Psalms 25 12Who is the man that fears the LORD? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. The obvious question is: What is the way God chooses to teach us? 1 John 2 27But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. John 6:45 It is written in the prophets, "And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. The next question is: Where to begin???? I can’t stress this enough: you must, must, MUST DISCERN THE TIMES. After you have been established on milk (i.e. for new Christians), then you should press onto discerning the times! This should be a MAJOR focus of your searching the Scriptures. Study things like: the falling away, the famine, those who are deceived, any verses which say “this is what people will be like on end times” or any reference to the last days (of course wherever you read, you will learn about the Love of God). Your goal should be to paint a biblical picture of the world today, and see if reality matches up with Scripture?! (the big test!) Isaiah 28 9"Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? 10For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little." 11For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, 12To whom He said, "This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest," And, "This is the refreshing"; Yet they would not hear. All I want you to glean from Isaiah 28 is this: It shows the two ways to study the Word: 1. “Line upon line” – i.e. study it in context 2. “Here a little, there a little” –The answers to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are more often than not, not found in the context. To solve almost every mystery you must take eg a little from Matthew and a little from Thessalonians, and put them together. The bible is like a big messed up jigsaw puzzle, and you have to search it and allow the Holy Spirit to link Scriptures for you. A great tool to help you in your bible study is to get a bible (like mine) which has 60,000 cross-references. I personally believe those cross refs are put there as blessing from God – so use them and see for yourself! The other thing to realise is that there are mysteries in the bible. Try to look for what seem to be bible contradictions because when you find one the answer is usually a mystery! (cause the bible doesn’t contradict itself). Matthew 13 11He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. Its up to you to find them by the Holy Spirit…. Proverbs 25 2It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. For me personally I have the Nkjv on audio tape and I listen to it on my walkman wherever I go (these days I use an ipod lol). In the past I have listened to the bible on CD as I go to sleep. Also I don’t read Christian books, as I’m convinced the bible shows not to (e.g. Ecclesiastes 12:12; Isaiah 55:2; Matt 16:13-16) - Of course true stories are ok (eg book of the martyrs, testimonies of missionaries etc) – just not teaching books which leads readers to confusion as the bible shows they will]. Basically I try to eat, sleep and breathe the Scriptures. “My Words are Spirit and Life” – Jesus. A lesson from king David: Psalms 63:8 My soul follows hard after thee: Notice he also says – Psalms 119:82 My eyes fail from searching Your word He was called a man after Gods own heart Isaiah 55 2Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Psalms 25 14The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant. valuecard2@hotmail.com