“VIDEO – Add To Your Faith | Jonathan's Tips for Better Bible Study”

Friday, March 28, 2025

Transcription / Notes:

Last week, Dan put forward this beautiful idea: What if we came to know the Bible so well that the teachings of the Bible naturally flowed out of us? That’s what I want! I want the teaching of the Holy Spirit to become second-natured, to become my natural inclination. Accomplishing that starts with establishing a consistent habit of Bible reading and not just daily reading but good daily reading. So, this week, we thought we’d offer a few tips on what good daily Bible reading looks like.

1) Be Patient

In the Bible, the Gospel is often compared to a seed. Like a seed, if the Gospel is planted in your heart and allowed to grow it will inevitably transform your heart, your life, your actions (Matthew 13:18-23; Galatians 5:22-23). At the same time, like a seed, this process takes time, and we need to be okay with that. If daily Bible reading isn’t having a life-altering effect after two weeks, remember that Jesus personally taught His apostles for three years and by the end of His ministry they still didn’t quite get it (John 14:9). Be patient.

2) Quality Over Quantity

Sometimes in our impatience we try to speed up the growth process. Like a procrastinating college student, we cram loads of Bible study into tiny sections of time to make up for years of neglected study, but that just doesn’t work. That’s not how hearts change. So, good Bible students learn to emphasize quality over quantity. It’s better to just let five words sink in than to let 1,000 words go in one ear and out the other (I Corinthians 14:19). Just read a chapter, or a chunk, or a verse and allow it to sink in.

3) Master Meditation

When you close the book make sure to take something with you. Maybe it’s a thought, a promise, or a question. Whatever it is, take it and keep it with you through the day. Remember it. Meditate on it. Dwell on it. Absorb from it every ounce of edification it provides. This is what David did, what he longed to do – he anxiously waited for the night watches because in those moments of solitude he meditated on God’s word (Psalm 119:148). We should do the same.

Next week, Dan will have a few more Bible study tips to share!

- Jonathan Banning

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