HOW TO STUDY THE WORD OF GOD “To get ANY benefit from the Word of God, you MUST first be a born- again, Spirit-filled Christian. This is an absolute requirement. You must be IN THEKINGDOM OF GOD for the Holy Spirit to OPEN UP the things of the Kingdom toyour mind.” Read More
This DOES NOT come from being baptized in water as an adult or aninfant. Water does not renew the spirit or give
salvation. Salvation (being “born-again”of the
Spirit) is ALWAYS through BLOOD... the Blood Atonement of Jesus. It isBLOOD that remits sin.., both in the Old
Testament and New Testament. Being“born-again” is NECESSARY to obtain admission
to heaven (John 3:3-6) and isALWAYS by INVITATION, inviting
Christ into the heart to become Lord and Savior(Rev.
3: 20), repenting of sin and renouncing it, and is received by FAITH alone (inHim). (Eph. 2: 8,9).
2. You will never see any great manifestations of the Holy Spirit in
your life if you willnot spend TIME with Him, that is, to
covenant with 1-fim. He is a covenant-makingand
covenant-keeping God.. You must spend a minimum of 1/2 to 1 hour daily in thereading of the Word of God. Set out to ha ve a
certain time of day, a QUIET TIME,dedicated
FAITHFULLY to the Lord, each day. In the early mornings is preferable,since this is the time of day when the mind is
rested and refreshed, and the scripturestell
us, also the best time to hear God’s voice.
3. Pray to the Holy Spirit to open your mind to the Word.
4. Have a REGULAR reading schedule. IF you are a new Christian and
have not readthe Bible before, you will find it possible to
read through the Bible in ONE YEAR, orthereabouts,
by reading daily the following:
• 2 chapters of the New Testament (about 1 and 1/2 pages)
• 3 chapters of the Old Testament (about 2 and 1/2 pages)
• one Psalm one Proverb
a) You may decide to divide up your reading time in order to read the
NewTestament in the mornings and the Old Testament
at night.
b) an alternative method is to read 5 full pages of the Bible daily,
beginningwith the New Testament, and THEN reading the Old
Testament,understanding that the Old Testament teaches us
God’s plan and intentions forman, and His WAYS, as well as His
Word (so does the N.T.), and in it we findthe
“types” and “shadows” of things to come, as God shows us His plan ofsalvation through the “types” and examples. 5. To get a QUICK “JUMP-START” on the faithwalk”:
a. Before you begin reading the Bible, ALWAYS study the NEWTESTAMENT FIRST. ALWAYS. Christians are New
Covenant (Testament)people and, therefore, need to know
the N.T. first.
b. Read the New Testament SEVERAL TIMES before beginning your study
of the Old
Testament. By so doing, you will better
understand the Old Testament“types”, and God’s plan, by recognizing HOW they were fulfilled in the NewTestament.
c. For a QUICK “JUMP-START” on the faithwalk with Jesus, BEFORE youbegin reading the New Testament from
beginning-to-end, first read in thefollowing
order:
1. the Gospel of John- to understand who Jesus really is, His
divinity.
2. the Book of Romans- to fully understand how you are SAVED.
3. the Book of Hebrews-to understand FAITH and HOW to haveSTRONG FAITH.
6. Understand that the Bible is meant to be re -read over-and-over
again throughoutour lifetime on the Christian faithwalk. EVERY
TIME you re read Bible, the HolySpirit
will TEACH you something NEW. It ALWAYS brings new REVELATION.
7. Scripture revelation by the Holy Spirit is ALWAYS ENHANCED by
PRAYINGIN “TONGUES” OR PRAISE PRAYER before reading. If
you do not pray intongues, PRAISE the Lord for a brief
period of time before getting into the Word.Then
try doing it and not doing it, for demonstration purposes. See the difference
thatit makes when you do things God’s way.
SUMMARY OF GOD’S PROMISES TO YOU THROUGH HIS WORD:
Walking in the Word of God, studying it, acting on it, believing it,
and receiving it into your heart, and
CONFESSING it ALOUD over yourself, your loved ones and your circumstances, according to the Bible, BRINGS the following
blessings (as we haveseen):
1. salvation
2. possession (blessing)
3. change of circumstances
4. transformation
5. God’s promises
6. strength
7. freedom
8. healing
9. deliverance
The 3 KEYS to seeing God’s Word work for you are:
1) HEAR IT AND DO IT (James 1:25) 2) CONFESS IT ALOUD over your loved ones, you and your circumstancesas it applies to you. (Mk. 11:23,24; Prov. 18
:21)
3) BACK IT BY FAITH (Heb. 11:1; 2 Cor. 5:7)
REMEMBER, the Word of God is God’s LOVE LETTER TO YOU. It is YOURINHERITANCE in Him. All of its PROMISES are for
YOU and your loved ones,BUT they MUST be APPROPRIATED or
taken possession of by FAITH, whichrequires
ACTION on your part. Then FAITH in Christ RELEASES the ABILITY ofJESUS to PERFORM THE WORD on YOUR behalf.
May the God of
all Grace BLESS YOU with His Word, in Jesus’ Name.
Taken from the book, Bible Basics for Kingdom Living by Bern
Zumpano, M.D.