Now we’ve gone through the basics of Salvation, Right Division, which Bible to use, and some basic commonsense rules to observe, we can now move on to some mechanics of Bible study. Where does one begin?
Go For the Milk First
One of the most discouraging things for new Bible students is that you just can’t understand everything all at once. But learning to study and understand the Word is like growing up. No matter the age of the student or how long they’ve been saved, if the Bible has never been studied, it is best to start with the milk. A famous passage that is often taken out of context but still spells out how to become a Bible student is Isaiah 28:9-10, “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:”
God is actually admonishing the leaders of Jerusalem in this passage, but those two verses explain how to understand God’s Word.
Start with milk. Get your feet under you. Become completely versed in the basics then move on from there. So what are the basics? Where should someone who wants to be a student of God’s Word begin? Only one place: the book of Romans.
If you can study through Romans and understand the teaching of Paul about all of the basic doctrines of Christianity, including dispensationalism in chapters 9 – 11, you will be eating the meat of the Word by the time you finish.
Romans is also a wonderful book for the new student because it forces you to study. Look at these verses:
Romans 3:24-26, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
Perhaps the most beautiful passage in God’s Word, but it isn’t easy to understand right away. What is justification? What is redemption? What is a propitiation? What is righteousness? What does it man when it says remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God? Why is God declaring His righteousness “at this time”? And so on.
So Romans, being the most complete book explaining all aspects of true Christianity is the place to begin your studies.
Same Words, Different Places
The first and most basic way to begin to study is by using word comparisons between verses. To do this, one must have a good KJV Bible software program; one that can do word searches and ideally one that can do phrase searches. Often we’ll remember a phrase from a verse, but not the verse. If you can search for that phrase instead of a single word, it can be much more helpful.
I assume that if you are reading this, you have a computer or an electronic device that you can get an application to cover that. However, if someone printed this for you and you don’t have any of these things, an exhaustive concordance can do the same for you. It is infinitely more work digging through a concordance and looking up each verse, but it can be rewarding also. Remember, until about 1995 that was the only way that it could be done.
Before we demonstrate how this might work, let me give you a word of caution first. Often times when we do a word search, we may find a verse that seems to agree with our thought patterns on where we are going with this study. However, it is vitally important never to snatch a verse and use it to bolster an argument WITHOUT FIRST READING AND UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT OF THAT VERSE.
For example, say you are studying days, as in does God command that we worship Him on any particular day. So you do a word search for “day”. You get fifty billion hits, but you patiently go through them until you come upon Psalms 118:24, “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Wonderful, right? Every day the LORD has made and we should rejoice in every day and not just one specific day!
Except that would be a huge error. You would’ve take that completely out of context to make it fit into something you are trying to prove. The day that was described in Psalms 118 began the day Christ offered himself to Jerusalem as the perfect lamb of God. This is the day that a faithful Israel would have begun their preparations to bind Christ to the horns of the altar, and sacrifice him on Passover as that ultimate Passover lamb.
Psalms 118:21-27, “I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.”
Israel in their blindness rejected their Messiah, and rather than binding Him in love to the horns of the alter and sacrificing him as that ultimate lamb, they by wicked hands had him crucified as an evil-doer.
So you can see that taking a verse without understanding it’s context can lead to calamity in your study
An example of how a word study might go.
You have decided to study Jesus’ life in John. As you are reading and studying, you notice that Jesus goes to the Samaritans, those half-breed Israelites of the north. This seems strange – why isn’t he going to the Jews?
John 4:19-27, “The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?”
We see here that this Samaritan woman, being only partly Israelite, still had faith that a Messiah would come. Here answer to Jesus was perfect – Jesus tells her salvation is of the Jews, but soon true worshippers (Jews and proselytes and even the hated Samaritans) who worshiped the Father in spirit and truth would also be saved. Why? Because the Father was seeking those to worship him. This woman knew enough of scripture that she knew Messiah would come and set things straight,
When Jesus said: “I that speak unto thee am he,” the woman not only believed, but converted many of the Samaritan “dogs” in her villiage.
(This passage is very significant, but would be too long here to consider.)
After that, where Jesus was spending all of His time in Samaria and Galilee, he suddenly goes to Jerusalem (where the supposed most righteous Jews dwelt). And he goes there for a feast. Now if you would read the entire last chapter, Christ’s disciples went into the city to buy food, but later on Jesus refused to eat it. Was he just holding out for a big feast at Jerusalem?
John 5:1, “After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”
You want to know why. Why did he leave Samaria and Galilee where he was having so much success, and go to where he was despised, just to get some grub?
