I received the Holy Spirit when I was 12. Learning to study and apply the Word of God was an immediate undertaking I aspired to master. It wasn’t until several years later that I truly started to understand the Word of God and what it meant regarding my life and the world around me.
While I knew routinely reading scripture was necessary for the growth of my relationship with God, as a twelve-year-old I did not always get what it was all about.
Through the years I have made it a point to understand scripture and to do my absolute best to apply it to my life.
That took intentionality. It took reading when I didn’t want to, praying for revelation, using a dictionary, a thesaurus, a bible dictionary, and asking (God and my dad) tons of questions to help me connect the dots.
I am so grateful to now be at a place where I can honestly say that I LOVE the Word of God and although I still have a lot to learn and understand, I can honestly say I know it for myself.
Recently I’ve employed a new study method called S.O.A.P. that I has deepened my study time significantly. The acronym stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer and is done with the assistance of a study journal.
Naturally, this style of studying scripture immediately attracted me because of the journaling aspect but has since exceeded my expectation as my retention and application has grown tremendously. I read the book of Amos last week (a personal challenge to read the books I’ve often skipped over) and this method helped me to fully understand its contents and I have been meditating on it all week.
If you are struggling to study scripture and LOVE it, I suggest you add some S.O.A.P. to your study time.
Here’s how:
- Begin with prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to give you divine revelation of the Word and for better retention of the Word.
- Select a study journal that is cute and that you will exclusively use for bible study. For some reason picking a cute journal always motivates me to write more.
- Choose what scripture you will study. You can use this method on one verse, several verses, a chapter, several chapters, or a whole book. It’s really up to you.
- While you read, pause to write down what you observe about the scripture you’ve selected. This can include anything from the theme of the scripture, characters or even words you are unsure of.
- Write out a few ways you can now apply what you’ve read to your daily life. Be open to the ways the Holy Spirit will prompt you to apply the Word to your life.
- Lastly, say another prayer over what you have read, asking again for deeper revelation, greater retention and to help you with applying what you’ve learned.
I pray that if you are struggling to study the Word of God and seeing it as a necessity in your walk with Him, that this method will assist you and take you higher in Christ.
“In our prayers we talk to God. In our bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.” – Dwight L. Moody
