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Now You’re Cooking!

Dr. David Jeremiah

If the Bible is filled with recipes for happy living, then how about some cooking tips?

Here are some recipe suggestions to get you started that will put some sizzle into your Bible study.

Seven Great Passages to Study

Six Ways to Read the Bible

  • Read it systematically. Start reading today where you left off yesterday. Read as much or as little as you feel led each day, looking for a key verse to lift your heart each morning or evening.
  • Read it aloud so it's seen, spoken, and heard, tripling its impact.
  • Read it with pencil in hand, underlining, circling, checking, drawing lines and charts, making notes in the margin.
  • Read it in a translation you can understand. I use the new king james version primarily, but I also enjoy reading the message paraphrase by Eugene Peterson.
  • Find a good study Bible with an abundance of notes providing an overview of each book and explanations of difficult verses.
  • Read it regularly. Find a specific time and place each day.

Four Prayers to Offer Before Reading Your Bible

  • Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law—Psalms 119:18
  • Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears—1 Samuel 3:9
  • Sanctify [me] by Your Truth. Your Word is truth—John 17:17
  • Lord, open my mind to understand the Scriptures—from Luke 24:45

Three Plans for Reading the Bible Through in a Year

  • Purchase a one-year Bible that divides the Scriptures into 365 reading segments.
  • Use the Bible reading guide at the bottom of the daily devotions in each issue of Turning Points.
  • Read three chapters a day and five on Sunday.

Tips for Memorizing Scripture

  • Ask God for help, then determine in your mind to do it without fail.
  • Find a passage that speaks to your need.
  • Begin by learning the reference. Try to find a memory device. Take it word for word and verse by verse. After learning one phrase, go on to the next.
  • Read the verse or passage aloud over and over each day. The oral repetition of a verse is the surest way to eventually commit it to memory.
  • Turn the verse into a song. Don't worry if it's not a show-stopping tune; it's for your purposes alone.
  • Write out the passage each day.
  • Quote it to a friend who will follow along and correct any lapses.
  • Keep a record of your memorized Bible verses and review them as needed.

Three Ways to Study the Bible With Others

  • Take your Bible to church each week and follow along with the Sunday school lesson and Sunday sermon.
  • Enroll in a Bible study group at your church.
  • Read and discuss the Bible each day at a family altar with your spouse and/or children.

One Way to Share the Bible with Others

Select a verse each morning as your "verse of the day," and ask God to show you someone each day with whom to share that verse, either in personal conversation, a note of encouragement, or e-mail.

Six Great Bible Study Aids

These tools are available at any good Christian bookstore, or they are all available on your computer from a variety of Bible software distributors. Try to find a dedicated place for daily Bible study and keep a little shelf of essential study aids near at hand or easily accessible on your computer. Many of these study tools are also available on the Internet.

  • A good study Bible
  • A handbook of Scripture, such as the old tried-but-true Halley's Handbook of the Bible
  • A sound commentary of the entire Bible, such as the two-volume work, The Bible Knowledge Commentary
  • A Bible atlas
  • A Bible dictionary
  • A concordance

Dr. Jeremiah is the founder and host of Turning Point for God and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California. For more information on Turning Point, go to www.davidjeremiah.org.