After reading this verse, it seems obvious that he wanted to be at this feast of the Jews, so we need to find out what was so special about it. It’s time to do some word searches. The first one, of course, would be ‘feast.’ So you fire up your application and type in feast and hit search.
And you get 109 hits! Do you really want to wade through these? Oh well, you never know what you might find.
The first passage concerns Lot and the angels just before the destruction of Sodom. Interesting, but no.
Then you have a thought – there may be a shortcut. This is a feast of the Jews, and the Jews didn’t show up until Exodus, so let’s skip to there.
Okay, the second hit and other hits right after talk about two feasts, the Passover and unleavened bread. The feast in John is obviously not one of these because no one is in the proper preparation.
Then after learning of God’s seven special feasts for Israel in Leviticus 23, you realize what all these feasts are. If you didn’t already know about these seven feasts, you’ve just learned a new and very special thing by looking at one word.
But that is not all. There is a specific reason Jesus was going to Jerusalem for one of these feasts – Jesus kept the law. Further on in this one word study, you would find this:
Deuteronomy 16:16-17, “Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.”
The place God chose was Jerusalem. The feast that Jesus was going to was probably the feast of weeks, considering his comments about the harvest in the previous chapter. But the point is: Jesus had to go to Jerusalem to fulfil the law.
This was just an example of how a word search can expand and illuminate your studies. If your application supports it, you can also search for phrases, and sometimes multiple words in one verse
I used God’s Word for Windows 95, which is very outdated so I suspect there are even better applications out there now.
Look for primary meanings first, then explore the secondary or even deeper meanings.
A Bible passage often has a plain message to understand, then a secondary and often third message engrained in the same passage. It is important to first understand the main, or first message the passage is conveying before trying to figure out other meanings.
Isaiah 10:1-21, “Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.“
Now a lot of folks would immediately look for the end times prophetic meaning in this passage – after all, wasn’t Isaiah a prophet? And indeed there is an end times prophecy here. But the primary meaning was here much more immediate to the writer.
The Assyrian mentioned in the passage was the evil Sennacherib. He was the king of Assyria. Not long before this passage was written, Sennacherib’s predecessor had carried away all of the northern tribes of Israel. Judah was now in big trouble. Sennacherib brought his army to siege Jerusalem, and his army was like the grass of the fields. He sent messengers to the walls of the city and they bragged to those listeners inside: For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
Notice earlier in the passage what God is saying to Judah: “Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.” God is angry at Judah as He was wroth with Israel. Judah is about to be slain and made prisoners, God’s anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Hezekiah, the king of Judah at this time, was a righteous king. When he heard the jeers of the Assyrians he rent his clothes and went into the house of the Lord and prayed. And as the LORD had promised, His hand was outstretched still. When Hezekiah humbled himself before the LORD, even though God’s anger was still hot against Judah, He exercised mercy because of Hezekiah’s actions.
It was now time to “punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.” And He did.
2 Kings 19:32-37, “Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.”
I always loved that phrase: “and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.” An angry God had temporarily spared Judah because a righteous and humble king did the right thing. This is the primary meaning of this passage. Isaiah prophesied that Judah would survive the Assyrian.
But then there’s more. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.”
Now, although a number of those carried away to Babylon did return to the land and rebuild the temple, but these were of Judah, not Israel. The above passage refers to a time when not only Judah, but also the remnant of Israel will return to the land – and not only the land – but they will return to the mighty God. This never happened. This doesn’t mean that God is a liar, it means that there is more to this prophecy than just what happened at that time.
This is a two-fold prophecy. It was fulfilled once, but not in its’ fullness. This prophecy will be fulfilled again in the future, but in a different way. We won’t go through that now, but just be aware that the Assyrian is a type of the Antichrist in the primary fulfillment, but in the final fulfillment the Assyrian is the AntiChrist.
If you study prophecy, you’ll find that much of it works this way. For example, Daniel 11 was fulfilled in every detail from the defeat of Persia by Alexander the Great up until the rule over Israel by a wicked ruler. This ruler was named Antiochus Epiphanes. He did many evil things:
Daniel 11:31-33, “And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.”
And yet he didn’t do all that was prophesied about him. This again clues you in that this is a two-fold prophesy. Especially the way chapter 12 opens. (Chapters are not inspired, they were added by man to make the Word more readable. The inspired text has no breaks.)
Daniel 12:1, “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”
So primarily, Daniel 11 was a precise prophecy of events almost up to the time of Christ. But Daniel 11 is much more than that. What occurred then will occur once more, but probably not in the same way. So we study passages like this, and compare scripture with scripture to work our way toward the truth.
