Prayer Before Studying God's Word
There are three verses that God has led me to pray before I study His Word. I encourage you to do the same- or something similar. It invites The Holy Spirit into your study time. Since I have been doing this, God has shown me many things out of His Word. I noticed a real difference in what I was gleaning from my study time.
Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Psalm 119:18 (KJV)
God wants to open our eyes to show us wonderful things out of His Word. Prayer opens the door for God to open our eyes and do this. Instead of reading over things and missing them, God will give us understanding and revelation of truths for us to apply.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. John 16:13 (KJV)
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. He will guide us into truth, not error. Inviting Him to guide us into all truth will bring Him on the scene to show us what is real from what is false doctrine. What He hears from the Father and Son, He will speak- as we listen. He will reveal hidden secrets of the Word and explain Scripture to us. He’ll even show us the right study Bibles. study tools and aids to use. Rely on the Holy Spirit to speak, teach, and reveal the deep treasures of the Word. He’ll even how us things to come by the Word and by His voice. He’ll shows us in whatever way He wants- we must stay open to our Teacher, Holy Spirit. He wrote the Book, why not let Him explain what He meant?
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15 (KJV)
On my own, I can miss what God is saying, so I rely on Holy Spirit to teach me. My goal is to be approved by God as a workman who divides the truth of the Word correctly. This is where you have to work. You work in the Scriptures, using your study Bibles and aids to look up verses, do word studies, and compare verses. Read verses in their context and don’t pull them out. Reading a verse in the context of the verses before and after it will help you to see what it was meant when it was written- so you get the original meaning and intent.
Study is spoudazo in the Greek, which means to hasten to do a thing, to exert oneself, endeavor, give diligence. Who and what you find in diligent study is well worth the time you put in. What you put in is what you’ll get out.
Praying these three verses at the beginning of my Bible study has opened up the Word to me even more than before. There are other Bible verses and passages that you can pray to ask God to become active in your study time. You can use the ones that I’ve given, or find others. Praying God’s Word back to God at the beginning of your time in the Word will make it so much more profitable for you.
