Studying Scripture

The Bible is a library written by God through men that tells a unified story that leads to Jesus. And as God’s people, we want to be guided by His Word and empowered by His Spirit to more fully experience the life and love of Jesus.

Reading, reflecting, and responding are the three basic, crucial steps to ask about any passage of Scripture. To build on that foundation, we ask more questions in each of those categories to more fully flesh out and unpack the passage. This method is known as inductive Bible study because we’re relying on inductive reasoning to understand what we’re reading. Think of it like we’re a detective or an archaeologist; we’re searching for evidence and digging for clues in the text in order to draw out biblical insights, connections, and conclusions. 

In this approach, we engage our minds in a more critical approach as we seek to know God through His Word. Part of loving God and experiencing His love comes when we love Him with all our minds, and inductive Bible study helps with that.

Try this method out on 1 John, Ephesians, or the Gospel of John. Take a paragraph at a time.

1. Observation - What does the text say?

We read the text just like we do any text, but we want to go a little further to more fully comprehend what we’re reading. Once you select a passage you want to unpack, here’s a few suggestions: 

• On a computer, copy/paste the passage into a document and then type out any observations and questions you have of the text.

• Print it out in double-spaced text. Then as you’re reading the text, mark up your paper - underlining any words or phrases that pop out to you, putting a question mark over things that seem confusing, etc.

• With a journal, have your Bible open and record everything you notice or have questions about

Whatever your approach, the big idea here is that we’re interacting with the text to get a lay of the land. In this stage, you may even want to paraphrase the passage in your own words to help you process or look at other Bible translations to compare.

2. Interpretation - What does the text mean?

In step two, we reflect like we do any text, but now we ask a lot more questions to help us understand what’s going on. We’re trying to unpack the main idea. When starting this step, it will seem daunting at first but will get easier over time if you stick with it.

To help you determine the main idea, do an initial unpacking of the book you’re reading:

• What is the genre of the passage - narrative, poetry, a letter, etc? 

• Who is the author and the audience? 

• Where is this passage in terms of its redemptive history? Was this text written before Jesus’ life, during, or after? How would that time period impact the text?  

You can then ask:

• What is the immediate context of this passage? How does this passage fit within the logical flow of the passage and chapter or chapters that came before it? 

• What words are significant to know about in the passage? A concordance would be helpful.

• How does this passage connect to other passages of Scripture? A bible cross reference tool would be helpful.

• What questions do you need help answering? A study Bible or commentary will help.

Most importantly, during this step, you want to answer the question:

• What does this passage reveal to us about God and people? 

• Is there an attribute or a promise of God that is highlighted here? 

• Is there an example to follow or an error to avoid? This is also a good place to cross reference. 

• Where else in the Bible is this attribute or promise of God highlighted?

Once you’ve arrived at your answers, consult a commentary or two to make sure you’re on the right track, especially if you’re new to this method.

3. Application - What does the text mean to me?

In this last step we reflect; we want to apply this to our lives now. Application, in a sense, is how we love God with all of our strength.

First, we only ask this only after we’ve put in the work of interpreting the passage, that way we don’t come up with a misguided application.  

Second, while we are saved by grace through faith, we are expected to apply God’s Word into our lives. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says the Word of God is designed so that I might be equipped for every good work. In other words, it’s not enough to stop at Bible interpretation; it ought to lead to application. We’re not mining the Bible purely for information, but we’re using that information and asking the Spirit to help us live it out so that it will lead to transformation. 1 Corinthians 13:2 says if I have all the knowledge there is but don’t have love - in other words, I don’t apply it to my life, then I am nothing. Loving God with my mind ought to lead me to love Him with every aspect of my being.

Ask yourself:

• What is this passage calling me to do today and how should I pray now?

• How does this passage lead you into deeper obedience and love of Jesus? Again, this is a good place to use cross reference. 

• Where else does the Bible talk about this topic?

This practice is a little challenging at first but if we stick with it, invite others into it, and do the work of getting into God’s Word, we allow the Spirit to get God’s Word slowly into us more and more.