Understanding Progressive Revelation
Most folks who take a more than casual interest in God’s Word know something about progressive revelation, but unfortunately not nearly enough. I have heard preachers teach that when God said to Satan that Eve’s seed would bruise his head, that Eve and Adam understood that Christ was going to die for their sins. That is nonsense.
Many churches teach that we are saved looking back at the cross while the Old Testament saints were saved by looking forward to the cross. This is not only nonsense, it leads to very bad doctrine.
Adam understood what God told him. He had no great insight into his salvation. Abel knew only to offer a blood sacrifice to be accepted. Noah knew only to build an ark to save him and his family. We could go on here, but if you want to see what these Old Testament saints knew about their own salvation, read Hebrews 11.
Never suppose that any saint from before or after Christ knew more than what they were told. We can look back at the scriptures that they wrote and say surely they understood this or that, but they only knew what was written in the scriptures or what they were taught by others. Consider these verses:
1 Peter 1:10-12, “Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.”
The prophets that prophesied of Christ had no idea what they were writing about. All scripture is given by inspiration of God – God told them what to write, but didn’t explain it to them. Even the angels didn’t understand how the death, burial an resurrection of Christ would save the world.
And to Peter, whose salvation came by believing that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God, was told a different Gospel than what was delivered to Paul:
Acts 2:36, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Almost every mainstream church in the world teaches that Peter and Paul taught the same message. But this is what Peter said about Paul’s message:
2 Peter 3:15-16, “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”
Peter knew what Paul was preaching was from the Lord, but Peter had a really hard time trying to understand it. Peter received many revelations from God, but they were different from what Paul received. Peter only understood what he was told from God, along with the scriptures available to him. He slowly learned what Paul was teaching, but he had a hard time figuring it out.
Don’t ever assume that just because we have the completed Word of God that David or Daniel or Isaiah knew then what we know now. All of those saints before Christ were saved BY BELIEVING WHAT GOD TOLD THEM AT THE TIME. Remember when we were looking at that passage in Romans? It explains this:
Romans 3:24-26, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
Before Christ came, salvation came through the forbearance of God. God alone could look forward to the death of Christ and forbear the punishment for sins for those who believed what God had revealed to the up until that time. Then, as he did with Abraham, their faith was counted for righteousness.
There is another aspect of progressive revelation that we need to understand in our studies. The progressive revelation through the epistles of Paul. The first thing to grasp is that God didn’t just dump all the doctrine found in his epistles onto him at once.
2 Corinthians 12:1, “It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.”
It is important to understand that Paul understood more in II Corinthians than he did in I Corinthians. Some of the things that he did in his early ministry, he shunned in his later ministry. That is not to say he was wrong in his early ministry, only that he hadn’t been told differently yet.
For example, in his very early ministry Paul baptized. But he quickly halted that practice. Why? Because he had come to a new vision or revelation. Consider these verses:
1 Corinthians 1:14-18, “I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”
Paul baptized, but now he is thankful that he didn’t practice it a lot, otherwise he might become the focus of worship. But now? He has received a new revelation that he is not to baptize, but to only preach the gospel. This doesn’t mean that what he had been doing was wrong, it means that by revelation his mission was changing to fit the new dispensation.
This is progressive revelation. It simply means that saints of any age only know what they’ve been told or taught. If God hadn’t revealed something during David’s life, David didn’t know it. David didn’t know Proverbs or Song of Solomon, written by his son, so how could he know about the cross?
The Value of Other Grace Believers
One of the great sources for Bible study is talking with grace believers. In my experience, most Grace Believers love to discuss the Word. They can be a fountain of knowledge for your studies and give you great insight into what you are studying.
Bible study in a vacuum of only one person can often lead to getting doctrine wrong. Discussing your studies with believers of like mind can help you from going down rabbit holes that lead to bad doctrine.
DON’T BE AFRAID TO BE WRONG! Personally, I’ve learned more good doctrine by being wrong and then being corrected by a loving believer who had better understanding at that time than I. It is no shame to have someone point out your mistakes – it will help you grow faster than you can imagine.
If you are fortunate enough to be able to attend a Grace church, organize an informal Bible study on a regular basis so that you can all share your knowledge and ideas with one another. Don’t wait for the preacher or and elder to do it – do it yourself. And make sure that it is an open study where everyone can speak, not just a mini church service where one person does all the talking. The idea is to share knowledge and ideas with one another and help each other grow. It should be a place to ask questions about things you don’t understand and answer questions that you do understand.
