Blog » Asking the Hard Questions, Part 1
NOTE: For the next few weeks our student intern from Westminster Theological

Seminary, Nick Cirino, will be writing the blogs. Nick’s heart for God is tremendous

and I value his insights into scripture. Keeping digging into Philippians!!! 
Pastor Jeff
Tuesday, June 18, 2013 Nick Cirino

Everyone has different methods of studying the Bible. Observation, Interpretation, Application. Inductive Bible Studies. Discourse Analysis. Rhetorical Analysis. And the list goes on. 

Most of them are very good. I don’t have a consistent method that I use. Sometimes I enjoy studying in a way that I normally wouldn’t. I usually tend to read a chapter or a couple chapters at a time. For a while I changed things up and read through 1 Peter very slowly, trying to soak in everything I could about every sentence.  

More recently I have been reading the Bible less often but trying to read bigger chunks at a time. I read the book of Judges in one sitting (it took about an hour—with some stretch breaks!) and I noticed things I don’t think I would have if I had read the book over the course of a week or two. There was something refreshing about seeing Judges as a whole. The big picture was that Israel was on a downward spiral of unfaithfulness to God and they needed a king to lead them back in obedience to God (that king came, his name is Jesus).

What works for you in studying the Bible? Are you a routine person? Make a routine. You don’t tend to stick to routines (I’m in this camp), then don’t make a routine; get creative and find what works for you. 

The way you study the Bible doesn’t have to look a specific way. Sometimes I think we approach Bible study as if God has said, “Thou shalt read a chapter every morning before breakfast” (he hasn’t!)  

The goal is much bigger than that. The goal is that God’s word would permeate your life and mind. Do you feel the weight of that call? What can you do to move your life in the direction of that goal?             “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another
          in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in     
          your hearts to God.”       (Col 3:16 ESV)