Memorizing Scripture

The Bible is a library written by God through men that tells a unified story that leads to Jesus. And as God’s people, we want to be guided by His Word and empowered by His Spirit to more fully experience the life and love of Jesus.

Long before Scripture was mass-produced for everyone to have access to, memorizing God’s Word was one of the primary ways His people meditated on His Word.

Psalm 1 talks about the person who is blessed because they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. Because God’s people didn’t necessarily have personal access to Scripture, the main way they were able to meditate day and night on Scripture was through memorization. Look at Psalm 119:11, where the Psalmist says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” So how exactly do you hide God’s Word into your heart when you don’t have your own personal Bible? Again it’s through memorizing Scripture. When we do, according to that verse, we actually are more empowered to follow Jesus because His very words are at the forefront of our minds. 

In the Old Testament, God’s people would generally have large chunks, if not whole books, devoted to memory. If you’re just starting out, start small. Here’s some ideas on what verses to have memorized:

• What is the Gospel - John 3:16, Romans 3:23-24, Ephesians 2:1-10

• Why the Gospel is good news for you - Matthew 3:16, Romans 8:1, Psalm 23

• A command or a promise you need to remember - 1 John 1:9, 1 Cor 10:13

Once you know the verse you want to memorize, how do you do it? A lot of great apps are out there, such as Fighter Verses and Bible Memory. If you want to go low-tech though and prefer not to be on your phone, try writing out the verse by hand a few times over each day. When you do, you engage your body and your mind together, allowing the verse to stick in your mind more quickly. If you want to go really old-school, God’s people for the longest time remembered things through oral tradition, so try spending a few minutes saying those verses out loud.

The beautiful thing is we can do it together with church family. Share ideas about what works best for you or what verses you’re committing to memory. Keep one another accountable. If you have kids, make it fun. Try putting these verses to melody to help sink into your minds. If you do a quick search online, you’ll find lots of recordings of people putting God’s Word to music.

The main thing: find whatever method works best for you and stick with it. Put a reminder on your phone to spend a few minutes each day. As we expand and push our minds to retain more of His Word, we in turn are more freed up to experience God’s goodness and love in our lives.

Practicing Sabbath

Sabbath is the practice of intentionally stopping from your work to spend a day resting and enjoying God and His gifts...

This goes all the way back to Genesis 2:1-3, that once God created the universe and everything in it - it says:  “he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done so God blessed the seventh day and made it holy”

It should be noted that God didn’t “rest” because He was exhausted and needed to sleep-in. Rather, “rest” in this sense means stepping back and delighting in the beauty of everything that was made. 

And God says this same sort of stopping and stepping back to delight one day a week is so woven into creation, that He actually says in the Ten Commandments that His people are invited to do the same. Which says something pretty insightful about the human experience: that as Image Bearers of God, part of what it means to be human is to set aside time and rest in the same way God rested.

For God’s people, Sabbath became a reminder that they’re identity is not bound up in their productivity or what they accomplish - their identity first and foremost is that they are saved by grace based on nothing that they do. 

So to begin the practice, look at your calendar and set a time each week where you can stop from all productivity. If you have a traditional Monday-Friday work schedule, then plan out when during your weekend you can come to a full stop for 24 hours - perhaps Saturday evening to Sunday evening. This will likely mean putting away unnecessary devices, disabling work-related apps, and hustling a little more during your work week to make sure all your tasks are done.

Once you come to that hard stop, Sabbath consists of three categories: upward rest, outward rest, and inward rest. 

So upward rest asks “What Godward activities should you include in your Sabbath?” That should look like, at bare minimum spending time with Jesus, whether that looks like an extended time in Scripture and prayer, or journaling, or reading a devotional book that stirs your heart towards loving Jesus. Maybe it looks like listening to worship music or going for a prayer walk around your neighborhood.

