Ryan Gustason, of PentecostalBlogger.com has developed a 200-page Bible study notebook that is great for taking sermon notes, bible study notes, class notes, personal devotions, and more. You can read more here:
Many of us don’t feel comfortable writing in our Bibles. The more expensive the Bible the harder it is to take a pen to it and start writing. Many times I write something barely legible and try to fix it only to make it worse. I used to struggle to come up with something to write, and when I did finally write something it was almost irrelevant. Sometimes I would write an observation that was so obvious that the note didn’t help me. Here are a few tips that may help you if you want to write in your Bible but don’t know where to start.
Learn MoreBook study is the most basic and fundamental Bible study method. It can be helpful to study a little here and a little there, but studying the whole book helps keep everything in its proper context. Studying the Word of God one book at a time helps to get the big picture. It’s like looking at the Scriptures first with a telescope before looking at the Scriptures through a microscope. The telescope gives us the proper foundation to see how all the parts fit together as a whole so that when we look through the microscope we can better understand how the parts relate to each other and how they are to be applied.
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Journaling is a great interactive Bible study method. It helps you to interact with God’s Word by recording your thoughts on what you’re reading. Going back through your journal can help you reflect on what God has shown you in His Word. Your journal can be in your Bible, in a separate notebook, or even in a digital format. Your journaling method can be as simple as recording a thought about a passage, or as complex as developing a verse-by-verse commentary. Journaling is a great way to grow deeper in God’s Word.
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Many Bibles, especially study Bibles, have headings within the text. Headings usually do a great job of summarizing the text in just a sentence. The headings can be very informative and can make the text easier to read by breaking the text into sections. Headings are especially helpful for scanning the page for a certain event or topic. If you have a Bible with wide enough margins, you can add your own custom headings.
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Chain references provide a great way to perform a topical study. Most Bibles that have references do not have chain references. Instead, they have cross references. Cross references are great, but it can get very confusing when you have to flip back and forth over the same verses over and over. Some Bibles do not have the verses linked to the reference, so there’s no easy way to know which reference will go with which portion of the verse. If your Bible has any room for writing at all, you can greatly expand the study quality of your Bible by adding your own chain reference system.