Meeting: Bible Study
Date: 8th May, 2026
Message: Developing the Culture of Meditation on the Word Pt. 5
Minister: Pastor Laide Olaniyan
Reviewing the things you have been taught is the basic study model. What you do here is to confirm they are true and register them in your memory and take heed to the instructions of the witnesses of the Spirit because that is your most direct resource. This should be the springboard from which other interests spring forth. Even though the personal studies we focus on are personal to us, we are still within the confines of the community and we are journeying together. Our journey is as much cooperative as it is personal. Before you start sticking out, it is good to be grounded in what the house is feeding in. When there is no appetite for the things being taught in the house, rebellion is starting. This usually leads to asking unlearned questions that genders strife (2 Tim. 2:23).
Notice how all of the questions of the disciples centered around what Jesus was teaching. The Pharisees on the other hand were always asking questions that were not necessarily in line with what Jesus was teaching because they were not following. A person can be foolish or wise by the questions they ask. A wise person asks questions seeking to be established in the life being taught.
It is important to catch your heart when it is going astray and bring it to the place of establishment in doctrine being taught. There are more than enough resources to ponder upon and ask questions from. Don’t wait till you see Jesus. Any question you want to ask has its answer in the Bible. The Holy Ghost will show you from the Bible. Like He told Hagin, pray for the Holy Ghost to open your eyes and behold the wondrous things from inside the word. The Bible is enough.
The essence of study is to search out the person of God. God hid Himself in the things He has spoken. The way the Bible is, He hid spiritual things spiritually, archived in languages, historical layers, hidden in veils you have to break through to find the things He is saying.
We need to make a habit of reading the scripture aloud, use audio Bible if you must. Some psalms are meant to be read aloud. We must also learn to saturate our atmosphere with scriptures.
Looking further at the systems of Bible study, there is also character study or character quality study and biography study. Character study looks at the quality of their character, their choices and decisions while biographical study entails the journey of their life, their birth, places they went to, occurrences, life choices, marriage e.t.c. One of the things it does for us is that it helps us focus on things we would otherwise have missed. There is so much we can learn from scriptures just by understanding a person’s life. There is beauty in the details.
There is also Thematic study which looks into the central themes/ predominant thought of a particular book. It is the overall concept that the writer hid in his writing. A chapter can cover various topics but there is a central thought it is trying to communicate. On the macro level, we must ask, what is it trying to communicate? Just as you can isolate a part of music or an instrument to score it so you can enjoy the richness of it, we can also study the Bible like that. Our ability to replicate a life seen in scripture could be tied to our ability to see all the various parts in scripture which are learned in study. It helps us to focus on parts of scripture we could have missed out on. Hidden between the lines of scriptures are truths we have yet to discover that reveals our hearts to us better because there is a way we can read scriptures and believe we can’t do some of the things they did.
Another method of Bible study is Topical study and verse by verse study. In topical study, you can look at salient topics like prayer, righteousness, justification e.t.c. In verse by verse study, we must try to not take verses isolatedly, we must look at other scriptures on the matter that that verse is speaking to for a holistic understanding.
Pastor Kumuyi once said that there are 365 “fear not” in the Bible. That means there is a ‘fear not’ for each day of the year. Every day, God is telling you, “Do not fear”. A search led to that. To have a holistic perspective of what we are searching, we want to look at everywhere it is found to have a wholesome idea. That takes a search. Another example is the scripture/verse – ask and you shall receive (Matt. 7:7), taking that verse alone is not holistic because in James 4:3, you will discover that there are principles that govern asking, that asking is not just boundless. A person can say he read, ask and you shall receive in the Bible and is standing in faith but has not been able to look at the subject holistically. The Bible does not contradict but complements itself. Allow the Bible to interpret itself.
We must be careful about some biblical translations. Some have taken out words in the Bible and replaced them with new modern words because to them they seem archaic. When you compare the thought of what the word was saying versus the new modern word that it was replaced with, you notice the thoughts are miles apart. Truth itself is not in Greek or Hebrew language. The focus should not be on the dexterity of a language over another but in finding a person. If you can’t find or touch the truth of God, your search is a waste of knowledge.
