Tips on how to effectively study the Bible
There was a point in my life where I stopped spending time reading scripture. I was just no longer digesting what I was learning. I was very much still a prayer warrior, but when it came to the word of God, it would only stick for the moment. If you asked me what I learned later that day, I couldn’t tell you.
Life was busy and as work began to pick up, I got further and further away from intentionally learning more about Him. In order to know the Lord, you have to make time for Him. Think about that one person you are the closest to. Why are you close? Because of the time you both spent with one another. Time with God is no different.
Years ago, I took a hermeneutics class. Hermeneutics deals with interpretation, specifically of the Bible or literary texts. Below you’ll get a mix of what I learned and have applied, and a few tips that I’ve personally found helpful not just for me, but to many that I’ve shared this with. My hope is to get you excited about studying the Word again with a fresh set of tools to help you dig deeper than you’ve ever gone with Him! Highlighting, writing, and doing much more than just reading.
Here are 12 tips on how to dig deeper while studying the Word of God and for it to stick! Most of these tips requires you to write, so before we begin, go grab a pen and paper.
…I’m forreal. Go and come back with paper and pen!
1. Ask for insight
I always begin with this one. Asking for insight to learn something new, to read something I’ve never read before, for the words to jump off the page at me so that I know it is God speaking directly to me. Did you know the Holy Spirit is a teacher? When you ask Him, He will give new revelation to you, new insight, will speak to you loudly as you read, and reveal your heart through the scriptures so that you can grow.
My favorite thing to ask is, “teach me something new today in scripture.”
Quick story: This past Sunday, my husband and I decided to fast until 3pm. Once we woke up and planned our day to be intentional with the Lord, I began with journaling, a daily devotional and studying of scripture that was attached to the devotional. I went downstairs and heard my husband playing worship music. He also listened to sermon after sermon after sermon. He was receiving so much clarity from the Lord that he went from one video to the next. He was SO excited that God was speaking directly to him… and there I was getting a little annoyed.
I was beyond grateful that He was receiving insight and hearing God’s voice on a personal level, but “God, what about me? I need you too Lord…” I didn’t want to admit it at that moment but looking back, that is what I felt.
I went into my prayer space, laid flat, and prepared to fall asleep. I figured I can nap off how I was feeling and thought, “maybe if I fall asleep for a few minutes, I’ll have a fresh start…” knowing truthfully if I fell asleep, I may just sleep through the last leg of the fast. So instead, I grabbed the Bible in my last attempt to hear something from the Lord… and I did. He spoke.
I opened the Bible after saying, “Lord, teach me something new in scripture today” and the first page I opened to fell directly on 1 Kings 19. When I saw the commentary, it is as if the words were jumping off the page at me.
Commentary title said: “YOU CAN’T HEAR FROM ME WHEN YOU ARE BURNT OUT.”
My mouth dropped.
When I asked God to teach me something new, He did. He began to show me a story I’ve read 1000 times before, but gave it a new meaning; a way to apply it to my current circumstances. He showed me the why behind my annoyance towards my hubby and the why behind my difficulty to pray at the moment. The conclusion was: “Dominique, you are overly tired.”
Since I know a lot of people can relate to being exhausted, tired, or maybe even a little weary, I’ll share the insight God gave to me in 1 Kings 19:5-8. God said, “You’re worn out! You need a couple of hot meals and a good night’s rest.” Yep, God really said that. Don’t believe me? Go see for yourself!
God was speaking to Elijah after he was sitting under a tree in the wilderness asking God to let him die. Just one day prior to that, he was on Mount Carmel, in triumph, after a great defeat! He personally slayed over 450 prophets, but the moment he heard the threats of Jezebel, he ran. He found himself under a tree asking God to kill him because his depression was too great. If you look at Elijah’s story, why would a man like him, who just came from slaying 450 prophets of Baal, suddenly allow himself to become so intimidated by the threats of Jezebel—one woman—that he fled for his life out of fear? [1 Kings 19:1-3].
I doubt it was because Jezebel was much of a threat to him, he responded that way out of exhaustion. When we are completely worn out, we respond to things differently than we do when we are fully rested. In that moment, God affirmed my own exhaustion, and told me what I needed. I needed two good meals and a long nap! And, that’s exactly what I did. I had hot meals and took long naps for days to follow after that.
Do you trust that God will show you something new today? Do you believe that He will speak to you on a personal level? Give it a try. Ask Him to show you something new in scripture today.
