I put together this post for those that may be faith curious or new to the faith; it provides a few links and tools that have been helpful to me when I'm reading the bible.
Ephesians 1:17
"that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,"
James 1:5
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."
1 Corinthians 2:14
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them - because they are spiritually discerned.
Luke 24:45
He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
Matthew 7:7-8
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Ask God to show you His wisdom in your reading.
Before you read the Bible, always pray for wisdom and understanding.
·What are You trying to teach me, Lord?
·What can I learn about Your character and expectations of me in this passage?
·What can I glean from this to help me be more obedient to You – and live my life more like Messiah lived His?
·How can I use this to make my life less about me and more about You?
(Questions came from SeekingScripture.com)
"Even every one that is called by MY NAME: for 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐘 𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐘, I have formed him; yea, I have made him." (Isaiah 43:7)
When reading a book of the Bible:
1. Who is the book written by?
2. Who is the author writing to?
3. What is the purpose of the book?
4. When was the book written? (The bible is not in chronological order.)
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
That means the Old Testament AND the New Testament.
Tools to break down a verse for understanding
(context, cross reference, word study (Interlinear),
commentaries, and different translations):
Let us use Philippians 2:12 as an example.
What does work out your salvation with "fear and trembling" mean?
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2:12
TOOLS
Bible Hub:
I love using Bible Hub. It shows you context, cross reference, word study (on the Interlin tab), commentaries, and different translations to the verse you’re looking up.
Click the link to read Philippians 2:12 in other translations.
Blue Letter Bible:
Then there’s Blue Letter Bible. That is much more advanced, imho, but it's handy if you want to know the meaning of a word in a verse and how it’s used.
Link to Philippians 2:12 for more in depth study.
Open Bible Info
This tool is very handy if you want to ask about ANYTHING. Keep in mind, the verses that come up should be studied in CONTEXT.
We must remember that there are over 30,000 verses in the Bible and each of those verses has the weight of all the verses around it bearing down upon it. We cannot separate a single verse from context and expect to have the meaning or say there are contradictions.
Other Handy Links:
Keys to Reading the Bible Effectively
Spiritual Growth Documents And Resources
I also like to use the ‘Got Questions’ website sometimes.
Remember to test all things. No one, not even my site or the 'Got Questions' site has everything 100% right or agree on every thing. This is true even among bible scholars. Here is a look at Philippians 2:12 on the Got Questions site:
Become a follower of Christ (not get religious):
The Reliability of the Bible & Did Jesus Exist?: ► https://www.wiseandgentle.com/post/the-reliability-of-the-bible-and-did-jesus-exist
We must remember that there are over 30,000 verses in the Bible and each of those verses has the weight of all the verses around it bearing down upon it.
We cannot separate a single verse from context and expect to have the meaning. https://seekingscripture.com/ecclesiastes-8-12/
More in the comments below.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
When people pull out these inaccurate one liners (like the meme below).....
When people pull out these inaccurate one liners they think are from the bible, it shows you who is actually reading the word and loves THE Word (Jesus). Sometimes it's a simple mistake and many times it's people that aren't even in the faith trying to quote the bible to get a reaction out of folks.
The verse:
"𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬."
1 Timothy 6:10
Link to look up context, cross reference, word study (Interlin tab), commentaries, and different translations of…
If you've never started reading the bible because the expectation seems too much....start with a one verse a day type devotional. One verse a day with a motive to grow closer to God is better than reading chapters and verses for other reasons. 📖 🕊️
We must remember that there are over 30,000 verses in the Bible and each of those verses has the weight of all the verses around it bearing down upon it. We cannot separate a single verse from context and expect to have the meaning.
https://seekingscripture.com/ecclesiastes-8-12/
I was looking up "simplicity of Christ" and the first thing that popped up on the search engine's results was a cult's website - the opposite of what the simplicity of Christ is.
I guess I'm sharing this out of concern. Many cults and religions have included Jesus and His teachings in their cult or religion as man has polluted the Gospel since the beginning. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
Man has used His name in vain to further political ideology, justify war & mrdr, to gain the trust of people with certain political leanings, to fatten their pockets, or to make a name for themselves, - the list goes on.
The simplicity that is in Christ; link…
If there's one thing I recommend right now more than anything if you are listening to any of the countless self proclaimed prophets out there, I recommend reading the bible cover to cover yourself.
In my reading, especially in the "old testament", I observe so many things seem to have been fulfilled already. It's causing me to have a major side-eye to the many many posts and videos floating around of prophets and prophecy.
I am saying this to encourage the body of Christ to read their bibles.