When I come to God’s Word, the Author Himself is present to instruct me
p.97
Share to the group a statement or scripture that resonates with you from today’s reading and a responding prayer…
When I come to God’s Word, the Author Himself is present to instruct me
p.97
Share to the group a statement or scripture that resonates with you from today’s reading and a responding prayer…
One thing that stood out to me is this quote: “when you read the Word, the Author Himself is present to instruct you. Truth is never discovered; truth is revealed”. This brings a fresh perspective to me because I know that God speaks to us today through the Bible and the Holy Spirit. But this encourages me more because it’s so cool to have the Author Himself present to instruct you. Like I’ve never think of it that way. You read many books but how many chances you get to have the authors next to you and reveal the story to you? But with reading God’s Word you get to experience it every time. That’s how he communicates with us, through the Holy Spirit. Only then He reveals the truth to us so that we can learn and follow God everyday.
God, thank you for your love for us and for the ability to have a relationship with you. I pray that you would continue to help me to see your love for us and your plans for us
“Our problem is that when the Spirit of God speaks to us, we want to debate.” I don’t see myself debating with God and what He calls me to do, rather I see myself making up excuses. Excuses of why I don’t want to do it or just pushing what I hear God calling me to do because I am not ready or simply don’t want to. However, the devotion reminded us that if we do not apply God’s Word in our lives, the things we have will be taken away. These past few weeks have shown me the importance of being rooted in God’s word. That is how God speaks to us. God showed me how devoted my mom was to His word and how her life reflected that. I pray that I can live faithfully as she did. I pray that I can come to really know His word that one day I can claim I know my Father’s voice and I know what He is speaking to me.
Just like when Jesus invited Peter, Andrew and John , they followed him immediately. Gracious Father, your Word never ceases to astonish, nourish, and cause our hearts to flourish. For through the Scriptures, you reveal yourself most clearly and become most near to us. We strive to be like the disciples to obey every word from you. This past year has been marked by stressful scenarios, intense opinion-wars, and much divisiveness. We need harmony, not just in our singing, but in our living. Humble and gentle us. May we overflow with encouragement. May your peace rule in our hearts, fueling our commitment to live and love to your glory. We pray, in Jesus amen
The most meaningful statement in today’s study was that truth is never discovered but is revealed. As you encounter God through the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit also guides you into all truth because the Spirit of God works in your life. This reminds me that God is ever-present in my life and continues to speak to me through the Holy Ghost. Father God, I pray that You shall continue to reveal truth to me by the Holy Spirit as Your Spirit works in my life. May Your Spirit teach me so that I may understand Your Word and may Your Spirit guide me to an encounter with You. Amen.
“Our problem is that when the Spirit of God speaks to us, we want to debate.” This is true for me as I even do that with myself when I know I need to do something I don’t want to do. Like, if I have to make an important decision and follow through with it, I sometimes find myself tempted to retreat and recede from my responsibilities. The same happens with God as I feel like there have been times in the past where He’s called me to do something but I was either too scared or too worried to do it. Instead, I would try to reason myself out of doing it. With who, I wasn’t sure as I could have been bargaining with God to not do it or with myself that it wasn’t God’s voice telling me to proceed. And all this self-debating had me running out of time to respond to God’s call so I lose out on that opportunity due to my hesitation. I think for myself I self-debate so much that I end up overthinking a lot of things, so I’m praying tonight for God to give me peace of mind and heart to neglect my own need for reassurance and to just trust God with what He calls me for.
From don
“You cannot understand God’s Word unless the Spirit of Gof d teaches you. When you read the Word, the Author Himself is present to instruct you. Truth is never discovered; truth is revealed.”
It seems to me that this principle has mulit-faceted implications, each of which have beneficial applications.
First, it implies that God, once again, is the initiator. If His Spirit is the One revealing truth to us, it is in His time and His way. This allows me to be less frustrated with myself, and helps me to develop patience as I seek the truth through His Word, thereby allowing me to enjoy the process. It is not a matter of how much I discover, but how much He reveals to me. (Yet He is certainly faithful to reveal more of His truth to those who seek Him will all their hearts😊).
Second, it implies that those who do not have His Spirit are not capable of understanding the spiritual truths contained in His Word. This is also helpful, in that it reminds me that those who are not yet saved are more in need of prayers than “education.” Sometimes we, (or at least I,) can get caught up in trying to explain the truth of God to those who refuse to accept it, and our tendency can be to argue pointlessly and cause further frustation and tensions. (That is not to say that there is never a time to “defend the faith,” but that is not always to be our default.) In this way, I feel that this realization helps us to develop our love for the lost.
Third, this principle would seem to indicate a certain assurance based upon our continued progressive understanding of God’s Word! In other words, if His truth is being revealed to us at any level, we can be sure that His Spirit is residing in us, and therefore assured of the fact that we are His children! Pretty cool👍
Lord, thank You for giving us Your Spirit to guide us into all truth. Thank You for the way in which You reveal Yourself to us through Your Word, and through this study! All our hope is in You- and what a glorious hope we have!