Prepare

Prepare your heart and mind before you begin the study.

Passage Information

Passage

Book

Date

Study Title

Begin with prayer and a willingness to obey whatever God teaches.

Ask God for insight, wisdom, and obedience.
Quiet your heart before the Lord.

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
— Psalm 119:18

Record everything you learn about the context before studying the details.

Summarize the author’s flow of thought—the argument or progression of ideas.

Discover what the author is saying through careful observation.

Record everything you see in the text before deciding what it means.

Determine what the author intended to communicate to the original audience.

Compare your conclusions with the whole counsel of God.

Observations are the facts of the text. Interpretation comes after observation.