How Do I Begin to Study the Bible

There are two essential ingredients to any Bible study.
1. prayer
2. share
The rest is just helpful ideas.

Remember Mary's secret was choosing the eternal over the temporal, and keeping her eyes on Jesus (Luke 10:38-42). Let's follow her example to the feet of Jesus.

I'm praying for you,
Tracie

I. Helpful Tools
a. A reliable Bible translation you can easily understand. Not a paraphrase.
b. A cute Notebook/pen (Journaling is important!)
c. A Bible Dictionary
d. A Bible Concordance
e. E-Sword (If you have a computer you can download it at e-sword.net for free)

I would like to suggest to you a Bible reference tool; The Three-In-One Concise Bible Reference Companion by Thomas Nelson Publishers. This is a dictionary, a concordance, and a topical index all in one. I paid $14.99 for mine (christianbook.com usually has it on sale for $9.99)and it has proved to be an invaluable study tool.

II. Types of Studies
[It is recommended that you choose a particular book and study it in the following order]

A. A birds eye view
1. Choose a book and read it through.
2. Look out for verses that reveal the author’s purpose for writing the book.
3. Look out for verses that reveal the theme of the book.
4. Mark natural divisions within the book.
5. Make a note of things that interest you and things you do not understand.

B. Chapter by chapter study
1. Read a chapter and write a summary of it in your own words.
2. Make a note of the natural divisions within each chapter.
3. Make a note of things that interest you and things you do not understand.

C. Verse by verse study
1. Read through each verse and then rewrite it in your own words.
2. Divide the verse into individual segments and comment on each.
3. Make a note of things of interest and make a note of words you do not understand.

D. Word study
1. Choose a particular word from list you made in your previous study.
2. Look up the meaning of it in a Greek dictionary
3. Look up the Strong’s number of this word in Strong’s Dictionary and then, using a Greek concordance, see how the word is translated and used throughout the Scriptures.
4. Then see how your understanding of the word gives a greater understanding to the verses in which it appears.

E. Biographical study
1. Choose a particular Bible character (Jesus, Paul, etc).
2. Find out all you can about that person physically: when they born, where they were born, their nationality, who their parents were, etc.
3. Find out all you can about that person spiritually: What struggles did they have, what lessons were learned, How did God work in their lives, etc.

F. Topical study
1. Choose and particular topic that interests you (e.g., spiritual gifts) but be sure it is not a difficult subject.
2. Read through the New Testament and note all the places where this subject is mentioned.
3. Write a summary of your findings.

G. Quick study
**Follow His Precepts acrostic**
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