How Do You Study The Bible - Let's Share

This is something I put together for the youth Sunday School I teach (as of recently). You can click on it to see the bigger version.

It's crazy how this all came together, it didn't start out so pretty. It was actually scribbled down in my notebook and barely readable by anyone other than me. But at the request of some of my closest brothers and sisters I decided to clean it up and post it here.

So what's the point? Well, the point for my Sunday School class was (and is) two fold.

Point #1 - Slow Down
Slow down when we read the bible. Is it just me, or does anyone else have a habit of blazing through their "study" time? Blowing through a chapter here, a chapter there, or maybe a devotional and not really (I mean REALLY) trying to understand what it is that you are reading? That's not exactly studying, is it?

Point #2 - Words have Meaning
This point really is dependent on the first. Once we slow down, things start to pop out at us. that is how the diagram above came together for me. I started to realize..."Hey, is God really Light?" Or is John telling us something else? Is there anywhere else that John uses the word for light? Hmmm.

I'm not going to get into a full study of 1-John now (but would love to if you want to discuss), mostly this post was to share a bit about how I approach studying the bible and solicit thoughts and discussion.

So, what is your approach to studying God's Word? What are some of the things that you find most difficult? Is there anything you have learned that could help others?

-W.S. (Mike)