith. The Word of God is our one sure foundation. Obeying Gods Word gives us assurance that what we are doing is right in Gods eyes.
Sharing Your Faith With Grace And Purpose
You can confidently and lovingly share your faithyou just need to learn some new tactics to do so! In this Focus on the Family Daily Broadcast, apologist Greg Koukl outlines the Columbo tactic of asking questions, the self-defeating argument tactic to find holes in your opponents arguments, and other specific methods for engaging in faith-building conversations with others. Greg pulls from his over 30 years of experience debating atheists and agnostics to help you share your faith with grace and truth.
Write Out Verses From The Bible
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Writing out a verse or several verses makes you slow down and think about the Scripture. It can give you a different perspective on the verse than just reading it alone.
Write it in your own handwriting. It can be on a lined sheet of paper. You can also get creative and write it in a different pattern. You can get colorful if you want to. You can doodle a little bit and draw small pictures if it helps you process the verse.
As you write the verse, ask yourself:
Read the passage out loud several times. Try reading it slowly. Try reading it quickly to get a sense of the structure. Read it again as many times as youd like.
I didnt include journaling as a separate way to study the Bible because that can apply to any of these different ways to study the Bible. But, a journal would be a great place to keep these.
Take the journal or paper you wrote the Scripture on and look at it throughout the day. You can take a photo with your phone and set a reminder during your lunch break to look at it. Think about the verse and how you can apply it to your life.
To take it a step further, you can paraphrase or summarize the verse or passage in your own words. This makes you process and ask what the verse means even further.
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Praying Scripture Over Your Childs Life
Jodie Berndt loves to pray for her children. Shes been doing that for the past thirty years. Now she helps other parents to talk to God, asking for the salvation of their kids, and for wisdom, self-discipline, purpose, a future and much more. She offers fun and practical encouragement that moms and dads can put to work immediately in their daily lives as they prepare their children for a life in Christ.
Tips For Studying The Bible For Beginners Or Experienced Believers
How to study the Bible for beginners – tips & ideas for beginners and experienced Christians. We are not taught in church how to read the Bible, but studying the Bible is an essential activity of Christianity. It is easy to learn to study the Bible with these 10 practical tips.
I received an email last week from a sweet mom of five boys. She is a new believer, and she is trying to find ways to fit her walk with Jesus around her already busy life.
I responded to that email and told Amanda that I understood a little of her dilemma , and hopefully I could help her to figure it out.
I remember being a new believer. I was introduced to the Bible as a child, but I never read or studied any of it until I came back to the church as an adult. It was not all that long ago that I opened at The Word, knowing I was supposed to read and study it, but not having a clue what read and study really meant.
I was intimidated by the Bible and, if I’m being totally honest, completely overwhelmed by it. I had a King James Bible, and it didn’t make any sense to me at all!
If you are there, my friend, read on. Even if you have been a believer for years and years, if you don’t have a strong Bible study habit, this post is for you, too.
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Inductive Bible Study Sample Observation Of Psalm 46
Other Advantages To Digital Notes
Having your notes in any digital format can be beneficial, but Notion specifically gives you a lot of options when it comes to utilizing these notes.
You can share individual pages, prayers, or entire databases. If you wanted to share notes with a bible study group, a friend, or a family member, you can copy a link or add them to the page in seconds. Sharing pages means giving them the option to comment, expand on or just view the page itself. I love being able to share prayers with specific people or just share sermon notes with my husband.
Embedding additional elements into your notes. Adding a podcast, youtube video or PDF into your notes is super quick and easy, giving your database a broader view of the notes as a whole. You can also add photos or whatever decorative elements you want to really make your notes your own.
Not worrying about the handwriting, spelling, or “prettiness” of your notebook helps you focus on the content rather than the page. Personally, I am terrible at spelling, and having a quick way to spell-check myself makes it so much easier to not worry about what my notes look like. Not to mention, I’m not much of an artist, so adding digital elements to my notes helps me enjoy the process more than if I were trying to doodle or make my pages more aesthetically pleasing.
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Inductive Bible Study Interpretation Questions
Cross References Let Scripture interpret Scripture. In other words, when you are unsure about a verse, let other passages in the Bible shed light on the passage you are looking at. Scripture will never disagree with Scripture so we can use other parts of Gods Word to refine our understanding.
If your Bible doesnt include cross references, this tool is a great resource: Strongs Concordance
After you have spent some time looking at cross references to answer your questions, you can look at a commentary. Commentaries arent meant to replace our study of Scripture but to enhance it with background information and grammatical insights.
Bible Study By Verses
In studying the historical passages of the Bible, such as most of the Old Testament or parts of the Gospels, each verse may have only one simple meaning.
But many verses in both the Old and New Testaments are rich with many great Bible truths that will demand more detailed study. There are many ways for you to study a single Bible verse.
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Look Up The Historical Context
Many Bibles will give you some historical context at the start of each book. What was happening during the time of this book? Who were the major figures at the time? What was society like? What was the original language? Understanding the historical context will go a long way with studying any specific chapters or verses.
How To Study The Bible For Beginners
JaimeBible StudyOctober 29, 2021
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Grow closer to God and deepen your faith as you learn how to study the Bible for beginners. Well show you how to get started in this handy guide to studying the Bible!
If youve wondered how to start studying the Bible when youre a beginner or new believer just starting out, then you should know: Ive been there, too, despite having grown up sitting on a church pew.
Sure, I knew a few feel-good Bible stories, and had memorized a handful of popular bible verses over my childhood, but it wasnt until I was an adult that I began to really dive into Gods Word. Did you know, its possible to know Bible stories, yet totally miss the Bible story? Many of us who grew up in church experience this, not just newcomers. If this sounds like you, youre not alone. Keep reading, because Im going to break down how to study the Bible for beginners.
