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Step 1
Invest in a good parallel Bible, or read on-line. Parallel Bibles contain several different versions side by side, designed to help you better interpret the text. Some popular versions are the King James Version, New International Version, New American Standard, Amplified, and the Message, but there are many other versions as well. Most parallel bibles have between two and four of these different versions side by side.
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Step 2
Refer to a concordance to help study topics or find specific passages. A concordance is an alphabetical index of words used in the Bible. You can search a certain topic or word used in the Bible, and be referenced to every verse in the Bible that the word is used. There are on-line concordances which make it easy to look up virtually anything. This can be helpful if, for example, you can remember only a portion of a scripture, and want to find it in the bible. The concordance is also a good reference if you are studying a particular topic.
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Step 3
Use a a Bible lexicon, or word study dictionary. They are designed to define terms and concepts used in the Bible, and help a reader to understand a word in the biblical context in which is it being used. This is helpful for words that are translated in different ways, and also allows you to find Greek and Hebrew definitions of words in the Bible
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Step 4
Read commentaries in addition to reading the Bible. Commentaries are interpretations of the Bible written by people, designed to help you understand what the Bible means. Many are written by ministers or biblical scholars. Keep in mind, however, that this is a person’s interpretation of what the Bible means, and it may differ from the beliefs that you have
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Step 5
Buy a devotional to be used during your daily Bible Study, or subscribe to one that can be sent to your email. You spend a portion of each day devoting time to God to pray and study His Word, and devotionals are designed to help guide you in that process. Each daily devotional usually focuses on a certain topic and specific scriptures. They are written from another person’s point of view, and usually contain personal stories which relate to that day’s verses. Some also allow you to journal how that passage relates to your life. .
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Step 6
Commit to a plan to help you read the Bible during the course of a year. There are books and on-line guides that are designed to help you accomplish this. Some are offered in a chronological plan, while others give a daily reading plan that may contain readings from both the Old and New Testament. This is helpful because it gives you a structured plan to read a specific amount of text each day.
