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Bible Life Application Study methods

October 1st, 2011

Steps to take:

1. Pray for understanding and guidance as you apply the passage into your life.
2. Meditate on the verse(s) you have chosen for your study
3. Write out the application you will make from the passage into your life.
4. Memorize a verse from the passage that summarizes what you have learned.
5. Assess your application in the weeks that follow for success or failure.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Sin to confess? Do I need to make any restitution?
• Promise to claim? Is it a universal promise? Have I met the condition(s)?
• Attitude to change? Am I willing to work on a negative attitude and begin building toward a positive one?
• Command to obey? Am I willing to do it no matter how I feel?
• Example to follow? Is it a positive example for me to copy, or a negative one to avoid?
• Prayer to pray? Is there anything I need to pray back to God?
• Error to avoid? Is there any problem that I should be alert to or beware of?
• Truth to believe? What new things can I learn about God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, or other biblical teachings
• Something to praise God for? Is there something here I can be thankful for?

Is there a ...

• Promise to claim?
• Example to follow?
• Attitude to change?
• Command to obey?
• Error to avoid?
• Sin to confess?
• Truth to proclaim?
• Exaltation of God or Evangelism tip to follow?
• Prayer to pray?
• Something to thank God for?

Observation

Observation is an essential aspect of inductive bible studies. So often, we get to the interpretation or even application of the bible verse without understanding its context. But if we miss this step, we can miss a lot about what passage has to offer. In this step, you should ask yourself following questions:

• Who: Who is mentioned in the passage? To whom it is said or written? Who are the audience? It helps you to get the picture of what is going on in the passage.
• What: What is happening? What is the passage about? Is there some kind of teaching, event like miracle or healing, exhortation, warning, conversation, debate, arguments, discussion etc?
• It also helps to ask question, weather the bible passage is the historical event, poetry, narration, letter etc?
• When and Where: This is an important piece of information. Ask yourself, when and where did this occur?  The place and its significance, time of the day/month/year?
• One useful way of observation is to imagine yourself present in the settings of the bible passage.

Interpretation

Once you get a good background and understanding of the bible passage. Now, you can move to questions about the interpretation.

    Why: Why is it mentioned? What is the core issue? What is the main focus or theme of the passage?
    You may use some other resources, such as bible dictionary or a bible commentary, if the passage is difficult to understand.

Observation and Interpretation may overlap each other sometimes, but these two steps will enable you to understand the context and meaning of the bible passage.

Application

Finally, Inductive bible study is not complete, unless you have an application from the bible passage. The idea of bible study is not only to learn and gain knowledge but also to apply and implement in our own lives. Ask yourself:

• How does this passage apply to present situation?
• What can I learn from this passage?
• How does it apply to me personally?

Application process helps you to make the bible passage relevant to you, and your life experiences. It is the step in which you can relate to the bible and discover how God communicates to you through the bible passage.

So, if you have not ‘try out’ inductive bible study method, test for yourself. You will be amazed at the treasures, you may discover though it!