My step-wise guide to personal Bible study

Hey Blog Fam,

Happy New Year again. I am unbelievably excited, thankful and pumped about 2021. I really don’t care what the year holds, I am just rocking it out and hard with Jesus, building myself into the kind of woman that will thrive in every season of her life

“He will be standing firm like a flourishing tree planted by God’s design, deeply rooted by the brooks of bliss, bearing fruit in every season of his life. He is never dry, never fainting, ever blessed, ever prosperous.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭1:3‬ ‭TPT

Life has been almost insanely intense on my end, but I honestly cannot live life any other way. Jesus KNOWS I’m going to be out here living my best life always so He throws me some of His best assignments lol.

HERE. FOR. IT!!!

Ok, today I wanna talk about how to practically study your Bible.

I am a Bible junkie. I literally get high on the Word. I INVEST in Bibles and am steady looking for a new one to buy hehe. This year, part of my spiritual growth wins would be to STUDY at least 5 books of the Bible in-depth. Study now, not just read. I already started with what may be my fave letter from Apostle Paul, the one to the church in Corinth.

So I will share my study plan and I pray the Holy Spirit will speak to you and how you can do your own at home. The goal and win is SPIRITUAL DEPTH and MATURITY because like Paul says in almost all his letters, we all need to GROW in our KNOWLEDGE of the Word, and not remain spiritual babies drinking the milk of the word, 10 years after we first got saved.

God forbid!!!

Ok here we go.

1. Have a solid conviction for doing this

For me, I have my wins for every area of my life sorted. On my spiritual life, I already mentioned studying at least 5 books of the Bible, so with that as foundation, I had to ask myself where I wanted to start?

2. Figure out where you want your train ride to start

Of course, I had to start with my very dear Paul!!!!!! I am really looking for depth and more depth and Paul holds my answer.

Gosh, I love Paul. That dude is DANGEROUS haha.

Of all His letters, I chose Corinthians because I feel like he let his emotions show there, without watering down the message. I see him get angry, scold, love, be sad, etx. It is a gamut of emotions with depth so I figured my train had to start there

3. Choose your resources

Ok, so as a Bible junkie, I have quite a number of Bibles and Study materials. I find my Mathew Henry commentary absolutely invaluable when it comes to richness so that has to feature first.

I also have my STRONG’S concordance of the whole Bible because I may need to check out the Hebrew and Greek meaning of some key words. My KJV Word study Bible is also BOMB when I need some expatiation of some words

Then of course, I have my every faithful YouVersion Bible App. I need to read it in as many translations as possible so it really helps.

And finally, a journal. I decided I would use a whole new journal for this one because I need to find all my study in one place. I brought out one of my A4 sized journals because I am a writer hehe. I overwrite, It makes it stick more as I write.

Because I have a number of study Bibles and resources, I hardly have to go online for more studies, but if you do not have, then get on Google and let some websites be your study companion.

If I go online, I could get so lost so I DISCIPLINE myself to stay with the ones I have, as they are enough for a really rich study. I also am aware that I cannot spend all day studying the Bible so I have to be disciplined with my time.

4. Plan a solid strategy

Ok, now you have all your resources and know what book you are studying. It is now show time. We have to be STRATEGIC in our study so we are not beating around the bush and wasting time without getting much out of it.

What I like to do, after praying for illumination (Psalm 119 v 18 is a great confession), is to read through the whole chapter or portion I have chosen for that study in NLT, which is my default version on YouVersion. I may also read my Tony Evans CSB version, especially because I like the size of print.

This gives me a whole idea of what is on the menu for the day.

After reading, I read again, this time a little slower and literally interact with the word, asking myself questions and letting the flow of the spirit lead.

Then I start to journal what I and the HS are coming up with before I check any other resources. I believe the HS is speaking to me, so I get all I can first before I invite any other human into my party. After that is done, I then start to check all my study bibles and resources, one by one, reading the commentary and journaling all my big key points , including piecing together stories, questions, answers and encounters.

The Bible really is exciting and you really light up when you find answers to nagging questions in your heart. I mean, I had this question I had already lined up for my mentors and Brother Paul brought the answer like nobody else could.

I make sure I am not just breezing through, I ask myself many questions like Paul is in front of me, and seek out answers. I also like to know the geography of where the letter was written from and to. For example, Corinthians was written from Ephesus and Paul mentions people and places too, so now I can get on Google to be a little more familiar with them. I could Google things like ‘how far is Ephesus from Corinth?’

How different is Corinth today from Bible days?

Like, I have a whole feast hehe.

Oh, I didn’t mention that I ALWAYS start my studies from the INTRODUCTION of the Book not Chapter 1. I need historical and theological context please.

Why did he write it?

What was his relationship like with the recipients?

And more.

That introduction gives me a lot of context so as I read the chapters, it is in front of my mind that he was writing to a church in an equivalent of New York, London, South Africa or Lagos.

Makes my study much more delicious

Ok, so after I am done with all the resources I have, including my Greek and Hebrew checks where applicable, I then take away all resources and then do a SUMMARY of all I have studied, especially applying it to life today. I love those my summaries at the end because they test me to see how much I truly got. I may need to keep referring to stuff I already wrote which is fine.

Then I’m done for that session, which really could take up to 3 sessions. I try not to rush please.

Then on a fresh day, and before I jump into another chapter or portion, I read through all the previous entries, or the last 2 or so, so I am reminded of what I already know.

It prepares me for the next study and really gets me excited.

This is also when I take my time to highlight and add any more notes that have come to me.

Then I repeat the entire process again until the Book is done.

Sooooooo fun!!!

Ok, so that is it.

My personal study strategy.

I don’t do it to lead prayers or preach and teach. I don’t even do it to blog. I do it for me. I just felt the Lord lead me to share so we can all grow and blow together in the Word. Now because I have a few platforms by God’s grace, I may be led to share here and there, but this is not the goal. Take away all those platforms and you best believe my party will keep on rockin’.

My own personal goal is spiritual depth, so I am cooking first to eat, before dishing anything out, from my own full belly.

I hope this helps you.

Try it. You sure will enjoy it so much

Let us ROCK OUT the Word hard and wild and build some solid spiritual muscle so we are not tossed around by any nonsense wind of doctrine from any one.

With my hours driven by a vision and the time allotted to this blog almost up, let me stop here.

Share your thoughts with me please, and if you have more study tips, don’t tight it to your chest mama. Share in the comments

Love & Prayers

Eziaha

PS

If you enjoyed reading this kindly help us share on any platform you share stuff especially on your social media and with friends.

Let’s spread this wisdom together, thank you so much, I really appreciate it.

C