It’s quite distracting for you to have your Bible study planned out, and having gotten to the middle of it, you discover that you didn’t come along with your bible study tools or something. This could be quite frustrating.
This happens to us a lot of times, and it can be attributed to us not knowing the importance of the bible study tool before we got started with word study.
This is why it is needful for you to know the necessary items you will be needing for an effective bible study. The truth is you might end up using a few, but it’s safer that way, You wouldn’t have to struggle with the distractions that come with not being organized.
So, what do you need for an effective Bible study? The first thing you will need to do is to devise a plan, make the time to execute that plan, and with your bible study tools, you are good to go.
Below is a list of the 10 best bible study tools you can adopt for bible study. I certainly do hope that these tools help you dive deeper into God’s word.
Table of Contents
10 best bible study tools
1. Prayer
Prayer appears to be the most important best bible study tool on my list. The power of prayers cannot be overemphasized, God’s word is life, and to be able to explore that life, you will need God’s help.
One funny thing about studying the word of God void of his Spirit is that all you will have is head knowledge, no life! no power! to back up all that you know.
Apart from this, there are strongholds in terms of ideologies, and mindsets that have held us captive and will hinder the truth of God’s word from being made manifest in our lives.
So how do we pull down these strongholds? we do that by prayers and by meditating on who we are in Christ.
Another thing we should put into consideration while we set our minds to studying God’s word, is that the word will always lead us back to God and prayer is a channel through which we communicate with God.
You don’t have to be solemn or follow a particular progression about it, whilst you study the word, you can begin to communicate with him by asking questions, and by meditation.
Prayer is communication, and communication is balanced when both parties are involved.
So whilst you communicate with God during your word study, wait for a response.
Finally, I strongly advise that you pray before, during, and after your word study.
2. Study Bible
Contrary to popular opinion, I do not encourage the use of a study bible because this contains a couple of notes, commentaries, and some other stuff that can be a little bit of distraction.
I, personally, prefer that you study the Bible yourself without referring to any of this study bible.
Of course, you could go back to them, but, that should be after you have studied the word yourself and have gotten an understanding.
I just don’t want your judgment or understanding to be clouded with a perspective that might be different from what God is saying to you from your reference scripture.
You can make do with any of the Bibles around, I prefer the Jakes Bible, it was really helpful to my growth.
3. Bible dictionary
Have difficulty identifying with some Bible terminologies, and customs? A bible dictionary is one of the best bible study tools for that. It’s more of an information database where you get information about places, people, customs, and a lot more. I do not have one I can recommend, but you could make use of the internet to get one that suits your needs.
4. Journals
This appears to be one of my favorite tools for studying the Bible, simply because it keeps me organized and composed during Bible study.
Journals allow you to pen down lessons learned, inspirations gotten, prayer points, and scriptures you would want to study about. Your journal can be ready-made or you can just get a notebook and design it like this.
5. Different versions of the Bible
To be able to break scriptures down to their simplest form, probably because of the grammar that was used in writing some versions of the bible, it is advised that you use different versions of the bible.
There are different versions of the Bible out there, I also use different versions of the bible in other to make the bible more comprehensive.
I find the YouVersion app suitable for this, with this app, you get the opportunity of leveraging the different versions available.
6. Pens, Highlighters, Pencils
Most Definitely, you will need writing materials to pen down thoughts, and inspirations you got during word study. You might also need markers and highlighters to highlight or mark a scripture that ministered to you.
7. Bible study methods
Taking a systemic approach to studying the bible is one of the best ways to dive deeper and get more from the word. A lot of people find studying the word quite cumbersome because they haven’t discovered fun ways to do that.
If you are in this category, I will say that you don’t have to worry, because I have written a couple of articles such as verse mapping for beginners, Bible journaling ideas for beginners, How to use the SOAP bible study method, and how to use the W.O.R.D Bible study method to ease your bible study journey.
8. Commentaries
While studying the bible. having an overview of who the Author is, the people the scriptures were written to, and where it was written from, is one sure way to get more from your word study.
You can use varieties of commentaries, to get a different insight into what a reference scripture is saying. Bible commentaries are mostly written by Bible scholars and theologians.
A place where you can find varieties of commentary to use is the Christian classics Etheral Bible and some online bible study tools such as Biblegateway and Biblestudytools.
9. Music
As much as we do not want a noisy environment, Playing spirit-filled music keeps the atmosphere solemn and it helps you focus easily.
I wouldn’t want to speak for you, but playing music has been and is still of great help to me whenever I want to study the Bible, as it gears me in the right direction and it also uplifts my spirit.
It is one of my best bible study tools.
10. A solemn environment
Not everyone assimilates well in a noisy environment, we all have our prerogatives. Some people can study in a noisy environment, while others can’t, they prefer a noiseless environment such that if a pin drops you can hear its echo.
If you fall into the category of people that can’t study in a noisy environment, then a closet, a quiet, or solemn environment is what you need.
Your closet can be a library down the street, the riverbank, a Hotel room, or a closet in your apartment, it all depends on how capable you are financially to have access to these things.
I sincerely hope that this post has helped you in getting started with Bible study and I pray for everyone that reads this blog post that the understanding of God becomes so real to you. Amen.