“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else and His righteousness and all things will be added.” Matthew 6:33
2. Learn the context
Look at the Bible as an apple and not an orange. When you are reading, you are not taking a slice, you are reading from something whole. To help know the full context, read the chapter before and the chapter after. This is the best way to keep things in context to fully understand how God wants you to apply it to your life.
Example:
“I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
By reading the previous chapters, you will learn that Paul wasn’t comfortable in his home. He was in prison. It is a concluding chapter of the letter sent from Paul to the people who were near and dear to him. By keeping it in context, you’ll see that Paul was not condoning the idea of living the Christian walk without discipline and faithfulness to the teachings of Christ, he was expressing knowing how to be content in every living condition that we will encounter. He knew how to be content in times of plenty. All things. He knew how to be content in times of need. All things. Paul was able to keep a right attitude because of his relationship with Christ.
3. Define the verbs you read
Reminder: A verb is a word that expresses an action or a state of being.
When you identify a few verbs within scripture, breaking them down allows you to get a further understanding of the action of the text. The verbs will always point to the action you are to take. You can see my notes below on how to do this. The verbs I chose will be in bold font.
Example:
“Go there and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I commanded of you. And behold, I am with you until the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18
The verbs I highlighted from that scripture above are go, baptize, and teach.
Definitions:
Go means to leave, to depart. Leave and depart from to share the Gospel. We can observe that as the primary way to share the Gospel. It is to go!
Baptize means immerse.
The idea here isn’t baptizing them in water. The Holy Spirit lives and breathes in ALL of us that have received Him. Immerse those you encounter in the character of God. Let people experience the Gospel through you. How you treat others, how you respond, speak and handle all things. Did you know Christians aren’t the ones that gave us the name of Christian? We were given the name Christian by those who observed individuals who lived their lives set apart — like Christ. You can teach a sermon better with your actions than your words.
Teach means to explain how to do something.
In order to fully teach, we must have the wisdom. How do we gain wisdom? By immersing ourselves into prayer, studying, and drawing near to God.
4. Take detailed observations
Shoot for 10 observations per verse. The more time you put into this exercise, the more depth you will receive! Here’s my example on John 11:35 “Jesus wept.” It’s one of the shortest scriptures in the bible! Sounds hard, but it’s not.
Here are 10 detailed observations of “Jesus wept.”:
Jesus has feelings
Weeping is not a sin
Weeping is not wrong
Shows vulnerability
Jesus “wept” = past tense
Jesus feels pain
Someone observed Jesus weeping
His weeping was not hidden
Jesus “wept” meant He didn’t weep forever
There are things that can make Jesus weep
If I can do 10 observations off of two words, you can do way more for longer scriptures!
Quick exercise: Let’s pause. I want you to do 1 Thessalonians 5:16 right now. It’s another short verse in the Bible. I’m not kidding, go get your pen and paper. Write down 10 observations that you can get out of “rejoice always” right now! For fun and accountability, tag me on your stories @myprayerspace — I’m rooting for you! Make sure you come back because you still have 8 more tips on how to effectively study the Bible.
5. Read and reread specific passages
Reread it. Reread it again. And reread it slowly. Say it out loud. Let the word of God dwell within you richly!
Reading things twice and then writing it down in your own words is a good practice, especially if your goal is to memorize scripture. Keeping scripture close to your heart is the best way to fight off every obstacle and voice that doesn’t sound like Him.
Let’s take Matthew 28:18 again as an example.
“Go there and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I commanded of you. And behold, I am with you until the end of the age.”
In my own words, I’d write “Leave your comfort Dominique. Depart from all that you know to teach those around you to be more like Jesus. Not with just your words, but let them observe you and know you are mine. I am with you Dominique, you do not have to fear, until the end of age, I am carrying you.”
Quick exercise: Let’s pause again. In your own words, write in your own words what John 3:16 means to you similar to how I did Matthew 28:18.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
6. Ask good questions as you read.
What do I mean by asking yourself good questions? I mean to wrestle with the text. Ask the Spirit to give you answers to these questions. At the conclusion of your own personal study, you will be AMAZED to see how many of these questions have been answered.
Example:
“Jesus wept.” Luke 11:35
It can be as simple as, "why did Jesus weep?" or "who caused Jesus to weep?" or "is it okay to weep?" or “Holy Spirit, what do you want me to know about weeping?”
Note: As you study, you will often see God answering someone’s question with a question.
7. Learn historical background
Reading about the background of names, landmarks, etc. that pop up while studying helps you get a full context and aids in retaining the information you are learning about God.
