More Bible Study Resources

Are you ready to start digging into the scripture? Does your spirit jump with excitement as you begin thinking about being one on one with the Creator of our Destiny? I'm so excited to introduce you to a few more tools that will hopefully make this study, not only a more enjoyable experience, but also help you establish a pattern of study that you can pass down for generations to come.

I hope you have taken the time this week to start looking over the Bible Hub site I introduced you to in the last post. It is really amazing all the tools that are available to us. I truly believe now is the time to start utilizing these resources before they become threatened by Satan's attack on Christianity and our religious freedoms.


The next tool I want to give you access to is something that God downloaded to help me do my own Bible study. I have been using this format for a couple years now and find it really effective. It is part of a "Faith Journal" that I hope to eventually make available as a full resource of Bible Study tools for more effective discipleship and spiritual growth. This is the Scripture Study worksheet.

The Scripture Study worksheet you can download from the link above is basically an easy pattern to follow when you are studying a book/chapter of the Bible. There is a place for you to write in the date, and the book/chapter your are studying. This allows you to punch holes in it and put in your favorite notebook. This file is formatted for 1/2 sheets of paper. So all you have to do is cut a regular sheet of paper in half and print on it.  Feel free to print as many as you like. I only ask that you use these for personal use as the information is copyrighted. If you don't want to take the time to print these sheet, just take a look at how it is set up, it's just as easy to use this format on regular notebook paper.

Here is what we are going to do as we begin our Bible study. We are going to go through each passage, verse by verse, and unpack the message contained in the words. You may know by now that there are many "versions" of God's word, this tool is going to help you understand the different meaning of key words, phrases, promises, commands in the Word so that you are basically creating your own "version" of the text. This will become your own amplified expository of how God is using the meaning of His Word to speak directly to you.

My main admonition to you as you do your study this way is to remember that we are studying a translated version of God's word. I, by no means, understand Greek or Hebrew, so to get a fully accurate translation, we would have to learn those languages; but this allows us to use the tools that scholars who DO know those languages have created to help us better understand and apply God's word.

So, let's get started... Here is an example of how the first few verses of James 2 would look after our study using the Scripture study sheet.

 

 

As you can see, the verse number is written in the left margin and the verse is written under "Insights/Outlines". You can use this tool however you want. You may just want to write the general idea of the verse, or you can dig deeper as I have done. The important thing to remember is this is a tool for YOU to learn and retain God's Word the best way for YOU. God designed us all differently, so use this as an example and do as much or little as God is prompting you to do.

 

If this seems a little too intimidating for you, there is always the SOAP method of Bible Study. K-love does an excellent job of describing how to use this method. I have also included the link to download a page to print for using SOAP.

 

Try using one of these formats as you read James 1 this week. Practice writing the verse down as well as your insights. In the next post I will show you more specifically some of the techniques I use with the Scripture Study format. Once I cover a few of the techniques in the next post, then we will be ready to get started with the online group study of James. I just want to be sure I am giving you as many of the tools that help me as I can, as well as give you time to be familiar with them.

 

 

I am so excited to begin this journey with you. Be sure to share what you are learning in the comments so that this truly becomes an interactive study. See you next week, and enjoy the Word.