3 Features That Make Olive Tree The Best Bible Study App I've Found

How I study God’s word has changed through the years. For the longest time, it involved a hardback Bible, a journal, and a pen. I started using the Olive Tree Bible Study App as my primary study tool little over a year ago. Each morning I pull out my iPad, click on the little green app and off I go. Over that time several features have improved my learning of God’s word. I’d like to three of them with you.  

Create Notes To Capture What You’re Learning

Olive Tree allows you to create notes and pin them to specific verses. This feature has transformed how I study God’s word and is by far my favorite component of the Olive Tree app. I have immediate and uninterrupted access to all I’ve learned about God’s Word as I dive in and out of conversations throughout each day. If I read something that provides a special insight into a topic or passage I add it to a note. This one feature allows me access information and organizes my learning in a whole new way.

Highlighting Important Verses

One of the primary ways I study the Bible involves marking up the text. Utilizing different colors can be helpful as it allows you to see things at a glance. Every passage of scripture is teaching us something different. Making up each passage are groupings of verses with individual meanings and purposes. Some might be promises, others warnings, and so forth. The Olive Tree Bible Study App not only allows me to highlight these things in various colors but also recall them by color. For example, I can sort by purple and pull up all the promises I’ve highlighted in the Bible. Here is the highlighting key I use:
    
Purple = Promises
Green = Commands
Yellow = Noteworthy
Red = Things to avoid or guard against
Blue = Things of heaven or to imitate

Access Study Resources Within The App

Sometimes you need a little help understanding a passage or more information and context while studying. In these moments outside resources are helpful. This is where the strength of the Olive Tree app shines. You can access to different translations as well as hundreds of other resources including commentaries, maps, and dictionaries without leaving the app. You can even pull up the text and a study resource side by side in a split window. I love being able to immediately access tools that help me better understand a given passage. The Olive Tree resource library has been a real game changer.

Final Take

This is the best bible study tool I’ve found. You get so many features and benefits that you have a hard time believing it’s free. I use it each day and can’t imagine ever changing to a different app. It is simple, straightforward and powerful. The Olive Tree Bible Study app has transformed how I study and interact with God’s word and I couldn’t be more grateful. If you’re looking for a bible study app to help you learn more of the Bible, give this one a shot.  

5 Proven Steps That Will Transform Your Bible Study

Twitter might be a gigantic time waste to some but it changed my life. Several years ago I responded to a tweet from Brandon Barker who was on staff at The Village Church. He had asked if there were any men looking to be discipled. I quickly shot Brandon a reply and a few weeks later met Matt Hummel. Over the next year and a half Matt would fundamentally transform how I studied God's word. 

I knew daily bible reading was important and sought to make it a daily habit but wasn't always sure what to do when I opened my bible. I needed direction and help in going deeper in God's word, and Matt was who the Lord used to help me do so.

Each Monday we would gather around Matt's kitchen table to discuss what we read, the things that stood out and to learn a ton of new skills. Today I want to share a few of the tools I learned regarding studying the bible. I hope you find them as helpful as I did and that they help you swim deeper this year. 

1. Read the book all the way through several times.
2. Put together a broad outline of the book.
3. Study the background of the book. Think authorship, audience and purpose.
4. Observe the text. Ask yourself, "What do I see?"
   1. Underline all verbs
   2. Circle key words or phrases
   3. Highlight repeated words or phrases
   4. Box connecting words
   5. List primary themes
   6. Make at least two observations about what you're seeing in each verse
   7. Ask interpretive questions
5. Interpret the text.
   1. Use the context
   2. Compare multiple translations
   3. Look up keywords
   4. Study cross references
   5. Look up background information
   6. Tackle tough questions step by step
      1. List all the options
      2. List pros and cons for each option
      3. Choose the most likely option
      4. Decide on your certainty level

That year spent gathered around Matt's table is one I look back on with great fondness and am so grateful I had the opportunity to do. I learned a great deal as a result and can barely scratch the surface on the difference this approach to studying the bible has had in my life.

If you are looking to go deeper in God's word in 2016, I hope you apply these five steps to your study and that they serve as real game changers for you.

For additional resources I can not commend the bible study tools and resources produced by Grace Bible Church in College Station, TX strongly enough. They provide great instruction on how to develop the above skills. 

