Hearing His Voice #48

Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us.

Romans 15:4

Augustine’s soul was in deep distress. He had spent years dabbling in spiritual counterfeits and living an immoral lifestyle, yet now God’s Spirit was convincing him of truth and calling him away from sin. In his heart, a battle raged between his passions and his conscience. One day, as he was seeking a moment of peace in a garden, he heard a voice repeating the phrase, “Take up and read.” So he picked up a volume of Paul’s letters and read the first words he saw: “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness. . . . But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Romans 13:13-14, NKJV). At that moment, Augustine’s heart was flooded with the light of faith, and darkness was dispelled. He became a Christian.

God speaks generally through His Word, but sometimes the words of Scripture come alive in an unusually personal way. We are not only taught by the truths of the Bible; they seem to be directed at the deep places of our hearts for the need of the day. Augustine had certainly read those words before, but they had not pierced him as they did in that moment when the war in his soul was at its height. He was divinely guided to the exact phrases that would address his urgent questions and struggles.

Read God’s Word every day, and learn at every level of your heart and mind. When a verse or phrase jumps off the page and into your question or crisis, pay special attention. It is the Spirit enlivening and illuminating His thoughts and applying them to your situation. It is the voice of God, the living Word, the rhema for the moment. God is speaking again through the Word He has already spoken.

Holy Spirit, I want You to speak to me like that. I love Your Word, but I need it personalized. Pour it directly into my heart like a spiritual injection of truth. Highlight what I need to hear.