Hearing God Speak to You Every Day
One of my greatest desires for our church family is for each of you who calls LifeWay Church home to develop the life-long habit of picking up your Bible personally every morning (or evening, or during your noon lunch break) and listening to God speak to you. To borrow a phrase from youth director Kevin P:
“If you want to hear God speak, then open your Bible. If you want to hear God speak out loud to you, then read your Bible out loud.”
(Kevin stole this quote from somewhere, but I will give him the credit!)
That said, for the next few weeks I want to offer some of my simple devotional thoughts—not because I, Billy Arnold, have such great moments with God and want to show you how God opens things to me and not to you. What an arrogant fool I would be with that statement! But I want to model for you what is available for you to do on your own. Personally, I have a habit of systematic Bible reading five days a week, through specific Bible passages, using bookmarks to help remind me. I read in this way:
- An Old Testament chapter
- A Gospel story (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
- A New Testament section
- A Psalm/Proverb/Wisdom passage to finish
On weekends, I simplify the plan by reading the passage being taught during the Sunday church service, whether or not I am doing the teaching.
I will often look over the comments in my study Bible related to the passage I’m reading. I often find these comments to be extremely helpful and inspirational. My current favorite devotional study Bible is the Swindoll Study Bible, but there are many other wonderful options. I have a habit of writing (a lot) in my current study Bible during my devotional reading; then in a year or two, when I finish reading through that Bible entirely, I just get a new one and start over again.
Bottom line: Every devoted follower of Christ needs to learn to develop their own personal devotional with God. Even though we can and should hear from the thoughtful reflections of others, at the end of the day, God wants to speak to you personally through his Word! What a privilege the Sovereign God has given us.
In next week’s InnerView, I will continue sharing my devotional thoughts. Again, I do this not to show you that only the pastor can have devotional thoughts! I want you—every one of you—to grow in your habit of walking into the sanctuary of God, the Holy of Holies, every day, and letting God speak to you.
- If you want to hear God, open his Word—your Bible.
- If you want to hear him out loud, then read it out loud!
