30 Benefits of Bible Study

I recently spoke to a church in Savannah and took a deep dive into what God tells us are benefits of Bible study. To say I was blown away is an understatement. I saw again that God’s Word is to our spirit what blood is to our body.

Scripture renews us, energizes us and sustains us.

If you’d like to supercharge your Bible reading, take a look at what God says about the benefits of Bible study and the questions I’ve been asking myself.

30 benefits of Bible Study 

1.God’s Word convicts of sin.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Am I regularly letting God call me to repentance through His Word?

2. God’s Word warns of sin.

Moreover by them is your servant warned. (Psalm 19:11)

Do I heed the warning of scripture or do I have to learn the hard way?

3. God’s Word stirs up faith for salvation.

So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

Am I reading the Bible for head knowledge or heart change?

4. God’s Word makes us wise for salvation.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:14-15)

Am I counting on religion or tradition to save me? Do I know the grace of God through faith?

5. God’s Word sanctifies us.

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17)

God wants me to be holy, as He is holy. Am I regularly letting scripture chisel me?

6. God’s Word matures us.

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation… (1 Peter 2:2)

Am I depending on 30-character social media quotes to feed me spiritually? Am I depending on faith-based books OR digging into the Word itself?

7. God’s Word sets us free.

So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Do I actively seek God and freedom from patterns of sin through His Word?

8. God’s Word equips us for every God-ordained task.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Do I count on God’s Word or my own strength to equip me for God-sized tasks?

9. God’s Word teaches us, exposes our sin, corrects us and trains us for godliness.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness… (2 Timothy 3:16)

Do I regularly allow God to correct, teach, rebuke and train me through His Word?

10. God’s Word builds us up.

Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32)

How has God’s Word built me up this last week? This last month? This last year?

11. God’s Word guides us.

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

What voice do I make loudest? God’s or something else?

12. God’s Word gives us wisdom.

The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. (Psalm 19:7)

Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. (Psalm 119:98-100)

Do I go to God’s word for wisdom and insight before phoning a friend?

13. God’s Word protects us from sin.

How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. (Psalm 119:9)

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

Do I think scripture memory is just for kids?

14. God’s Word brings delight.

The statues of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart. (Psalm 19:8)

When circumstances or emotions are bringing me low, do I let God’s Word lift my head?

15. God’s Word is at work in believers.

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

If I accept all this about God’s Word, am I letting it do deep heart work in me?

16. God’s Word is our offensive weapon against Satan.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:17)

Am I trying to fight temptation in my own strength? Have I given up on fighting certain temptations because it’s too hard to fight on my own?

17. God’s Word destroys Satan’s lies.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus rebuked him each time with scripture. (Matthew 4:1-11) 

Do I recognize the lies the enemy feeds me? Do I know those lies are against God and do I take them captive to truth? What am I actively doing today to counter the lies Satan will feed me tomorrow?

18. God’s Word destroys strongholds.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:4)

When I’m battling a stronghold, do I pray scripture and use scripture to help demolish it?

19. God’s Word gives us hope.

My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word. (Psalm 119:81)

You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. (Psalm 119:114)

I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. (Psalm 130:5)

Is my hope wishy-washy, depending on my emotions and circumstances or is my hope anchored in God’s Word that reveals His character and promises?

20. God’s Word brings us comfort.

I remember, Lord, your ancient laws, and I find comfort in them. (Psalm 119:52)

Where am I turning for comfort? How is that working for me?

21. God’s Word strengthens us.

My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word. (Psalm 119:28)

Am I turning to anything else to give me a fix when I’m weary from my tasks, responsibility, difficulty?

22. God’s Word anchors us because it’s unchanging.

Your word, LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. (Psalm 119:89)

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever. (Isaiah 40:8)

Am I influenced by changing culture or am I anchored in God’s unchanging word?

23. God’s Word brings us through difficulty.

Had your word not been my delight I would have perished in my affliction. (Psalm 119:92)

Am I processing the trials and difficulty in my life through the lens of God’s Word?

24. God’s Word helps us bear good fruit. 

But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. (Matthew 13:23)

How is the soil of my heart? Rocky, thorny or tilled and ready to receive?

25. Obedience to God’s Word brings blessing.

Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. (Psalm 11:1-2)

But He [Jesus] said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” (Luke 11:28)

Am I a hearer only of sermons, teaching and Bible study? Or am I a doer of God’s Word?

26. God’s Word will achieve His purpose.

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

Do I let scripture align my will to God’s?

27. God’s Word is powerful.

“Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? (Jeremiah 23:29)

Am I box-checking my Bible study or anticipating a powerful, God-breathed Word to me?

28. God’s Word is complete.

God’s way is perfect. All the LORD’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. (Psalm 18:30)

Am I adding my personal opinion or skipping what doesn’t appeal to me in Bible reading?

29. God’s Word is flawless.

As for God, his way is perfect: The LORD’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. (2 Samuel 22:31)

Do I trust that God’s Word is infallible and obey even if I don’t fully understand?

30. God’s Word never fails.

Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. (1 Kings 8:56) 

For no word from God will ever fail. (Luke 1:37)

What promise do I need to count on today from scripture? 

The benefits of Bible study are incredible. Scripture is life and nourishment to us as believers, and meant to help us thrive as we walk out the life of faith. 

God has a feast for us. May we not pass it by, but pull our chair up to the table regularly to feed our soul.