How to Read & Study the Bible for YourselfSample

Imagine an exercise machine that worked out for you.

I think it’s a pretty good business idea—someone else runs on a treadmill and your body burns the calories. Sign me up for that!

Of course, my idea is silly. Nobody else can exercise on my behalf and I get the benefits. I have to put in the work myself.

When it comes to spiritual health and growth, we have a superfood available to us: the Bible.

But you can’t read it vicariously through others and expect to receive the full benefit. You need personal engagement with the source document of your faith.

Romans 15:4 actually uses an exercise term to describe what happens when we do. It says that the scriptures teach us endurance and through that endurance, we receive encouragement and hope for our circumstances.

To say it another way, when we see our life’s micro-narrative as part of God’s grand story we can feel hopeful no matter how hard things are at the moment.

As we finish our time together, I want to leave you with six methods for deeper Bible study.

1. Word studies – examining a particular word or phrase everywhere it appears

2. Topical studies - picking a subject or theme to see what God says about it

3. Character studies - choosing a person and tracing their story

4. Place studies - picking a location and researching its significance

5. Passage studies - extracting meaning from a section of text

6. Book studies - doing a deep analysis of a single book

Many other Bible reading plans are set up as word, topic, character, or book studies. I hope you’ll use them as tools as you continue your journey into God’s Word.

My own journey with the Bible has been intrinsically linked to my relationship with God. For many years it felt to me that God was hiding. But I have discovered in the Bible that God chooses to reveal himself.

Now Jeremiah’s declaration is mine as well. When God’s words come to me, I “eat” them with joy and delight, having learned how to “cook” (or read the Bible) for myself. I hope the same is—or becomes—true for you too. Put your apron on. It’s time to get cooking!

If you enjoyed this text study, you can find the video version on Right Now Media.