Page 29 - Personal Spiritual Life Syllabus w videos

Pick a time: From______________________ to __________________
Suggestion: Be realistic in the amount of time you budget to begin and be faithful to the time you
select. You can always add more time as you get more in the habit of daily Bible study.

Where do we study the Bible?

The Bible does not say where you have to be to study it. You can study it in your bedroom, in your
personal study, at work before your working hours, or in your back yard or under a tree. However, here
are some suggestions:

1. Make sure the place you choose is without interruptions or a lot of background noise. You need
to put your full attention to your study.

2. Make sure you have access to the proper tools for Bible study. We will talk about that shortly,
but you may need to have a couple of translations of the Bible, a couple of commentaries, a
Bible dictionary, Vines Expository Dictionary of NT Words, a concordance, or perhaps a
computer, depending on the kind of study you plan to embark upon. Make sure you have
access to the necessary resources at the place you select.

3. Once you select a place, be disciplined to make that place your special place of study. That way,
if you discipline yourself to go there, you will be more disciplined to complete each day’s study.

4. Make sure your place of study is also a good place to pray.

Now, pick a place : ____________________________________

Guiding Principles to Effective Study
In our journey to learn how to study God’s Word, we need to learn some major guidelines to direct us
along the way. These guidelines will keep you from misinterpreting God’s Word and going in an
incorrect direction as you study.

Principles (guidelines) of Effective Study
Principle #1
God’s Word is the definitive word on all things. God establishes the rules or principles,
not man! We must determine the answer to any question by examining His Word in
CONTEXT. Never study a verse in isolation. The context (the story flow and neighboring
verses) of a particular verse or phrase, with related texts in other parts of the Bible, often
hold clues to interpreting a verse's full meaning. We should never take any scripture, rip
it out of context, and build a doctrine on it. Unfortunately, this is a common practice in the church
today. Verses are used as proof texts for our personal opinions.

An example of this happened to me several years ago. Our church pastor came to me and gave me a
lesson on giving to the church. He told me that every class in the church was going to stop and present
that lesson, and that I needed to teach it the next Sunday in my adult class. I looked the lesson over
which started with Malachi 3: 8 -10

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