What Boosted My Study of the Bible

Hello darlings!

Let's face it. Sometimes, studying the Bible can be hard.

It's easy to just skim over it, sigh and then bring up a commentary on your phone to 'help' you make sense of what you just read.

But, this is not the way to do it. This is not true, dedicated study of the Scriptures and it won't lead to a good understanding of the Bible.

In the words of Jen Wilkin, "We're called to love the Lord our God with all of our mind, not John Piper's mind. While what he and others have to say about the Bible can be extremely helpful, it is no substitute for Bible study on our own."

"We must learn to study in such a way that we are not just absorbing the insights of another, but are actually being equipped to interpret and apply Scripture on our own."

A couple months ago I printed out Coffee & Bible Time's free printable annotation & highlight guide and started using it in my quiet time.

Link to their blog post here!

I tried using highlighter codes previously but I never continued for very long and didn't find they worked for me.

But for some reason this one was different and it worked! 

I also found the annotation ideas helpful in digging into a passage. Now I usually only use a study guide or commentary after I've written my own thoughts and only as a way to finish off my study.

My favourite 'colour' from the highlight guide is the purple one which is for who God is, His names, attributes, characteristics and actions.

I think it is so important that we not forget WHO the Bible is about and looking for God in each passage is a great thing to do!

Sometimes after I read a passage, I'm left thinking, "Well, what can I get out of that?"

And the annotation ideas help me there.

For example, one of the ideas is to write a bullet point list of God's attribute mentioned in that passage. 

So I read through it again and make a list of all of the attribute of God that was mentioned.

Or there's the idea of defining words. Are there any ket words that stood out that you don't know that definition for? 

Maybe you know the word but sometimes they can have a deeper meaning when you look up the definition and jot it down.

If you feel like your Bible study has been lacking lately, then I'd encourage you to maybe try using this simple guide.

One last tool that I've also found helpful is a book. Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin is a small book but full of helpful tips and methods to help equip you to better study the Bible.

Purchase Women of the Word

Highlighters I Use

Coffee & Bible Time Blog

I hope you enjoyed this short & sweet post and that it will help you on your journey in discovering the treasures in your Bible.

keep blooming,

P.S

I apologize if my posting is a bit irregular from now on. I will try to get back to Monday and Friday blog posts but for now, I'll just post whenever I have the time(life gets crazy sometimes!).