“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”
— II Timothy 3:16

One of the most wonderful ways in which the Spirit speaks to us is through a prayerful reading of Scripture.

One day, a woman named Alison met with me in my office. She had recently gone through the most challenging experience of her life, and found herself completely broken and desperate for a fresh understanding of God. God was at work in her heart, but she said that she was stuck in one area: forgiveness.

I prayed that God would show her His love.

That week, Alison read Jesus’ words “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message…” (John 17:20-21).

Alison sent me an email: “For the first time, it suddenly hit me that in the most intense time of Jesus life, knowing that in only a few hours, He would be arrested and beaten and crucified…He was talking to God about ME! He was praying for ME! How could that possibly be?! I began to cry.”

Then Alison read, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory…”  (John 17:20-24).  Alison wrote, “This verse really impacted me.

Although I’ve always known that I would go to heaven, this verse changed my perspective from: “God allow millions of people into heaven” to: “God really wants me to be with Him.”

As Alison read the Scriptures, God poured His love into her heart. She wrote, “I finally got it! I finally grasped His love for me! What joy! What peace! What freedom! And from this place, I find that I am now able to genuinely forgive, want the best for, and love the people who have hurt me. And oh, the joy that floods my soul!”

In my pastoral ministry and prayer life, I have seen how encountering the living Christ in His written Word is water to the thirsty soul! This is our daily bread; it is delicious manna that falls from Heaven!

Today, Alison and her family are key people in our church plant in Ancaster, Ontario.

REFLECTION
1. Do you believe that God will speak a specific and timely word to you through reading
the Bible?
2.  Identify a specific issue or need in your life, and then pray with your Bible open.  Ask God to speak to you through the living and active words of Scripture (II Timothy 3:16).

Steve Kerr is Senior Pastor of Gateway Church, a community of churches in the area of Hamilton, Steve lives in Caledonia, Ontario with his wife, Christa, and their two children, Emma and Ethan.