Episode 2745 - Lesson 5 - Tuesday April 28 - Deep Bible Study 📖

Deep Bible StudyEven if you don’t have to be a scholar to study the Bible, how can you study the Bible deeply?Pray: It’s impossible to overstate the importance of prayer as bookends to (and bookmarks throughout) your Bible study time. Ellen G. White tells us that when we come to read the Bible, we are not alone. By inviting the Holy Spirit to be our guide, we reject all other distractions, and the enemy flees. “The Bible should never be studied without prayer. The Holy Spirit alone can cause us to feel the importance of those things easy to be understood, or prevent us from wrestling truths difficult of comprehension.”--The Great Controversy, pp. 599, 600.Read and Write: It could be said that a main difference between merely reading the Bible, and studying it, comes down to one key act: writing. Writing helps us slow down our thoughts, reflect on God’s Word, and work through it at a pace where observation, interpretation, application, and commitment can occur. It also helps our initial scattered ideas work themselves out--from our head, to our pen, and then into our hearts for the day. We are also more likely to remember something that we’ve written down (Ps. 119:15-16). If you’re not able to write, try reading the Bible aloud (or listening to it), followed by your thoughts as a prayer to God.Share: Tell someone what you’ve learned. This will solidify it in your mind and encourage someone else.Select a short book of the Bible to begin with (such as Jonah, Mark, Philippians, or 1 John), and slowly work your way through it. Here is a simple approach you can apply to one verse (the verse-by-verse method), a passage, or an entire chapter:Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide your mind and soften your heart as you read.Choose a Bible verse or passage.Write the passage in a journal or portions of the passage that stand out as you read.Prayerfully read the passage again and underline the key ideas.Write down what the underlined ideas tell you.Pray over these ideas and how they impact your relationship with God.Consider whom you might share this with today.“Whenever the people of God are growing in grace, they will be constantly obtaining a clearer understanding of His word. They will discern new light and beauty in its sacred truths. This has been true in the history of the church in all ages, and thus it will continue to the end.”--Ellen G. White, Counsels to Writers and Editors, pp. 38, 39.In what ways have you found the message in the quote above to be true for you? See also Psalm 119:105.