salvation, etc. Choose a color you can use to relate to each of these major themes. Suppose you want to study the second coming of Christ. When ever you come across such a prom ise, mark it with the color you have chosen. In this way you will be build ing a valuable source book which will guide you in a most enlightening and helpful manner. I remember the time when early in my ministry, I was asked to do a study on the Epistle to the Galatians. My theme concerned the Holy Spirit in this wonderful book. The people were rather surprised that I knew so much on the subject. The actual fact was that I didn’t know very much about it at all. But you see passages relating to the Holy Spirit were underlined in green r i g h t through my Bible. It greatly simpli fied my opportunity, and was a ready made lesson. Not only do I mark my Bible with colored pencils, but also I have dis covered that it is extremely profitable to mark it in the margins. It is bet ter to use plain pencil rather than ball point ink for the latter will put it there to stay. The next time you look in your Bible at that particular passage, you’ll-have the tendency to read that first, rather than perhaps uncovering something fresh. The Bi ble with such constant use gets rath er soiled and worn. Pencil marks can be erased more quickly. I feel that by the time my notes automatically have erased themselves, I should have something new to think about! Another helpful suggestion is to mark your Bible by selecting an out standing particular theme which is evident. As an example, I have my Bible open to Romans 6. The key here is the word “know.” The mes sage is victory over indwelling sin. Now, all spiritual experience initial ly comes through the avenue of the mind. It is what we know that we are able to put into operation. Since the key thought of Romans 6 is
wo do little to convince them of their need to eat. Do you know there are a lot of Christians who have been in the faith even longer, and yet they still have to be fed? A very practical message on the growth in grace for a Christian is to learn how to feed oneself. After buying yourself a good Bi ble, with fairly large type and wide margins so that you may make notes, get yourself a good concordance. Gen erally, the ones found in the back of the Bible are too small to be of much real help. Sometimes certain words translated in the Bible have several different meanings. Several kinds are well worth considering. Young’s, Strong’s and Cruden’s con cordances are the best-known al though there are many other good ones. Start tracing words throughout Scripture and the new insight you will obtain from this type of extreme ly profitable study will delight you. , The third thing you should have is a notebook, preferably about the size of your Bible, so that it will be handy to carry along with you. You will find things which strike you and which you will want to remem ber. A year or two later it will be extremely interesting to read through your notes to see the unmistakable way in which God has been speaking to you. This is also a good check point to discover what you did about the things the Lord said to you in the past. The next idea would be to obtain a set of colored pencils. They aren’t very expensive. I bought an excellent set here in the States a few days ago for about a $1.00. Do without a hamburger sometime and buy your self a set. Mark neatly in your Bible several themes that are of particular interest to you. You might want to carry a small plastic ruler with which to make straight lines. Decide one major theme in the Bible you want to study. As an example: the Holy Spirit, the promises of God, 12
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