We must study the Bible as Christians!
Yes.
But it is not just enough to KNOW that you must study. It is more about understanding precisely what it is you're reading/studying or looking for.
Many preachers just emphasize the need to study without taking a second thought on HOW WILL THEY DO IT?
You know for sure that many people would just READ a passage and come out to say they have studied.
I've been a victim of this at a time, I read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation 2½ times. It's in the third round that reality dawned on me that I needed to study the Bible instead.
All those years, I didn't really study the Bible.
I only responded to "YOU MUST STUDY YOUR BIBLE". I didn't know HOW. I wasn't taught HOW TO STUDY.
Hear me, it is very possible for someone to be with the Bible for 5 hours, and yet come out to say nonsense.
Why?
He lacks the understanding of proper Bible study.
He would say all manner of "Rhema" while explaining just one verse/passage, forsaking the fact that the Bible has just one language, one knowledge and one understanding.
No scripture/passage of the Bible would mean today what it didn't mean when it was written.
Most especially on the Epistles, many because of their lack of knowledge on how to study have wrongly interpreted the Apostles.
It didn't start today, it's been like that even in the days of the Apostles.
2 Peter 3:15-16
[15]And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
[16]As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
But these misinterpretations are what many able ministers of the Gospel are trying with all efforts to make right today, by rightly interpreting these texts in their messages.
And this is why we must listen to them as they teach. (Grace unto them. Amen.)
Your study is not yet proper if you do not understand the texts you are studying in the line of the knowledge the writters were passing as they wrote.
How Do You Study?
1. Be ready to Learn
In the course of Bible study, you will have to embrace new things and let go of some things.
And by "things" I mean knowledge.
2. Get good study materials
Get other Bible versions with cross references (I recommend The Living Bible, Message Bible) to accompay your KJV Bible, get a concordance as well, get Bible commentaries (though they may not be accurate enough), Get a notepad to jot, write something down as you study. Don't just read.
NB: all recommendations are preferable in hardcopies.
3. List out the topics you wish to learn
Write down questions you want answers to. Don't just read the Bible anyhow, look for something. Don't rush it, you may not understand a concept until after 3 months of studying. It is okay. You understand more when a right knowledge is from your own personal study.
4. Study in Context
When you see a verse that you do not seem to understand very clearly (most especially in the Epistles), it's ethical to begin the reading from verse 1 of the chapter, or even from the Beginning of the Book.
E.g. if you don't really get, maybe, verse 10 of chapter 5 of the book of Romans. Try reading the entire chapter from the beginning, or better still from Chapter 1 of the book, (Romans).
Sometimes in the letters of Paul, 5 verses could be an explanation to just one verse that precedes those verses.
So, taking one verse alone from those 5 verses would not really do your understanding well since it's a half knowledge.
For example,
Romans 5:13-17 buttresses just verse 12.
Be patient and be sensitive.
Still on contextual study,
Do not interpret verses to mean what they do not mean.
For example,
1 John 2:20
[20]But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
Many have used this scripture to teach that by having the Spirit of God in you, you can know everything relating to your academics, even business.
But this is wrong!
Reading from verse 18, it speaks about knowing that there are Antichrists and how to identify them.
Same goes as for verse 27 of that same chapter, 1 John 2 (Read it).
Now one who lacks proper Bible study and understanding of that scripture would say, THERE IS NO NEED TO STUDY, WE HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT TO TEACH US. They even go as far to say that WE DON'T NEED TO READ/STUDY/OWN a Bible, that it is not written to us in 2018.
That's what Bible misinterpretation can do to a man. Do not give to verses the interpretations that they do not originally mean. Save it, start the reading from the beginning.
5. Learn from sound Bible Teachers
It's not a bad idea to listen to men of God with understanding teach you on certain things you wish to know. Even during the course of the teaching, you would learn more on how to study by observing how they teach, how they apply the verses of the Bible in their explanations.
No sound Bible teacher would keep away from you HOW HE STUDIES and HOW YOU SHOULD STUDY. Ask them questions as well, this will help you to unravel a lot on your study board.
I say again on a final note, DON'T JUST READ THE BIBLE, HAVE SOMETHING YOU'RE LOOKING FOR. Have a list of questions you want answers to. Find answers accurately.
Please note:
This post is not all you need to know about how to study. The more you study, the more you learn HOW TO.
Blessed.
Hagios Akins
See also: Studying In Context, A Need To Study