When you study scripture you should study it on three different levels:
Observation: What does it actually say (or not say)?
Interpretation: What does it mean (or not mean)?
Application: What difference should it make to me?
 
Finding applications in the Bible is like going gem hunting. There are many precious gems in the Bible, and to find many of them search for "Sapphires".
Seek God's heart and what He wants you to learn
Answers to yours and others' questions
Precious Promises or Truths to Trust
Put yourself in their shoes
How your life can better please God
Inspiration to press onward and upward
Real changes you need to make
Encouragement for living in Christ & loving others
Sins to identify and avoid

Seek God's heart and what He wants you to learn

Why are you studying the Bible? I hope this is the number 1 reason. Sometimes if someone comes up with a really odd interpretation of a passage, you just have to ask, "Do you really think that is what God was intending to communicate?" The Bible is a communication from God to us. Non-believers, and even sometimes believers can read it for all kinds of reasons besides wanting to know what God is teaching us.

Answers to yours and others' questions

God has often used not-yet-answered questions in my life. I would have question on some things, not see an answer, and pray to God for wisdom. I would usually not get any answers immediately, but I would wait patiently for the answers. Eventually God would show me the answer, but by that time I had other questions. So questions and challenges about your faith can be good tools that God uses to grow you in Him.

Precious Promises or Truths to Trust

God, being God, actually does not have to do anything. But since He is true and trustworthy, and He has made promises to us, God always keeps His promises. Finding and praying the promises of God is not somehow forcing Almighty God to do something He would not otherwise want to do. Rather, God delights in fulfilling His promises to His obedient children.

Put yourself in their shoes

For example, if you are studying about Zacchaeus, put yourself in his place. What would he have been thinking; how would you have reacted if Jesus called out your name in a crowd? When you read 1 Corinthians 13, try putting your name in there in place of the word "love". Does that fit with your name, or more importantly, do you fit within 1 Corinthians 13? On the other hand, if you read that out loud, and your wife or friend breaks out in hysterical laughter, that might be a sign you have a problem here.

How your life can better please God

A wrong way to study the Bible is asking "what can I get away with" or "what is the minimum I can do." As a Bible study leader of mine once said, "If you are asking, 'What is the minimum I can do and be a Christian?', then the answer is, "You haven't done it yet.'" This is not about getting God to love you more. God already loved you more than you can imagine, while you were still a sinner, and even before you were born. But a Christian can please or displease God, and this is about pleasing God more.

Inspiration to press onward and upward

One form of temptation is discouragement; just give up and take it easy. A similar temptation is to stop and rest on your laurels: "I have done so much already I don't need to do any more." Both temptations don't make much sense if you stop and realize what God has done for you, and what is at stake for other people. See what the Bible can tell you about the importance to press on and struggle for God's kingdom. Struggling can be outward, in evangelism, discipling, and sharing the gospel in general, or inward, as in pursuing holiness, godliness, love, and Christlikeness.

Real changes you need to make

If you have been a Christian more than five years, are you the same spiritually as you were five years ago? I hope not; I hope you are more mature and closer to Christ. God does not expect you to be a godly five years from now; you should be closer. So study the Bible to see how you need to change to please God

Encouragement for living in Christ and loving others

Sometimes a Christian can wonder if it is worthwhile. Someone can be suffering like Job, with few watching, at least on earth, and wonder if God is still pleased with you. The Bible gives us encouragement that God loves us now, and we will see that even more in Heaven. When we see that all is not right with our world on earth, this is a reminder to us that earth is not our home. We don't really belong here, but rather we belong in Heaven, and we are just passing through here temporarily. See what the Bible says about looking forward to being in God's direct presence forever.

Sins to identify and avoid

Many, people, including believers, do not avoid some sins because they have not yet identified that those things are sins. While the Israelites had laws to keep in Old Testament times that we do not need to keep, we can still read both testaments to understand what pleases God and what we should avoid.

For more info please contact Christian Debater™ P.O. Box 144441 Austin, TX 78714 www.BibleQuery.org

by Steven M. Morrison, PhD.