Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth. - 2 Timothy 2:15 (AMP)

There's a chapter in this very book about loving the word of God. In that chapter, I explained why we need to love the word of God. I am glad I did it before this one. You cannot do anything that a Christian is required to do without love. You cannot study the word of God without loving the word of God. It's important to love His word. When you love God's word, the way you study the word becomes different from someone who just reads it.  

The Bible says, study. You cannot teach something you have never studied. I understood this concept well when I started to do presentations in my class. Last semester, One of the courses I took required my having to do some research. Researching can mean just copying whatever you found on the internet and pasting it as your own brilliant work. In College, that's what it means. I thought that was called plagiarism. I noticed, those that did a good job, researched and gave credit to the writers, and they actually studied.  

The difference between the students that studied and those that hadn't prepared well  was that the former studied. That was the only difference. Do you know how I knew? Later, questions were asked, and only those who studied answered. The rest looked funny. Am I saying we should study the word of God so that we answer a bunch of biblical questions? No! We study to know Jesus. 

The word of God says, Study. Present yourself to God approved. I know the word of God is quite big. When I received Christ, I didn't start studying my bible until after a couple of months. When you receive Christ, you don't automatically start to behave like a Christian. How would you know how to do it, if you haven't learned  the word of God first?  In the next chapter, we'll talk about life after being born again. 

The word of God answers Who God is. Who we are. What we are supposed to do as believers. What  we are not supposed to do. We can only find the answers in the word of God. As we study the word regularly, we start to see who Jesus is and we start to see the miracle of salvation. Salvation is amazing! Let's look at a few things we can do in order to study the word of God effectively. 

1. Pray -  Open my eyes [to spiritual truth] so that I may behold

Wonderful things from Your law. - Psalm 119:18 (AMP)

The word of God is a lot. The first thing you want to do is to commit what you are about to read/study in the hands of God. It's possible to read and not get anything out of it. If studying the word of God were so straight forward, I don't think David would have asked for such a thing. He saw that He needed help in order to see the truth hidden in the word of God. 

There's times when I pray and I still do not understand my Bible. The more you do it and the more you acknowledge God in your study, the more you become conscious of His presence. Suddenly, you are enveloped in His love and the word comes alive. God will explain the word to you. He wrote it. 

2. Find a quiet place if you want to spend time with God - Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left [the house], and went out to a secluded place, and was praying there. - Mark 1:35 (AMP)

Jesus was a busy man. Everyday He taught the word of God. He prayed for people. Miracles just exuded out of Him. Such was the life of our master. You'd wonder, when He'd find the time to pray or study the word. In the scripture above, a secret about Jesus is revealed. It's no longer a secret. We can all do this, if we want to know God more. 

3. Write down what God speaks during your study -Then the Lord replied:"Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald[] may run with it. - Habakkuk 2:2 (NIV)

God speaks to us through His word. When He speaks, write it down. I write down everything I learn from my personal bible study time. It's really helped me to grow. I can always go back to what I wrote. When you don't write, you won't remember what God said. If you write down notes during a lecture, why won't you write notes when God speaks to you? 

Father open my eyes [to spiritual truth] so that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. This I ask, In Jesus' mighty name. Amen.