Using Faith Journey Bible Study Materials

Each Faith Journey Bible study follows the same F.A.I.T.H. format and moves through the inductive Bible study principles of observation, interpretation, and application.

F   Focus on the Passage

A   Admit Where You Are

I    Interpret the Passage

T   Take the Passage into Your Life

H   Hear from God

Focus on the Passage

The Word of God is like a mirror. When we approach it, there are incredible things we will see about the character of God and about our own character. Even though these stories, teachings, parables, and letters were written over 2000 years ago, they remain applicable! Begin to see God’s Word as a way to interact with Him and make connections with what is going on in your life that week. God wants us to respond to His written Word. He wants to hear our appreciation, our humility, our fears, our confusions, our anger, our hopelessness, and our questions. The questions in this section will give focus to your reading. You can respond in the margin provided for the passage each week. I use the New International Version (NIV) for the weekly passages in our study. You can find several additional Bible translations as well as a variety of Bible commentaries at www.biblegateway.com.

Questions to ask yourself as you read a Bible passage:

  • What is going on in the passage? (who, what, where, when, why, and how)
  • What theme is the author writing about?
  • What questions do you have?
  • What word or words bring you comfort?
  • What don’t you like or makes you feel uncomfortable? Why?
  • What are you thankful for?
  • Note any repeated words or themes.
  • Do you see any natural divisions in the passage?

I remember my first study eight years ago. For the majority of the women who showed up, it was their first ever Bible study. I asked them in advance to bring a Bible. To this day, it warms my heart to see their treasured, yet unused Bibles. Some were given to them when they were confirmed or married, others were passed down from their grandmothers, a few came in Latin, and all of them came in translations that were difficult to understand. No wonder most of them had been unused for all those years and were covered in dust! I sent them off that week to pick up a copy of the NIV Life Application Bible. I told them that their Bibles were supposed to be used, so writing in them and underlining verses was part of the process of Bible study. It’s okay to mark up your Bibles.J If you are in need of an updated Bible translation, I would recommend the same for you as well. Keep all the Bibles you acquire and use the different translations in your Bible study.

Admit Where You Are

Each weekly lesson provides questions that will help you discover your current way of thinking, spiritual understanding, and life circumstances. These questions will help you connect your own life circumstances to the spiritual truths revealed in the passage. This allows you to be raw and honest before God. Establishing your baseline of current thinking makes it possible for you to look back later and see how the Word of God has transformed you. You will be amazed.

INTERPRET THE PASSAGE

  • Historical Context - Look up names, places, historical events, and cultural facts.
  • Cross Referencing - One of the ways we can begin to interpret a passage we are reading is by going into other parts of scripture to gather more insight and understanding.
  • Definitions - Using a dictionary, Bible dictionary, or concordance, define words you want to know more about or are unsure of.
  • Commentaries - Throughout the study I have referenced some of my favorite Bible commentators to help enrich your understanding of a passage.
  • Greek/Hebrew – The Bible was originally written in Hebrew and Greek. Knowing the origin of a word can be helpful in understanding its meaning.

The questions vary week to week, but they focus on:

  • What have you discovered about God and His character this week? Write down what you have discovered about yourself and your need for God.
  • What specific situation, relationship, or circumstance in your life does this passage address?
  • What unbelief, wrong attitude, or rebellious behavior from your life (past or current) has been revealed?
  • What action can you now take to apply God’s truth to your life?
"But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it." James 1:22-25 (NLT)

Take The passage into your life

Often when we finish up our Bible study we feel we are done. We have answered the questions and completed all the sections. However, in those quiet moments with God as we are studying and responding to our weekly text, God wants to speak to our hearts. We won’t hear from Him if we don’t take the time to listen to what He has to say. Sometimes our time with God is a one-way, or a “my way”, conversation. God wants it to be a two-way conversation, and the “Hear from God” questions will give you an opportunity to hear and discern God’s voice through Scripture. I encourage you to get a notebook or journal to write down things you are hearing from God and learning from this study.

Hear From GOd