You have been passionately studying God’s word for a long time and you are ready to start a Bible study!
The love that you have for God’s word has filled your soul and you want to invest the overflow into the hearts of other hungry Christ followers.
I totally understand!
When I started being filled with revelation from God’s word, I could not stop talking about it!
I would create Bible studies for my family and practically explode from the excitement of sharing what God put on my heart!
An opportunity came eventually for me to teach a Bible study, as an event, at a local senior living community.
I was so excited!
Not because I’m a qualified scholar or a renown theologian…
I rejoiced because I had a passion for God’s word, and couldn’t wait to share that with people who may not yet know the power and beauty of it.
With no degrees and no achievements that would qualify me to teach, based on society’s standards, I stepped into this new opportunity!
I was nervous as I approached my students.
A room full of Christians who were two generations ahead of me.
The heavy feeling of intimidation melted away when I let God take over and class began.
In that moment, I knew that I would love to teach God’s word for the rest of my life.
“For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;”.Proverbs 2:6 NKJV.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”James 1:5 NKJV.
I told you this story for the purpose of introducing the very first thing that you will need to know, before you start a Bible study…
You need to understand that God gives wisdom and understanding,
not professors or scholars.
God does use teachers to lead people to knowledge, but the teacher is not greater than the knowledge that they are teaching.
We want to become teachers, so I certainly don’t encourage you to keep yourself from instruction.
I wanted to mention this because I know that the greatest hurdle that stands in the way of you starting a Bible study, is the idea that you are not educated enough to teach God’s word.
Once you understand that God is the giver of all knowledge and wisdom, you won’t feel unqualified to teach others what you have learned.
The power was never in how many theological questions that you can answer or how much information about God that you have stored…
The power is in God’s word!
When you allow God to lead you by His word, and you begin to long for an opportunity to share what He taught you with others, you don’t need a degree to prove it.
God is pretty well known for using unqualified people to do incredible things for His Kingdom.
So, don’t believe that your impact is only as good as your qualifications or worldly accomplishments.
God doesn’t want to send on mission, those who try to do it on their own…
He wants to work through those who are willing to let Him lead them wherever He needs them to go.
You don’t have to be qualified in worldly standards,
You only have to be available for God to work with.
Now that we have established that you can teach God’s word, let’s move on to the next step:
Who are you going to teach?
Maybe it’s just your family for now, or a group of friends that you met at church.
You may not start with a dozen people but God will grow your study group as He grows you!
One day, you could be teaching a Bible study with hundreds of people in attendance; however, it’s important that you honor God with all of your heart even if you’re only sharing God’s word with one person.
“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, …”Zechariah 4:10 NLT.
“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?”Luke 16:10-12 NKJV.
Teach what God has put on your heart, to one person, as diligently and seriously as you would teach an arena of students!
Finally, the last step towards teaching a Bible study!
What should you teach?
This is the most important question that you must ask yourself, yet the most simple question to answer!
Just teach people what God has taught you or what He is currently teaching you.
You can plan every session based on each revelation that God gave you in the past, or you can choose a certain book of the Bible to study.
I truly don’t think you should stress about what you should teach.
It keeps your mind focused on pleasing people instead of teaching your students.
I encourage you to seek God for guidance on what He wants you to learn, and then teach your students what God revealed to you.
Pray always!
Seek God in prayer and ask Him to put on your heart not only what you need to learn, but also what your students need to learn.
God will lead you to learn exactly what you will need to teach.
Remember,
God is the giver of wisdom, understanding and knowledge!
Don’t start to think that you need to have every lesson planned out nor be afraid that you will run out of knowledgeable things to teach your students.
This will distract you from the most important aspect of your Bible study:
Sharing what God has taught you.
If you remember this, your Bible study will be fruitful…
God is the guide of your Bible study.
He will lead your Bible study!
He is the one who gives all wisdom, so the pressure to give your students revelation, is not on you.
You don’t need to give your class goosebumps every time you share God’s word, you only need to be obedient to God.
He will teach your students!
You are only expected to continually learn from God, share His word and trust in Him to lead you and your students.
Your lessons should always be an overflow of what God is filling you with!
Rejoice in God’s word and you will see that joy flow through your teaching!
I will be praying for you, as you step out into teaching a Bible study!
If you have more questions, or if you want to share your teaching journey with me, feel free to DM us on Instagram!
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
