How to Read God’s Word

jordonewrites

Christian Writing , Growth and Development , Uncategorized

Apr 25 2015

People often ask me,

“How did you overcome rape?”

“How did you overcome depression?”

“How did you learn how to fight temptation?”

Whenever I get a question like this, I always point the answer back to God’s Word.

Don’t let the pictures fool you. I’m nowhere near perfect. If there’s a sin out there, I’ve committed it in my past. Masturbation, drugs, drunkedness, homosexual desires, doubting God–you name it, I’ve done it.

So, from experience I can tell you there’s not one battle you’re experiencing now that God’s Word can’t handle.

But, the key is you have to play your role.

You have a part to play in your own deliverance.

That part includes spending heavy time in the Bible and in prayer.

When I first started getting into God’s Word, I felt like it wasn’t “working” for me.

I was in the midst of so much heartache from the aftermath of getting raped that I wasn’t opening my heart to receive God’s power.

So, the problem wasn’t God’s Word. The problem was me. My focus was on my situation instead of Him.

I feel like there are so many women/men out there who want to dive deeper into God’s Word. But, they feel like the Bible just doesn’t “work,” or is affective, for them. Or, they simply don’t know how to read the Bible.

So, God put it on my heart to share my Bible study tips with you all. I pray these tips change your life like they did for me:

Be Open– Like I shared in the example above, you can’t expect to receive from God’s Word if you’re not open to Him. Before you get into your personal time with Him, get your mind off your problems, your to-do list, and circumstances. Part of being open requires you to forgive and obey. Initially, I had a lot of trouble receiving the power of God’s Word because there was so much unforgiveness on my heart. Let go and let God.
Ask – It’s good to start your Bible study time out with prayer. Tell God everything that’s on your heart. Tell Him what you want to learn from His Word. Then, ask Him to lead you.
Write– Here’s a picture of my journal. Get yourself a personal journal to write scriptures in. There’s something special about actually writing the scripture out. I believe you deepen your understanding of the scripture through writing it out. At the top of the page, write what the scripture is about (forgiveness, faith, love, etc.). That way, you have a point of reference if God leads you to study that area again.
Apply– I don’t read the Bible just to read it. I read it to live it. Each day, I take only 1-3 scriptures that pertain to an area God is working on me with. Then, I apply those scriptures to my life. Right now, God is dealing with my humility. So, this morning I picked out some scriptures about humility and put those scriptures into action. Today, a situation came up where I could have been prideful. Instead, I put my morning scriptures into action by practicing humility. God may be dealing with you about forgiveness, fornication, lust, jealousy, or something else. Each day, ask God what He needs you to work on. Then, google scriptures/Bible studies about those areas. Sometimes, God leads me away from googling scriptures. He’ll tell me to simply open my Bible and let Him lead me. Just move according to how God desires. God may lead you to read a whole book in the Bible, but you should still make sure you’re applying other scriptures that actually relate to something you’re experiencing.
Meditation – As you read a scripture, don’t read it like a textbook or a novel. Sit, meditate, and ponder on each word. God can give you a revelation about your entire life off of one word in a scripture. So, don’t read fast. Be patient and read slow. As you read, ask God how the scripture applies to your life. Ask Him what He’s thinking about that scripture. Sit and reflect on how that scripture relates to you and how you can use it become a better you. Then, you can write down your reflections in your journal
Topical– Sometimes God leads me deeper into the meaning of a word in the Bible. When this happens, I use a topical search. A topical search helps you find out where else a word is located in the Bible so that you can have a deeper understanding of God’s understanding about that word. For example, one time God was dealing with me about love. So, I typed the word “love” into the topical search to find out where else that word is located in the Bible. The search made it easier for me to see what else God had to say about love and how God sees love. You can experiment with the topical search here: http://biblehub.com/topical.

Please don’t let the length of this post overwhelm you!

Reading God’s Word should feel peaceful and fun! Enjoy yourself and get into it!

I think it’s important to get a Bible you can understand. I only recommend the King James and Amplified versions of the Bible because they are closest to the original versions of the Bible. People often find the Amplified version easier to understand. The Amplified is also great because it gives you a deeper understanding of each word in the Bible, making it easier for you to grasp God’s message. Here’s a great version of the Amplified Bible: click here.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. There’s so much power in the Word! Trust God and His Word will take you to a level of peace you never knew was possible! I encourage you to look at the other blog I wrote on deepening your relationship with God (click here) for a better understanding on how spending time with God. I’ll be writing other posts on how to spend time with God/hear God’s voice so be sure to enter your email below to receive it in your inbox! I love you and I look forward to hearing your testimonies 🙂

For a limited time, I’m offering resources about how to grow in God and read His Word. Click here or scroll down to enter your email so I can send you some of my best tips!