There is one thing I know that we all desire as children of God. That is to receive directions from God as we read his word.
I know for sure that I yearn not to skim the word of God but to deeply bury my head into his word, meditate upon it, connect my soul to his spirit, and feel the Holy Spirit minister into my spirit that I may be transformed by his word which will carry me through life.
I try to make the most out of reading the bible by reading as many verses as I can, get the whole context of the story in the bible and deduce meaning from the content I have consumed. I try to recollect what I’ve read, meditate upon it and write down the message God is communicating to me through his word.
Priscilla Shirer has provided me with a different perspective on getting the most out of my bible study that I believe is worth sharing. You and I can incorporate these principles in our daily bible study or quiet time.
If you want to hear God’s voice, hear him give you directions for your life, grow spiritually in the Lord, have a divine relationship with God, communicate with the Holy Spirit, and dissect the word of God to derive meaning and gain understanding then these principles below are going help you achieve these spiritual goals.
The 5 Ps of Bible Study
- The first step of Bible study is to position yourself to hear from God. The posture of a person can show arrogance, unseriousness, ignorance, seriousness, readiness to learn, firmness, or humility. “There is power in your positioning, in your posture. Position yourself over a portion of scripture. I mean that in a spiritual way.
It means the position of your heart in a perspective and a frame of reference that is eager to hear and expects to hear the voice of God speaking to you. The person that does not expect to hear from God won’t because every time God speaks, they will just discount it as their own idea.”
Your posture should indicate readiness to receive from God what He has deposited in His Word. “Position yourself physically free from noise or distraction.”
- Pore over the passage and paraphrase the major principles. Pore means to gaze intently, read or study attentively- Merriam-Webster dictionary. While you read the Bible, you have to pick a portion to meditate on.
“Pore means to meditate on it, to read it not just once but twice, to read it in two or three different translations so that you can see different nuances or words that may need to stand out to you in a different way.”
” It means you mull over it for just a little while. Meditate means to ponder it or press your mind upon it or think through it, to evaluate it.”
- Pull out the spiritual principles. Every word of God has a lesson meant for us to identify, adopt, and apply into our routine. As you read the word of God, you pick up a verse or two, then you paraphrase it so that you can relate to the word.
You put yourself in the place of the characters in the book. Priscilla emphasizes that it’s not about the quantity but the quality you get. It’s not about reading so many verses at once, but the quality of pondering over the message in a verse or two.
Pulling out the spiritual principles means you “prayerfully look at those paraphrases and look to see what spiritual principles are hidden in the paraphrase. I ask God to show me. Is there something He’s revealing about His character? Is there a promise here that I’m supposed to heed?
Is there a directive I’m supposed to follow? Is there an insight I’m supposed to uncover? What is it that the Lord says (that’s the paraphrase)? But now I’m asking, what does this verse mean? That’s the way God speaks. You won’t uncover unless you ask yourself, what does this mean?”
Although it’s not always the case that we will receive the word of God that automatically changes our situation or speaks to our circumstances. It’s not always going to be vibrant and enthusiastic when we read the word of God and ask ourselves these questions.
But we get to know the characters and their relationship with God and how God manifested Himself in these characters.
- Pose the question. This is where you turn the spiritual principle you just pulled out into the form of a personally directed question. This is when the Holy Spirit starts speaking because you say to yourself, “Am I living in a way that’s congruent with that spiritual principle that I just wrote down?”
“Am I heeding that promise? Am I behaving in that way? Is my attitude adjusted to that? Have I forgiven that person? Have I been committed in my tithes? Have I submitted to authority?”
You have to ask yourself a personally directed question that helps you pull out the principle you need to learn. That’s when God speaks to you.
- Plan obedience and pin down the date to obey. This intentional practice is critical because we plan most of the activities in our lives: vacations, weddings, jobs, businesses, exercise, dates, financial security, hospital visits, etc.
But we hardly plan to do the things of God, “except obeying God.” “We plan for everything except honoring God.” Plan to do whatever God puts on your heart to do. “Make a plan on paper.” “Be obedient to God intentionally.”
We cannot reap the benefits that God has put in his word if we don’t determine to adopt the principles that will prepare us to receive His word as intended by Him. Start applying these principles, and come back here again. Share in the comment section how these principles have changed your life. God bless you.
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