Many Christians are painfully conscious of the fact that their devotional life may be much better. It isn’t that we don’t want to studythe Bible. More often, the issue is that we do not know howto do it effectively . In the previous chapter we looked at somevery good basic principles of Bible study. I now need to build on those by sharing some critical further recommendations which will shove your study of the Bible far more.
Develop a Good Habit : How many times have you wished that you might “just stop doing” such-and-such? Nasty habits are dynamic. They are hard to begin to break. So why not create a very good one? They can be as hard to break! Some experts guesstimate that it takes about 21 days to establish a habit. Habits are created when we regularly condition the neural pathways of our brains to perform a certain activity.
If you were to study approximately the same amount of scripture at roughly the same time each day , you would soon find yourself uncomfortable on the days you did not do it!
Study With a Definite Plan : One of the explanations many of usfail to maintain a serious devotional life is that we fail to look at the Bible methodically. Either we “spot-read” by opening to a random passage or we start at the beginning, meaning to read thru to the end, and give up somewhere in Leviticus or Numbers. We never seem to read the entire Bible.
Try applying the “wear test” to your Bible. To a limited degree, you can see which parts of the Bible are your reading more from your Bible simply by having a look at the sides of the pages. Where do you thumb to the most frequently? And, which parts of your Bible still look brand spanking new and unread?
There are many good “through-the-Bible-in-a-year” plans available that can help you defeat this problem.
Reading the Bible through annually is a good way to learn the broad ranging will of Our Lord God for your life. It’ll keep you fair with biblical context and keep you from distributing snakes in church!
Read Your Bible Doctrinally : I actually have found this method of approaching be fantastically helpful. I keep a three-ring binder in my desk with approximately 30 dividers in it. Each of those dividers represents a basic doctrine of the Bible ( such as “salvation,” “prayer,” or “the 2nd Coming,” ) or some other subject I find engaging. As I read thru the Bible, I note down crucial passages of scripture in the appropriate section of the binder. By the end of the year, I have constructed a personal concordance. Then as I review the notes in each section, on occasions I am stunned that I must revise my appreciation of a subject in light ofthe weight of biblical evidence. This technique can be a dynamic tool to help grow in understanding!
Another good approach to studying your Bible doctrine analysis to simply utilize a concordance, following the train of thought on a fixed subject all of the way thru the Bible. This may be potent as long as you do not absolutely desert a methodical reading of the complete Bible. Click here : Bible study plan and http://mybibletime.com/devotionals for more data.
.
