Let’s face it: studying the Bible can be intimidating, especially if you aren’t very familiar with the Bible or you haven’t read it much. But studying the Bible is a worthwhile effort, even if you need to spend some time reflecting on why you’re studying the Bible to begin with! Christians find plenty of reasons to not study their Bibles, but if you take some intentional steps, you can make the most of your Bible study.
Deciding which Bible is right for you is a personal decision, and it’s okay to indulge your preferences when it comes to the translation and type of Bible you would like to use for your study. In fact, it doesn’t even matter where you start reading the Bible, as long as you actually start reading it.
In fact, if you haven’t considered it before, you would be wise to take some time and pray before you begin studying the Bible. God can enlighten you through His Holy Spirit and help you understand concepts or passages you may not understand on your own.
If you’re setting out on digging into God’s Word for the first time, or even if you’re a seasoned student of the Bible, it can be helpful to have some Bible study supplies to help you highlight, track, and otherwise enhance your study of the Bible. Here are five Bible study supplies you may find help you more diligently study God’s Word.
1. High quality highlighters
Without a doubt, one of the most common ways you’ll want to engage with the Bible during your Bible study is by highlighting verses that the Lord uses to speak to you during your Bible reading time.
Of course, some Bible readers prefer to underline verses, and that’s fine. But if you find yourself wanting a more colorful way to keep track of Bible verses as you read, finding good highlighters needs to be an important part of your Bible study strategy.
Mr. Pen highlighters are some of the most popular Bible study highlighters available on Amazon, and they come at a good price, too. As of the time of writing this article, you can get eight pastel highlighters for $6.99—that’s less than a dollar per highlighter!
Like we’ll mention again with pens below, it is incredibly important that you find no-bleed highlighters for your Bible highlighting needs. Because Bible pages are often quite thin, you’ll want to be sure to get no-bleed highlighters to keep your highlights on one page from being highlights on the other side of the paper, too!
Here are some highlighters on Amazon that would work well for highlighting in Bible study:
- Mr. Pen- Aesthetic Cute Pastel Highlighters Set, 8 pcs, Chisel Tip, Candy Colors, No Bleed Bible Assorted Colors ($6.99)
- Mr. Pen No Bleed Gel Highlighter, Bible Highlighters, Assorted Colors, Pack of 8 ($7.99)
- DIVERSEBEE Bible Highlighters and Pens No Bleed, 8 Pack Assorted Colors Gel Highlighters Set ($8.99)
2. Bible tabs
Are you new to studying the Bible or reading it at all? Perhaps you’ve even been reading your Bible for a long time, but you always have trouble keeping track of which books of the Bible are where, especially among the prophets of the Old Testament or the letters of Paul in the New Testament.
If you have trouble keeping track of books of the Bible, you should consider outfitting your Bible with tabs! Bible tabs are a wonderful tool that help you keep track of books of the Bible.
Bible tabs are especially helpful if you’re jumping around to different books of the Bible as you read. It’s much easier to bop back and forth between books of the Bible when you have Bible tabs than it is when you don’t.
There are, of course, tons of options for Bible tabs out there. Here are some of the most popular and fairly priced on Amazon:
- Mr. Pen- Bible Tabs, 75 Tabs, Boho Theme, Laminated Bible Tabs for Women and Men ($6.99)
- Tabbies Mini Gold-Edged Bible Indexing Tabs, Old & New Testament ($4.54)
- Bible Index Tabs New & Old Testament Tabs Matte Laminated Floral Design – 121 Pcs (Floral) ($4.99)
3. Sticky notes and flags
Maybe you’re the kind of Bible reader who doesn’t want to mark up your Bible to affix Bible tabs to keep track of the 66 books of the Bible. That’s all good! But, if you find you would still like to take notes on various passages of Scripture and keep track of certain pages or passages, you have a great option in sticky notes and flags.
Here are a bunch of options:
- Mr. Pen- Transparent Sticky Notes, 200 pcs, Pastel Colors, See Through Sticky Notes ($5.99)
- Transparent Sticky Notes with Pearlescent 600 Pcs, 12 Pads ($5.79)
- Yaopeing 1000 Sheets Pastel Transparent Sticky Notes ($8.99)
4. No-bleed pens
Are you more of an underliner than a highlighter when it comes to wanting to mark a passage of Scripture (or any other book) that you’d like to remember and return to later? That’s understandable!
Perhaps you even have a journaling Bible that has lines in the margins for you to take notes as you read. Those are more popular than ever, and having a great pen makes those Bibles even more enjoyable.
Like with highlighters, you will want to be sure to purchase and use pens for Bible study that do not bleed through the thin pages of your Bible. Otherwise you may find it hard to read the text on the other side of the page where you’ve written or underlined.
Here are some no-bleed pen recommendations:
- Taotree 24 Fineliner Color Pens, Fine Line Colored Sketch Writing Drawing Pens for Journaling ($8.99)
- Mr. Pen- Fineliner Pens, 0.2 mm, 6 Pack, Ultra Fine, No Bleed, Bible Pens ($5.99)
- Writech Journaling Pens Set, Includes 4 Retractable Highlighters, 4 Retractable Gel Ink Pens, and 4 Brush Pens, No Bleed Assorted Colors, 12-Count ($18.49)
5. Journals
We could recommend plenty of other kinds of Bible study supplies here, but we’ll stop with journals. Of course, journals that are specifically for prayer and Bible study abound, but perhaps you should consider starting with something a bit simpler as you begin your Bible study. Sometimes Bible or prayer journals can provide prompts that are helpful but also may keep you from writing down the thoughts the Lord brings to your mind as you read.
Having a blank page open as you study invites you to reflect and respond to God as He speaks to you through His word. Here are a few recommendations, depending on the kind of journal you think you would prefer.
- Moleskine Cahier Journal, Soft Cover, Large ($19.69)
- LEUCHTTURM1917 – Notebook Hardcover Medium A5-251 Numbered Pages for Writing and Journaling ($22.95)
- Yansanido Spiral Notebook, 4 Pcs 8.3 Inch x 5.9 Inch A5 Thick Plastic ($11.99)
You Can’t Go Wrong!
No matter whether you buy a bag-full of supplies like the ones we’ve listed here or you do nothing but open your Bible and ask God to speak to you through it, you really can’t go wrong when you set out to read, meditate on, and study God’s Word.
Let’s be clear: you certainly don’t need any of the resources we’ve pointed you toward in this article to have a fruitful time reading the Bible. But if you’re new to reading the Bible and/or you find yourself getting distracted when you read without highlighting, sticky-noting, or otherwise interacting with the text, these Bible study supplies may be helpful for you as you engage the Scriptures.
This article originally appeared at BibleToLife.com