How To Read Your Bible & Get More Out Of It

Is one of your 2016 goals to read your bible more? You know its important but can't seem to find the time or develop the habit of daily reading. You're not alone. I talk to people all the time who desire to spend time reading God's word but for one reason or another can't make it happen. 

Not a Christian, I still commend reading the Bible to you. No other book has had such an impact upon the world. Its impact can not be overstated nor can the help it offers to every area of your life. Whether its your business, marriage, relationships or any other area of your life, the Bible offers you timeless help. 

But exactly how do you start? The Bible is after all quite large. Knowing where to begin and how to proceed can be confusing. 

In this post, I would like to share with you how I read the Bible. The tips I share aren't the only way to do it, but have served me well for sometime and therefore I commend them to you.

Set a time and a place

Over the years I have learned the hard lesson that what gets scheduled gets done and what doesn't get scheduled consequently doesn't get done. Create an appointment with yourself on your calendar for Bible reading and just like any other appointment establish a meeting place. These two steps are the foundation for developing a habit of Bible reading and will go a long way to helping it stick. 

Personally, I like to read the Bible first thing in the morning before my day has the opportunity to distract me. And just about every morning I read in the same place, my office. I am easily distracted so this is a nice quiet place I can shut the door and spend time in God's word before starting my day. 

Create a plan

Ok, so you've set a time and a place to read, but what will you actually read. Are you banking on the old flip and point method? I've used that one myself in the past, but have since come to find that like most areas of life a little planning ahead goes a long long way. 
    
Do you want to read a particular book of the Bible, a specific topic or do you want to read through the entire Bible in a year? Once you know what you want select a plan to guide you. It is great to create time and space in your schedule but you must have a plan for what you will do with this time. 
    
For daily Bible reading, I have found Join The Journey to be a great and helpful tool. If you're looking for a place to start, I'd reccomend giving it a look. There are also several other plans availible online for you to download and follow. Tim Challies has a list of several reading plans; Justin Taylor also has yet more options for you.  

Read with pen in hand

Just as I have reccomended reading other books with a pen in hand, it goes double for the Bible. The whole point of reading the Bible is to interact with what it says and have it inform your thoughts and ways. I can think of no better way to do this than to physically or electronicly mark up the text. Underline verses that stick out, circle paragraphs that you find especially impactful, and write notes in the margins.  
    
I do the majority of my Bible reading using the Olive Tree Bible Study App. I love this app for several reasons among which is the ability to highlight verses in different colors. This past year a good friend of mine encouraged me to use more than one color and I soon adopted the highlighting guide, below: 
    
Purple = Promises
Green = Commands
Yellow = Noteworthy
Pink = Things to avoid or guard against
Blue = Things of heaven or to imitate

You might benefit from using different colors or writing in the margins but whatever method you choose you will benefit greatly from interacting with the word of God and seeking to understand it more deeply. Track God's ideas after Him and see how it changes you in 2016. 

Capture what you're learning

It does you little good to read, and learn if you don't have some sort of a system to help you capture what you're learning. I don't know about you but I can't remember everything and need a little help from time to time. This is where a great note keeping app like Evernote or One Note can come in handy. Write down what you're learning. This archive of learning helps you retain far more of what you read. 

This is perhaps my favorite feature of the Olive Tree Bible Study App. It allows me to create and pin notes to particular verses. This is super helpful! If I'm reading and something stands out I can not only highlight it but pin a note to the verse about what I read, how it impacted me and have that note with me wherever I go. Whether you use an app like Evernote, OneNote or Olive Tree or simply a spiral notebook, figure out a way to capture what you are learning and reference it often. 

Involve other people

Just like a work out partner can come in handy at the gym, a group of people can come in handy with reading your Bible. They can encourage and hold you accountable and help you process what you are reading. When you know other people care and are going to check in with you, you tend to follow through more often. 

What does this look like for me? Well first and foremost, my wife is a huge encourager and helps me stay on track with reading God's word. We also have great conversations about what we each are studying throughout the week. I also talk reguarly with family and friends about what we are reading and how it is shaping us. 

You don't have to be married to involve others in your study of God's word. All you need is a few trusted people in your life that you can talk to and process with. Tell your friends what you are learning, discuss it with them and ask them to hold you accountable throughout the year. 

It is my hope that these quick tips are helpful as you seek to read your Bible this year and that doing so absolutely transforms your life.