Chronicles of a Teenage Christian

7. How Do I Study My Bible? (7 Tips)

I’m sure you’ve read my previous post on why studying the bible is important but if you haven’t then go back and read it first before reading this.

When I first got to know about Christ properly 2 years ago, I was told that studying my bible was important. I had a genuine desire to do that because I knew it would strengthen my relationship with God but I didn’t know how. When I tell you that reading the bible was the most frustrating thing for me I’m not even joking, it was boring because I just didn’t get it! Instead, I thought I could live off the sermons at church... it helped but it wasn’t enough for me to grow.

It was only a little while after I started writing this that I actually started studying my bible occasionally. I started off once a week but it still wasn’t consistent. Now, I can confidently say for the past week I’ve studied my bible every blessed day! The grin on my face as I write this only speaks of how proud I am that I pushed myself and also how grateful I am to God that he has taught me along the way.

So now, y’all know I can’t keep God to myself, I have to help a sister or a brother out! So below I’ll be sharing a few bible study tips that have really helped me for the past week. Grab a notebook and pen, or your phone and jot these points along with the bible verses down so you can refer to them later on.

1. Allocate a time in the day

I usually study as soon as I get back from school so I know I’m not tired and won’t fall asleep, also at this time my family are still at school or work so I have the house to myself and its dead silent. If that’s not the case for you then you can try the morning when nobody is awake and it’s just the birds chirping outside. Or you can do late at night when everybody is asleep. You can even do lunch times in the library at school if that helps! If you’re starting out it is best to keep to a schedule so that you get in the habit of bible study but this is just a suggestion, it’s not mandatory.

I know it can be hard to do bible study everyday so maybe you can start by doing it 3 times a week and gradually increasing it, that may help!

I go for a 30 minute session or longer. As the days progress, my bible study gets a bit longer each time but some days are shorter than others, it depends how I feel (which is bad). However I do push through!

2.  What you will need

When it’s time to study my bible I have a set of things I require to get the most out of my time with God. I have to have:

-          A quiet and conducive environment (Just like I can’t revise when it’s noisy, I can’t study my bible with noise either. I come from a small family so you can hear a pin drop in my house at any given time of day. I usually put on worship music at a very soft volume too as it gets me into the zone. I really want a special chair or sofa one day where I study with a princess net hung over it and a small table but for now I have my bed!)

-          A bible I understand (I use NIV-New International Version but occasionally read from KJV-King James Version for broader understanding. My bible is a youth one so it is specifically for studying which helps. I also have a children’s bible and I put that in bold because some people think it’s silly but when I need to understand a bible story, I can read it from there to get a better understanding. I learned about Samson and Delilah and also The Apostle Paul from my children’s bible so honestly it does help!)

-          A dictionary (God is smart and sometimes He uses words that I don’t understand so I have to search up the definition before I get the verse. I remember when I read Acts 4:11 which says ‘The stone you builders rejected, has now become the cornerstone’ I was like hold on Lord, what is a cornerstone? I looked it up and found what it is and its purpose before the verse made sense to me. You go ahead and try it, define cornerstone and see if the verse makes more sense but read the whole of Acts 4 for context reasons.)