Kids might know that their clothes are dirty and need washed. They might actually see the mud caked on their shirt, but be unaware of what to do about it. They might even try some ingenious ways to clean the shirt…only to make it worse.
My last post discussed the role of the Word of God in cleansing our hearts and minds so that we are people that can hear from God in a natural way. This post is going to discuss some practical ideas to do this from Willard’s “Hearing God” book. Here goes:
First, we must remember to come to the Bible with a submissive attitude. We really must read it with a readiness to surrender everything about us – our plans, opinions, possessions and positions. We must study the Word to learn, but never merely to find the truth or to prove something. Rather than reading just to find the truth, we must read prepared to act on the truth we find!
How do we come at the Word with a submissive attitude and right desire? Here are some suggestions:
- Pray that your desire would be for His will (as revealed in Scripture) would be true in your life.
- Begin with the parts of Scripture you are most familiar with, remembering that your goal is not to read a great volume of Scripture or necessarily learn lots of new Scripture, but “to nourish your soul on God’s Word”.
- Don’t try to read a great deal at once. There is certainly nothing wrong with Bible reading plans, but it is better to have ten good verses transferred into the substance of our lives than to have every word of the Bible flash before our eyes.
- Come to your chosen passage as you would come to a place where you will have a holy meeting with God. Expect to find Him there. Ask Him to meet you there and to teach you what you need to know about Him and yourself. Believe that He might have something uniquely suited to you in His Word. Dwell on that Word. You may find several things as you dwell in the Word, including:
- Information that you may not necessarily transfer to your own life.
- A longing that what you have found could be true in your life.
- An affirmation that what you have found must be true in your life.
- A call to God for Him to make what you have found true in your life.
- The knowledge that what you have found has been made true in your life.
I would encourage you to try this right know with a familiar verse:
The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. Psalms 23:1 (NLT)
