Apply head, heart, and hands
I recently read a helpful article that suggests keeping a journal as you do your devotions because it will help you focus and it will always be there for you to look back on. It's also may be better to use a physical journal and bible, this will keep you from being distracted and you won't have to worry about battery life.Well, in the article I read, it mentions the Head, Heart, and Hands method. What that means is you apply your mind to understand a passage and what it says about God, apply your heart to know what God is saying to you personally, and then apply it to your life by doing what God says. Of course, before all this, pray for God's Spirit to guide you.
Pray for God's guidance
We should carefully study the Bible, asking God for the aid of the Holy Spirit, that we may understand His word. [Desire of Ages 390]
Never should the Bible be studied without prayer. Before opening its pages we should ask for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and it will be given. [Steps to Christ, p. 91]
Bible study is about learning what God says
The student of the Bible should be taught to approach it in the spirit of a learner. We are to search its pages, not for proof to sustain our opinions, but in order to know what God says. Education, p. 189
Study one passage, verse by verse
One passage studied until its significance is clear to the mind and its relation to the plan of salvation is evident, is of more value than the perusal of many chapters with no definite purpose in view and no positive instruction gained. [Steps to Christ, p. 90]
In daily study, the verse-by-verse method is often most helpful. [Education, p. 189]
Make the thoughts from one verse your own
Let the student take one verse, and concentrate the mind on ascertaining the thought that God has put into that verse for him, and then dwell upon the thought until it becomes his own. [Education, p. 189]
We should take one verse, and concentrate the mind on the task of ascertaining the thought which God has put in that verse for us. We should dwell upon the thought until it becomes our own, and we know “what saith the Lord.” [DA 390]
Apply God's word to your practical life
But if you do not make the sacred teachings of God's word the rule and guide of your life, the truth will be nothing to you. Truth is efficient only as it is carried out in practical life. If the word of God condemns some habit you have indulged, a feeling you have cherished, a spirit you have manifested, turn not from the word of God, but turn away from the evil of your doings, and let Jesus cleanse and sanctify your heart. Confess your faults, and forsake them wholly and determinedly, believing the promises of God, and showing your faith by your works. If the truths of the Bible are woven into practical life, they will bring the mind up from earthliness and debasement. Those who are conversant with the Scriptures will be men and women who exert an elevating influence. [ST, January 30, 1893]
Bible study suggestions:
It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ. We should take it point by point, and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the closing ones. As we thus dwell upon His great sacrifice for us, our confidence in Him will be more constant, our love will be quickened, and we shall be more deeply imbued with His spirit. If we would be saved at last, we must learn the lesson of penitence and humiliation at the foot of the cross. As we associate together, we may be a blessing to one another. If we are Christ's, our sweetest thoughts will be of Him. We shall love to talk of Him; and as we speak to one another of His love, our hearts will be softened by divine influences. Beholding the beauty of His character, we shall be “changed into the same image from glory to glory.” 2 Corinthians 3:18. [The Desire of Ages, p. 83]
“The Lord desires me to call the attention of His people to the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. Read this chapter every day, and from it obtain comfort and strength. Learn from it the value that God places on sanctified, heaven-born love, and let the lesson that it teaches come home to your hearts. Learn that Christlike love is of heavenly birth, and that without it all other qualifications are worthless.” (RH July 21, 1904).
