Effective Daily Scripture Study
The benefits of a daily scripture study are vast, but the simple allegory is that it is like a daily workout for your body. Reading the scriptures each day adds peace to your mind. But it also adds power to your spiritual battery. This power and knowledge build up, and then when you need it, it can be drawn from to help you when you are teaching, counseling, giving advice, or dealing with personal problems. The benefits of daily personal scripture study are vast, some of the benefits are simple, others are deep and ponderful.
How to do daily reading and study effectively. First, how to read daily. Second how to make that reading, meaningful study.
Daily reading is simple in that you can just start at the beginning of a book of scripture like the Old Testament and read all the way through. But just like other things, there are complicated parts to this as well. The best aid to Scripture reading I have used is a simple paper with a block that may be filled in for each chapter. So for daily Old Testament study reading, there would be a box for every chapter of every book in the Old Testament. The same being available for the New Testament, The Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, or other books of scripture that you want to read and study.
These are links to resources on http://nathanrichardson.com/ but you can find other on the internet with an easy search.
- Old Testament Reading Chart
- New Testament Reading Chart
- Book of Mormon Reading Chart (by chapter).
- Doctrine and Covenants Reading Chart (by section)
These are other links ad resources.
- This is an online tool for tracking your daily reading progress.
- This is a site that builds a customer reading plan for finishing by a target date.
After daily reading, we discuss how to turn just reading into a study. There are quite a few different ways to approach study. To turn reading into study we can do one or more of these things; Scripture Journal, Memorize/Ponderize verses, mark and note what you are reading.
Scripture Journal works like this. When you open your scriptures, also open a blank journal. Record the date and chapter that you are reading. Then as you read, write down any thoughts that you have in the journal. This can be simple thoughts, or complex and deep thoughts with references to other scriptures or talks or movies, etc. Scripture journals can be really fun both to do and to look back and read at a later time.
Memorize or Ponderize verses. This is when you pick a verse each week and memorize it. But you don’t just stop there. You look up historical context for the verse. You write down what this scripture means, and how it builds your testimony. You spend all week memorizing and pondering this verse.
Marking and Noting. As you read the scriptures, highlight and make margin notes on the verses that are meaningful and teach you things. In physical scriptures, this requires you to have a marking pencil. In scripture reading apps this is easily done and the notes can be longer as they don’t have the constraints of the margin of your page. I always added a set of post-it notes to my physical scripture mark and note so that I would have more room. There are a set of post-its inside the back and front covers with notes and verse references when I was doing this. Currently, I am using the LDS scripture app to read and study, so I don’t need the post-its.
There is no reason to only do one of these. A person who is writing a scripture journal can also mark and note scriptures and memorize and ponder a verse each week. But just like physical exercise, scripture study doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Doing some scripture study is good and will benefit you mentally and spiritually. Trying out different types or programs of study can help you adjust and find what works best for you. And what works best for you may not always be the same method.
The purpose of scripture study is to bring the power and strength of the scriptures into your life. Effective daily scripture study will bring you peace in a tumultuous world. Spiritual power to find and answer questions in your life and those you care for. And strength to overcome personal trials.
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