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The Bible as a Source of Guidance - we are fortunate that there are so many promises in the Bible, that God will lead those who are seeking Him. Jesus exhorts His disciples to ask, seek and knock. He knows how approachable His Father is. He also promised His disciples that after He had been taken up into heaven, He would send a Counsellor, the promised Holy Spirit.
With great care and love, he tells them...
“And I will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.
(John 14, vs 16-17)
The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
What an extraordinary promise. And how amazing that we have access to the Holy Spirit every single day of our lives. Even more remarkably, he actually lives within us.
If I stop to think about the enormity of this promise, I could kick myself for not being more conscious of the Holy Spirit’s leading me through the years. I regret the host of opportunities, the frequent occasions that I’ve been so caught up in busy-ness of life, and so invested in my own concerns, that I haven’t been aware of the Holy Spirit's leading in my life.
However, often when I read a passage from the Bible, especially when I’ve prayed first, subconsciously I know, that the Spirit is helping me to interpret that passage and the stand-out message that God wants me to absorb. And I often write down verses which particularly touch my heart. I try to memorise those verses that have made the greatest impact – frequently, those life-giving words have popped into my brain when I’ve needed them most.
As guidance is my theme this month, I will give three examples of inspirational verses on this theme that have helped me in the past, the first one probably being the most familiar to most of you:
Apart from single verses, there are great men and women from the Bible who have motivated me, inspired me and even guided me, as I have tried to follow their examples in principle. Some of these people have been strongly planted in my memory by faithful Sunday school teachers. The Bible as a source of guidance, even though they were only stories back then, yet when I think about it, those age-old stories still have relevance for my daily life.
For example, if I’m feeling over-whelmed by what seems to be an insurmountable problem, I can think of the shepherd David, with his sling and his stones, conquering the mighty giant, Goliath with his powerful weapons and his seemingly impenetrable armour.
Or if I’m scared of change, or struggling to persevere with my witness, I only have to think of Ruth who left her home and country to go with her mother-in-law, Naomi, back to Bethlehem. Or Esther who risked her life by standing in front of King Xerxes in a mission to plead for the lives of her Jewish people.
Numerous biblical themes have also influenced and motivated me in both my life and my writing:
In my next blog I will expand on these ideas in more detail.
When I reflect on how the Holy Spirit has shaped me through the pages of the Bible, people he has brought into my life, and experiences I have gone through, I realise that my identity is firmly established in Christ and I pray, that in all that I do, I will grow more and more like Him, a feat I can only achieve with the loving help of the Holy Spirit.
A line from a song has just crossed my mind: ‘Make me and mould me’.
My prayer for all of us is that we will all be conformed more and more to Christ’s likeness as we are daily inspired by the verses, stories and themes in the Bible. May we all come to know the Bible as a source of guidance.