For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]… exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12, Amplified Bible (AMP)

Is the Word of God alive to you? Does it energize you, speak to you, and motivate you to right action? Or, is the Word of God dead to you? Do you find Bible reading to be as exciting as watching paint dry, and when you do read it, the only thing it does for you is give you the satisfaction of checking another chore off of your “to-do” list?

When God doesn’t speak to you through His Word, Bible reading is admittedly a chore. A sense of dread will overcome you as you open the pages of the Book, and once your eyes behold the words on the pages, your eyelids immediately become heavy. But when the Word of God is active – when the words jump off of the page at you exposing, sifting, analyzing, and judging your thoughts and purposes – then reading your Bible is an inspiring experience that you look forward to rather than dread.

What is the difference between these two experiences? What makes Bible reading a garden of wisdom for some and a desert of pain for others? The difference is the reader! God’s Word makes no sense to the natural mind. It was designed to speak to the spiritual mind, and it makes sense only to the Holy Spirit that dwells within the children of God. When we are in a right relationship with God, His Word will ring true with the Holy Spirit that lives within us, and then the Holy Spirit will communicate with our spirit to show us how the Word applies to our lives. When we are not in a right relationship with God, we squelch the Holy Spirit’s ability to communicate with our spirit, leaving only our natural mind to try to interpret what we are reading. Since the Word of God is foolishness to the natural mind, it is dead to us when we read it apart from the Holy Spirit’s ability to interpret the message for us.

For us to get out of God’s Word what God wants us to get out of it, we must be in a right relationship with Him. If we have unconfessed sin in our lives, the Holy Spirit will be silent to us until we eradicate that sin from our lives. Once we’ve repented of our sin, then the Holy Spirit will witness with our spirit to open up the secrets of God’s Word. To be sure, the Holy Spirit won’t reveal all of God’s secrets at once. He will reveal them to us over time as we age, gain life experiences, and study to uncover His truth. But reveal His truth He will, and because of that, reading the Bible will no longer be a chore; it will be an exciting treasure hunt each and every time we open it.

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