Proper Study of & Response to God’s Word

Posted on May 11, 2018 by .....

We need to do more than just topical studies in the Bible. A topical study is looking up all the relevant passages to a certain topic and studying those. This is not a bad way to study the Bible, but we also need to study the Bible book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse as it was written. Why work at studying the Bible as whole and not just topical studies? Because with topical studies you risk taking or applying a verse out of context; we need to consider all that God has revealed to us in His Word. (Psalm 119:160 – Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.)

 “The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.” – A. W. Tozer

 “The Bible is a harp with a thousand strings. Play on one to the exclusion of its relationship to the others, and you will develop discord. Play on all of them, keeping them in their places in the divine scale, and you will hear heavenly music all the time.” – William P. White

Study and learn the Bible both privately and at church. Come to Sunday School and Wednesday night Bible study. The Bible warns us on this subject – “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” II Peter 1:20.

• Some study only at church and none at home. Others only study at home if they study at all and neglect church services. (Hebrews 10:25 – Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.)

• Those that study only at home by themselves are more likely to get a false understanding of passages, along with false application of passages. They are more likely to fall for false teachings and false teachers.

BASIC BIBLE STUDY TOOLS – Some suggestions for some tools to use as you study the Bible to help get the most out of your Bible reading/study time. We are told to study God’s word, and we need to study it as efficiently as possible. (II Timothy 2:15 – Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.)

First you need to make sure you are using the right Bible. The King James Version is the only Bible English speaking people should be using. All the others have great and grievous errors and omissions in them. None other but the KJV can be trusted. Some Bible’s have a paragraph layout instead of a verse layout. The paragraph layout helps you get the complete thought of the writer but can be difficult to use.

Dictionaries, maps, study Bibles are also good tools to have as you read and study your King James Bible. You use these to look up the meaning of words, geographical information, and comments to help explain the meaning of the passage. Make sure you are getting a good reliable study Bible. Consult your Pastor’s opinion on one.

Markup tools. Such as colored pens, highlighters, a straight edge to use in aiding underlining of verses. Write notes in the margins of your Bible about what you got or learned from that passage.

WHAT SHOULD BE MY REPSONSE TO THE WORD OF GOD? – Because the Bible is so important to us, because it is so important to learn and heed its teachings and truths, the Bible teaches us that our response to it should consist of the following:

Believe it. (John 6:68-69 – Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.) – Do you really believe the Bible? A lot of Christians will say they believe the Bible; but you could not tell it by how they are living their lives. Live your life in such a way it is obvious to all those around you that you actually believe every word of the Bible.

Honor it. (Job 23:12 – Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.) – Are you honoring the Bible with your actions? Are you honoring the Word of God with your attitude?

Love it. (Psalm 119:97 – O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.) – If you love something, it will be very important to you. You will want to spend lots of time with it. You will make it a priority. Do you really love the Word of God like you should?

Obey it. (I John 2:5 – But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.) – Are you obeying all the Word of God or just certain parts of it? We are commanded to keep the whole Word of God. Do you have pet sins you allow to stay in your life that go against teachings in the Bible?

Guard it. (I Timothy 6:20 – O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:) – We need to be guarding the Word of God and not being flippant with it, but being sincerely thankful we have such easy access to it as we do.

Fight for it. (Jude 3 – Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.) – Sometimes, now it seems more often than not, we will need to take a stand and fight for what we believe the Word of God teaches. If the world comes into conflict with God’s Word, the Bible makes it clear what we are to do “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29.

Study and teach it. (Ezra 7:10 – For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.) – This is something we all need to be doing. We all need to be diligently studying the Word of God and we all have someone within our influence who knows less about the Word of God than we do that we could be teaching His Word to.

For the person willing to study the Bible carefully, there is great reward. (Psalm 1:1-3 – Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.) We need to develop the habit of Bible reading and study and keep it up the rest of our life. You need to make reading the Bible a pleasurable experience in order to make it a habit and keep it up. Don’t make it like work, start out small and with the New Testament, Genesis, Psalms and Proverbs then progress to the rest of the Bible. Make use of Bible study aides, make sure you study in context, and make sure you study in church and at home. Most importantly make sure you are studying out of the correct Bible so you can trust you are learning correct doctrine and teaching and not missing others that are left out of the wrong versions of the Bible.

The Bible is the source of absolute truth, it is the source of victory, it is the source of spiritual growth, it is the source of power and it is the source of guidance. In God’s Word, a genuine Christian may have unlimited confidence. We can wash our minds and our souls by the studying of, meditating on, and praying over the Word of God. The Word of God is of extreme importance in our life. The Word of God is essential to the cleansing of our soul, minds and spirits.

Because of what the Word of God is, what it does, and how it benefits us, we need to respond to it appropriately. We need to simply believe in it as the living Word of the all powerful, omnipresent, omniscient God. We need to honor it, we need to love it, we need to obey it and when necessary, be willing to fight for its truths and teachings. Most importantly we need to be sharing it with others. We need to be witnessing from it to others in order to bring more into the household of faith. What are you doing with the Word of God? Are you neglecting it? Are you not honoring its teachings? Do you need to recommit yourselves to God and His Word? Do you need to put God’s Word back into the proper place in your life? Make that decision and make that commitment to God to make His Word paramount in your life.