It is so clear that reading and studying the scriptures is something that the Lord definitely wants us to do. But for so many of us, it's hard. It's overwhelming. We're not sure we're doing it right. We're not sure we're getting anything out of it. Well, that's where I come in. I'm Cindy Young, and this is Primarily Scripture. I am here to teach you easy techniques that even primary age children can do to take your scripture study up to the next level. If you followed me in past seasons, you know that I create free worksheets that follow the Come Follow Me study schedule for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And in prior years, this podcast has used those worksheets specifically to study the scriptures. Well this year, I'm changing it up. Never fear - the worksheets are still there! You can find them no strings attached, free on my website, PrimarilyScripture.com. But this podcast is not gonna follow the worksheets per se. What I'm gonna do is we're gonna focus on universal study techniques that can be used no matter what scripture you are studying. Each month we'll have a topic or a theme, and then we'll break it up week by week and dive in deep to help you out. So this month we are starting off with the theme, "So You've Decided to Study Your Scriptures - Now What?" We're going to cover what to read, how much to read, when should you study for the very best results, paper versus digital, and so much more. We will have a new topic in February and March, and each subsequent month. For now, let's dive in. So we're gonna start off by talking about what you should be studying. Now if you follow the Come Follow Me schedule, then that means this year we're studying the Old Testament. What if you're interested in branching out into other scriptures, or maybe you're not following that schedule? You might be asking yourself, what even counts as scripture? If I'm going to do scripture study? What is included in that? So when you have a question like this, I don't want you to take my word for it or anybody else's for that matter, unless they are a general authority of the Church. Otherwise, I want to show you this cool tool. If you go to the Gospel Library app, there's a section called Topics and Questions. Click on that and then scroll down to scriptures and click on overview. Let's read this first paragraph. It says, "When Holy men of God write or speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, their words shall be scripture. Shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord and the power of God unto salvation." So "the official canonized scriptures of the church often called the Standard Works are the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price." That's what it says directly in the Gospel Library app. Now as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we do believe that the words of the prophets, when they're inspired by the Holy Ghost, not just every word that falls out of their mouth, but when they're inspired that those are words of scripture. These words, like for instance, general conference talks, have not been officially declared to be scripture, like the standard works have been. So if you continue reading on the app, you'll see that In this section all about scripture, it goes into detail about each of those four books in the standard works, the Bible, the Book of Foreman, et cetera. Now, it does not talk about continuing revelation as scripture. So I'm not saying that modern revelation is not scripture, but I am going to encourage you that if you decide to "study the scriptures," you should focus on what is officially canonized scripture. Don't let modern revelation be your only source for scripture study, and don't use it as your foundation for scripture study either. I encourage you to go directly to the standard works first, and then you can supplement with additional reading of things like church magazines, general conference talks are fantastic, but start with the actual scriptures. Does that make sense? I hope so. Now what you decide to study within that group of standard works, will be determined by your reasons for studying. And so I want to challenge you to come up with specific reasons for your scripture study, I want you to do that using two different categories. Okay? So the first category is academic. This is going to be something quantifiable, something that can be measured or tracked in some way, and your goal could be to say, follow the Come Follow Me schedule. Or maybe you want to read the entire Book of Mormon. Maybe you want to track it and measure it by how much time you spend, or how many days you're studying. Maybe you want to learn about a certain topic. You could study faith or study prophets. So what do you want to read? You can have as many of these goals as you want, but I would recommend not going over two or three to keep it simple, especially as you're getting started. So think about it and come up with at least one goal that includes one of these three things, what you want to read, like a book or a topic, the amount you want to read. Or a timeframe. Now, it doesn't have to have all three of those, but it does have to have at least one of those, something that we can measure and track and follow. Okay, and then super important, write it down. The next goal, I want you to set is a spiritual goal. What do you want to get out of your study? And this one's gonna be harder to measure in worldly ways, but it will be the one that has more of an impact on your heart. So do you want to establish a habit? Do you want to strengthen your testimony or learn more about the savior? Do you want to feel more peace in your life? Okay, now I'm sure you're saying yes, yes, yes, yes. We want all of those things, right? But just saying yes to a whole list of potential blessings is a little bit abstract, and it's not going to be as powerful for you. So when you take time to identify what you want to get out of your scripture study and write it down. Now it's personal, now it's written on your heart. Even though you won't be able to measure it with check boxes and page numbers, you'll feel it more deeply because you took time to make it a personal goal. So take some time to determine what you want that spiritual goal to be. Pray about it, ponder, but to help you out with some ideas, here are some promises about scripture study that may inspire you as you make your goal. Okay, ready? President Ezra Taft Benson, one of our prophets has said, immerse yourselves in the scriptures daily, so you'll have the power of the spirit. Oh, power of the spirit. That sounds amazing. Marion G Romney has a very famous quote that if we regularly read the Book of Mormon, " The spirit of that book will... permeate our homes... reverence will increase... respect and consideration will grow... contention will depart... righteousness will increase... faith, hope, charity..." so many blessings in that quote. President Thomas S Monson said, "if you study the scriptures diligently, your power to avoid temptation and receive direction will be increased." Nephi said, if you harken to the word of God, the fiery darts of the adversary cannot overpower you. Samuel the Lamanite taught that if you study the scriptures, it leads to faith and repentance and an eventual change of heart. President Russell M. Nelson said,"I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you'll make better decisions. Every day windows of heaven will open. You'll receive answers to your questions, directions for your own life. You can be immunized against the evils of the day." And this isn't even all of the promises. There are so many promises. So what do you want to get out of your scripture study? What is your spiritual goal? What is your why? If you don't have that, it's gonna be really hard to stick to scripture study. I want you to take the time to really ponder and feel it in your heart and have that desire grow inside of you. Now having these goals will create a wonderful foundation. Okay? We've got the academic on one side and we've got the spiritual on the other side, and you need to prepare yourself that most likely you're going to fall short in these goals. At some point, you're going to miss a day, or you'll miss a week, or you'll get behind on your academic goal and maybe on your spiritual goal, you won't be feeling it yet, your answers won't be coming, and there'll be this disconnect. That's totally normal and totally fine, and I want you to prepare yourself and expect it. But when you fall off the horse, so to speak, and you're missing days or missing weeks, and you're missing that academic goal, then you have this spiritual goal to fall back on, rather than just feeling bad, I messed up. I can't do it. Remember, you've got another goal too. The other goal is to feel the spirit and whatever specific spiritual strengthening you're hoping for, you've got that to work towards. And if you feel that that goal is not being met, that for some reason there's a disconnect there, then you can go back to the academic goal and focus on that. And you can remember that perseverance and consistency and hard work toward a goal will help prepare your heart for the spiritual blessings to come, so they'll work together in tandem and support each other. Does that make sense? Now, writing these down is so important. It's a way of personalizing them, taking ownership for them, and then you'll be able to go back and look at them as you study. So in summary, what should you study? What counts as scripture? Well, the standard works are the main meat of scripture study. But what are you studying within those standard works? You've got to decide the particulars of that for yourself. Now, whatever ways you decide to study the gospel of Jesus Christ, remember that your study should always be primarily scripture. I'm Cindy Young, thanks for being here. I'll see you next week. Thanks for tuning into primarily Scripture with Cindy Young. Don't forget you can subscribe to the newsletter and download free worksheets on the website, primarily scripture.com. And if you like the channel, be sure to subscribe, like, share, and leave a review. See you next time.