Choose
a good place in your home where your family can have plenty of
room to study God's Word together. A large sturdy dining room
table works well, but a drop leaf table in the corner of a den,
or a couch and some chairs placed around a coffee table work
well, too. As is possible, make the place inviting and
comfortable, but remember that comfort takes a backseat to
functionality.
Supply
every family member with their own Bible to study from. Be sure
to use reliable Bible translations, rather than devotional type
paraphrased Bibles to do your studies in. Get Bibles that come
with reliable study notes and helps in them like informational
charts, lists, and maps.
Invest
in excellent Bible study tools like an exhaustive concordance,
Hebrew and Greek dictionaries, lexicons, and Bible dictionaries.
(Here
is a list of some we recommend.) Put these tools near your place
of study in bookshelves or cupboards, on small tables, or even
on portable carts so they can be easily accessed.
Keep
a good supply of paper and pens handy, as well as notebooks and
binders, and organizers like dividers and file folders to put
your study notes into. Set up a simple retrieval system for
filing those notes in file cabinets, drawers, or sturdy boxes,
and put the notes either alphabetically or topically so you can
locate them easily.
If you have a personal computer your family is
already familiar with using, place it nearby and have one person
be the official 'scribe' to type in the studies your family has
done. A copy of each finished study could be printed for each
family member and kept in their personal notebooks so they can
take them with them in the future wherever in this world the
Lord leads them.
Purpose to set a relaxed, encouraging, and excited
tone for your family's Bible study time. You are coming
together to feast in God's magnificent Word, and it is pure
delight to
do so!
© 2007 John and Kim Namestnik
www.givengrace.com
Permission is granted to copy and distribute this
material - if it's kept intact and not changed in any
way, if it's given without charge, and if this
copyright notice is included with it.
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