I want to know God's Word. I want to know not only what it says, but how it applies to my life. Therefore, it has been a long-term goal of mine to know one point from every chapter in the Old Testament and three points from every chapter in the New Testament. In order to do this, I decided I needed to get organized. So I made up a set of outline worksheets, one for each book of the Bible, that would allow me to do this in an organized way over a period of time.
When studying the Old Testament, try the following, using the outline worksheets below to help you record what you learn in your study. Read each chapter, then summarize the chapter in a word or a few words. Write it in the "Minor Topic" column. This will help you remember "what" is in the chapter.
Then ask yourself "Why did God put this chapter in the Bible?" "What do I learn about God from this chapter that should change my life or the lives of others?" or "What verse would be a good one to memorize?" Write this in the "Lesson" column. Answering these questions will move you beyond studying the Bible academically or reading it as a novel. It will help you apply it to your life, and it will help you know where to turn to help others when they have questions or needs in their lives.
Every time you complete a chapter, write the date in the "Date" column to help you see your own progress in your study.
Whenever there seems to be a major transition between one set of chapters and another, draw a horizontal line in the "Major Topic" column separating the two sets of chapters. Think about the things in common between the chapters in each set. Then summarize this in a word or a few words and write it in the "Major Topic" column. Hopefully, you will have between two and seven sets of chapters that make up the book. This will help you understand the structure of the book.
When you are finished with a book, try to summarize the entire book in a word or a few words. Then when someone asks you, "What is that book about?" you will have an answer. This will also help you see how the different books in the Bible fit together and relate to each other.
When studying the New Testament, do the same as for studying the Old Testament. However, the outline worksheets below additionally allow room for three sub-topics in each chapter and three lessons from each chapter instead of only one.
Again, the goal of this is that you will know what is in the Bible and also that you will be able to apply it to your life and put it into practice.