How to study the bible (Part 1)

How consistent are you in reading the word of God? Bible study should come to us as easy as eating or doing something with us. It should be part of us as Christians.

Creating a time to study the word of God is necessary for our spiritual growth, which is why it needs to be scheduled to a time where there'll be no interruption and we are best attentive.

The Word for Today devotional by United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) says:

Let’s consider some practical suggestions for getting more out of your Bible study: Schedule it. If you don’t, it won’t happen. Learn to say no to unimportant things. For many of us the biggest obstacle to studying the Bible is television; the average person watches over four hours every day. Do the maths: that’s sixty-one days a year—two months! By the age of eighteen, the average person has seen 200,000 acts of violence, including 16,000 murders. And by the age of sixty-five they’ve spent about nine-and-a-half years watching TV. By contrast, if you went to Sunday school regularly from birth until the age of sixty-five, you’d only have had a total of four months of Bible teaching. No wonder we struggle spiritually.

Discipline yourself by setting aside a specific time each day to study your Bible—and let nothing get in the way. And do it when you’re at your best physically, emotionally, and intellectually, not when you’re distracted and hurried. You know if you’re ‘a day person’ or a ‘night person’, so pick the time when you’re most alert. The spirit may be willing but the flesh is weak, so if you don’t want your study time to turn into ‘snore time’, don’t try to study when you’re tired, or right after a big meal.  Keep a notebook to jot down your observations and keep track of what God is saying to you. Writing does three things: it clarifies, reinforces and personalises. Also, ask yourself, ‘What can I take away from this passage?’ It will help to fix God’s Word firmly in your mind and jog your memory regarding what you’re supposed to do about it.