Threads: How to Study the Bible

On Tuesday our youth group had an event called Threads at the church. We've had a couple of these this last summer and basically they are a chance for us students to dive deeper into the Word and get some adults perspective on some things.

This month was How to Study the Bible led by Keith Comp. First of all, Keith you did an AWESOME job giving us some completely practical, challenging, and still do-able things on how to really dig deep into the Word of God.

He talked about 7 keys to understand the bible:

1. Desire - in order to understand the Bible and have it change us, we have to want to understand it and want for it to change us. It's a two way street, folks.
2. Pray - If we ask God to help us understand what the Bible says, He's pretty good at letting us know (though we might not always like the answer)
3. Read it - I think it explains itself
4. Read it again - I'd forgot about. If you read a passage and you don't get it, or nothing jumps out at ya, read it again and I bet you'll find something
5. Time - The more I read, the easier it is to understand it, but the deeper I go, the more I'm challenged.
6. Tools - Keith and Justin gave some awesome website to check out
   www.biblegateway.com
   www.blueletterbible.com
   www.e-sword.net
   
7. Pen & Paper - Being a journal keeper myself, I really like this point. Sometimes, as I read through a passage, I paraphrase it myself in my journal, often wording it to relate to my situation. And sometimes, I just need to talk to God about something I read.

That's the gist to what Keith thought us, but there is so much more I walked away with. Pertaining to my challenge, I got some easy steps to help me keep in track with my reading plan.

-Spread my reading throughout the day
-Keep my Bible open in an obvious place
-Keep a calender to check off reading dates

It is currently Day 9 and I am on tract, actually a few days ahead in the Old Testament (really loving all the history).