Studying the Word of God in the Presence of God

I have been studying the Bible for years now.  It has become a pursuit, a passion, and a desire of mine.  It has been transformational.  I have grown in my love for The Lord as I learn more about Him from the scriptures.  There have been times when I have encountered some hard truths that I wish weren't there, but the full counsel of the Word of God has been true nourishment that has sustained me, matured me and grown my relationship with God through His Holy Spirit by the grace gift of Jesus Christ.

However, I approach the Word of God typically through the use of external tools alongside the scripture known as bible studies.  I am beginning to notice these external tools are often times far too emotions and feelings based for me.  I strongly believe that the Word of God is not subject to our interpretation nor our emotions and feelings. Honestly I am so thankful for that fact.  I cannot imagine being tossed about at the whelms of my emotions and feelings.  While I can interact and enjoy life and even God by those very emotions and feelings, I cannot stand on them as truth.  At the end I plan to elaborate on an example in my own life to expound on this idea.

I find that women's studies are constantly asking me "How I feel about this or that" and all I can say at the top of my lungs is "I don't care how I feel, it doesn't matter how I feel, I want to study the Word of God to see what God says about this or that".  Perhaps this is the way it has been for some time, and perhaps I am just noticing it.  However, I do think being overly concerned about the way we feel may lead us into a very unwise walk if it supersedes truth.

In general, there seems to be two extremes in the body.  There are those deeply immersed into God's Word or those immersed in His Spirit.  It seems rather uncommon to find the Christian with a combination of the two which is what it takes to be well rounded.  Those who are studying the Word without the help and assistance of the Spirit, find their pursuit dry and legalistic; a type of bootstrap obedience. This leaves them empty, lifeless and joyless maybe even judgmental and harsh. Those who seek the Spirit without the Word typically are overzealous, hyper-spiritualized, experiential in feelings and emotions without being grounded in truth. These are the ones who are typically unable to discern between the leading of the Holy Spirit and their own thoughts.  They are easily led astray. they are on fire and full of the spirit and unfortunately without proper grounding and truth may burn out without the substance of the Word.

I believe we are to search the scriptures, study them and allow God to speak to us through them.  However if we only study the scripture as we do with any other book, it will be a dry, lifeless book.  If we are studying it in hopes of discovering all the ways to behave in order to please and appease God, our efforts will not only be futile, but  this approach will leave us feeling defeated.  We will be overwhelmed at the sheer magnitude and the daunting task of obeying all that is in the Bible. Due to the fact that we are linear beings, we typically can intentionally obey the latest rules we have studied because they are on our minds.  Conversely, if we have developed good habits or are easily obedient to the Bible, we see ourselves as succeeding, this may lead us to become prideful and arrogant.  Either way, we will be displeasing to God.

I believe we are to seek the Holy Spirit.  It will be the enabling power for us to live this life.  The Holy Spirit will teach us through the scripture, and remind us of all we have learned.  The Holy Spirit is what Jesus said He was sending to us when He left this earth.  Jesus died to not only rescue us from our sin of which we couldn't do for ourselves, He also sent us heavenly assistance to give us the power to live in a manner that pleases God.   The reason He did this is to restore us into a real vibrant relationship with God.  He created us to know Him, to be loved by Him and so we would be able to love Him back and put Him on display to the world for others to see (bring Him glory).  Why?  So the world then could know Him, be in relationship with Him.  Honestly to know Him and be in relationship with Him is to love Him.  He is love and when the enabling power of the Holy Spirit is experienced in us, we can experience that love.  That discovery of Him and love of Him will be the motivator and the enablement to obey Him.

So my challenge is to get into the Word of God in the presence of the Holy Spirit who will lead you into all truth.  When you are tempted to read scripture and say "I don't FEEL like that is true" or to say "That doesn't line up with what I have been through"; how about turning those statements around.  Read the Word in the awareness that God is with you by His Spirit.  Tell Him openly what it is in your experience that is causing you to struggle to believe the Word.  Ask Him to help you with your unbelief and help you with your understanding.  One thing I see is where we allow our circumstances and feelings to interpret scripture.  For example, when the scripture talks about answered prayers, if you haven't received a positive answer to your prayer; you begin to believe that God doesn't really answer prayers.  As a matter of fact, He does answer prayers.  It is possible He is saying no which is still an answer, not yet or perhaps He is saying yes as an answer but differently than you could have imagined.

We need to avoid interpreting the Word of God without the assistance of the Holy Spirit.  Allow your time in the Word to be an extension of your prayer time.  Let it be a conversation between you and God. (that is all prayer really is)  This can be the most profound experience you have ever had with Him, if you will do it.

Here is a second part of the challenge: take time to read the Word of God and journal what you learn and discover.  Read a verse, a chapter or an entire book, but whatever you choose to read, do it prayerfully.  Ask God to open your eyes and enlighten your heart to hear from Him in His word. (see Ephesians 1:17-19).   Allow Him to talk to you and when He begins to open your eyes to see truth, begin to write it down in a journal or notebook.  Resist the temptation of bringing your feelings into your interpretation.  Sometimes our feelings come on board long after our minds have lined up with the Word of God.  Feelings can mislead us, and instinct can be wrong.  If we are created by God, then His instruction manual on how to live and navigate life is what we need to depend on in order to live according to His design.  He provided us a large portion of the Word, the Old Testament, before the rescue was sent in the person of Jesus, so we are able to see that man cannot please God independent of God.  So the last part of God's Word, the New Testament, demonstrates His answer for us. The answer being, His power was made available to us in order that we may be restored into a relationship with Him.  Also that we are enabled to follow and obey His commands because of this wonderful gift of His power made manifest in us.

• As promised earlier, in reference to the matter of not standing on emotions and feelings as truth; in the midst of menopause I would be so hot at times I would have sworn the thermostat was set much  higher than it actually was.  When  I would take a look to see, I would see the same temperature which would have been giving me a chill in years passed.  During these episodes, I began to truly see how my hormones were playing tricks on me.  They were not a reflection of a change in my environment, rather they were in essence lying to me about it.  So my internal gauge was no longer reliable, and I needed to seek the truth by checking the thermostat.  Did I cool off by checking the external gauge?  No! But I could see the truth and refuse to freeze everyone else because of my internal reality.

Allow God's Word to be the road map for you and allow Him to be your guide by His Holy Spirit.  May your day be blessed today and may you be a blessing to others as you go.