Helpful Tools for Bible Study

A Good Study Bible

Study Bibles contain notes along with the text that provide the reader with cross-references, translation helps, and explanations of historical and contextual situations. My recommendation: The ESV Study Bible

A Notebook or Three Ring Binder

This is for taking notes and recording insights that God gives you into the text and how it applies to you. It is also helpful to keep track of what you pray for so you can see God’s activity in your life.

An Appointed Time and Place

You will be surprised how much more consistent you will be if you treat your quiet time like other appointments. It is never wrong to pencil God into your daily schedule! It may be difficult at first, but with time, you will look forward to your time with Him.

Biblical Language Tools

Since the Old Testament was written in Hebrew (and a little Aramaic) and the New Testament was written in Greek, many words have shades of nuance that are lost in translation. Below are a few tools that will help you unlock some of the kernels of truth locked inside of language.

  The Hebrew/Greek Study Bible by Spiros Zodhiates -important words have a number superscripted that leads you to a fuller definition and explanation in the back of the Bible. This is an excellent help for the Bible student.

  Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words by W.E.   Vine, Merrill Unger, and William White. Look up an English word and  find it’s Hebrew and Greek counterparts, where they are used in Scripture and what they mean in context.

 Commentaries – while I am not necessarily a big fan of commentaries, sometimes they are helpful. Look for one-volume commentaries that provide background information on the text rather than commentaries that give the author’s opinion on the meaning and application of the text. My recommendations: IVP Background Commentary on the New Testament and IVP Background Commentary on the Old Testament

Your Most Important Help: The Holy Spirit

One of the works of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to lead us into all truth. God alone is able to reveal Himself to us.

Online Tools

Bible Gateway

My Study Bible (Holman Christian Standard)

You Version.  You Version also has a very good app for your smart phone and/or tablet.

Biblia.Com

 

Seven Ways to Approach a Bible Passage:

1 .PICTURE IT!  Visualize the scene in your mind.

2 .PRONOUNCE IT!  Say the verse aloud, each time emphasizing a different word.

3. PARAPHRASE IT!  Rewrite the verse in your own words.

4. PERSONALIZE IT!  Replace the pronouns or people in the verse with your own name.

5. PRAY IT!  Turn the verse into a prayer and say it back to God.

6. PROBE IT!  Ask the following five questions :

S.P.E.C.K.  QUESTIONS

 Is there a SIN to forsake?

 Is there a PROMISE to claim?

 Is there an ENCOURAGEMENT to hear?

 Is there a COMMAND to obey?

 Is there some KNOWLEDGE to be gained?

7. PRACTICE IT! Find ways to immediately put what God has told you into action.

 

Some Practical Ideas for Bible Study

3 Comments

One of the reasons many people do not engage the Bible regularly and intentionally is that they have no plan for doing so. Where to start? How to proceed? Today, I want to share a few ways I have found helpful in my Bible intake.

I like to read the Bible regularly in 3 different ways. First, I like to read large passages of Scripture to help me get a broader view of God’s Word. You might consider reading the Bible through in a year or even reading the New Testament through in a year. You can find several Bible reading plans online to help guide you in this process. Several good plans are available here.

I also like to read regularly through Psalms and Proverbs. I often alternate months reading one or the other in addition to my other Bible reading. In months with 30 days, you can read through Psalms by reading 5 a day, and in months with 31 days you can read through Proverbs by reading 1 a day, either easily doable during a lunch hour.

The most important reading, I believe, is Bible reading for devotional purposes – gaining immediately applicable truth and wisdom for daily living. This is best done in smaller sections. For this type of reading, I usually like to read through the Gospels or New Testament letters. I read a paragraph at the time – sometimes only one verse, and occasionally one verse over several days. During this time, I want to learn the truth of the text, in its context, and determine specific ways God wants to apply it to my life.

Often people use devotional books and materials to aid in this process. These are OK, but I find it more beneficial to allow God to speak directly to me through His Word without an intermediary source. I approach a text by asking and answering some questions to discover its truth.

One way to do this is called the SPECK method and asks 5 questions of the text. The keyword in each of the questions begin with a letter than when placed in succession spell the word SPECK.

    • Is there a SIN I need to forsake?
    • Is there a PROMISE I can claim?
    • Is there an ENCOURAGEMENT I need to hear?
    • Is there a COMMAND I need to obey?
    • Is there KNOWLEDGE I need to gain?

 

I also like to write what God reveals to me in my study. Often I even write prayers in response to what I learned. On a regular basis, I look back over my notes to review what God has shown me.

Hopefully these tips will get you on your way to intentional Bible study and unleash the power of God’s Word in transforming your life.

