Prospering in all we do:
How to start the day with God’s word
Dr. Jim Denison
My first Bible was a red New Testament distributed by the Gideons at James Butler Bonham Elementary in Houston, Texas on March 27, 1969. I know because I wrote that information in its flyleaf. When I received it, I began carrying it in the hip pocket of my jeans, accounting for its tattered condition today.
While I was pleased to have my own Bible, I couldn’t do much with it. Like most first-time Bible students, I opened to the first page. And found the “begats.” After three or four, I gave up. Clearly I didn’t know enough to understand this book, I thought.
I was both right and wrong. There are principles and practices which guide all effective Bible study. But these tools are intended for every person who wants to meet God in his word. Even a fifth-grader in blue jeans.
As we begin our study of a specific passage, first we will ask important background questions. Then we will read the text in question, preferably in several translations. Note what seems to be the major idea of the passage, and its relation to the author’s intended purpose for the book.