Quick Backdrop
What’s your favorite Bible verse? Write it down on a blank piece of paper. If no verses come to mind, here are a few well-known verses. Feel free to use one of these for this devo.
John 3:16
Romans 12:1-2
Jeremiah 29:11
John 14:1-4
John 16:33
These next steps will lead you on an exploration of the verse and hopefully take you deeper into the verse than you ever thought possible.
Grab a Bible and read the verse as if you’re reading it for the first time. Then respond to the questions below. Write your responses on the piece of paper on which you wrote your favorite verse. This piece of paper will become your own personal commentary on this verse. For some of these questions, you may need to look at the whole chapter that contains the verse or flip through your Bible a bit. Also, not every question may apply to your verse, and that’s OK.
The What
Your verse is obviously in one of the 66 books of the Bible. What type of book is it in? (The list below may help.)
• History (i.e., a biography about Jesus or events in the life of Israel)?
• Poetry (i.e., Psalms or Proverbs)?
• Prophecy (i.e., Isaiah or Jeremiah)?
• A letter (i.e., Romans, Colossians or 2 Peter)?
• Apocalyptic (i.e., Daniel or Revelation)?
(For a list of the different types of books in the Bible, search online for “Bible book genres.”)
What’s the occasion of your verse?
• What led to the verse being spoken or written?
• What action is taking place around the verse?
• Was there an immediate listener or reader (if it’s within a letter) when was this verse was first spoken or read? To whom was it spoken or written?
• Who is speaking or writing?
What’s the nature of the verse?
• Is it a command?
• Is it a promise?
• Is it a great truth about God? You? Both?
• Is it about the future?
The So What
What does the verse do to you?
• Convict you?
• Comfort you?
• Challenge you?
• Assure you?
• All of the above?
• Something else?
How does the verse point to Jesus? (Nearly all of them do in one way or the other.)
• Directly?
• Indirectly?
Seal the Deal
How can you apply this verse to your life today?
• Does the verse point to a bad attitude you have?
• Does the verse speak to destructive habits or behaviors you’ve let seep into your life?
• Does the verse contain a truth you need to claim?
• Does this verse contain a promise you need to believe as truth?
If you were to explain to a friend why this verse is important, what would you say?
What is something new you learned about your favorite verse in these past few minutes?
Every verse of the Bible contains something God wants to say to us. When we read a verse and ask basic fact-finding questions, as you just did, we give ourselves a chance to clear away the clutter and experience God’s words as purely as possible. When we do this, we will not miss what God wants to say to us.
By the way, you just built your own devo around your favorite verse. In answering the question about why this verse is important, you just wrote your own devo. So, go ahead, send it out. People want to hear what God has to say!
