Bible Study Resource Binder (pictures!)

 Are you looking for a way to keep your Bible notes and Bible study information organized?  I created a binder of Bible study reference helps for myself and maybe you can find some helpful tips and ideas.

I was searching Pinterest and the Internet for the longest time for ideas of what to put in a study or reference book for myself.  I found a few examples but I was frustrated at not finding what I wanted as far as content and information.  I spent many hours thinking about what to do!  I had so many ideas on so many sticky notes and somehow needed to get them organized and then really decide what I wanted to do.  There are many pictures on Pinterest of pretty inside covers and pockets and dividers with stickers and cute paper clips and bookmarks (which I love!) but no ideas as to specific content of what people were doing.  I still seek out ideas but I decided to make my own.  I may move some content to other binders as my needs change, but I think this basic format is going to not only be helpful to keep me organized but help me to be focused on God, my study about knowing Him, and growing my faith. 

Do you name your binders?  People name their cars, so why not?  A gal I know had cheekily named a collection of her planners so I wanted to do that, too.  Meet Olivia, a Carpe Diem A5 size planner in Teal.  She is my "Loving My Bible" binder.

 Can you see those tabs? I'll tell you what's in them below. They are:

Helps
Book Summaries
Chapter Summaries
Daily Scripture Writing
Treasure Box
Hymns - Lyrics

Helps   

This section contains a chronological listing of the books of the Bible that I typed up .  I've also put a printout of the books in chronological order.  This format is a good visual representation for me.  You can find charts like this by searching the Internet for "Bible books in chronological order."  

I know there are other timelines out there but a project I would like to do someday is to map out the entire Old Testament with the books, dates, authors, judges, kings, prophets, and major happenings. I am sure I would have to print it all out and do some Scotch taping and folding to get it to fit in a small binder!  Haha

Also in this section is a Hebrew language alphabet and a Greek language alphabet.  You can find these also by doing a search and you can find these sorts of alphabet listings with either basic or extensive information.  Did you know that each Hebrew letter is actually a word?  Fascinating!  #BibleNerd

Book Summaries  

I made these printouts myself taking the information from a study Bible I have.  This took me a few months of concentrated work!  You can find much of this sort of information in any good study Bible or online; I just typed and formatted all the information I wanted into a MS Word document.  I have more information to fill out on these, but I got every book finished.  It has been so rewarding to be able to put my hands on this sort of information from one spot.  Sixty-six pages of information on half-sheets of paper sure beats carrying around four or five big study Bibles full of information.

Chapter Summaries

Another project I have done over a period of time was typing up the chapter headings of each chapter of each Bible book.  My NASB has these chapter headings -even paragraph headings- but I am not sure if every Bible printed has them.  These give even more specific information as to what is in each chapter.  Here's an example from a few New Testament books:

If ever I'm in a Bible study or with friends talking Bible Talk and someone wonders where a specific story or information is in, like "in which chapter in Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth does he talk about the Lord's Supper?" I can look here and see that he talks about it in chapter 11.  Not only can I be helpful in that way but I can become even more familiar with where specific subjects and topics are in the Bible.  I'm trying to commit more information like this to memory and I hope this resource will help me do that.

Daily Scripture Writing (DSW)

The next little section is a year's worth of Bible verses that I had put together in 2021.  A few dear friends of mine wanted to write more Scripture on a daily basis so I put together monthly plans on different themes for us.  I have been writing Scripture every day this year and I have found it to be so rewarding.  I can focus on a certain theme each month and see how much the Bible speaks to it--about thirty verses each month.  Sometimes the writing is one verse and sometimes it is a few verses, depending on the specific passage.  If there are more verses for a day, it helps me with the context.  Here is one of my favorite collections from April 2021: I plan on typing them up in 2022 but for many months I simply hand wrote the list.

  I purchased a 2021 Happy Planner for this project and filled in each day with the verse for the day.  Like this:

I plan on doing next year's 2022 DSW in another A5 binder; I will tell you about that adventure next month.  By the way, I plan on sharing each month's verses here on this blog, if you're interested.  Look for January's list near the end of December.  February 2022 will be shared at the end of January, and so on.  I hope you'll join me in the daily practice of writing out Scripture--I really enjoy it!

Treasure Box

My next little section is my listing of my favorite Scriptures.  I have found these verses one by one after many years of sermons and Bible studies and they have come to mean a lot to me.  They are a reminder of my journey so far and a reminder me keep my faith focused.  I have typed out some and some are handwritten.  I even made a sort of a listing for them #ListerGirl that I am.  Most pages look something like this:  of course, I added washi tape and various stickers to these pages.  Do you have a Scripture Treasure Box of meaningful verses?

Hymns - Lyrics

I grew up going to church.  Dad was an elder, Mom led congregational worship, and they both taught Bible classes.  So I have a few favorite hymns.  I love the choral music and I love the #truth in the lyrics of these songs.  I pulled a few from the hymnals I have and made a section for them.  These pages are not really "resources" but they contain so much and they have played a role in the forming of my faith in my younger years.  I also have lyrics from more contemporary worship songs in this section.  

I have other binders with other information related to Scripture and my faith.  Those are future posts so stay tuned, if you'd like.  I know many of you have different binders and notebooks that you use to study the Bible and grow your faith.

Grace and peace to you....

EDITED 12.31.21

I recently completed a study/listing of all the Chapter 3 Verse 16 verses from the Bible.   I just went book by book and copied out the verses.  Not only was it a good discipline but I had never read them in this sort of way.  If the book did not have a "3:16" verse, I just put a series of dashes and a slash so I know there is not one in that particular book.  Some books (like Obadiah and Philemon) have only one chapter, so if there was a "verse 16" I added that under the book name.  

Up next:  all the Chapter 1, Verse 9 verses!  #StayTuned