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Objective

In this lesson, we will discover the vital role that God’s Word plays in the life of every believer and learn how to approach Scripture in a way that transforms our relationship with God.

Key Verse

Psalm 119:105: Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Introduction

Jesus knew the Scriptures. Throughout His earthly ministry, our Savior demonstrated deep knowledge and authoritative use of God’s Word that should inspire every serious Bible student.

• When Satan tempted Him in the wilderness, Jesus answered each attack by quoting Scripture from Deuteronomy, showing both His command of God’s Word and His authority in using it (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13).
• In the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus read from Isaiah 61 and boldly declared, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:16-21).
• Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, He quoted and interpreted Old Testament law with divine authority, often saying, “You have heard that it was said… But I say to you” (Matthew 5:17-48).
• When the Sadducees questioned Him about resurrection, Jesus corrected their misunderstanding by appealing directly to Scripture: “Have you not read what God said to you?” and then quoting Exodus 3:6 (Matthew 22:29-32; Mark 12:26-27).

These passages clearly reveal that Jesus not only knew the Scriptures thoroughly but used them skillfully at every stage of His ministry and teaching.

God’s Word is the primary way God communicates with us today. Since Jesus Himself treated Scripture with such reverence and authority, how much more should we approach reading and studying the Word with careful preparation and humble hearts? If Jesus approached Scripture with such reverence and authority, how can we prepare our own hearts to study God’s Word? The answer lies in a simple but powerful prayer that addresses five essential areas of our spiritual life:

• Open my eyes to see your glory
• Open my ears to hear your voice
• Open my heart to receive your truth
• Open my mouth to speak your praises
• Open my hands to share your love

Open My Eyes

The first prayer we should bring to our Bible study is this simple request: “Open my eyes to see your glory.” When we study God’s Word, we are not reading an ordinary book. We are encountering the very glory of God revealed on every page.

Moses understood this truth when he boldly asked God, “Show me your glory” (Exodus 33:18). Moses had already seen God work incredible miracles—the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the giving of the Law. But Moses wanted something even greater. He wanted to see God Himself. God’s response teaches us an important truth: we cannot see God’s full glory and live, but God graciously reveals as much of His glory as we can handle.

Exodus 33:19: And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

David also beheld God’s glory, but he saw it displayed throughout creation. When David looked at the heavens, he didn’t just see stars and planets—he saw the handiwork of God. When he considered the earth, he didn’t just see mountains and valleys—he saw demonstrations of God’s power and creativity.

Psalm 19:1-2: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.

But we have something even more wonderful than what Moses and David experienced. Paul tells us that when we study God’s Word, we see “the glory of Christ” revealed in its pages. Every story, every prophecy, every commandment ultimately points us to Jesus and shows us His magnificent character.

2 Corinthians 4:6: For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

(Notebook Moment: When you read your Bible, do you consciously look for ways that the passage reveals God’s glory and character? How might this change the way you approach familiar stories?)

When we pray “Open my eyes,” we are asking God to help us see beyond the surface of the text to the deeper spiritual truths that reveal His character, His love, and His perfect plan for our lives.

Open My Ears

The second prayer we should offer is: “Open my ears to hear your voice.” God speaks to His people, and one of the primary ways He communicates with us today is through His written Word as the Holy Spirit brings it to life in our hearts and minds.

The young Samuel learned this lesson when God called to him in the temple. At first, Samuel didn’t recognize God’s voice and kept running to Eli thinking the old priest had called him. But Eli wisely instructed Samuel in how to respond when God speaks.

1 Samuel 3:9-10: So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

Elijah also experienced God’s voice, but in a very different way. After the dramatic confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Elijah fled from Jezebel’s threats and became deeply discouraged. God met him at Mount Horeb and taught him to recognize the gentle way God often speaks to our hearts.

1 Kings 19:11-12: The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

God rarely speaks to us through dramatic signs and wonders today. More often, He speaks through the “gentle whisper” of His Spirit as we prayerfully read and meditate on His Word. The Holy Spirit takes the truths of Scripture and applies them specifically to our hearts, our circumstances, and our needs.

John 16:13: But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

This is why we should never rush through our Bible reading. We need to slow down, listen carefully, and give the Holy Spirit time to speak to us through the pages of Scripture.

Open My Heart

The third prayer we should bring to our Bible study is: “Open my heart to receive your truth.” It’s possible to read the Bible with our minds while our hearts remain closed to what God wants to teach us. We need open, receptive hearts that are ready to be changed by God’s truth.

