Holy Spirit: I have spoken to you many times in these Daily Bread messages about coming to Me with a quiet heart to hear My Voice. This morning I want to speak to you about coming to your study of Scripture with a quiet heart, remembering that these are the Words of God, the Words that I inspired men to write. In 2 Timothy 3:16 you are told that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. In order to receive the written Word, the Truth, the meaning of Scripture, your heart must be at rest. One passage which will help you to find this receptive rest is Psalm 23. You have heard it many times, perhaps so many times that you no longer stop to consider the deeper meaning, the comfort, the promises that are made to you in these few verses. I suggest that when you come to study the Word, that you begin by breathing these Words deeply into your spirit… believe and soak in every Word in those verses …allow them to penetrate your mind and your heart, claim them, stand on them. Also, remember that I not only inspired all of the Words in the Logos, the written Word of God, I was also sent to guide you into all Truth (John 16:13). When you study Scripture, you cannot truly understand with your mind only, you must receive understanding through and from Me. You may receive information through your mind, but you receive understanding only when you rely on Me. Remind yourself of this by praying, before you open the Word, that your mind and your heart may be receptive to My teaching. You receive true understanding of My Word in the same way that you hear My Voice. by coming into My Presence when you read and taking in the written Word with a quiet heart. You must not approach the study of the Word of God in the same manner that you approach your study of other subject matter, when you focus on the words that are written as you seek to comprehend them. When you study the Word of God you must focus on Me so that I can enable what you read to speak to your spirit first and then to illuminate your mind. Thus your reading of the Word will become more than study, it will both edify and inform you; I will have embedded Truth in your heart and in your mind. This also applies to your prayer life. Ask Me to give you the prayers that I desire you to pray. Then pray and know that those prayers which I gave to you are answered…not will be answered but are answered, and that you will see the answers in My time.