Tomorrow, I plan to share with you some tools I believe can help you unlock the truth of God’s Word, but until then what are some practices that you have found helpful in your Bible study? Click the comment button below and share with us.

How Seriously Do You Take God’s Word?

TheBibleWillChangeYourLifeI want to start off this week with a challenge to my readers to regularly and intentionally read and study God’s Word with the goal of allowing it to transform us into Jesus’ image. Consider the following verse fragment and its implications for our Bible study practice.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly… Colossians 3:16a

“Let” – meaningful Biblical engagement must be an INTENTIONAL activity. For God’s Word to affect our lives, we must have a plan to regularly expose ourselves to Biblical teaching. The verb tense of this sentence is an imperative, a command. To be obedient children of our heavenly Father, we will read His Word. To neglect His Word is disobedience.

“word of Christ” – ALL Scripture, Old and New Testaments, is inspired by God, but for today’s believer, I recommend a steady diet of reading in the Gospels where we find the body of Jesus’ teaching and the lessons from His earthly ministry. I see an alarming number of Old Testament passages taken out of their original context and “claimed” by people to who they were not given as “promises” they were never intended to make. The Old Testament stands as a contextual background to help us understand the New Testament, but the New Testament embodies the instructions for believers in this age.

“dwell in you” – All to often, when we do read God’s Word, we read it, close our Bible, then move on without stopping to consider its meaning and its specific application for our life. Remember, Hebrews 4:12 teaches us that the Bible is alive. To all it to “dwell” in us is to allow it to remain in our thoughts, consideration, and ultimately in intour behavior. We call this meditation. We spend thoughtful time considering what God is saying through His Word and what He is saying particularly to us. The Word then continues to dwell in us when we obey it and make what we learn from it a part of the regular practice of our lives.

So…will you make an intentional plan to feed on God’s Word on a daily basis? Will you intentionally seek the truth of God’s Word, ponder it deeply, and apply it courageously? Will you get serious about God’s Word and let it DWELL in your life?

Souvenirs of Sin

The Old Testament relates the perpetual pattern that God’s people Israel follow throughout their existence.  They would live devoted to God for a time, but then grow find of the pagan cultures around them and begin to mingle their worship of God with the idol worship of their contemporaries.  Eventually, they soon would devolve into full-blown idolatry and eventually experienced the punishment of God.  After a time of oppression at the hand of a foreign king, God’s people would cry out to Him in repentance, and God would deliver them only to see the pattern repeated a few years later.

At least eight times in the Historical Bible Books of Kings and Chronicles we find this phrase: “But the high places were not removed…” These high places were locations where they once participated in idol worship.  They were souvenirs of their previously sinful life.

Maybe they left them there because they found it difficult to give up a place to lovely and relaxing. Maybe their High Places remained just in case worshipping God only didn’t work out too well for them. Maybe their High Places remained because they didn’t trust God to meet completely all of their needs. Whatever the reasons, the High Places stood as evidence of hearts that were not completely reliant on and devoted to God.

Where or what are your High Places? What souvenirs of sin do you keep just for comfort sake?  Is it a habit – just in case you get bored or God is not as much fun as you thought He would be? Maybe it is power, or pride, or plans, or a prejudice. Maybe your High Place is an attitude, an agenda, or an affection. What are you withholding from God . . . just in case?

Tear down your high places and trust God with everything in your life.

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth,
to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. – 2 Chronicles 16:9

A Holy Discontent

2 Comments

“As long as we are content to live without revival, we will.” – Leonard Ravenhill.

What would happen if we got serious about our pursuit of Jesus? How different would our lives look if pursuing Jesus became the primary focus of our lives? What if we could not rest until we found ourselves totally immersed in a Christ-centered life? What if we took to heart the passion of the writer of Psalm 132?

I will not enter my house,
or go to my bed-
I will allow no sleep to my eyes,
no slumber to my eyelids,
till I find a place for the LORD,
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob. – Psalm 132:3-5

What would happen if we could not rest until we made certain Jesus occupied not just a place, but His rightful place in our lives (Colossians 1:18)? In fact, let’s do an application exercise. What if you were to delay some of the common activities of your life so that you could pursue Jesus?

I will not ____________________________ till I find a place for the Lord . . .

I will not boot up my computer,
check my email,
eat my breakfast,
listen to a song,
watch a TV show,
go to church,
preach a sermon,
sing a song,
give an offering,
read a book,
play a game,

You fill in the blank. What are you doing other than making sure Jesus is first place in your life? Are those things really more important than Jesus? If the Psalmist was willing to forgo sleep to pursue Jesus, maybe we should be willing to make some lifestyle changes to pursue Him passionately.
But the good news –

You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you . . . ” – Jeremiah 29:12-14a

The Lord makes Himself readily available to all who will pursue Him wholeheartedly. I am praying that God gives me a holy discontent with everything until Jesus is at the center of my life. Will you join me in that prayer?

