Reading the Bible and diligently studying the Word of God are two of the most important aspects of understanding God’s Will for our lives once we begin walking and living “by faith”.
The Word of God (The Bible) says:
“As newborn babes, earnestly desire the pure milk of the Word,
that you may grow thereby"
(1 Peter 2:2).
One sign that the Holy Spirit has come into your life is that you will actually want to receive more of God’s Word.
Some parts of it might still be difficult to understand at first, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, ‘the eyes of your understanding’ will be increasingly opened to the wealth of wisdom within its pages, day by day (Ephesians 1:18).
As you read the Bible with the new eyes and new heart that come from being born again (Ezekiel 36:26), you will see how all of God’s Word is connected from start to finish (Genesis to Revelation) and how everything that’s written is meant
to point us to Christ.
As your spiritual eyes are opened by consistently reading the Word and through growing fellowship with the Holy Spirit, You will begin to see the character of Christ, the character of the Heavenly Father, and the love of God overall revealed more and more.
Through meditating on God’s Word, everything both inside and around you will become clearer and clearer.
You will see how the scriptures apply to your life specifically and to all the things happening all around us today.
Finally, you will also see how every promise that God has ever made to Mankind since the beginning of time is still available to all of us today because of Jesus Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension on our behalf:
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, ‘Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree’: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
– Galatians 3:13-14
Again, these benefits will come not just from reading the Bible on your own – but through reading it with the empowerment and ‘anointing’ of a personal relationship with God through the Holy Spirit:
“But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.”
– 1 John 2:27
It’s the Holy Spirit that Jesus said would teach us “all things” and guide us into the truth of God’s Word:
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
– John 14:26
Think of a having a close relationship with the Holy Spirit as the “key” to unlocking the door of the Bible overall.
You may be interested in its teachings from a mental or intellectual point of view, but without His presence within you, you may never be able to understand or consistently apply the wisdom within it in your own life circumstances. In other words, without obedience to the Holy Spirit, you may be a hearer (or “reader”) of the Word, but you will not be a doer of it:
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
– James 1:22
Without the Holy Spirit, the Bible is basically an extensive historical document, but with Him, every single passage is relevant and breathed straight from the mouth of God to you:
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the person of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
– 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Ultimately, reading the bible should always draw us nearer to Jesus and to understand the will of our Heavenly Father, because Jesus Himself is the Word of God “made flesh”:
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.”
– John 1:14
And just as Jesus was the physical representation of God “in the flesh” during His earthly life, today the Bible is our physical point of contact to the unseen realm of the Spirit as well – that’s why it’s “alive” and “sharper than a two-edged sword”:
“For the word of God is quick [alive], and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
– Hebrews 4:12
Amen!
