Bible Study and Your Mind

Here's a little more--this time on Bible study--from the old book I'm paraphrasing as a worship project:

The Bible wasn’t written only for scholars. It was designed for common people. The great truths you need in order to be saved are as clear as noonday. You can’t make mistakes or lose your way unless you prefer your own judgment to God’s clearly displayed will.

Don’t take anyone’s preaching about the Bible’s teaching without studying the words of God for yourself. If you allow others to do your thinking, you will have crippled your own power and reduced your own abilities. An excellent mind can become so stunted by lack of exercising worthwhile thoughts, that it loses its ability to understand the deep meanings of God’s word. Your mind’s capability will enlarge if you’ll put it to work making connections between subjects of the bible, comparing verse with verse and spiritual lesson with spiritual lesson.

Nothing can strengthen your intelligence more than studying the Bible. Nothing is so powerful as the broad, high truths of the Bible to raise the level of your thinking and to give you stronger intellectual energy. If people studied God’s word as they should, they would have a breadth of knowledge, noble characters, and a steady purpose in life that we rarely see these days.

But slow down! There’s little to be gained from rushing when you read the Bible. You could read the whole Bible through and still not see its beauty or understand its deep, hidden meaning. If you study one passage until its importance is clear to your mind and you see how it’s related to salvation, that will be much more valuable to you than if you read a whole bunch of chapters with no clear purpose in mind, learning nothing worthwhile.

Keep your Bible with you. When you have a chance, read it. Fasten the texts into your memory. Even when you’re walking along the street you can read a passage and meditate on it. That will imprint it on your mind.

You can’t find wisdom without paying close attention and studying prayerfully. Some parts of the Bible are so clear you can’t misunderstand them, but there are others whose meaning doesn’t lie on the surface to be seen with just a glance. You need to compare passages in the Bible with each other. You need to research these carefully and think about them, praying over them. This kind of study will bring you rich rewards. Just like a miner finding a vein of precious ore deep in the earth, you’ll want persevere in searching God’s word for hidden treasure. You’ll find truths of great value, truths that are hidden from the view of a careless reader. When you ponder the inspired words, they will be like streams flowing out of a fountain of life.

Always pray before opening your Bible. First ask for the Holy Spirit to enlighten you, and He will. When Nathanael came to Jesus, the Savior exclaimed, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." (John 1:47) Nathanael asked, “How do you know me?” and Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." (John 1:48) Just like that, Jesus also sees you in your place of prayer. If you’ll ask him for light, He'll show you what is truth. Heavenly angels will be with you when you humbly, sincerely ask for guidance.