A Faithful Start – Planning your Bible Study
Opening your Bible with purpose doesn’t always mean having a polished plan — it often starts with a desire to draw near to God. Yet when you’re staring at dozens of tabs, reading plans, and devotional books, choosing what to study can feel a bit overwhelming. That’s where planning your Bible Study is very helpful.
Just randomly opening your Bible and seeing what verse you arrive at is not the answer to this feeling of overwhelm.
Let’s look at some reasons why choosing your Scripture Study in advance is a good idea.
Why Should We Plan our Study of God’s Word?
Every verse of the Bible is rich with truth, but sometimes our hearts need a specific kind of nourishment. That could be peace during stress, courage through uncertainty, or clarity in a time of confusion.
Intentional Scripture Study selection helps:
- Ensure your study time meets your current spiritual needs
- Foster deeper personal growth, not just general knowledge
- Keep your devotional life fresh, focused, and meaningful
- With prayer, this allows the Holy Spirit to direct your study
In other words, intentionally choosing what you will be studying in advance will help bring confidence and clarity as well as joy and peace to your soul.
Ways to Choose What to Study
First – Pray
Pause and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. Ask Him to open your eyes and heart to what you should study.
Here are a four tried-and-true approaches to selecting Scripture in a way that honors your walk with God:
1. Topical Study
Pick a theme you’re in the midst of—perhaps it may be trust, forgiveness, patience, or purpose. Use a concordance, Bible app, or topical guide to identify some verses. Keep in mind you don’t want to read just one verse. You’ll need to read a verse or two before and after your selected verse(s) to be certain you are not taking it out of context.
You may wish to find 2 – 3 verses for a specific topic to begin with. You can add more verses later, or you may find that 1 or 2 of them really speak to your heart and those are all you will study on that topic.
For example, a plan for studying the topic of Trust during Trials, might look like this:
- Selected Scripture #1 – Proverbs 3:5–6, so plan to read Proverbs 3:3 -8
- Selected Scripture #2 – Psalm 46:1, so plan to read Psalm 46:1-3
- Selected Scripture #3 – Romans 8:28, so plan to read Romans 8:26- 30
Topical studies are great for journaling, verse mapping, meditating on (RWMP method) and for creating prayer prompts.
2. Study by Book or Chapter
Sometimes it’s best to let God speak through the full picture of a story or letter. You can choose a book—like James or several chapters from Psalms. Be sure to read the chapters slowly to not miss what the Lord may be showing you in the passage.
You may wish to consider studying short books like Ruth, Philippians, or Jonah for focused depth.
3. Guided Reading Plans or Lists
There are many Guided Reading Plans and Lists offered online. These can help give you some ideas and Scripture passages to consider. You can choose from plans based on topics, seasonal focus or spiritual disciplines.
Tip: Create your own lists based on verses that have read or seen in a devotional recently, or or from sermons you’ve heard. Our Pastor often preaches from a specific verse or chapter but usually provides additional verses that apply to the message. I like to write these down for possible future personal study.
4. Scripture Cards or Journaling Prompts
Keep a rotating set of verses or scripture cards. Choose one each morning to meditate on and journal about. This works beautifully with a Read, Write, Meditate and Pray Journal.
You could also consider a book of Scriptural Journaling prompts to work through one each day.
Your Turn – Planning your Bible Study – Action to Take
No matter how you choose your passage, the most important part is your attitude. Come willing and eager to learn. Be ready to listen. Whether it’s a deep dive into Romans or a quiet meditation on a Psalm, your time in the Word will never return empty (Isaiah 55:11).
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:11
What’s drawing your heart? What Scripture are you going to study? When you’re ready, give one of these Bibly Study Methods a try: