Bible study is a lost art, and for some most don't know how to study the Bible. Learning how to study the Bible is not hard and in fact it's very fun! Bible study in fact is one of the greatest fulfillments one can have as a Christian!

Hosea 4:6 says "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..."

Proverbs 25:2 says "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter."

So in this hub I'm am going to give you some simple but yet powerful methods to show you how to study the Bible. Like i said Bible study is wonderful, and when you really get into it, its like watching a movie because The Word of God comes alive and off the pages.

Some Rules to Apply:

1. A relationship with God

2. Read and listen

3. Reverence the Bible

4. Get the whole story

5. No shortcuts, read the whole Bible

6. Be patient

7. Do not be intimidated

8. Recognize the main characters

9. Recognize key words

10. Place yourself in the Word

11. Learn the background of the passage

Some Bible Study Tools:

1. Different types of Bibles, KJV, NIV, NKJ, AMP, etc.

2. Dictionary

3. Commentary's

4. Concordance

Bibles For Study:

1. Life Application

2. Full Life Study Bible

3. New Open Bible

4. Amplified Bible

5. Thompson's Chain Reference Bible

Concordances For Study:

1 Strong's

2. Youngs

3. Crudens

4. Zondervan

Bible Dictionaries For Study:

1. Harpers

2. Zondervan

3. W.E. Vines

4. Ungers

Bible Handbooks:

1. Ungers

2. Haileys Bible Handbook

Commentaries For Study:

1. Matthew Henry

2. Pulpit

3. Jamieson Farsset and Brown

4. Eerdmans

5. Baker House

Thematic Study:

Charles Stanley

Kevin J. Conner

Max Lucado

Andrew Murray

E.W. Kenyon

C.W. Shenning

Watchman Nee

T.D. Jakes

John Richie

Fushia Picket

Myles Munroe

Noel Jones

Bible Lession and Sermons

Devotional Bible- "Virgin" for fresh revelation.

Study Bible- "Broken In" for the hallmark of personal notes and growth.

Key Rules For Study:

1. Bible drill- locate scriptures; dexterity with The Word.

2. Pray before, during and after studying.

3. If we are to know the Book of God, we must first know the God of the Book.

4. Read the Bible itself. Read it, read it, and read it again. Use your: Eye gate, Ear gate and do not search books about the scriptures before you search the scriptures themselves!

5. Read the Bible as the Word of God. It is not "just another good book"! Read it with reverence!

6. Read the Bible "as it is" without adding or subtracting words. Read the Bible with attention to background setting and context. Read the Bible in the order that it is written (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus....Revelation)

7. Begin at the beginning, Genesis, and go forward. That's what Jesus did when He taught.

8. There are no shortcuts. It took God over 1500 years to complete the Bible. We err if we think we can master the Bible in a year.

9. Read the Bible patiently. Problem passages will arise. Pray and wait. God is His own interpreter.

10. Do not let unfamiliar words or phrases discourage you. Stop and look them up.

11. Remember that the Bible is a continual story from Creation to World History to Ultimate World Judgment. It covers a vast scope of time and each scripture has its place.

12. Look for main characters. The Bible deals with persons, not periods or movements.

13. Watch for key words such as: Law, Grace, Redemption, Sin, Salvation, God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Heaven, Hell, Passover, Resurrection, Judgment, Forgiveness, and Atonement. They will be ongoing in the flow of Scripture, so master them early.

14. Relate the Bible to yourself. Put yourself in the Word. See yourself in the Scriptures and they will come alive in you.

15. Learn the background of each passage. Some things were written for us (our edification)but may not have been written to us. The letter may have been for someone else, or another time, but the Spirit of the passage has principles that we can live by.

Example: The Law of Moses was given to Israel but the Spirit of the Law is still applicable to us today.

Some of the Prophets were written for Israel's time; sometimes they referred to the time of Christ; and some refer to a time yet to come, even beyond us.

16. Read regularly.

17. Write down discoveries on a note pad (journal)

18. Walk out what you read.

19. Pass on what you read.

20. Seek Him diligently in all your studies, and He will reward your faithfulness.

To learn how to study the Bible properly one must also know somewhat the history of the Bible, and to understand The Bible's origins and what the Bible is?!

What is "The Bible"?

The Bible is a sacred Book, or collection of books, accepted by the Christian church as uniquely inspired by God, and thus authoritative, providing guidelines for belief and behavior.

2 Timothy 3:16 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."

Being the written Word of God, the Bible is a means by which we can begin to know some of God's thought. What are God's thought towards us? What is the theme of the Bible?

It is God's Redeeming Love.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The Canon of the Bible

The word canon means a "rod"-- specifically, a rod with graduated marks used for measuring length. This word refers to the list of individual books that were eventually judged as authoritative and included as a part of the Old testament and the New Testament.

Canon: The Christian Term "Canon"is a word of Christian origin that comes from the Greek word kanon, which in turn is probably borrowed from the Hebrew word, qaneh, meaning a reed or measuring rod, hence, norm or rule.

The word "Bible" is the equivalent of the Greek word biblia (diminutive from Biblios, the inner bark of the papyrus), meaning originally "books."

Written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit over a 1500 year period by approximately 40 different writers from different locations, generations, and backgrounds.

2 Peter 1:21 "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

The Septuagint version meaning "70", it is the first translation of the Old testament ever made; indeed the Old Testament is the first book of any note in all literature to receive the honor of being translated into another tongue. From here it was translated into Latin and then into English by Wycliff, Tindale, Covendale and Rogers.

In 1611, King James of England authorized 47 scholars to re-translated the Bible from these four sources. However, these scholars came up with the same translation as was the original, thereby authenticating the original translation even the more.

The Apocrypha, the Greek the adjective apokruphos denotes "hidden"; as of visible objects, or obscure, hard to understand. This adjective came into use as a synonym of the classical Greek esoterikos. In later Greek and Latin works, apokruphos denoted a collection of uninspired, uncanonical literature from OT and inter-testamental times, for whose inclusion in the canon arguments have been made. Although the Roman Catholic church accepts them as part of the Biblical canon, these books were never accepted in the Hebrew (and subsequent Christian) canon because:

1.They were never quoted by the Lord Jesus Christ.

2.They were regarded by early Church Fathers as being uninspired.

3.They do not appear in ancient Hebrew scrolls.

4.They are of an inferior writing style and quality.

The Books of the Apocrypha as they appear in the Catholic Versions are:

(1) 1 Esdras; (2) 2 Esdras (3) Tobit; (4) Judith; (5) The Rest of Ester; (6) The Wisdom of Soloman; (7) Ecclesiasticus (also called "Sirach"); (8) Baruch, with the Epistle of Jeremiah; (9) The Song of the Three Holy Children; (10) The History of Susanna; (11) Bel and the Dradon; (12) The Prayer of Manasses; (13) 1 Maccabees; (14) 2 Maccabees.

The Bible contains two major sections known as the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The books of the Old Testament were written over a period of about 1400 years in the Hebrew language, except for a few selected passages, which were written in Aramaic. The Old testament tells of the preparation that was made for Christ's coming.

The New Testament was written over a period of about 100 years. The original language in which it was written was Greek. The New Testament tells of Christ's coming, His life and ministry, and the growth of the early church.

(The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.)