Outward rest asks - “who can you include in your Sabbath activities?” Some tangible ideas could be things like sharing a meal with good friends, or spending time outdoors with your church family. Maybe it looks like hosting a slow, no agenda potluck with friends and neighbors. If you’re a parent this means including your kids in your Sabbath, and narrating to them why you’re doing what you’re doing - and making family Sabbath something they look forward to each week. 

At bare minimum for followers of Jesus, the main way God’s people have combined both upward and outward rest is through Gathering weekly together as part of their Sabbath. So as you prepare for Sabbath, you should orient those 24 hours around Gathering with His people - whether that looks like kicking off your Sabbath or concluding your Sabbath by participating in weekly worship.

And finally Inward rest asks “what are restorative activities to include?” If your normal work week consists of sitting down a lot staring at a screen, restorative activities probably look like being on your feet or working with your hands. Or if you are on your feet a lot during the week, maybe it looks like taking a long nap or slowing down and reading a book purely for the fun of it - whatever is restful for you.

And just like learning a skill, so this practice is one that is to be cultivated. If you’re a parent or a full-time student, this will require some figuring out, and that’s ok. You’re expected to be a rookie when you’re starting out. Bring others in to help you strategize how to Sabbath well.

Because the more we do this, and assess how our Sabbath went, and plan for the next Sabbath, the better we can get at it. The more rest you can experience. The more delight is in store for you. And in the process, the more you can experience Jesus’ grace for you.

Related Following Jesus Together Resources

Planning Your Sabbath worksheet

Ways to Manage Your Screentime (How to Digitally Detox)

Making the Most of Your Time (How to Use a Time Audit)

Other Resources

Practicing Gratitude

Biblical gratitude is recognizing and expressing thanks for what Jesus is actively doing in us and through us - that by grace through faith, He’s given us His presence and His love and His life so that we might live out His Kingdom here on earth.

This is why Philippians 4:4-8 puts it like this, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!” The passage then goes onto to say that through ongoing gratitude we push back against worry and experience deeper peace in Jesus. So no matter our circumstances, we’re called to think about the goodness of God and His gifts towards us daily. And this passage tells us something pretty important about gratitude: that it’s just as much a mental practice as it is anything else. It’s about intentionally directing your attention to recognize God’s presence and activity in your life, even if on the surface there doesn’t seem to be anything to celebrate.

So to practice biblical gratitude, we want to encourage you with a few ways to cultivate this practice:

1 - List out daily what you’re thankful for

First set aside a time and a place each day and take a few minutes listing out what you’re thankful to Jesus for. So maybe you have a gratitude journal by your nightstand so that either when you wake up or before you go to bed, you can spend some time listing out those things. Or you can download the One-Second app on your phone, and make an ongoing video journal of the things you’re grateful for.

By having a record of these things, when times get difficult, you can look back on your list and see all the ways God has provided for you and blessed you.

And learning to fight for joy means fighting to be thankful in the moments that are less than ideal too, knowing that no matter the circumstances, God loves you and sees you and is using even the hardest moments in your life so that you can look more like Jesus. So as you list out the positive things you’re thankful for, thank God for the hard moments too, knowing that our God is good and faithful and at work in your life no matter what.

2. Write down Gratitude Verses

So on a post-it note or Index card, write down Philippians 4:4-8 or 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 or Lamentations 3:22-24 or Romans 8:28 and place it in a prominent place in your house or your office or car. That way when you see it, it becomes your cue in that moment to meditate on those passages and give thanks to God throughout your day.

3. Share with Others

And as followers of Jesus, we don’t follow Him on our own, but we share our joy with others. So as you work through these practices, talk about what you’re thankful for ongoingly with the people in your life. Or when you share a meal with someone, pray and share something you’re thankful for even if it’s just the food in front of you. Because when we share our joy - we actually increase our joy. 

And when we practice gratitude more and more, the Scriptures tell us we fight anxiety, we push back apathy, we multiply our joy, and in the process, the Spirit uses our gratitude to look more like Jesus.

For more on the practices, go to FollowingJesusTogether.com