Pray before you read...ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in the word.  With the Spirit of God in you, every read brings about new meaning and peace.  Know that the Bible is the sword of the Spirit...it is truth, every word is God's.  It should be the number one book you consider; and the number one book you trust.

Consider God your Father (Dad)...as He instructs you in His Will, which will bring peace to your life.  The Spirit is gentle, patient and full of compassion...God is love; so see the love He has for us through His words...

May God grant you peace and joy as you discover the beauty of His love!

I also have been using blue letter bible since about 2006. It has easy tools to use to break down passages into the root Greek or Hebrew word to give a better understanding of a particular passage within a context. I used to sweat over concordances and lexicons before I found this website, now I use it for my studies exclusively.

Aside from that I am like the op mentioned, pretty straight forward and obvious in my techniques in study. I simply read, over and over again. I have had a pretty nasty lapse since this past May, but I have began again the journey again through the NT. I find if I am intimately familiar with the Word of God, doctrine just comes naturally.

Bless you all in your studies.

Spend uninterrupted time in it, such as reading Isaiah in one sitting.  do this with all the books.  Do this repeatedly.  And this will give you an overall grasp. Yet it won't give you spiritual insight, per se, as that comes only from the Lord.  There is no shortcut to wisdom.  I spent years studying Greek, and yet I find that there are many with an incredible grasp of Greek that far surpasses my own.  When it comes right down to it, I know little of it technically.  Yet in the studies over the years, all the scholars that I've seen, you can see their personal bent as they interpret and then translate, even regarding the basic meanings of individual words.  Yet I thoroughly enjoy sitting back and seeing others give their knowledge.  Some of it I can't agree with, but often hold my tongue, for I might very well be wrong, and it is proper to hold one's peace and keep silent, preferring others in this.

I think that an overall grasp of the Word is lacking in the church, from what I've seen.  For many years now, I've gone through the bible about 10 to 15 times a year, usually at up to 8 hours at a time.  I find that this gives an overall, continuous, intertwined understanding of it that isn't often had.  My kids love going through Ex, Num, and Deut, for it facinates them as they see the heart of God and spiritual truths come alive that are throughout the rest of the Word.  They'd just as soon keep reading after 3 or 4 pages, but time runs out before I have to head out for work.  I wasn't this way as a kid, by any means.  I didn't have a parent that loved the Lord so much that they spent so many hours a day in His Word, even though they spent about 2 hours a day in it and were both graduates of bible college.  The passion makes a difference, I think, and it is also contagious, I think.  It all comes from the Lord.  "Ask, and it shall be given to you". 


And some are gifted in this sort of thing, such as Greek and Hebrew, and in working through doctrine and such.  Others aren't.  Yet all are equally important to the body of Christ.  It is good to pursue these things, challenging ourselves to be better and capable in many different spiritual things, as the Lord is worthy of this.  Let us be wary of burrying our "talents".  God expects much more than He has given to us.

If you want more faith and wisdom and understanding spiritually, then look to what the Lord said:

(Luk 17:5)  And the apostles said to the Lord, Give us more faith.

(Luk 17:6)  And the Lord said, If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this sycamine tree, Be rooted up and be planted in the sea! And it would obey you.

(Luk 17:7)  But which of you who has a servant plowing or feeding will say to him immediately after he has come from the field, Come, recline?

(Luk 17:8)  Will he not say to him, Prepare something so that I may eat, and gird yourself and serve me until I eat and drink. And afterward you shall eat and drink.

(Luk 17:9)  Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.

(Luk 17:10)  So likewise you, when you shall have done all the things commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants, for we have done what we ought to do.

Get out there and share your faith constantly.  Do works for the Lord.  Spend much private time with Him, as the spiritual things are spiritually discerned, and solely so, or the carnal mind can grasp them without needing God.  Spend much time in talking and listening to God Himself.  I find that a few hours talking back and forth with God goes by so, so fast, it seems like just a few minutes.  It's truly amazing.  Spend much time in the bible.  Time flies when you're having fun!  Bible study is to be 'a deux' -- just two of you, between you and God.  Then get together and share what you've learned, so that others can correct or give further input, or be encouraged and challenged, etc..  We are spiritual batteries: if you keep taking in more than you give out, you will become powerless.

And then believe it as it is straightforward stated in the Word.

Sorry for rambling on.

I like all the posts about the Spirit needing to guide us in understanding, or we are amiss.  What a critical truth it is.

I just close my eyes, ask God to lead me to the passage He wants, then open the bible and place my finger somewhere on the page.  I open my eyes and see what's up from God!  No problem until one time it rested on "liars, thieves, murderers".  Oooh.  Not nice.  So I did asked again to be led, and came to "Judas went and hanged himself".  So I asked to be led again, and opened to "go and do thou likewise".  Getting a bit frustrated and almost a little flustered, I tried it one last time, pleading with God to direct me in it!  This time I came to the words "think not".  Aaahhh.  Peace of mind finally!  I'm sure that I can fit in almost anywhere doing that.   

Entering into discussion here is a good learning tool. I have learned a lot from being wrong many times!

I second Charles' suggestion about Blue Letter Bible.  It's an excellent resource.

Doing word studies greatly helps with Bible reading comprehension.  If you're in BLB, click on the "C."  It will show all the Greek words in the verse.  Now, whatever word you want to look at, just click on the number to the side of the word.  It will give bring you to a page with everything you need to make a good word study.

First, read the dictionary definitions. 

Second, scroll down.  There's a list of all the verses in the Bible that use this word.  Look at how the word is used through the rest of the Bible.  I find this much more helpful in getting a sense of the word than just reading the definition.

Third, look at the list of ways that the word is translated into English.  Then, next time you see one of those words in your normal reading, you'll be able to connect it to your word study.

Finally, click on the root word(s) near the upper right and do 1 & 3 for those words.  That will give you a good sense of other words in both Greek, and in your Bible, that this word is related to.  This is surprisingly helpful at connecting the dots in other verses.

Jarrod