How to REAP

Read – The Bible is God’s divine, inspired word given to us and so we should begin with prayer, asking God to help us see and understand what He is saying. We ask God to give us an inquisitive nature that sees His word the way He intends.

We read to see what the author actually said. We read and read and read again. We can read in multiple translations if that is helpful. We read the entire book we are studying so that we can see the big picture of what is happening or what is being said. Then we choose a smaller section of the text and read actively. When we actively read, we are constantly asking questions – who is saying this, to whom is this being said, what is happening, what is the purpose for this being written, when is this happening or when will this happen, where is this happening, where are they going, does this text tell me why the author is saying this, how are they doing this or how is this happening? Sometimes this is called observation.

The best way for me to actively read is to either write down the who, what, when, where, why, and how questions in a journal and then read and write down the answers when I see them or I mark, highlight, underline, or circle the words or phrases that answer these questions.

At this point, we are just making note of what the text actually says and we are not trying to guess or figure out what the text means.

Examine – We examine the text to try to understand what the author intended his original audience to know and understand. Sometimes this is called interpretation.

To examine the text we should begin by understanding the context or the circumstances and factors that relate to the people, place, and events in the text. We examine the Biblical, cultural, and historical contexts. Biblical context is the understanding of where this take place in the Bible and in God’s redemptive plan of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. We must know if this text was written before Jesus came or after, was this written before Moses and the Law or after. it is also good to know what kind of literature you are reading. Is the text poetry, historical narrative, apocalyptic, prophetic? Cultural context is the understanding of the beliefs, values, customs, ideas, and norms for the people in the text. This information can be found in the summary of the book of the Bible that you are studying on websites such as Biblestudytools.com. Historical context is the understanding of what was going on in world history at this time. It is helpful to know who the ruling nations were at this time – the Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Romans. And it is helpful to understand the geography where the events were taking place by using maps.

Other important tools for examining the text are definitions of words that are not clear or that you do not know and cross references. I like to use Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary for finding definitions. You can access this dictionary through Biblestudytools.com. Cross references are other verses or sections of Scripture that are being quoted or where the same thing or a similar idea is written. Many Bibles have cross references located along side the text to point you to a book, chapter, and verse taht will help you examine the text. You can also find cross references at Biblestudytools.com

After examining the text, we read the text again, using what we’ve learned in our read and examine sections and then we write down the author’s main idea for his original audience. (If you can not figure out the author’s main idea, pray and ask God for help and then go back to your who, what, when, where, why, and how questions and use your examine tools to answer these questions).

Apply – After understanding what the original author intended his original audience to know, we apply the text to our own lives. We do this by asking – is there a truth for me to believe and trust, is there a warning for me to heed, is there an instruction for me to follow, how does this help me know, love, and worship God more, how does this help me know how to live or live differently now as a citizen of God’s kingdom, or how does this help me love others?

Application of the text should be personal and detailed. We can then take our application to God in prayer and ask for His help in our spiritual growth in this area. We can also share our applications with our close Christian friends, asking them to pray for us and to check in on us, asking how we are doing with applying God’s word into our lives. We need God and we need each other for spiritual growth.

Pray – After we have studied a section of God’s word, it is good and right for us to go to God in prayer. We can pray through the text, speaking God’s word back to Him. We can thank God for all that He has shown us. We can ask Him to help us in our application of His word into our lives, and we can worship Him in prayer.

I like to use a daily Bible reading plan to read through the Bible each year and then I use REAP when I want to spend more time in a book of the Bible or a section of Scripture. I hope this is helpful for you as you study the Bible.