Do you want to get more out of your Bible study? If yes, then you came to the right place. In this post, I’m going to share with you the four steps to studying the Bible that would surely revolutionize the way you go through the word of God!

Introduction

Do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God? I would say all of us would say yes. Now, have you already read the Bible from cover to cover? Now, I would say some of us might not have done it yet but I’m confident that there are a lot of us who would say yes.

Do you read the Bible every day? With that, I would say the number of people who would say yes might most likely drop. Another question, do you study your Bible every day?

Just to explain, there’s a difference between reading your Bible and studying your Bible. When you read the Bible, you simply go through the Bible.

However, when you study the Bible, you actually get your notebook and pen. You write notes. That’s Bible study. Now, how many of us really do that on a daily basis? I’m afraid only a few of us would say, yes.

Here’s what you’ll learn from this post:

• Introduction
• The Bible, the supernatural book
• A great challenge in Bible study
• The four steps in studying the Bible
• Step 1: Read
• Step 2: Interpret
• Step 3: Connect
• Step 4: Apply
• Wrapping up: what did we learn?
• Final words

The Bible, the supernatural book

Now, the Bible is a supernatural book. It is alive. It is powerful. You can actually read and study the Bible so many times and yet, you’ll still discover new things each time. That’s how unique this book is and it should not surprise you because this book isn’t an ordinary book. It is a book breathed by God Himself (2 Timothy 3:16).

Tell me a book like the Bible. There’s none. It doesn’t just inform us, but it transforms us and the way it changes us greatly depends on how much we study the Word of God.

All of us would agree that the Bible is the Word of God and it is the truth. Do you believe everything you read and see on social media? Do you believe everything you see on TV, hear on the radio, or read on the Internet? Of course not.

Yet, why do we spend more time on social media when we know it is mixed with lies rather than on the Bible when we know it’s the source of truth?

A great challenge in Bible study

Now, I’m not saying that we should stop using social media, the Internet, or the TV. What I’m saying is that we should not neglect Bible study and make it a point that we regularly study God’s word.

However, there’s one big problem when it comes to Bible study. Not all of us know how to do it. Reading the Bible, it’s simple. But studying the Bible, it’s more challenging. How can we actually get more from our Bible study? How can we learn more from one single passage?

That’s what I want to discuss with you today, how do you actually study the Bible? How do you get the most in each session that you have with the Word of God?

The four steps in studying the Bible

Now, there are different ways to study the Bible and I don’t have the time to discuss all of them. However, for the purpose of this short post, I want to share with you a simple yet powerful way to study the Bible and this is the same method I use when I study the Word of God.

The method I’m about to teach you only comes with four steps and I learned this from reading various books about the topic. So, the four steps are: Read, Interpret, Connect, and Apply. Each of these steps comes with a simple question that you need to ask. These questions are as follows:

1. Read – What does it say?
2. Interpret – What does it mean?
3. Connect – what are the other related verses?
4. Apply – how can I apply this?

To illustrate how to use this method, I randomly selected a Bible verse and I made sure I haven’t studied that verse before. I used a random Bible generator and I got Matthew 11:28:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Remember, we are not simply reading, but we are going to study the Word of God and it is crucial that you have your notebook and pen or any items you use in taking down notes.

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Step 1: Read

The first step is “Read.” Ask yourself, “What does it say?” In this step, you simply write down the verse and copy it on your notes.

What does it say? It says those who are tired, those who labor, and those who are heavily laden should come to Jesus Christ (Yahshua) and He will give them rest.

Step 2: Interpret

Then, comes the second step, which is “Interpret.” What does it mean? Now, this is where things get more interesting. In this step, we are going to study the important words in this verse one by one.

In doing so, we need to look into the original word used to better understand this verse. Now, none of us here are Greek or Aramaic experts. Thankfully, you don’t have to because we have Bible study tools available. [Check out my list, “The 50 Best Bible Study Tools That Will Transform Your Life.]

I personally use a FREE software called E-sword. You can go to their website and download their desktop application.

You can also go online and find Greek Interlinear Bible where you can compare the English to the Greek. I recommend using Bible Study Tool. this online Bible study tool is free. Although there are ads on the website, they are bearable.

So, you can go to Bible Study Tool’s interlinear Bible and put there our chosen verse, which is Matthew 11:28. With that, let’s study the important words in this verse.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Come to Me is self-explanatory. So, who should come to Yahshua, those who labor and are heavy laden.

Labor here came from the Greek word kopiaō, which means to feel fatigued, to work hard, and grow tired.

Next, let’s take a look at the word heavy laden. The Greek word here is phortizō, which means load up. It also means overburden with ceremony. Now, that’s something new.

Who among you knew that this word “heavy laden” also means overburdened with ceremony? We will go back to this Greek word later and see its meaning deeper as we jump to the next step.

Let’s go to the Greek word of “Rest.” It’s anapauō. The meaning of this Greek word is:

• 1) to give rest, refresh, to give one’s self rest, take rest
• 2) to cause or permit one to cease from any movement or labour in order to recover and collect his strength.

