Scripture Study Part 2: How Can I Deepen My Experience?

From perusing the pages to filling up the margins with notes, there are many ways to approach the scriptures. In this second half of our two-part blog post, we explore some ideas to help you dig deeper during your scripture study.

 

1) Start with a Prayer

“Make prayer a part of scripture study. Pause to ask God for His Spirit to teach you. I had a chastening experience by the Spirit one day for failing to pray and reverence the scriptures. I had boarded an airplane, and while waiting to take off I thumbed through an in-flight magazine and a newspaper. I then took my scriptures from my briefcase and began to thumb through them, treating them like the magazine and newspaper. Suddenly this thought came into my mind: ‘You are treating my holy words like ordinary magazines. The scriptures are sacred. Pause to pray. Treat them with reverence and respect.’”

—Jay E. Jensen, “Building upon the Rock,” 10 March 2009

Something to Ponder: When was the last time I invited Heavenly Father to my studies? What difference did it make?

 

2) Be Centered

“I believe that one of the most significant obstacles to our laying hold upon the word is our inability to fully immerse ourselves in the word or other worthwhile things—our inability to fully focus on them.

“I call this concept ‘centering.’ Centering means you center your attention and effort on what is currently before you. It means you do that thing ‘with all your heart [your feeling and passion], might [your energy], mind [your focus and attention] and strength [your physical will].’ If you are reading scriptures, give them all your heart and mind.”

—McKay Christensen, “Lay Hold upon the Word’: The Power of Wholehearted Living,” 9 May 2017

Something to Ponder: What are my biggest distractions when I sit down to study the scriptures? How can I overcome them so that I can give my full heart and mind to my studies?

 

3) Discover What It Means to Feast

“In my judgment, diligently searching to discover connections, patterns, and themes is in part what it means to ‘feast’ upon the words of Christ. This approach can open the floodgates of the spiritual reservoir, enlighten our understanding through His Spirit, and produce a depth of gratitude for the holy scriptures and a degree of spiritual commitment that can be received in no other way.”

—David A. Bednar, “A Reservoir of Living Water,” 4 February 2007

Something to Ponder: What connections, patterns, and themes in the scriptures mirror those in my own life?

 

4) Learn, Teach, Learn Again

“Teach what you learn. By this you will demonstrate if you have truly mastered a topic. Until I am able to articulate what I am studying, I confess that I have not yet mastered it. I will be forever thankful to the faculty in the College of Education who instilled in me the simple concept ‘teach to learn’ rather than ‘learn to teach.’”

—Jay E. Jensen, “Building upon the Rock,” 10 March 2009

Something to Ponder: Who can I teach about the things I learned from my scripture study today?

 

5) Ponder During the In-Betweens

“If we . . . always had a scripture in mind, scripture study would be happening as we walked between classes, drove to appointments, or cleaned our houses. It would begin early in our lives and be ongoing and constant. We would be continually feasting, averting personal famine and spiritual hunger. The words of God would be ‘written . . . not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of [our] heart[s]’ (2 Corinthians 3:3).”

—Susan W. Tanner, “Scriptures—More Precious Than Gold and Sweeter Than Honey,” 11 September 2005

Something to Ponder: What can I do to help the scriptures be constantly on my mind?