Study the Bible...?

So true confession: I have been having a really hard time with my quiet times recently. Pretty much ever since the end of summer my quiet times have either been non-existent or have been very dry. I feel like I have been trying to get something out of it but I've been trying too hard. I have been forcing myself to make up epiphanies so that I could feel like my times in the word were successful. The thing is I completely shut the Holy Spirit out of my quiet times and was really working in my own strength to get something out of my "times with God". I mean the Lord definitely used those times, don't get me wrong, but I feel like a lot of it was my own effort to make it something without giving the Lord any room to speak.

Today I listened to a podcast by Matt Chandler on how to study the Bible. I was searching itunes for sermons and I came across this one so I thought it was worth a shot. The teaching was incredibly helpful for me. I just got done with my quiet time and it was fantastic! One of the things that really struck me from the teaching was when Matt Chandler said that when we study the Bible we shouldn't be looking for anything but God. That our time was to get to know God more. Our time was to meet God and fellowship with Him.

Because it was so great for me to hear, I thought that I would share what I got out of the teaching with you guys! First off Matt Chandler listed 6 things that you'll need when you study the Bible:

1. Consistent time and place
2. Bible
3. Pen and a highlighter
4. Reading plan
5. Journal
6. Planner

Then he expanded on each of the six things.

A Consistent time and place was important because he said otherwise you will not be motivated to study the Word. You need to go out of your way to plan out when you are going to study the Word and you need to make it a priority not to cut it out of your day. He also suggested that you have an accountability partner who will mark out that same time and place each day where you can study the word together. If you have a friend who also wants to make a habit of studying the word daily then you can encourage one another by studying with one another so that you actually do it. It was also encouraging to hear him say that it's going to be hard for a while, maybe even the first year but then it will start to become habit.

A Bible seems self explanatory because you can't study the Bible without the Bible.

A Pen and Highlighter was suggested as a way to highlight different things that the Lord points out to you like a specific verse in the text that you read.

A Reading Plan so that you know what you are going to be reading in the Bible. He said that if you don't know what you're going to read when you sit down to study the Bible then you will be less likely to actually study. Having a plan will make it easier for you to want to study because you wont have to decide each time what you are going to read. Each day will already be planned out for you. This is also helpful because then you will be reading passages in context and will get the whole picture of each book in the Bible.

A Journal so that you can write down things that the Lord reveals to you during your time of study.

A Planner so that you can keep your mind from wandering while you are studying. He said that the planner would be helping you fight spiritual warfare because each time you sit down to study the enemy wants to keep you from doing so. Thus he will try and distract you with other thngs that you need to do. By having the planner you can write down things that you need to do after you're done studying. By writing it down you wont have to constantly be reminding yourself to not forget it while you are studying so you can focus 100% on what you are studying.

Matt Chandler then talked about what he does when he studys the Word. He said that he reads about 3-4 chapters from his reading plan for about 20 minutes. As he is reading he will highlight or underline a verse or verses that stick out to him from the Holy Spirit. Then when he's done reading he takes the verse that stuck out to him (If there are multiple verses he says through prayer narrow it down to one verse that the Lord wants you to dwell on) and writes it down in his journal. Then he writes down observations he makes about that verse. After he makes observations he writes down applications to his life. Not general applications but specific applications that he can make for himself and his life. and then after that He spends time in prayer over the things that the Lord revealed to him during his time of study.

On of the best things that he said also was that if you're just starting to study the word in this way you may have to start with a smaller time frame of study. Rather than studying for an hour you may only be able to do about 15 minutes. 5 minutes of reading 5 minutes of journaling and 5 minutes of prayer. This is okay. As you continue to make studying the Word a habit in your daily life it will become easier and easier for you to study for longer periods of time.

This was an amazing example for me to follow for studying the Word so I thought I would share it with you all! I hope that if you are searching for a good way to study the Bible you would try this out! Maybe it will help you to grow deeper in your relationship with God!

Learning how to feed yourself daily with the Word of God is really important. We are not called only to have pastors "feeding" us on Sundays. If we only delve into the Word on Sunday's then we will not be able to have the Spiritual growth that the Lord wants us to have. Thus it is so important for us to be "feeding" ourselves with the Word of God. The Lord will meet us and teach us and grow us as we make the effort to study His Word on a daily basis.