Studying anything can be a tedious task. A wandering mind takes over any reading retention, and distractions around the house can totally wreck your focus. So, when it comes to studying your Bible, you want to get everything out of it that you possibly can. After all, God’s Word is the Word of life.
Bible study is a constant work-in-progress for me. I am not perfect at it. But I’ve been very intentional on implementing habits to make my quiet Bible time the best it can be, and I’m here to share with you what has worked for me.
Pray Yourself In
Once you sit down to read your bible, say a prayer. I usually include three topics in this prayer — gratitude, wisdom, and focus.
- Gratitude: Starting any prayer off with gratitude can ease anxiety and increase your mood. It’s always a good idea to thank God for the day He has given us.
- Wisdom: Ask God to help you listen to whatever message He has in store for you that day.
- Focus: Our minds are so easily distracted when we are reading anything, so ask God to allow the spirit to give you focus during your session.
The prayer I pray each day before my Bible session looks like this:
God, thank you for this day. Thank you for the sunshine, my health, and the fact that I live in a place in which I’m able to read Your Word. It is truly a gift that I am so grateful for.
God, please allow my heart to be open enough to hear what You’re speaking to me through Your Word today. And allow the Holy Spirit to void me of all distractions so I can focus on You.
It’s in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Saying a prayer not only allows God to guide you through your reading, but it also provides a moment of quiet to rid your mind of the day’s worries and set the tone for your time with God.
Journal Your Bible Study
Writing down notes has proven to be a great way for me to actively read and soak in as much value as I can during my Bible study. Writing can also have a major impact on reading retention. An article by Psychology Today, states that writing things down by hand is associated with strong memory retrieval.
So now that you see the value in taking notes, you’re probably wondering how to do it. The best way I have found is writing down verses that stand out to you in your own words, writing down key concepts and takeaways from certain passages, and noting how the lessons of the chapter relate to your personal life experiences.
- Writing down verses in your own words: This causes you to evaluate the meaning of the verse. The act of writing will also help with retention. I’ve been able to significantly increase my verse memorization from this exercise.
- Writing down key concepts from passages: This exercise forces you to zoom out and think about what the “big picture” message is that’s being emphasized.
- Noting how the lessons relate to your personal life: Doing this allows you to store biblical teachings in your head to reference on-the-fly in whatever situation God currently has you in.
Use Bible Commentary
There are many tools available these days to aid in your understanding of the Bible. A great way to start is to purchase a bible that has commentary on each chapter. This way, you can quickly find interpretations for any hard-to-understand verses or passages.
Another convenient way to find Bible commentary is to use the internet. You can always do a Google search of any chapters or verses that may be confusing to you. This is a nice option because you can compare numerous sources with one another ensuring that the meaning behind the message is abundantly clear. Personally, I use http://bibleref.com. Bible Ref has commentary on every chapter and every verse of the Bible. And the site is very easy to navigate.
A third option is to use the YouVersion Bible App. Okay, so the Bible App doesn’t actually provide Bible commentary, but it does provide a Bible dictionary, Bible notes, Bible study tools, and plenty of Bible reading plans that discuss the meanings of Scripture. The Bible App is a great tool to get familiar with because it’s always in your pocket. Whether you’re at a coffee shop or a family function, you can always pull up Scripture and scriptural meanings right on your phone.
Highlight Bible Verses
The final tip is probably the most popular tip: highlighting verses. This is such an easy way to remember and store your favorite verses. Highlighting is a simple thing to do, and it causes you to hyperfocus on a verse, or verses, which, in turn, aids in memorization.
A great tool to use for highlighting is, big surprise, the YouVersion Bible App (I promise I’m not sponsored by them!). You can highlight verses in the app and go back any time to easily review all that you’ve highlighted. You can also invite people to be friends on the app to share all your highlights.
By using highlights in the Bible App, I’ve been easily able to grab Scripture to share with others in conversation. It’s also been a great way to look back and see what was speaking to me during certain times of my life.
Take Action
Now that you have these tips, go apply them to your daily Bible study. Schedule your time with God each day and work through these exercises. Pray yourself in, take notes, use commentary, and highlight your favorite verses. As time goes by, I can almost guarantee you will be extracting much more value out of what you read.
About Dan Roos
Dan Roos is a freelance writer for small businesses. He creates blogs, web copy, and social media posts specializing in areas of fitness & health, lifestyle, sports, and faith. If you’re a small business or solopreneur looking for a content writer, check out his website or contact him on his social platforms.