I want to focus on the second meaning. This means that Jesus (Yahshua) gives us permission to rest. Personally, this is hugely important because I always want to work. I feel guilty when I don’t have anything to do.

However, this all changed when the Sabbath comes. I don’t feel guilty when resting because you know why? Because God gives me permission to rest.

Step 3: Connect

The third step is connect where we ask the question, “What are the other related verses?”

We can use this step to better understand the Greek word for heavy laden.

Now, let’s go back to the Greek word for heavy laden. We know it’s phortizo, which can also mean to be overburdened with ceremonies. If we only focus on Matthew 11:28, we won’t really get the bigger picture. Thus, we need to go to other verses where phortizo is also used.

This is where the third step comes in. Connect – what are the other related verses? In this step, we must look at other verses that could shed more light on our chosen verse. In this step, we should remember an important principle: let the Scripture interpret itself. 

In the Bible, phortizo is only used twice. One is in Matthew 11:28, which is what we already read and the other is in Luke 11:46, which says:

⁴⁶ And He said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

Now, we are seeing that the Jews in Yahshua’s days are heavily loaded with the burdens the Pharisees themselves created and put on the people. We know that the Pharisees created their own regulations, ceremonial rites, and traditions. The burdens of these Pharisees were so heavy that they are not just numerous but also expensive.

So, you can just imagine the unnecessary burden that people bear at that time. This teaches us an important insight into what the people in Christ’s time had to endure.

In step 3, you can also use cross references. This gives us a list of the Bible verses in Matthew 11:28. Thankfully, Bible Study Tools also come with a cross-reference feature. Go there and type in Matthew 11:28.

The search gives us several verses but among them, the most important once are the following:

John 7:37

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 

In this verse, it tells us that it is not just the people who are tired who can come to Christ, but also those who are thirsty!

Isaiah 55:1-3

¹ “Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.

² Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

³ Incline your ear, and come to Me.
Hear, and your soul shall live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—
The sure mercies of David.

The prophet Isaiah tells us that not only those who are tired and thirsty who can come to God but also those who don’t have money to buy food and those who are hungry.

John 6:37

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

This verse tells us that it is the Father who calls us. He initiates the relationship. Anyone who wants to come to Christ must first be called by the Father.

As you can see, we learned a lot about Matthew 11:28 by simply looking at the verses related to it.

Step 4: Apply

Finally, we go to the fourth step, which is Apply — how can I apply this?

We now go to the practical application of Matthew 11:28. How does this verse apply to you and me?

First off, it says, come to me. This tells us that in our relationship with God and His Son, we have a role to play. God calls us but we must also answer that call. God can’t force us to come to Him. We must willingly come to Him.

It says we come to Yahshua when we are tired and we are heavily burden. Christ invites us to surrender everything to Him including our tired bodies and minds and the burden that we bear. This burden can be our responsibility. This burden can be the weight of the sins we commit. We can come to God, repent, and release the heavy burden of sin that we carry.

If you think about it brethren, it’s refreshing to release all those burdens. When we finally do that, Christ said that He will give us rest. If you need rest, you don’t go to the world. You don’t go to social media and rant. You don’t go to your friends and get drunk. You don’t go to nightclubs to forget your problems.

The Bible tells us to come to Yahshua and we will receive the true rest that only God can give.

Wrapping up: what did we learn?

In our Bible study, we took four steps: Read, Interpret, Connect, and Apply. By using these steps, we learned the following about Matthew 11:28:

• Everyone who is tired and heavily laden with burden should come to Yahshua for rest. The invitation is there but it is up to us to respond to that invitation.
• Labor is not just physical exhaustion but also those who are mentally exhausted, grieved, and losing hope.
• Those who come to God and Yahshua are not just the tired, but also the people who thirst and hunger for righteousness and spiritual sustenance.
• In Yahshua’s time, a lot of people were heavily laden with the ceremonial and ritualistic burden the religious leaders put on their people.
• When Yahshua gives us rest, it means that He gives us permission to rest, which allows us to rest with peace and no guilt.

If you want to give RICA method a try, you can do it for the following verses:

• 1 Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 1 Corinthians 7:1 – Is it really true that a man can’t touch a woman?
• And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Genesis 2:18 – is the woman only a helper?
• I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. Isaiah 45:7 – did God create evil?

So, you can go through those verses by using the four steps we have discussed. You’ll soon see that these steps will help us better understand these verses. 

Final words

Those are the four steps that you can use in your personal Bible study. Can you just see how effective these steps are? We just unpacked a single verse from the Bible. Who would have thought that a simple and short verse has a lot of meaning and application to it?

Remember these four steps: RICA — read, interpret, connect, and apply. Now, these are just the basic steps, but I believe this would already make a great impact on your Bible. My sincerest hope brethren is that we come into a deeper understanding of the Bible and that we can have a more profitable Bible study that we can and should do every day.

Let me leave you with the last words of the Apostle Peter in his letter in 2 Peter 3:18:

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Master and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

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