 

What Are You Waiting For?

waiting room

My curiosity compelled me to do the math.  There were 50 days between Passover and Pentecost.  Three days between Passover and Jesus’ resurrection, and 40 days between Jesus’ resurrection and His ascension to heaven.  That leaves a gap of 7 days.

Before He ascended to heaven, Jesus instructed them to return to Jerusalem and wait for “the promise of the Father.”  This was a reference to His teaching concerning the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. (John 14:16) We know what was going on in the upper room during those 7 days – they were “devoting themselves to prayer,” (Acts 1:14) but what was going on from heaven’s viewpoint?  Why did God make them wait seven days before He poured out His Spirit on them?

Travelers from all over the known world would assemble on Jerusalem during the Feast of Pentecost.  When God poured His Spirit into His believers they would speak boldly in testimony to Jesus.  What seemed like a 7-day delay was instead God’s perfect providence positioning His disciples to make a maximum impact.  In fact, we know that on the Day of Pentecost, 3000 people responded to Peter’s extemporaneous street-side sermon about Jesus. (Acts 2:41)  The 7-day wait proved to be perfect timing.

As my thoughts turned to my own prayer life, I thought of how many times I had given up praying for things.  I wrongly assumed that since God did not affirmatively answer my request in a reasonably short amount of time, His answer must be “no.”  In truth, God ALWAYS answers our prayers in one of three ways: yes, no, or not yet.  We often mistake a “not yet” for a “no,” and we give up praying all too soon.

Yet all the while, God’s “not yet” could simply be His omnisciently provident way of setting the stage for doing something even beyond the wildest imagining of my comparatively timid prayer life.  Maybe God is using the interim between my request and His delivery to set up something so great that He gets the glory in it.  (Ephesians 3:20-21)

So, fellow disciple, will you join me in renewing our commitment to persistent prayer?  We give up too soon and too easily.  Jesus told a story that made a hero out of woman who hounded a judge until he gave her what she wanted.  He compared that to the benefit of persistent prayer. (Luke 18:1-8)

Lord, help me “always to pray and not lose heart.”  I may have to wait 7 days, 7 months, 7 years, or any amount of time, but if I pray through, I too will receive what God wants to give me.

FBF: We Can’t Be Fixed If We’re Not Willing to Be Broken

Before I began this blog, I had another blog on a different site for several years.  That blog is now closed, but each Friday, at least for a while, I want to resurrect some of my favorite posts from the previous blog.  These will be my Flashback Friday (FBF) posts.

——————————————————————–

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

At least that’s what I was always taught. And it’s a lesson I didn’t always learn. As a kid I was A+ at taking things apart and F- at putting them back together.

As I have grown older, however, I have come to the conclusion that for some things in life the old axiom isn’t true – especially in regards to our spiritual development. As a matter of fact, brokenness is essential to spiritual growth. If we aren’t broken we can never be fixed.

Thus says the LORD:
“Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
Where is the house that you will build Me?
And where is the place of My rest?
For all those things My hand has made,
And all those things exist,” says the LORD.
” But on this one will I look:
On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
And who trembles at My word. – Isaiah 66:1-2 

Pride, self-sufficiency, and self-satisfaction get in the way of drawing us closer to God. In the verses above, God points out that anything we build for God – whether literal, physical buildings or constructions of programs, plaudits, and possessions – none of them impress God. He already made those things. He is not impressed with our resumes, reputations, or resolutions.What really gets God’s attention is the broken spirit of one who realizes his or her own sinfulness and well as the sinful of our society. God notices when our heart grieves over what grieves Him. God is attentive to the spirit who recognizes and declares total and complete dependence on Him.We have a lot to be proud of in our own eyes – our intelligence, our abundance, our technology, our contributions, and the list could go on. Sometimes we at least tacitly believe that God must be lucky to have us on His team. Without saying it, we behave as if we believe God is fortunate that we are here to help him.

In the New Testament, brokenness is referred to as meekness. All too often we mistake meekness for weakness. But meekness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. How can that be a weakness? Jesus is referred to as meek. Do you really believe Him to be weak? The New Testament word translated “meekness” was used in a secular sense to describe a horse who had been broken. The horse is a powerful animal, but after breaking, that power is channeled to positive goals.

God does not ask us to forfeit our abilities, strengths, and resources. He only asks us to recognize that really, they are gifts from Him, to divest ourselves of the right to use them and offer them back to Him for His use.

Now THAT impresses God.