2.18 The inner witness causes the Word of God to come alive

As a young Christian, when I needed specific guidance, people said that God speaks through the Bible. But the Bible contains so many verses, so how would I know which verse is He speaking from? So I tried flipping open the Bible randomly and read the first verse that came before my eyes. I thought that would be God speaking to me. But God does not speak that way. Let me illustrate with a joke.

A man felt guilty for having made a mistake. He asked God what he should do to make amends. As usual, he flipped open his Bible at random and his eyes fell on the verse, “Then he…departed, and went and hanged himself…” (Matt 27:5). He wondered if that could be from God. He flipped open the Bible again and it read, “It is I; do not be afraid…” (Matt 14:27). Now the man got worried and he flipped a third time. This time it said, “What you do, do quickly…” (John 13:27).

So how does God speak to us specifically from the Word? The whole Bible is the logos and we should study it. But how does God speak to us with a specific verse for a specific situation?

When you read the Bible, the Holy Spirit can cause a verse to come alive or jump out within your spirit-man. He can cause a verse to speak to us in our hearts through the inner witness. When that happens, that verse becomes a rhema to you. Or when you are in church, the preacher could be preaching to a crowd, but the Holy Spirit can quicken part of that message to be a specific rhema to you. Have you experienced that before?

The next time you read the Bible, depend on the Holy Spirit to speak to your situation. Read it with your heart, not just your mind. Listen to the inner witness. You can also depend on Him to help you understand what are reading.