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| Study God's Word |
Many people have asked me what I believe is the right way to have personal devotions. Well, I do not believe that it is a law that it has to happen early in the morning before everybody wakes up, although I do believe that it is better to have it then. When do you put petrol in your car, before the trip or afterwards? I think it is better to start your day with God, so that you can get encouragement and food for the day to make you strong. (spiritually) So time is not an issue, but my suggestion is to wake up early. We see many times in scripture that Jesus was praying early in the morning. Now, you need to get yourself some tools to be able to do a good, wholesome bible study. First you need a Bible(obviously). Any translation will do, but my suggestions are; King James Version, New King James Version and Amplified version. People complain about the King James English, but there is a new version out now, the King James Version easy Reading(KJVER). This is an excellent Bible, the most accurate translation according to the original manuscripts that make up the word of God. Please, whatever you do, stay away from the Message, that is a story book, not the Word of God! The next tool you will need is a good commentary. I suggest the John Mac Arthur Commentary on the whole Bible, the William Mac Donald Commentary for believers, Matthew Henry Commentary. The last one is written in difficult English but is a very thorough explanation and study of scripture. My personal favorite is the John Mac Arthur Commentary. There is also a more lengthy version available, which you buy book by book. This is a very good option. Buy the one for Ephesians and then only buy the next one when you move on to the next book. Lastly you would need a notebook. Be carefull of topical study, it leaves a lot of room for error. I suggest you start with a book, Ephesians is normally a good place to start. Read the Book description in the commentary to set the scene, read about the writer, the time, the social stand etc. After reading that, for the first week, read all 6 the chapters every day. Read it out loud so that you can hear what you are reading. Now, in week two start with ch1:1. Read the verse. Make notes of any thoughts or questions that come to you while reading. Now go to the commentary and read what it says about that verse. Make a summary of what it says. Go and read any cross references that appear in your bible or in the commentary. Read what the commentary says about all of those. The whole time as you are reading all of these, make notes of what is said, and what comes to mind. When you decide that you have now looked at every possible angle there is to look at for this verse, then you move to verse 2. Do not think that you are bound by time. If it takes you 10 minutes or two weeks to finish one verse, so be it. The important thing is that you must know that verse and its true meaning when you are done. The first time I was involved in a study like this on Ephesians, it took us two and a half years to finish the 6 chapters. Nothing is rushing you. I will spend about 50 mins on studying the Bible and then about 10 or 15 minutes in prayer. That is my way of doing a study early in the morning. Now I need to add, do not think that the hour in the morning is enough. I spend about two hours driving to work in the morning, which I use for listening to sermons. I normally use my lunchtime to research whatever I am blogging on this site. In the evenings I am normally occupied with preparing work for a Bible study. In between I do research on topics that interest me, I do research for a book I am trying to write. So I spend a whole lot of time in the word of God each day. it works like this, the more time you spend in it, the more you will grow and mature. Be blessed.
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