This can be frustrating. At our local church I began such a study on the fifth Sundays of the month, meaning that we meet four times a year. Often it is well attended, but just as often it ends up with Tracy and I discussing or arguing over different doctrines while everyone just sits and listens. (We don’t argue as it is commonly used – we voice opposing opinions to one another. Usually by the end, 85% of the time I find out that I was wrong and I learn something. 15% of the time I’m right.) The problem with this, I think, is that most folks don’t want to speak up in this situation and be shown to be wrong. So I have a lot of work to do with encouraging folks that that fear is more harmful than it is helpful. Being wrong is a great teacher.
If you don’t have a Grace church in your area, and perhaps don’t even have grace believers to study with, the internet can be a wonderful thing for you. You can get messages from many different Grace churches, including here at Grace Alive. You can also develop relationships with believers anywhere in the world by finding them and sending them an e-mail or a text or even a letter. You can become “pen-pals” using your computer or phone. You can write us at tracy@gracealive.org or keith@gracealive.org, and if you find that you’re not comfortable with us, we can introduce you to other believers that you would be more comfortable with.
The bottom line is that Bible study, although very personal, is more rewarding if you can communicate about it to other grace believers.
Ruminate
If you are reading your Bible every day (not by rote an obligatory amount of verses, but really reading it), and studying it at regular intervals, it will soon become part of your make-up. Your mind becomes what you fill it with, and with a steady diet the Word will become a part of you.
So now it’s time to ruminate. To think on things that you have read and studied. This will inevitably happen the more you immerse yourself into the world of God. Now is when it gets exciting, believe it or not.
Almost all of my break-throughs and insights have come whenever I didn’t have a Bible anywhere around. Lying in bed pondering certain things, or sitting outside watching a thunderstorm and going over different doctrines and passages in my head. Then out of the blue, something clicks – a piece of the puzzle I’d been missing pops into my mind and fits perfectly, solving a problem and giving me an insight that I never would have come up with while sweating over my studies.
Psalms 63:5-6, “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in he night watches.”
Besides prayer, which we will get to, I believe the most important aspect of Bible study is meditating on the Word, and on God and His grace, and Christ’s supreme sacrifice, and on what you’ve read and studied. If nothing else, you will get peace and joy out of this. But the more you read and study, you will find that this is most often the time that you put things together in your mind. This is the time that you will get that special insight that excites you and brings you closer to the Lord.
The Power of Prayer
Grace Alive often hears the charge that we don’t believe in prayer. This is usually because the accuser doesn’t understand prayer in the same way we do. In most churches and most of Christianity, God is treated as though He is the Almighty Santa Claus. Pray to God and He’ll give you what you want – well, if you have enough faith and if God happens to e in the right mood and if it works together for your well being.
At Grace Alive, we don’t see God as the Ultimate Santa Claus. We see a God who has already given us all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Is a new car really a blessing when compared with what is freely given to us by God?
1 Corinthians 2:9-12, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”
Of course we believe that we can pray about anything, even needing a new car. But God doesn’t deal in new cars, or healing the sick, or getting us a job, or keeping us physically safe, not in this dispensation. God deals in peace.
Philippians 4:6-7, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
When we pray, the Son mediates our prayer to the Father.
1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”
The Father answers our prayer through His Spirit.
Romans 8:26-27, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
The intercession that the Spirit makes for us – God’s answer to our prayer – is found in the Word of God.
Ephesians 6:17-18, “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”
When we talk to God, He always talks back to us through His Spirit in the Word of God. That is why prayer is so important in Bible study. When you read His Word He is actually talking to you through His Spirit. The Spirit is making intercession TO you FROM God in His Word. So when we are told to (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18,) “Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
We pray and give thanks so that we might grow in Christ through His Spirit working through His Word.
Colossians 1:9-20, “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”
What a prayer! What an answer! But does God physically answer our prayers in this dispensation? For one thing, prayer changes you. Prayer motivates you into action so that you can comfort or help or do whatever is needed according to your capabilities. After all, the church today is the manifestation of Christ on earth, and we are His body. So answering prayer is the job of Christ, and we are the manifestation of Christ, so whose job is it to answer physical prayer?
1 Timothy 3:15-16, “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
Contrary to popular belief, this verse isn’t talking about the man Jesus Christ – He had no need of justification in the Spirit. This is talking about the church, the body of Christ. And how should we conduct ourselves?
1 Corinthians 12:12-27, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”
So what does this have to do with Bible study? Prayer will bring about understanding of God’s Word, which will motivate you to be the physical answer to prayer for someone else. We are all members of the same body, so keeping the body healthy in the manner in which you can promotes the overall fitness of the body of Christ on earth.
Bible study for the sake of only knowledge does not strengthen the body of Christ, nor does it help bring in new members. I’m not saying that just getting knowledge is bad, but keeping it bundled up without it causing actions in your life is unproductive for our body.