Creative Faith: How Word Studies can Deepen your Relationship with God through His Word

What's in a word? A lot more than we realize, I think. When it comes to reading most anything, especially the Bible, a single word's context can change, deepen and shift the entire meaning that we get from what we've read. It's important to not just read it, but to actively read it. As in maybe get a pen and paper out and - WARNING: you may find rabbit holes. In fact, I'd bet you will. 

There are all kinds of ways to dive into word studies and verse mapping; with all of our different learning styles, something will fit for everyone. Here I'll show you a couple of ways I do mine. 

1. Verse Mapping 

•  Pray that God would show you what He wants you to know, would lead you to find what He wants to show you and would share with you what inspiration He'd like you to take forward. 
• With a verse map, you have a verse to start with. You might get this from your Verse of the Day in an app or e-mail you use or one you just find in your reading or in a devotional. 
• After you've written out the verse, underline or highlight some words that jump out to you. God will speak directly to you through His word, trust your gut. 
• Look in your Bible for any footnotes or cross references to other verses and look those up. If one or more jumps out at you, write it out and repeat the second step. 
• For the primary verse, write out "Who" (who is writing this?), "What" (what is the context/what is going on/what's the story?), "Where" (is there a specific location?), "Why" (what is the author trying to get across?) and "When" (when was this written?). Note that most of this information can be found by reading the preface to the Book the verse is in and by reading the verses before and after. 
• Next, for those words that jumped out at you - look up the meaning. Looking up the meaning even in English on a dictionary app like Merriam-Webster can offer so much insight in and of itself, but let's dive deeper. Was the writer Hebrew or Greek? Look up one or both of the meanings of those words - a website or app like Biblehub, Blue Letter Bible, etc. have dictionaries and concordances to reference. 
• Websites and apps also have commentary. While commentary is really just some man's opinion and you must use discernment as to whether or not the opinion is aligned with scripture, some really rich insights can come from looking at these. 
• Take all the notes and journal any insights, inspirations or thoughts that come to you throughout your study time. 

(P.S. I like to draw out a special box entitiled "Insights" to jot down anything that jumps out, that I'm reminded of, etc. during my study time.)

Your pages may be a mess - that's okay. God loves the time you spend with Him, so time digging through the word is time well spent!

2. Word study

Sometimes a word jumps out at me while I'm studying, doing a devotional or study, while I'm reading, creating, etc. I'm a true word nerd, so words are always coming at me in all kinds of ways. Starting with a word is a great way to begin a deep dive into scripture. 

• Pray. 
• Write down the word. Look it up in the dictionary of your language. 
• Look up what the word is in Hebrew and/or Greek. Pick one or pick both, whatever strikes you. Easiest way to choose is to choose the language of origin. 
• Hop onto one of the Bible apps or websites listed above and type the word into Strong's Concordance - a long page of meanings, cross references and commentary should pop up. 
• Write out the meaning, as well as other words and ideas that are synonymous with the main word. In Hebrew specifically, a single word means so many things! Words are broad ideas in the Hebrew culture, making context of use crucial! 
• Look through verses where the word is used - write out any that jump out at you. 
• Look up the verses you noted and notice any commentary, footnotes or other "extras" are there for you. 
• As with any study, save space to write down any insights that come to you during your study time. 

I absolutely LOVE my time with God, in His word, and I love the deep dives He inspires me to do with verses, words and ideas that He gives to me. Beginning these studies a few years ago has deepened my relationship with God so much and has given so much more understanding of how infinite He is, as well as has inspired me in so many ways. 

Recently, I've also added some "Creative Word Studies" to my repertoire and I'll be sharing some of those with you, as well as all of the Bible journaling I've been doing. If that's what you're into, check out all of my Creative Faith posts here!

Be blessed, my friend! I pray that this has somehow inspired you to dig deep and grow closer to Him through His word!