The Bible Study Compass

Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. (Psalms 119:105 NKJV)

Have you ever walked away from the Bible feeling like you didn’t get anything out of it, or that you didn’t glean as much from it as you had hoped to?  It is not at all uncommon for this to happen.  One of the most prominent reasons why this happens is because people approach the reading of the Holy Scriptures with the wrong kind of attitude.  And what I mean by attitude is that which has to do with their frame of mind or manner of thinking at that moment. Thus their experience in God’s word is less than ideal because their hearts are not open to God in the way that they should be.

That being said, there are three basic guidelines for reading the Bible which make up what I call  The Bible Study Compass.  I have so named it this because these guidelines provide us with direction that deals with:

• What we ought to do before we open the Bible
• What we ought to do while reading the Bible
• What we ought to do when we put the Bible down

When all of these basic guidelines are applied to the study of the Holy Scriptures, they will incur an end result that will be both enriching and enlightening to the reader.

Always Begin With Prayer

Always begin studying the Bible with prayer, as spiritual things are spiritually discerned.  What this means is that if we desire to receive instruction from God through the Bible, then we need to ask for His guidance before we even begin to turn its pages.  In other words, we need to invite the Holy Spirit to enable us to both discern and understand what is most needful for growth in our relationship with Jesus Christ at that moment.  Hence before opening the Bible we must open our thoughts to God and ask Him to prepare our hearts to receive His blessing.

Be Sincere

Don’t use the Bible as a tool to find fault with others; instead, study it for spiritual growth and moral correction, but more importantly, study it for the sake of getting to know Jesus Christ.  For what has been recorded in the Bible concerning how He lived will suffice to provide you with a testimony of what it really means to love God and to live in obedience to His commandments.

Many people open the Bible because they want to try to prove something.  Thus they look to the Bible as a means to either correct or criticize others. As a result of this they often superimpose meaning on what is written in it, as they want to use it to change and condemn others while refusing to examine their own lives by it. Hence they fail to see where they need to make changes within their own lives because they are too bent on trying to use it as a means to change everyone else.

It is therefore important to put all personal biases aside before studying the Holy Scriptures, and to foster a sense of humility and openness to the Word of God that will enable us to make sense out of what God desires to tell us about the condition of our hearts.  In other words, we need to be sincere with God.

Apply What You Learn

Be eager and ever-ready to apply what you’ve learned from the Bible to your life wherever it is most appropriate to do so.  Don’t just study the Bible for information; study it for transformation! Let the spiritual lessons that you learn from the Bible so fill your heart that their virtues will be echoed in your thoughts, spoken in your words, and manifested in your works.  Thus people who don’t know Jesus Christ will discover what it really means to reflect His teachings as you pattern His life.

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16 NKJV)

By following all of these guidelines you will get far more out of studying the Bible than you would if you were to ignore or limit them.

Did you know that one of the best ways to get the most out of Bible study is to memorize scripture?  By doing this you will discover more and more how the Holy Scriptures are linked together throughout the entire Bible.  In other words, as you study the Bible you will recall certain passages that you have memorized, and this will result in helping you to better understand other passages in the Bible as you make these connections.  It really is an excellent thing to do!

In fact, I got good news for you!  You can join me in doing this each Friday as I put up a new memory verse to accomplish this objective.  I even provide commentary on the memory verse too, so as to aid you in better understanding how that memory verse can be applied to your life.  You can read more about it here: Bible Verse Memory

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