The first thing I do to begin my Bible study is to open up my computer and go to the Bible Gateway website. I also prefer the ‘classic’ version of Bible Gateway, but you can choose which style you like that most.
The reason I like Bible Gateway so much is because it has so many different versions of the Bible to choose from. It also has Bible Commentaries and other helpful resources, all the one handy place.
You can also highlight Bible verses that you like in a variety of colors and it will save this for future reference. It also allows you to type notes about the Bible verse and it save your notes for future reference.
I particularly like to read Bible verses in different versions and it really helps you to understand the meaning of what you are reading, from several different angles. Each version of the Bible uses a slightly different interpretation of the original text.
My three favorite versions of the Bible are:
- International Children’s Bible (ICB)
- New International Reader’s Version (NIRV)
- New International Version (NIV)
You can have more than one version open at the same time.
First, in the search field at the top, type in whatever you want to study.
This search field is really flexible.
You can type in a book of the Bible eg. ‘Romans’ or you could type in a specific chapter of the Bible eg. ‘Romans 1’.
You can also be very specific, for example you could type in ‘Romans 8:28-29’.
You can also just type in a word or a name.
For example, if you find yourself feeling anxious or afraid at the moment, you can type in the word ‘fear’, ‘afraid’, or ‘anxious’ or ‘worry’ and Bible Gateway will show you all the Bible verses that contain that word.
It’s so much easier than the olden days when you had to manually look up a Bible Concordance to find all the Bible verses for a particular word.
In this case, where I have typed in the word ‘anxious’ and clicked on ‘Search’, the first Bible text that came up was:
Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”.
I’ve only found the first verse and already I’m feeling encouraged!
You might like to read more about this verse, by clicking on ‘In Context’, ‘Full Chapter’ or
‘Other Translations’.
‘In Context’ will usually show you the verse that is before and the verse that is after the verse you have looked up. For example, if you click in context on this Bible verse, is says:
Philippians 4:5-7 “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
This is even better than just reading the one verse!
Not only is God telling us not to be anxious and to bring our problems to Him in prayer, but He also promises that when we do this, He will give us
His peace.
If we really apply this to our personal situation, we know that we can relax. God will look after the situation for us and give us His peace while He does it.
What a wonderful promise!
‘Full Chapter’ will show you the whole chapter that this verse comes from.
‘Other Translations’ will show you the same verse in many different translations. Each translation will have a slightly different interpretation and will help you to understand what is being said.
Another thing to note is that when you type in something in the search field, it defaults to showing
25 results per page, but you can change this to be 25, 50, 100, 250 or 500 results per page.
It’s totally up to you whether you use an online Bible or read a regular Bible.
Personally, I find I really enjoy using an online Bible because I like copying and pasting Bible verses that are meaningful to me into a Word document. Then I write notes underneath about what I have learned from that Scripture and how it applies to my life at that time.
You don’t have to do that, it’s just what works for me.
Try a few different things and see what works best for you.