Resources: Unger, Smith Bible Dictionaries, and of course, good old google! However, the first three are for deeper study. I highly recommend these resources and along with a study bible [I’ve included links to resources and my favorite bible to study at the end of this post.]
If you come across a word or a person that you don’t know, take the time to briefly read about the word or person. This will give you a deeper understanding and it’ll take you into a deeper study – a study that sticks.
Learn historical background. As you study, note that the Bible is not in chronological order.
8. Cross referencing — compare scripture with scripture!
Cross reference is just referencing another scripture to get a better view of the picture being painted. Imagine you are staring at a picture from a very close view… and, now imagine backing up about ten feet. You are still looking at the same picture, but with a different perspective. That’s the beauty of cross referencing—it gives greater clarity on the picture you are viewing.
Example:
Romans 4 talks about the story of Abraham and the timeline of his faith. In chapter 5 the story is summarized as suffering, which produces endurance, which produces character, which produces hope.
We can cross reference Romans 5 with James 1. James 1 talks about our same timeline of faith and challenges us to rejoice in suffering because we can expect to be perfected at the end of it the same way Abraham was.
9. Utilize the different translations
The Bible was not originally written in English, it was written in ancient forms of Hebrew and Greek. Since very few people speak those languages today, translation into modern languages is necessary for most of us to be able to read or understand the Bible.
Take this time to explore different translations! I prefer pairing the English Standard Version [ESV] and New Living Translation [NLT] up with the King James Version [KJV].
10. Highlight repeated words
Repeated words are repeated for a reason. The emphasis is important. Take the repeated words and write down everything that passage says about it. Sit on that repeated word because the Lord is speaking to you there.
Example:
“Fear not” is mentioned over 365 times in the Bible. That’s a “fear not” for every day of the year! Fear is something the Lord does not want us to feel. Why? Because He is always with us.
“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
Note: Repetition is usually God putting emphasis on something that He needs you to get.
Another example:
Read John 21: 1-25 — I’m forreal, go! Go read! It’s not very long. Then, come back after getting full context. I’ll emphasize the part below that I want you to really get.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.
John 21:15-17
In regards to repeated words, notice in the text above when we read the great commission, Jesus kept telling Peter to “feed my sheep/lambs”. He was emphasizing the importance of making disciples. We can also cross reference with our Matthew 28:18 scripture below.
“Go there and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I commanded of you. And behold, I am with you until the end of the age” Matthew 28:18
Conclusion: Go make disciples. Live your life like Mine [Jesus] and tell others about Me.
11. Find the Gospel in your particular text
As we read scripture, it should be doing these 4 things:
Exposing our sin
Increasing our hope
Exalting our God
Examining our heart
Write these down somewhere you can keep close to you as a reference!
12. Finally, my favorite part: personal commentary
Compile what you have learned in organized thoughts.
What did you learn about each sentence/verse? Write it out! You can write it out bullet point style, journal style, whatever works best for you. But it is good practice to organize your thoughts, so that if you need to come back you can read it and learn greater detail on the passage with what the Holy Spirit taught you.
This should be the longest part because it's something you'd look back on.
And, that’s it!! Did you learn anything new?
Let me know your thoughts below: which is your favorite tip? Are there any that you have been applying already? One you never heard of before?! I want to know! Our minds can only digest so much, so I pray that you will come back to this as often as you need.
I pray you will utilize these tips. I pray that your time with God will be transformed into a consistent intimate space with Him. There is no greater relationship than a personal relationship with Christ. My heart is always to provide what I know and then let others experience God on their own. When you spend time with your Creator, this time studying transfers to such a BEAUTIFUL and deeper intimacy with Him. A relationship that is progressive, not just based on memory, but on time with Him.
If you aren’t reading scripture, which is the living and breathing word of God, and the primary way that we hear from Him, are you truly hearing from God? He is so real. Go see for yourself :)
Resources mentioned with links:
My favorite bible ESV Study Bible
A great Bible to gift to others CSB Note Taking Bible
Unger: Bible Handbook The New Unger's Bible Handbook remains indispensable to a quality study, full of color illustrations, photographs, maps, diagrams, charts and more. Now with updated graphics, this classic is sure to be a favorite among the next generation of Bible scholars.
Smiths Bible Dictionary: Dictionary More than 6,000 detailed definitions, articles, and illustrations - all in a handy compact size perfect for all students of the Bible, and at an affordable price. Not just definitions of biblical terms, but details about the Bible - its history, setting, geography, characters, and key words. The Smith's Bible Dictionary is a must for the library of every student.
90 day daily devotional: Awakenby Priscilla Shirer. Highly recommend!