Word study, another method of Bible study, is beautiful. When birthed by the spirit, it can expose you to a lot in scriptures. One of the wonders of word study can be seen in the study of the Holy Spirit, when He was described as ‘Another Comforter’ (John 14 & 15). The beauty of looking at the word ‘paraclet’, was what gave rise to the 7 functions of the Holy Ghost, which we knew in the milk. (John 14:16 AMPC) – “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever”. – If you look at Comforter just as Comforter, your mind can’t fully understand all that the Holy Ghost is. Looking at Paraclet in word study shows that another comforter is another counsellor. The Holy Ghost can actively counsel. That opens us up to actively want to listen to the Holy Ghost on every matter because He is the Spirit of Counsel. These are allocations that you can enjoy no matter your age as a believer. Also, understanding the Holy Ghost as a helper means you can never be stranded/hopeless in life issues. Another one is that He intercedes for and with us. He helps our infirmities and to overcome the limitations we have in the place of prayer.
Jesus is an advocate (1 John 2). If the Holy Spirit is another comforter, He is another advocate also. The Holy Spirit as our strengthener means with Him, we will never lack strength (Eph. 3). It is He who strengthens not only our spirit but our soul and body. He also indwells us as our stand-by, the fail safe plan. He is designed to catch us and step in to intermediate if there is any lack. He kicks in because He is designed to standby, meaning that power, strength or energy should not fail because there is a standby generator. If we fail in anything, it means we turned off our standby generator, that is the Holyghost.
One of the wonders of word study is also Everlasting and Eternal and Arnion and Anon. They are different. We must be able to see the difference that is hidden in details.
There is also book background study where you seek to understand historical, cultural, and political context. If you don’t understand the historical context for example, you may not understand the intent behind the expressions and the weight it carries in different contexts.
You don’t stumble into scripture. Scripture is not of any private interpretation. Therefore, God raised the five fold ministry to help us come into proper understanding of knowledge. There is a spirit that interprets scriptures; it is the spirit that oversees sound doctrine and exposes things that are not sound (2 Timothy 1:13 & Titus 2:1).
The benchmark of interpretation is the weaving of what is sound, that is what is able to make the soul wholesome in righteousness. Every interpretation should produce a sound gospel and a sound man. When you begin to see certain interpretations of scriptures, you’ll see that some things won’t leave you sound, but leave you injurious.Satan lies and is a master of deception and if he can sell it to us, it will become our reality. The Truth of God’s word shall make us free. The things Satan uses to distract us are the things stopping us from growing. (1 Pet. 5:8-9) From this scripture, we can see not everyone is devourable if he is looking for whom to devour. We must not believe that there is something unique to us to justify why we must be oppressed. There is nothing unique to us. One of the ways Satan gets us is to isolate us so he can devour us.
Understanding the plot in scriptures brings to life the circumstances, realities, challenges and suddenly scripture ceases to be a dry book and you become a character experiencing the realities that the people experienced themselves. Every book has its own plot. It is not just a literary work but a spiritual immersion where they help you experience. Sometimes to be baptised, you have to read it over and over then it ceases to be something distant. We should read it over again and prayerfully then when you get involved and are submerged or immersed, suddenly, you can interact with the character and everything becomes alive. This changes our spiritual landscape. Many people can’t conceptualise the Bible. They don’t have a picture to relate to, such that they can’t be brought into the fellowship of what they read. We must immerse ourselves in the word of God and pray that He grants one a spiritual experience. The quickest way is to stay on the word and not wait for a spiritual experience.
Just like strongholds are built by imaginations. (2 Cor. 10:3-5) Every promise is a picture of your future that you have seen. Satan also paints us pictures of his promises. Without a picture, we can’t be taken anywhere. The people God took out, saw a city, they saw something. (Heb. 12:2) Jesus saw something. Without a picture, we cannot be drawn out and enticed. Lust also has a picture, that are strongholds. High imagination comes via some conversations, then as soon as it gets there, it becomes a stronghold. Without it crumbling, he would be dull to the teachings of Christ.
(2 Cor. 10:5) – “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” – We must learn to not let our thoughts go radical. This is how we hold thoughts captive. We must allow it to be framed and modelled by the word. Consistent exposure to the word remodels our thoughts. (Phil. 4:8) Many of our thoughts are still not Christ aligned so we must sit with His word until everything is beaten under and every image is Christ and God image. That is what led Jesus to the end of faith. Jesus set the joy before Him as something constant in His face (Heb. 12:2). We must put the word ever before our face.
THE END.