How to Read the Bible
by
Josprel
In prayer we communicate with God, but God's primary means of communication with us is through His Word. The author of Psalm 119 - most likely King David - wrote, "Thy word have I hidden in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee" (verse 11). In this psalm David exalts the beauty of God's word.
Did you ever think of God's Word as being "beautiful"? It is; but it's also supernatural. Its enemies have vehemently endeavored to eradicate it from the world, yet it endures, supernaturally protected by the Holy Spirit. Wherever the Bible has gone, salvation and enlightenment have followed. For that reason, Satan hates the Bible. He knows those who believe it and are born again escape his clutches.
Some number of years ago, Christian missionaries discovered a remote tribe of natives who had never before encountered anyone but other natives. The missionaries stated that the tribe was so ignorant of spiritual matters, that it had no religion, no concept of spiritual matters. The tribal members’ lives were grossly immoral. They lived in filth and were so warlike that other tribes were in terror of them, since they often attacked these tribes and killed their men, older women and the children. However, they kidnapped the younger women for their own vile purposes.
After learning their language, the missionaries began explaining God's Word to the natives. Almost immediately, the chief and his wives believed and were converted. Others followed, until most of the members of the tribe were born again and baptized in water.
What a transformation those people experienced! They washed and cleaned themselves. They stopped their wars and killings. They also constructed a church building for services. After the missionaries reduced the language to written form, they copied portions of the Bible into it. The chief asked the missionaries to form a school so the children could to learn read and study the Bible. They did so and, after several years, the tribe had the entire New Testament and portents of the Old Testament in its language.
During this time, the chief's youngest son learned to read and write. He then attended a Bible college and returned to his tribe as its pastor and teacher. The tribe also sent its own indigenous native missionaries to evangelize tribes that once feared it.
This account of the transforming power of God's Word should impel those who read it to study the Bible. Don't approach Bible study as a chore, but as a blessing bestowed on us by God; as His principal method of communicating with us.
1. Begin by reading the Gospel of John. Follow this by reading the Gospel of Luke.
2. Read the Book of Acts next. Then read Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Matthew's Gospel, and the Gospel according to Mark.
3. Follow these with Paul's two epistles to the Corinthian church and his other epistles. Then read the remaining books of the Bible, including the Old Testament. Should you find the Bible genealogies tedious reading, skip over them. They were recorded to demonstrate that the lineages they represent are authentic.
4. Read slowly and prayerfully. Do not attempt to "cover ground' just to get through a book. Attempting to read through the Bible in a year is a good resolve; however, it sometimes causes us to read it mechanically, without permitting us to hide God's Word in our hearts. Can you imagine Jesus, before preaching His "Sermon on the Mount," telling the people, "I know you're in a hurry, so I'll rush through what I have to say; that way, we can cover as much ground as possible. No matter that my words do not grip your heart. All that matters is that you get through this chore of hearing me as quickly as possible."? It never happened, did it? Yet we sometimes read our Bibles in precisely that way.
5. Keep a pad and pencil close by to record passages that impress you as you read.
6. Date what you read.
7. Before beginning your next reading, review what you wrote the day before. This will fix the lessons in your mind.
8. Develop a color code to mark the various topics that especially interest you. For example: Children concerns - green; Parental concerns - purple; Church concerns - red; Witnessing concerns - blue; etc. Develop your own personal color code and don't hesitate to write in the
margins of your Bible. Should you believe that the margins of your Bible are too narrow for notes, Bible book stores sell wide margin Bibles designed especially for notations. Through the years, I have accumulated numerous Bibles. However, my favorite is a wide margin, loose-leaf Bible that I use for my personal study. In addition to writing notes in the margins, I also insert loose-leaf sheets of suitable writing paper next to Bible passages on which I make extended notes and comments that are to long for the margins. It has developed into quite a Bible commentary and a safe-guard against the human tendency to forget.
Do something of this sort for yourself. You’ll be amazed at how it will preserve the insights that the Holy Spirit - who is He who leads us into all truth - has shed especially for you in your study of God’s Word. Moreover, it will make your time spent with the Word of God spiritually nourishing; refreshing, thirst quenching water brooks in the wilderness aridness of this world.
9. Conclude your Bible reading with a prayer of thanksgiving to God for communicating with you through His Word.
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© Josprel
josprel@verizon.net
Author