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When we pastored, I saw this same dilemma among the precious people there. Whether youd grown up in church all your life or were totally new to Christ, over time you came to the realization that you needed to enrich your understanding of the Bible and get rooted in your faith.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to items I think may be helpful to you.
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Final Thoughts: Bible Study For Beginners Guide
Dont let fear get in the way of the most transformational time in your day. Gods Word has the power to help us heal, fix our brokenness and to grow in our walk with Him. Only through it can we better understand how to live our lives and make wise decisions. What an amazing blessing to have Gods Words in written form to access any second of the day! Hopefully, with these tips and easy steps, you can feel more at ease in making Bible study part of your daily routine. Now, get a cup of coffee, your Bible and your free printable, and enjoy some time with Him!
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What are your thoughts, my friend? I love to hear your thoughts! Scroll down to leave a comment and I WILL reply!
Blessings,
Inductive Bible Study Application Questions
Youll want to ask the following questions of every passage of Gods Word that you study:
- How does the truth revealed here affect my relationship with God?
- How does this truth affect my relationship with others?
- How does this truth affect me?
The application step is just a matter of answering these questions but the key is to put Gods Word into practice. God doesnt expect us to be perfect but we are to seek to apply Gods Word in our lives, relying on Him for strength and guidance. When you seek to apply Gods truth to your life, God will be faithful to bless your efforts by transforming you to be more like Christ.
When you are done with your Bible study time, be sure to pray for His help in walking out His truth.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17
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The Bible Is A Personal Word From God
The Bible has had a greater influence on this world than any other book. Eighteenth century German philosopher Immanuel Kant said, The existence of the Bible, as a book for people, is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced. President Herbert Hoover emphasized, The whole inspiration of our civilization springs from the teachings of Christ and the lessons of the prophets. To read the Bible for these fundamentals is a necessity of American life.
Men and women by the millions, famous and unknown, have changed history because God used the Bible to change them. St. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, and many others depended on the Scripture to guide their lives, which in turn gave them power to influence the world in which they lived. Daniel Webster, politician and diplomat and one of our countrys greatest orators, said of the Bible, I have read the Bible through many times, and now make it a practice to read it through once every year… It fits man for lifeit prepares him for death.
Bible Study By Paragraphs
A paragraph is several sentences of thought in writing. When an author changes the subject of emphasis in writing, he usually begins a new paragraph. The beginning of a paragraph in this Bible is indicated by a boldface verse number. Studying the Bible by paragraphs like this is often called analytic Bible study.
Read the paragraph carefully for its main thought or subject.
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The Bible Explains The Reason For Human Suffering And Evil Behavior
Have you ever wondered: Why is there so much human suffering? Why is there war and poverty? Many people blame God for these evils. But man, because he is self-centered and seeks his own way, creates wars and inhumanities. Sickness, death, earthquakes, tornadoes, and floods are part of Gods judgment for mankinds sin.
Romans 5:12 explains, When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death throughout all the world, so everything began to grow old and die, for all sinned . What better explanation have you heard for the mess our world is in? Biblical truth about mans evil nature is the only logical answer for cruelty, selfishness, pride, violence, disease, war, and death. Former President Ronald Reagan stated that if all Americans would live closer to the Commandments and the Golden Rule, the problems we face as individuals and as a nation would be solved. I believe that this statement is true because only Godwho understands the depravity of the human hearthas the answers to our sinfulness.
For this reason, I memorized both the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule many years ago. I recite them every morning and evening to help me remember Gods standards and to help me resist temptation when it arises.
How To Get Quiet With God
Find a quiet place thats comfortable where you will be less likely to be distracted. For me, it used to be my dining room table by the window until I made a DIY Prayer Room in a small closet. But your quiet time can be anyhere! Keep the following items in that location so they are ready every day.
Most importantly, put your phone in another room so you arent tempted to check it!
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Choose A Verse Or Passage From Your Reading To Meditate On And Memorize
Take as many days as you need to think about it fully and memorize it well. No need to try to do a different one each day, unless you are truly realistically able to do that. Again, dont set yourself up for failure do what is reasonable and doable FOR YOU.
I personally find it more helpful to keep working on the same verse for several days, because that causes me to think about it that much longer and thereby understand it more fully. It helps to write it freshly on my to do list for each new day. Each time I look at what else I have to do, the verse is there in front of me.
Hint: The Navigator Topical Memory System is a super helpful resource for making verse memorization a regular part of life. I used it as a college student and have brought it back out again as an adult. Go through it with a friend!
How Do You Study The Bible
Thats all Ive got for now. I hope that these methods will guide others in how to study the Bible for beginners out there. May it inspire you to find what works best for you in your own Bible study. Thank you for taking the time to read this guide to how to start studying the Bible. If you have any questions or comments, please dont hesitate to comment below. Let me know: how do you do your Bible study?
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Praying The Scriptures Over Your Children
You will discover how using the Bible to shape your desires and requests opens the door to Gods provisionand frees us from things like worry and fear in our parenting! This expanded edition of the bestseller features updated content on issues like technology and identity, and comes with new material designed to invite children into the family prayer circle. Purchase now and receive 10% off your product.
How To Study The Bible For Yourself
With that said, lets look at some super practical tips for learning how to study the Bible for yourself.
Studying the Word really doesnt have to be intimidating, time-consuming, or difficult. You simply need to know how to study the Bible for beginners! And in this Bible study guide, Im going to show you how.
There are tons of Bible study methods for beginners but this is my favorite method of teaching you how to understand the Bible because its easy, straightforward, and very adaptable.
This is the same method I teach in my book, Fall in Love with Gods Word: Practical Strategies for Busy Women.
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