A Pattern for Bible Study

One of the earliest mistakes I made when I decided to study God’s word as a passion was failing to actual read it with purpose and reread it and reread it. Repetitious reading, the tedious repetitive reading of the word of God I believe is key to any serious bible study. You have to get to know your bible personal, you have to get to know each page intimately. It has to be you and your bible!
Right now I can tell you that Jesus walks on water in John 6 is on the right side towards the bottom of the page and 2 Timothy 2:15 one of my favorite verses in the bible is on the right side smack in the middle of the page. Isaiah 6:1 that chapter that rocked my world with the holiness of God is both bottom right and top left on next page. I say all this, not to be prideful or look what I know? I say this because I have read it a 1000 times over.
The other thing repetitious reading of the word of God does is help with memorizing scripture. I would have NEVER NEVER thought I had the capacity in my little peabrain to be able to retain anything, especially the word of God. But that’s what the word of God does to you with the help of the Holy Spirit. It illuminates your mind.  Puritan Richard Sibbes said “There must be Spirit in me as there is Spirit in the Scriptures, before I can see anything,”
But as Richard Baxter said “It is not the work of the Spirit to tell you the meaning of Scripture, and give you the knowledge of divinity, without your own study and labour, but to bless that study, and give you knowledge thereby… To reject study on pretence of the sufficiency of the Spirit, is to reject the Scripture itself.” What is he saying? After you have read the scripture, now you must interpret it and that beloved you will need help! Studying scripture is hard work, so we use the brains of other men.
It was C. H. Spurgeon who said “Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains, proves that he has no brains of his own.”
One of the helpful little books I have read on this years ago was How to study the bible by John MacArthur. You can get the kindle version Here and paperback Here
Dr. MacArthur also has a free PDF floating around called What Are the Basics of Bible Study? 
Personal Bible study, in precept, is simple. I want to share with you 5 steps to Bible study which will give you a pattern to follow.

• STEP 1—Reading
• STEP 2—Interpreting
• STEP 3—Evaluating
• STEP 4—Applying
• STEP 5—Correlating

What Now?
It is not enough just to study the Bible. We must meditate upon it. In a very real sense we are giving our brain a bath; we are washing it in the purifying solution of God’s Word.