Look upon me with love; teach me your decrees. Psalm 119:135 (NLT)
We’ve been talking over the past several days about effective ways to do devotions. Yesterday, we discussed how reading God’s Word aloud, slowly and with expression helps it to sink into your heart.
Another worthwhile practice is to ask for Holy Spirit’s help. Before you get into devotion time in your Bible or listen to an online message, pause and say something like, “Holy Spirit, You are my teacher. Teach me.” Just ask Him outright.
You see, very few Christians access Holy Spirit. They simply don’t ask Him to help them understand or to speak to their hearts. Instead, some people prefer to play Bible roulette. They think they can just grab their Bible, flip through the pages and wherever they randomly put their finger down is a word from God.
I used to do that. I’ll never forget the time I played Bible roulette, and my finger stopped at Proverbs 26:3 (KJV), which says, “A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.” I don’t think that was necessarily a word from God for me that day!
Now, I’m not saying you can’t do that. I’m just saying I realized I could enjoy more structured devotions than that.
So as you get into your Bible or listen to God’s Word being taught, let the prayer of your heart consistently be, “Father, help me to receive what I need from this message.”
Best of all, Holy Spirit is constantly ready. He isn’t scrambling to figure out what to teach you at a moment’s notice. He is always prepared and eager to speak to your heart—all you need to do is ask!