This was a plan I devised to use with the women's fellowship to which I belonged while I was in college. It is only a method proposed to help people understand and remember their Bible studies. It is not a surefire plan of any kind: the power is not in the method but in the dedication of the person attempting to use it. There are instructions for both the group and the individual, laid out in week-long assignments. This does not have to be limited to four weeks: some people may find that repeating each step for a longer time is most beneficial. Make it work for the members of your own Bible study group.
Week One: GROUP
Begin with a prayer asking God's presence to be tangible and the Holy Spirit's guidance to be clear. Leader or volunteer reads the selected short book or passage aloud to listeners (recommend no more than four chapters total). The first time, read at an average pace, conversationally. The second time, read the passage slowly and deliberately, emphasizing important words or phrases. The third time, wait a minute or two, then repeat step two. The fourth time, the listeners take notes on what they have heard, including any questions, comments, concerns, or references to other passages, etc. Pray to end the reading session.
Week One: INDIVIDUAL
Read the selected short book or passage once or twice daily for the week. Pray before and after. Continue adding or updating notes and questions; engage the text actively and curiously.
Week Two: GROUP
Make sure all group members have a copy of the selection from the same Bible translation. Anyone willing to read aloud can take his/her turn reading the passage to the group while the others read along silently. When everyone has read that intends to, read the passage once more as a group in unison. Pray to begin and end the reading session.
Week Two: INDIVIDUAL
Take three colored pencils and designate the colors: One for verbs, one for nouns, and one for any place in the text where a person's name or pronoun can be replaced with the reader's own name. For example, Joshua 1:9, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord my God will be with me wherever I go.”
Early in the week, mark all action verbs in the verb color.
Midweek, mark all nouns in the noun color.
Late in the week, personalize the passage, when applicable, in a third distinct color.
Take note of words or phrases that stand out and be prepared to share those observations with the group.
Week Three: GROUP
Consult resources to behind sifting through the answers and responses to each member's questions and observations. Share your findings. Help each other. Use Bible dictionaries, concordances, commentaries, Study Bible footnotes, and of course, other passages of Scripture relevant to the text. Pray to begin the reading session and also to end.
Week Three: INDIVIDUAL
Pick a small portion of a book, or whole passage (I recommend no more than twelve verses total) and spend the week memorizing it. Some ways to memorize include: 1) Non-immediate (time-spaced) repetition. Read it once, wait 5 seconds. Read it again, wait 20 seconds. Read it a third time, wait 2 minutes, then 1 hour, then 6 hours, then 1 day, etc. 2) Note cards. Write each verse of the passage on its own note card until each verse is written on a separate card. Shuffle the cards, or tape them up around the house. Read and reread them daily out of order, then on the last day, recite them a few times in order. 3) Record yourself reading the passage at different speeds and voices. Use funny voices, deep voices, accents; slowly and fast. Listen to different versions throughout the day and the week, one at a time. (You may laugh at yourself, but the reading will stand out in your mind. You'll be surprised at how easy it is to recall something verbatim that you've recorded with a funny accent!)
Week Four: GROUP
Pray for each other that you will learn creative ways to apply the passage's teachings to your lives. Let members share what they have learned. Share testimonies about the process of the previous three weeks' learning experience. Finish these sentences: “I have begun applying this passage to my life by…” or “My life has improved because…” End the meeting by re-reading the full selection in unison, and lay hands on one another and pray for one another.
Week Four: INDIVIDUAL
Stop thinking about the teaching of the passage, or talking about the passage, or longing for the passage to influence you, and JUST OBEY IT!
