HELP ME UNDERSTAND
“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
John 14:25-26 (NIV)
Sometimes, I hear people say, I have a hard time reading the Bible because I don’t get anything out of it. I don’t understand what it’s saying. How can I understand it?
Though physically I may have enough light to read the words on the page, how do I allow God to illuminate the words I read from the Bible so that I see what He wants me to see and understand what He wants me to know? The Holy Spirit is the one who can illuminate the Bible, showing the meaning of God’s Word and how it applies to my life. I see what God wants me to see when I trust the Holy Spirit in me. The Holy Spirit is the form of God that comes to live in me and is there to teach and remind me what Jesus is saying. He helps us understand and remember what God is saying. The Spirit will take these words and help us understand them so that we can live them.
The first step toward seeing what God wants me to see is starting a relationship with Jesus. I need a connection with Jesus first to see from His spiritual viewpoint. Until I am born spiritually, I can’t see with spiritual eyes. I can only see physically.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV) The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
When we trust Jesus Christ with our lives, our spiritual senses are activated. When we trust Jesus with the control of our lives, we become new people, and the Spirit of God helps us begin to understand the things of God.
APPLICATION and PRAYER: If you haven’t started a relationship with Jesus, you can do that today. In your mind, you can say something like this to God: Father in heaven, I admit I have messed up in life. I’m sorry for my sin, and I accept Your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus died in my place and rose from the dead, so I trust the rest of my life to You as my Lord and Savior. Take over my life and make me a new person. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
“… Our Father in heaven…” Matthew 6:9b (NLT)
- What do You want to say to me today as my Father?
“… may Your name be kept holy.” Matthew 6:9c (NLT)
- What do You want to reveal to me about Your power today?
“May Your Kingdom come soon.” Matthew 6:10a (NLT)
- Help me make Your priorities my priorities today.
“Give us today the food we need,” Matthew 6:11 (NLT)
- Is there anything specific You want me to do with my time or the people I’m around today?
“and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” Matthew 6:12 (NLT)
- Reveal to me anyone I need to forgive or ask for forgiveness.
“And don’t let us yield to temptation…” Matthew 6:13a (NLT)
- Is there anywhere I’m vulnerable to temptation?