Using the Bible
Marking your Bible
Use colour pencils to underline and mark your Bible, e.g. blue for passages to do with healing, red for the blood of Jesus, etc. Makes it easier to find the verse you want. Don’t be reluctant to write in your Bible. It is not the pages that are important, but what is printed on them. It is not the printed word, but the Word that is hidden in your heart, that matters. (There is the illustration of World War II soldiers who ran out of cigarette paper, and were given Bible pages on condition that they read them before they smoked them.)
Resources
Don’t use commentaries first. Rather, stay with the plain text, for there is a huge amount that we can already understand without commentaries. It is like eating a fish - leave the hard bits. Usually the meaning is clear, and what you read is what it is trying to say. Understanding the Bible is easy, like collecting alluvial gold on the surface, and not like deep digging. Use commentaries after studying the word, to check the meaning you have found.
The "Lion Handbook to the Bible" is a valuable resource especially for younger Christians. Subheadings in many modern translations are helpful, and help ensure that you are reading verses in context.
The armour of God - do we put it on, or do we always have it?
The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:13-17 to put on the armour of God. But just saying it is not what causes it to happen. It is not a ritual, but a life decision. If you have these things (the armour) it will block the arrows of the enemy. He won’t shake your tree and have you fall out.
The armour comprises:
- Salvation
- Because we already accepted salvation, our mind is protected by our salvation. We may renew it each day, but it is not actually suddenly "putting it on."
- Righteousness
- We live this. We don’t just say, OK, today I’ll be righteous.
- Belt of truth
- The belt is like the truth of the whole Word that holds everything together.
- Sword (which is the word, or scripture)
- This is the only offensive weapon given us, so we should answer questions with scripture when we can.