1. Quiet Your Heart Before God When Reading the Bible
Though we read the Bible at a set time on a daily basis, most of the time our hearts are not quiet before God. When we read the Bible, we still think about family or work issues. Plus, being busy at work and complicated interpersonal relationships leave us exhausted, body and mind, so we’re likely gaining just a cursory understanding when reading the Scripture. In fact, this kind of Scripture reading is just following a rule, performing a ritual—we can’t obtain the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment.
God’s word says, “[W]hen the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him” (John 4:23). “No step is more crucial to entering God’s words than quieting your heart in His presence. It is a lesson that all people are in urgent need of entering at present” (“On Quieting Your Heart Before God”). We can see from God’s words that God requires us to worship Him with an honest heart. If we wish to be moved by the Holy Spirit and get good results from our Bible reading, we must quiet our hearts before God, contemplate God’s words with our hearts and not be subject to the disruption or constrains of outside people, events, and things. Because our time reading God’s words is also our time to draw near to God and worship Him, we should intentionally pray to God, quiet our hearts before God and ask Him to guide us to understand His words. The more we practice this, the more we’ll obtain the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and guidance, and the more we can understand God’s will and requirements. Then, we’ll grow in our spiritual lives more quickly.
2. Select Corresponding Verses to Read According to Your Actual Problems and Difficulties
Reading the Bible isn’t following a rule, nor is it completing a task. Rather, it is to resolve our own practical problems and difficulties. However, we are bound to make some mistakes in our Bible reading; sometimes we are just following rules and plodding through chapter by chapter, verse by verse; sometimes we read whichever page we aimlessly flip to. Reading the Scripture this way without a purpose will not achieve good results.
God’s words say, “When you eat and drink the words of God, you must measure your own real state against them. That is, after you discover the shortcomings in yourself during your real experiences, you must be capable of finding a path to practice, and turning your back on your incorrect motivations and notions. If you always try hard in this and you always pour your heart into these things, you will have a path to follow, you will not feel empty, and thus you will be able to maintain a proper state. Only then will you be someone who carries a burden in your own life, and only then will you be someone who has faith” (“Practice (7)”). We can see from God’s words that we should take into account the difficulties or problems that we encounter in our regular lives, and read God’s words in a targeted manner—that’s the only way to achieve good results. So before doing our daily reading of God’s words, we should first give some thought to what kind of spiritual state we’re in, what sort of people, events, things, problems and difficulties we’ve encountered in our lives, and which aspect of the truth they relate to. Then we can consciously look for the words of God to read that are relevant to our actual difficulties.
For example, say a conflict develops between us and our family, or brothers and sisters, and we show our temper. We must first learn to quiet ourselves before God, consider which aspect of the truth this issue is related to, and what God’s will and requirements of us are. Then we can look for Scripture about God requiring us to have love, tolerance, and patience for others. We can also look for passages where God asks us to reflect on ourselves and not merely focus on the other person. We could also read about how the Lord Jesus loved and forgave people. With this kind of targeted Scripture reading we can see that problems exist within ourselves; we can see how we’re arrogant, dissatisfied, and petty with others. We can also understand that God’s will is for us to learn to forgive others, to be mutually loving, magnanimous, and tolerant; He wants us to live out the likeness of a Christian. Then if we give some thought to the Lord Jesus’ magnanimity and tolerance for people, like personally washing the feet of His disciples, our hearts will be stirred by God’s love. Once we’ve understood these truths we’ll become willing to love others in accordance with God’s requirements, and we’ll naturally develop tolerance and understanding for those around us.
3. Focus on Pondering God’s Words and Understanding Their Inner Meaning
A lot of people think that only those who are really familiar with the Bible and are well versed in Bible knowledge are those who bring joy to God. So when reading the Scripture, we lay emphasis on memorizing more well-known passages. However, we don’t focus on pondering what God’s words in the Bible are really about.
So, every time we’ve read a passage of God’s words we should diligently ponder these things: Why did God say these words? What is His will, and what are His requirements of mankind? How should I practice and enter into God’s words in my real life? What can I do to meet God’s requirements? When we engage in this kind of seeking and pondering, before we know it, God will enlighten and guide us and allow us to understand the inner meaning within His words.
Let’s look at the following words from the Lord Jesus: “Truly I say to you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). We can seek and ponder within these words: God requires us to become as little children, so what is the likeness of little children? Little children are simple and honest. It turns out that God wants us to be honest people, but what on earth is an honest person? What is the standard for an honest person? Could it be that it merely refers to not lying? As soon as we seek, there appear these detailed questions. If we bring these questions before God and continue to seek, we’ll be able to understand that not only does an honest person not tell a lie, but most importantly, he harbors no deceit or cheating in his heart, and can give his heart to God, believe in and love God with his heart, and be pure and open with God. Besides, an honest person cheats neither God nor man and expends for God without exchange, motives or demands. After having understood these things, we can compare what we do to them, and we will become clear in which matters we are not being honest and we will then have a direction and a purpose for our practice of the truth in our daily lives. If we always earnestly ponder God’s words in this way, we will understand the finer points of the truth more and more, and then what we practice in our lives will be more correct. We will become closer to God’s will and requirements and we will feel more and more steady, at peace, and content in our souls.
These are the three principles of reading the Scripture. By putting these three principles into practice, any issues we have of lacking enlightenment in our reading or lacking spiritual enjoyment can be resolved, and we can grow in our spiritual lives.
