PROFITABLE STUDY
to KNOW HIM MORE and to MAKE HIM KNOWN
Bible says: Study to show thyself approved unto God...2 Tim 2:15
The only profitable study for all Christians is the study of The Holy Bible. Yet, many Christians in our Christian world do not study their Bible as much. REMARKABLE PURPOSE® will try to take you a step or two further in your Bible study style, to help you or someone you know. There are many Bible-Study tips shared by many Christians. The most profitable Bible-Study tips were given by Dr. Torrey. Please take time to read Dr. Torrey's Christian Journey and his article on Profitable Bible Study. The one who profits the most out of Bible-Study, is the one who God touches for His purpose. According to Dr. Torrey there are 8 conditions - all of which come from God to His Remarkable People for His Remarkable Purpose; all for His glory through everyone He Himself chooses.
(2) Love for the HOLY BIBLE
(3) Hard work of thinking through
(4) Surrendering self-will
(5) Self-Application of the commands
(6) Readiness to absorb the teachings
(7) Reading the Bible as GOD's WORD
(8) Prayerful life
Profitable Bible Study
R. A. Torrey (1856-1928)
There are many profitable methods of Bible Study. There is something, however, in Bible study more important than the best methods, that is, the fundamental conditions of profitable study. He who meets these conditions will get more out of the Bible, while pursuing the poorest method, than will he who does not meet them, while pursuing the best method.
1. The first of the fundamental conditions of the most profitable Bible study is that the student must be born again.
The Bible is a spiritual book, it "expresses spiritual truths in spiritual words" (1 Corinthians 2:13), and only a spiritual man can understand its deepest and most characteristic and most precious teachings. "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Spiritual discernment can be obtained in but one way, by being born again. "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (John 3:3).
2. The second condition of the most profitable study is a love for the Bible.
A man who eats with an appetite will get far more good out of his meal than one who eats from a sense of duty. It is good when a student of the Bible can say with Job, "I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread" (Job 23:12), or with Jeremiah, "When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty" (Jeremiah 15:16).
3. The third condition is willingness to do hard work.
A business friend once asked me in a hurried call to tell him "in a word" how to study his Bible. I replied, "Think." The Psalmist pronounces that man "blessed" whose "delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2). The Lord commanded Joshua to meditate on it day and night, and assured him that as a result of this meditation, "you will be prosperous and successful" (Joshua 1:8).
4. The fourth condition is a will wholly surrendered to God.
Jesus said, "If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own" (John 7:17). A surrendered will gives that clearness of spiritual vision which is necessary to understand God's Book. Many of the difficulties and obscurities of the Bible rise wholly from the fact that the will of the student is not surrendered to the will of the author of the Book.
5. The fifth condition is very closely related to the fourth. The student of the Bible who would get the greatest profit out of his studies must be obedient to its teachings as soon as he sees them.
It was good advice James gave to early Christians, and to us, "Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" (James 1:22).
6. The sixth condition is a childlike mind.
God reveals His deepest truths to babes. No age needs more than our own to lay to heart the words of Jesus, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children" (Matthew 11:25). We must be babes if God is to reveal His truth to us, and we are to understand His Word. A child is not full of its own wisdom. It recognizes its ignorance and is ready to be taught.
7. The seventh condition of studying the Bible to the greatest profit is that we study it as the Word of God.
The Apostle Paul, in writing to the Church of the Thessalonians, thanked God without ceasing that when they received the Word of God they "accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the Word of God" (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
8. The eighth and last condition of the most profitable Bible study is prayerfulness.
The Psalmist prayed, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law" (Psalm 119:18). Every one who desires to get the greatest profit out of his Bible study needs to offer that or a similar prayer every time he undertakes the study of the Word.
REMARKABLE PURPOSE®
to KNOW HIM AND to MAKE HIM KNOWN
