What is God’s primary way of communicating with His people? It’s through the Bible. It is how He connects with us. The Bible is also God’s ultimate way of letting us know His desires and dreams for our life, His plans. If anyone ever wanted just practical life application, guidance, discernment of His direction for their life, then it’s imperative that they know to do these two things:
Study & listen to what God says through the Bible.
When we go to His Word, we need to go with CERTAINTIES. Not questioning a single word of it. It’s called “approaching His throne with confidence.” But where does this sense of certainty and confidence come from? It comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:4 – “Such confidence we have through Christ before God.”
And with this certainty, also comes freedom –
Ephesians 3:12 – “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
I think we often go to our Bible lacking the certainty and confidence that God actually WANTS us there. Right there with Him in His Word. Not only that, He calls us His house. We “house” the very presence of the indwelling Spirit of God!
Hebrews 3:6 – “But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.”
So, the Holy Spirit is who enables us to …
Hebrews 4:16 – “… approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Hebrews 10:19 – “…we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus…”
So, how do we make our Bibles a part of our daily life?
1.) Prepare spiritually. We need to understand that reading the Bible is “spiritual reading.” We can’t approach it or read it as we would any other book. To understand the Bible and to hear the voice of God in His Word, we need to come with confidence and come prepared. Prepared by having invited the Holy Spirit to help us, to open our spiritual eyes so we can see all the wonderful things God has for us in His Word. To literally open our minds so we can contemplate on His instruction.
Psalm 119:18 – “Open my eyes so that I may see wonderful things in Your law.”
2.) Prepare submissively. An expression I use quite often is, “My safest position is in submission.” We are kept safe as we come to the Word of God with a submissive spirit. Why? Because the Word of God is not for us to have an abundance of knowledge, but the abundant life. (“I came so that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” John 10:10) There is one way to stop God from revealing Himself to you. Stop putting His Word into action. But when we are submissive to His Word, He continues revealing Himself in the most personal ways. Another phrase I wrote one day, while doodling in study was: “Wisdom is not in what you know, but in what you DO with what you know.” We need to approach His Word with certainty that it all applies to us, in confidence that God wants us there, in a submission to the Spirit, and in a readiness to do what it says.
James 1:22 – “…be doers of the word and not hearers only.”
3.) Prepare strategically. To have strategy means you have a plan. And then you put the plan to practice. Nothing honors God more than for us to have a set time with Him alone in His Word. Because it’s His #1 choice of communication with us, take the time to make a plan for when and where you will have your own time of personal, private and intimate time with God in His Word.
When we get so desperate that all we want is to hear from God, we will definitely make time for it. But why wait for desperation? Why not make it a daily decision? That one decision will completely change your life! Make a determination that you will spend time with God in His Word daily. Even if it’s only 10 minutes, 20 minutes, however much time you “plan,” just honor it and watch expectantly in how God will honor you in return.
Psalm 91:14-15 – “Because he {she} loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.”
Through key word studies, journaling, context reading and cross-referencing, I walk with God so that it’s not just this: “I read the Bible,” but instead “the Bible reads me.” Also, there is a certain focus that enlarges my time with God in His Word that I would also like to share with you. So, if you would like to learn more and go a little deeper in your own personal time of Bible study, you can become a MEMBER of Interior Inspirations. Starting October 16, you are also invited to participate in a 5-week bible study – “Being a Godly Woman.” Click here and you can register in no time flat! Each week’s video lesson is archived, so you can watch them whenever it’s a good time for you.
Love you and you’ve been prayed for today!
lisa
