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Bible Insights

After We Hear God, We Must Obey Him

In the post “Hear God” we looked at Jesus’ instruction to “hear the word of God and obey it.”

“Hear the word of God” is usually understood to mean “read the Bible,” but it might be more correct to comprehend it as meaning “listen to the Holy Spirit.”

Regardless, the concluding part, to “obey,” is the critical aspect.

When it comes to obeying the Bible, we do so selectively. We take some parts literally and some figuratively.

We discard some commands as no longer being relevant and we interpret others from the perspective of modern society. We may obey the Bible, but I fear we all obey it in part.

Then there’s obeying the words, the promptings, of the Holy Spirit. This can be even more confusing. Did we hear correctly? What if we only heard part of the message?

Did we understand it fully? Do we interpret the words literally or figuratively?

While we may not hear everything, everything we do hear from God, we should obey.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Luke 10-12, and today’s post is on  Luke 11:28.]

Read more about the book of Luke in That You May Know: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

Hear God from the Bible and the Holy Spirit

Once when Jesus was wrapping up a teaching, he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” What exactly does he mean?

Hear God from the Bible

In our culture, we often consider “the word of God” to mean the Bible. So the common understanding is we need to read the Bible and obey it.

However, the part of the Bible about Jesus (the New Testament) didn’t exist at the time, so he couldn’t have been telling the people to read and obey something that hadn’t yet been written.

Hear God from the Holy Spirit

But since Jesus is both man and God, he could have used “hear the word of God” as a euphemism to mean “hear me.” While we can’t directly hear Jesus today, we can hear from the Holy Spirit he sent to us.

So maybe Jesus means he wants us to hear the Holy Spirit.

For some people it’s easy hear God and for others it’s nonsensical, while for the rest this is feasible but difficult and confusing and infrequent.

Yet, we may need to pursue listening to the Holy Spirit if we are to truly “hear the word of God.” (Learn how to hear from God.)

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Luke 10-12, and today’s post is on Luke 11:28.]

Read more about the book of Luke in That You May Know: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

Listen to Understand

Doctor Luke writes that Jesus tells the people to listen carefully to what he says. When they do, they will understand—and then even greater understanding will follow.

But there’s a warning, too. Those who don’t really listen will lose whatever understanding they currently have.

Listening to Jesus results in more understanding; not listening results in confusion.

If we are to understand, we need to listen to him—really listen.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Luke 7-9, and today’s post is on  Luke 8:18.]

Read more about the book of Luke in That You May Know: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Christian Living

How Can We Hear From God?

A good friend was all excited. He had something he couldn’t wait to share.

“God revealed something to me,” he announced. “I’ve not yet found it in the Bible, but I know it’s there somewhere.”

I completely missed what God had revealed to him because I was so taken aback contemplating his statement.

I have no doubt he heard from God—and I trust he heard correctly—but his assertion that he would find it in the Bible perplexed me.

Growing up I was taught that God speaks to us through the Bible and we speak to him in prayer. That’s correct, but it’s only part of a greater truth.

God can also speak words to us through his spirit, not in written words, but in oral words, or perhaps whispered words, words he implants into our mind.

Another wise friend told me if what we think we heard from God doesn’t line up with the Bible, then what we thought we heard wasn’t really from him. In addition to scripture, we can also run our revelations by trusted friends and those in authority over us.

If everything lines up, then we can be quite sure we heard from God.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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