The Writer’s Study Method
a new way of writing God’s Word onto your heart—one question, one verse, one line at a time
Have you ever opened your Bible and not felt what you wanted to feel?
You know it's God's Word. You know it's alive. But some days—especially the heavy ones—it feels like you're reading someone else's mail. The verses don't land. The comfort doesn't come. And all the well-meant advice to "just pray about it" starts to sound like static.
I’ve been there.
In fact, that’s where every book I write begins. Not with clarity or confidence, but with an ache. With panic. With questions that won’t let me go.
So I became an author.
Bet you didn’t expect that did you? But really, this method is based on my own hunger and searching. So I thought, why not share this self-same method with you now, hoping that maybe it will be the answer to the static you sometimes feel when you open up your Bible and attempt to read it.
I call it The Writer’s Study Method. And no, you don’t have to be a writer to use it. You just have to be hungry. Desperate, even. Willing to chase the Word until it speaks.
So, let me show you how it works.
Step 1: Invite God to Speak
This is the most important part. Before you start, you pray.
Here’s a great prayer I like to use. It can get you started:
Dear God, Thank You for living in me. Remind me that You are my strength, my teacher, and the One growing Your life in me. Help me crave Your Word—not just to understand it, but to be changed by it. Forgive me for the times I’ve tried to grasp Scripture with my own strength or intellect. Teach me to listen with my spirit, not just my mind. As I read, help me slow down. Wait. Receive.
Make this time with You alive and full of power.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Not just "God, help me understand this," but: God, meet me here. Break this open. Tell me what You want me to know. I’m listening.
Then, sometimes I journal. But always, I expect Him to speak—and He does.
Step 2: Start With the Ache
Next, start with the ache. Don’t start with a workbook or a topic someone else picked. Start with what’s eating at you.
One day, I was feeling really rejected. Not in a "someone disagreed with me" kind of way, but in a "why does no one seem to like me" kind of one. I didn’t want platitudes. I didn’t want someone else's answers. I wanted to know what God was saying about my feelings of rejection.
So I looked up Bible verses about rejection. I scanned the results. A few were familiar. One hit me hard. I wrote it down.
Step 3: Let One Verse Be the Gateway
You don’t need twenty verses. You need one that pierces.
The one that stood out? I studied it in context. I read the chapter around it. I asked: Who was this written to? What was happening? What was God really saying?
Then I looked up the original language meaning of the word, not because I’m fluent—I’m not—but because I wanted to smell the aroma and taste the goodness of every word.
I also read the same verse in a few different translations. I wanted to hear how the translators thought the word should sound to an English reader and compare those thoughts.
Step 4: Follow the Trail
Each thought that brings the words to life, I write. Memories stir. Songs rise. Other verses come to mind. I follow them. I look them up. I chase the trail, not like a scholar, but like a starving woman gathering crumbs.
It becomes a beautiful rabbit trail of Spirit-led discovery.
Before long, I find myself with a string of insights. I start organizing them by topic in my journal.
The rejection of Jesus.
Human rejection.
Family rejection.
People Pleasing
My security in Christ.
And what began as a verse becomes a study. What began as a cry becomes a chapter. Sometimes it becomes a book. But even when it doesn’t, it always becomes something that changes me.
Step 5: Write It Down (Even If No One Reads It)
This is key. Don't just read. Write. Not to show anyone. Not to teach. But to hold on to what you've just found. Write like you’re writing the book you wish existed when you were hurting. You might be the only person who ever reads it. That’s okay. It will still matter.
So here’s your invitation:
Next time you open your Bible, don’t just look for what someone else wants to show you. Start with your need, your question, your wonder. Let that lead you. Let one verse speak. Chase it down. Write what you find.
There exists both a holy invitation and a sacred responsibility to seek Him with all your heart—to love Him with all your mind and to make Him your first pursuit. This is how we come alive. This is how the Word becomes more than words.
The Bible study you need today might not exist yet. But it could. And maybe you’re the one who needs to write it—even if only for yourself.
If the Bible study you need doesn’t exist, make your own—grasping in the dark, where every verse is a rope, not a rule, and every lesson a lifeline.