The psalmist understood this principle when he wrote these beautiful words about hiding God’s Word in his heart:

Psalm 119:11: I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Notice that the psalmist didn’t just hide God’s Word in his memory—he hid it in his heart. There’s an important difference. When we memorize Scripture purely as an intellectual exercise, we may know the words without being changed by them. But when we hide God’s Word in our hearts, it becomes part of who we are and shapes how we think, feel, and act.

Psalm 119:97-98: Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies.

The heart represents the very center of our being—our emotions, our will, our deepest motivations. When we ask God to open our hearts, we are inviting Him to change us from the inside out. We are saying, “Lord, don’t just let me understand this truth with my mind. Let it sink deep into my heart and transform my life.”

This kind of heart response requires humility. We must come to God’s Word not as critics looking for flaws, but as students eager to learn. We must be willing to have our opinions challenged, our assumptions corrected, and our behavior changed.

James 1:21: Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Open My Mouth

The fourth prayer we should offer is: “Open my mouth to speak your praises.” When God reveals His truth to us through His Word, our natural response should be worship and praise. Scripture not only teaches us about God—it also teaches us how to approach Him in worship.

Jesus taught the Samaritan woman this important principle about true worship. She was confused about where and how people should worship God, but Jesus explained that the location matters less than the attitude of our hearts.

John 4:23-24: Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.

When we worship “in truth,” we worship God based on what Scripture reveals about His character, His works, and His ways. The more we understand God through His Word, the more meaningful our worship becomes.

The book of Psalms provides us with the perfect model for how Scripture should lead us to worship. The psalms teach us to praise God for His creation, His mighty works, His faithfulness, His love, and His justice. They show us how to bring our fears, our struggles, and our joys to God in honest prayer.

Psalm 103:1-4: Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.

(Notebook Moment: How has your understanding of God through Scripture enriched your worship and prayer life? What specific truths about God have made your praise more meaningful?)

When we pray “Open my mouth,” we are asking God to help us respond to His Word with appropriate worship, thanksgiving, and praise. This is also a prayer to speak God’s truth into the lives of those around us.

Open My Hands

The fifth and final prayer we should bring to our Bible study is: “Open my hands to share your love.” True Bible study never ends with personal blessing alone. When God teaches us through His Word, He expects us to share what we’ve learned with others and to live out His truth in practical ways.

James warns us about the danger of being hearers of the Word without being doers. It’s possible to know a great deal about the Bible without allowing it to change how we treat other people or how we live our daily lives.

James 1:22-24: Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

Our hands represent our actions, our service, our work. When we ask God to “open our hands,” we are committing ourselves to put His truth into practice. We are promising to let Scripture change not just our thoughts but also our behavior.

This means we should ask ourselves practical questions as we study God’s Word: How should this truth change the way I treat my family? How should this passage affect my attitude at work? What does this teaching tell me about how I should spend my money or use my time? How can I share this encouragement with someone who needs to hear it?

1 John 3:17-18: If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

The ultimate goal of Bible study is not just to increase our knowledge but to increase our love—love for God and love for others. When our study of Scripture makes us more loving, more generous, more patient, and more kind, then we know we are truly hearing and obeying God’s voice.

Conclusion

These five prayers—”Open my eyes, open my ears, open my heart, open my mouth, open my hands”—provide us with a simple but powerful framework for approaching God’s Word. When we come to Scripture with this kind of preparation, we position ourselves to receive everything God wants to teach us.

But this lesson on understanding the Bible is just the beginning of our journey together. As we continue through the Anywhere Bible College curriculum, we will have the opportunity to dive deeper into God’s Word through three major areas of study.

First, we will explore Bible Doctrine, where we will carefully examine what Scripture teaches about God, salvation, the church, and other essential truths. These lessons will help us build a strong foundation of biblical knowledge that will guide us throughout our lives.

Second, we will study the Old Testament, tracing God’s plan from creation through the promises to Abraham, the deliverance from Egypt, the establishment of Israel as a nation, and the prophetic preparation for the coming Messiah. These studies will show us how every part of the Old Testament points forward to Jesus Christ.

Third, we will examine the New Testament, seeing how Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament promises and how the early church spread the gospel throughout the known world. We will discover how the same Holy Spirit who empowered the apostles continues to work through believers today.

Finally, we will study Biblical Character, learning from the lives of men and women in Scripture how to live faithfully in both triumph and trial. These character studies will provide practical guidance for applying biblical principles to our daily lives.

(Notebook Moment: Which of these five prayers do you most need to focus on in your current season of life? How might developing this habit of prayer transform your relationship with God’s Word?)

Remember, the goal of all our study is not just to know more about the Bible, but to know God more intimately and to become more like Jesus Christ. As you continue in this curriculum, bring these five prayers with you to each lesson. Let them prepare your heart to receive all that God wants to teach you through His wonderful Word.

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