“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
Wow, it’s like poetry right but that is from Isaiah 40:8
On today’s post, I would like to share with you a quick Bible study method I am using for quite some time now. This is my go-to Bible study method during daily quiet time.
I decided to make an acrostic for it and I saw that someone is also using the same. We have some similarities but I have different definitions for some letters based on my process.
This one is great for beginners because you can start with few tools or even add depending on what you have.
So let’s go ahead and dig into what I call PRAISE Bible Study Method.
It is a six step-by-step Bible method that you can easily do on your own. Let me give you a quick rundown of what PRAISE means then we’ll dig deeper later.
P stands for Pray.
R for Read.
A for Annotate.
I for Insight.
S for Scripture.
E for Express.
For this method, we need our Bible, journal or notebook and of course pens. If you would like to join me, gather your materials now.
I feel like it’s easier for me to explain this by showing actual demonstration. The video below shows exactly how I do that.
First, Say A Prayer
Once I have all my warrior supplies gathered, I always begin with a Prayer.
If you look at my previous posts, I always begin my quiet time and Bible reading with a Prayer. This is important because we would like to ask God for wisdom to help us understand His message for the day.
You can either say or write a small prayer, whichever you prefer. I mostly just say my prayer in the beginning but let’s write it down on our journal so you can see the process clearly.
Second, Time to Read
I am following a Bible reading plan which makes it a lot easier to be consistent with the Bible reading.
So I read the specific plan for the day and choose one chapter to work on. I just read nonstop to have an idea about what the text is all about.
Here I am reading Proverbs 8 – 10. Let us read it first.
I chose Chapter 8 to focus on.
Third, Let Us Annotate
Annotate means to add notes or give explanation or comment.
This is an exciting part for me because this is where you try to dissect the Word and really get important details that you might miss just by quickly reading it.
From what I’ve read, I can say that this chapter talks about Wisdom.
I realized that wisdom here is in a personified version. Meaning they compare it with a person.
It also describes the different characteristics of Wisdom. Let’s try to get all what we can get. I basically try to get everything I could from the text.
Characteristics of Wisdom
- speak what is right, true and just
- detest wickedness
- more precious than rubies
- has fear of the Lord
- hates pride and arrogance
- with sound judgment
- with understanding and power
I also create questions that I could from the text like:
Who gets wisdom? – Those who love and seek for it.
What are the benefits of getting wisdom?
- Become wise
- Finds life
- Receives favor from the Lord
What Happens to those Who Hate Wisdom?
- May harm himself
- Loves death
At this point, this is all what my brain can get from the text at the moment. So we can jump on to the next step.
Fourth, Identify the Insight You Got
Basically, here you are drawing a lesson or conclusion by synthesizing what you’ve learned from annotating and scrutinizing the text.
For me the Insight is:
“Wisdom is a worthy thing to desire or seek for because it can guide you in many positive ways. Wisdom is available for every one who seeks it and loves it.”
If you would like to step it up further, you can use a concordance to have better understanding.
The main keyword I got from this study is “wisdom”. Now I want to see what the concordance says about it. Let’s check it:
Wisdom is related to the word wise. It is mentioned 218 times in the Bible. It came from the Hebrew word “hokma” which means wisdom, skill or learning. It is a skill in life, trade war or spiritual things.
From here, it tells me that wisdom is a skill. Therefore, you could learn it and the more you use it, the more that you become skillful.
Just imagine how we could improve ourselves by seeking wisdom. Remember all characteristics of wisdom mentioned above? We can speak what is right, just and true, detest wickedness and so much more.
Fifth, Get A Scripture Verse
From the chapter we’ve read, we’ll choose now one Scripture or Bible Verse that spoke to us the most.
The Scripture that spoke to me the most is verse 17 so let’s write that down here:
“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.”
I am at a point in my life where I really like to learn more about God’s Word. So this gives me the assurance that you’ll get wisdom if you really look for it.
By writing the Scripture, it becomes easier to memorize it.
Sixth, Time to Express What You Just Learned
Here, we would like to answer the questions:
How can I apply it to my life?
How can I share it with others?
How can I express what I just learned from this study?
In short, this is where we write our Application.
I like to use the acrostic PRAISE when coming up with an application.
Personal. Make it in first person.
Realistic. A human can really do it.
Achievable. It is something you can accomplish.
Inspiring. Something that inspires and motivates you.
Specific. Has an exact outcome or goal.
Evaluate. You can evaluate the outcome.
So my application will be:
“I will seek wisdom by diligently studying the Word of God as often as I can using different tools to help me understand it. I will also memorize different Bible verses this month so that they can guide and strengthen me when need arises.”
I tried to really make it comply with my PRAISE formula.
What makes it Personal? Use of I
What makes it Realistic? Study the Word of God
What do I aim to Accomplish? Seek Wisdom
What makes it Inspiring? To understand God’s Word
What specific things will I do to Accomplish it? Study as often as I can and Memorize Bible verses
How do I Evaluate my success or progress?
How many times did I study the Bible this month?
How many Bible verses did I memorize this month?
Woah, is that a lot to take? Remember that it looks a lot because I am trying to be more in-depth in explaining.
But if you get used to it, this can take only around 10-15 minutes depending on the text you are studying.
Hopefully this inspires you to try your own PRAISE method.
If you want to try it, I have FREE Bookmarks that you can download and print to guide you during your Bible study
Please Comment below what is your favorite Bible study method.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Hi! I’m Kaye, a journal enthusiast. My blog is dedicated to sharing practical tips to help you get closer to Jesus and grow your faith. Read along!
[…] I actually shared how you can craft your own Application when reading the Bible in my post Bible Study for Beginners: PRAISE Method. […]