The Process

When everything is first, nothing is. Learn the process, then personalize what you learn.

We want to do a lot of things, but we struggle with the ‘how.’ Many have a conviction and even follow-through with their commitments to open God’s Word on a semi-regular basis, but struggle when it comes to the how of Bible study. How do we go about feeding ourselves on a daily basis? Where do we start? How much Scripture do I read and digest each day? Is there a method or particular strategy I could use? If I am not given a pre-written study or resource can I really study the Bible for myself?

These are all very valid and legitimate questions. Sometimes, we can be all ready and geared up to do something only to be derailed and detoured because we can’t seem to know how to do something. This is where the Scripture Study Journal (SSJ) shines. The SSJ offers each Bible reader a method and study template each day to guide and complement their daily Bible readings. The structure and strategy behind the SSJ will help you more easily leverage the little time you have each day to devote to Bible study. It will direct you in some Bible study fundamentals that are learnable so you will spend less time spinning your wheels in Bible Study and more time sinking your teeth into God’s transformative truth.

This journal gives you 1 months of personal worship habit study templates. They will guide, complement, and model faithful daily Bible reading, study, and worship. Give it a try. The more you practice at it the more second nature it will become and it will give you a framework for studying the Bible alone, 1on1, and in a group. Time is well spent laboring to learn and “long for the pure spiritual milk of the Word, that by it you may grow up into [your] salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).

The SSJ uses the S.T.O.R.Y. Bible study method. It is an adapted style of the inductive Bible study which uses observations to make accurate interpretations and applications about a passage. S.T.O.R.Y. is a memorable acronym outlining the five following Bible study steps in detail on the following pages:

HOW TO S.T.O.R.Y. The goal of providing a verse-by-verse study structure is to equip believers with a format that will guide and aid rich personal Bible selfstudy. It exists to equip Christians to be able handlers of God’s Word who can take personal ownership for maturing as disciples of Christ and can multiply their passion and practice of studying God’s Word into others. We commend this study format because it checks three important boxes:

1. Relevance – it can be used as a study outline for a broad number of biblical passages.

2. Reproducibility – it can be reproduced fairly easily by demonstrating it with others in both a personal and group context.

3. Reliability – this is an adapted format of an inductive study structure which many Christians have used to rightly handle and interpret God’s word for themselves.

S.T.O.R.Y is an acronym used to sum up the verse-by-verse Bible study structure which can lead you and others through a five-step Bible study process passage-by-passage through a book of the Bible.

What will you need? Use the journal templates on the following pages, bring your Bible and a pen and you are ready. Write down the verse reference you will be studying and date your page and then apply the following five steps on the next page.

Scripture - write the passage down word-for-word (transcription) Simply copy the passage down word-for-word according to the versebreakdown checklist on the following pages. Studies show that writing down sentences creates the mental comprehension that is equivalent to having read it six times. Writing down the scripture passage is key to developing deeper and broader understanding of the passage. This equates to better retention of the main ideas and variances. Writing down the Scripture passage is the foundation of the whole S.T.O.R.Y. study structure.

Translate (or Tell) - paraphrase the verse in your own words (retention) This step involves paraphrasing the passage in your own words to gain greater clarity about what the passage is saying. After writing down the verse(s) in step one, read the surrounding Scripture verses to gain increased understanding of the verse’s context. Then, ’translate’ the passage by writing down a summary statement which captures most of verse’s content. This step will force the Scripture studier to grapple with the text’s context and content from a bird’s eye-view level.

Observe - make a bullet point list about what the passage says (comprehension) The Observe step seeks to help the reader identify the main content of the passage on a detailed level. It revolves around the question, “What does the passage say?” Consider the following questions. What happened? What is the author saying? Who or what is involved? How did the characters respond? In what style was it written? What’s the purpose of the passage (if it’s explicit)? List out your gleanings in the form of 4-6 bullet points. Don’t try to interpret or ask ‘why,’ but only record what is clear from the passage during this step.

Realize & Reference - realize the verse’s main point & reference another verse Based off your observations and summary statement, the ‘Realize’ section aims to help the studier interpret (or realize) the author’s overall meaning for the passage. First, interpret the author’s meaning from the passage. Ask and answer the question, “What did the author intend or mean by that wording?” Finally, the ‘reference’ section prioritizes letting Scripture define Scripture. Find another verse in the book’s chapter, the book, or another part of the Bible that helps interpret or decode the verse further. This is called cross-referencing.

You - how will you live differently based upon what you have learned (application)? Unless the Bible is applied to your beliefs and behaviors, it is of little value. This section helps to resource you with a clear and practical takeaway which can be used and leveraged during a real issue or situation to be faced that day or week. S.T.O.R.Y. aims to help a Bible reader make at least one of five possible applications. S.T.O.R.Y. uses the cardinal directions to help a reader remember the five main applications to choose from:

1.What does God want me to confess/repent of from this passage? (looking UP to Him)

2.What does God want me to do as a result of this passage? (looking DOWN to my feet)

3.Who does God want me to share this with? How? (looking OUT to others)

4.How does this passage lead me to trust in Jesus and believe the gospel more confidently and clearly? (looking BACK to Jesus’ death on the cross)

5.How should I feel having studied through this passage? (looking IN at my feelings?

CONFESS

BELIEVE FEEL SHARE

DO

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