Let’s Take This Journey Together: Concerning Ministry
Concerning Women of God | Concerning Ministry
Hello ladies, and welcome to my blog! The year 2014 is behind us – which means it’s time to say goodbye to my Women of the Bible Series. I must say, as I wrote about each of those pivotal women, learning the way they thought, felt and realizing their experiences were not much different than our experiences today, I found myself connecting with each of them in a special way. I hope you learned from them as I did.
This year I am shifting focus again. As a teacher, my students know that one of my favorite sayings is, “Let’s take this journey together!” So, I decided to make this the title of my 2015 blog. This year, I will be answering questions that many of us have about this Christian journey, but may be afraid to ask. All questions are submitted anonymously, and I will answer your questions using Biblical principles and drawing from my personal experiences. So if you have a question or would like to comment, feel free to submit them – you just may see your question addressed and answered on my blog! I look forward to another year of sharing with you. Let’s Take This Journey Together!
Taking this journey together,
First Lady Vivian Pruitte
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QUESTION: What are some tips for studying the Bible (i.e. tools or ideas to breakdown scripture for understanding and applying it to everyday life)?
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ANSWER: Whether you just accepted Christ as your Savior or have been saved for a while, studying the Bible may be a challenge. Both the intellectual and those who have not had as much education as they wished sometimes find understanding the Bible to be a struggle. For some, this seems to be the area that the Enemy attacks. You love the Lord, you attend church faithfully, but you just can’t get motivated to open your Bible when you’re not a church. Unfortunately, this makes us dependent on others to interpret the Bible for us. But don’t fret – there is hope for us! In fact, I used to be in this same predicament. I had to pray and asked God to break that hold the Enemy had over me. Now, I love reading the Bible.
One of the first things we tend to ask ourselves when we are about to study the Bible is where to begin. Can I make a suggestion? Why not start at the beginning! When you read a book, you start at the beginning to understand the ending. I feel the same way about the Bible. Some believe that the Old Testament is too tedious to get through, but my response is to think about all the stories you were told as a child that you still remember today. The Old Testament is full of stories. When you learn these stories they will stick with you. When I learned there was a story to the Bible, one of God’s love for His people, I was better able to understand it.
I always admonish my students to read the Bible from cover to cover at least once in their life time (don’t gasp! It can be done.). Just read it all the way through and then come back to areas of interest when you begin to study it. One of the great things about this age of technology is that there are many tools available to help us study and understand the Bible. A couple of handy tools are a Bible reading plan and an audio version of the Bible. The reading plan can take you through the Bible in a year (or 90 days if you’re extra motivated). The audio version will help you read faster and also help with the pronunciation of those difficult words and names.
Once you have read through the Bible, let’s move towards studying it. Some of the following tools are helpful for studying:
Bible Reading Plans: These are not only helpful for reading through the entire Bible, but you can use them to study the Bible topically (by subjects), book by book, or thematically. You can set them up on your tablets, phones or print them from the internet. You can set up daily reminders to stay on track. I recommend “You Version” as it has several plans.
Bible Dictionaries: Use these to look up words you don’t understand or to learn the context in which the word was used when the Bible was written. Some of these also have pictures of items you read about in the Bible.
Commentaries: These explain passages of scriptures. One note of caution: not all commentaries are alike! Remember, this is one person’s interpretation of the scriptures, so make sure the source is credible.
Expository Bible: This type of Bible includes explanations within the actual scriptures. It will have a passage of scripture, followed by the author’s explanation of the scripture.
Concordance: This helps when you can only remember part of a scripture by allowing you to find the passage using key words. You can also use a concordance to find scriptures on a certain topic.
These are just a few tools to help you study. I am a lover of the Old Testament so I’m always reading books about the manners and customs of the Bible in addition to ancient biblical places. These books give the background, customs, political and religious conditions, and prevailing world views during various time periods – providing greater understanding about how individuals thought, felt or behaved as they did. One of my favorite books is “The Compact Handbook to Old Testament Life.”
The Lord went through great trouble to get the Bible into our hands. He speaks to us through His Word. As you read, pray and ask the Lord for what to read and how to apply it to your life. I guarantee He will give you the right Word for the right time. I hope this was helpful to get you started on your journey to studying and loving your Bible. Happy reading!