There are a lot of them, and it's up to you to figure out which one works best for you. Once you've decided, pray about whatever Bible book or verse, God wants you to study and get started!
SOAP
Scripture (S): Choose a text and read it several times, noting the verses that stick out the most to you.
Observation (O): What stands out to you in the passage? What is the message being conveyed?
Application (A): What does this text have to do with you? What are your plans for dealing with it?
Prayer (P): Pray for God to help you apply the chapter you just read in your life. Pray for the truths you've learned to be absorbed into your heart.
The Discovery Bible Study
- Pray and ask God to open your heart
- Read the passage aloud many times.
- Try to recite the paragraph in your own words
- Pose a few questions to yourself normally have three questions for yourself.
- Meditate on the passage for a while.
Bible in a Year
Another popular method for studying the Bible is to set a goal of reading the entire Bible in a year. Some people who have done it stated it was amazing to witness the entire biblical story unfold in such a short amount of time.
Book Study
When completing a book study, one thing I would recommend is reading the entire book out loud in one sitting before starting. This gives you a bird's eye view of the book, allowing you to spot reoccurring themes or the general structure.
Journaling
Bible study can also be enhanced by journaling about scripture. I don't do it all the time, but journaling on a certain scripture or a section that God truly speaks to you about or that you don't understand might be beneficial.
Emphasizing
In addition to the SOAP technique, the highlighting method is used. Each general topic is assigned a color. You can use highlighters or colored pencils to draw attention to the different parts of each stanza as you read.
5 P's
- Put yourself in a position to hear from God.
- Pour through the passage again and again, paraphrasing the main elements.
- Pullout spiritual principles
- Pose a question.
- Plan a schedule for obedience and set a date.
APPLE
If you want to focus a little more on God's characteristics and how his character is revealed through scripture, this technique is ideal.
A – Attributes of God
P – Promises
P – Principles for Living
L – Lesson Learned (or sin to avoid)
E – Example to follow
Survey
This is the first step in the inductive study approach, in which you will investigate the book's background and structure.
Start by reading the book aloud in one sitting and keeping an eye out for four things:
- Look for any natural breaks in the book that can suggest how it's structured or organized.
- Take note of the major themes that run throughout the book.
- What do you believe the text's main idea is?
- What stanza best encapsulates the book's fundamental idea?
Inductive Research
When studying a book or a portion of the Bible in depth, it is critical to grasp the context in which it was written as well as the structure of the book.
With the help of many modern day mobile applications, anyone can read the Bible at any time on their smartphones.
The beauty of Bible apps is that it isn’t just a book so you won’t find an only text.
The objective of any bible app is to convince the reader what it is saying is the truth.
Its MVP is that the book is read in a human voice.
So no matter whether you are at work and feeling down or if you are in a courtroom facing charges, whenever you feel the need of the app, it will be right there for you reading verses to give you strength.
