My New Approach to Scripture

At the close of one of my first days teaching at the Kansas School for the Blind, a fellow music teacher stood at the door of my studio and said, “You seem to be having a better start to your teaching than I did.”

“Tell her you prayed about it,” the Spirit whispered.

Oh, but I don’t know her well enough, I thought and dismissed the idea.

Later, I realized that what I had done was a habit. I wanted with all my heart to do God’s will, yet I frequently ignored His promptings. 

One night in tears I laid my failures before the Lord. How could I ever change? The Spirit gently spoke these words to my spirit: “You need to learn to obey Me.”

I arose from prayer with a new resolution. I knew that obeying God meant obeying His Word. I began to come to Scripture with a new heart hunger. The next morning when I opened the Bible I was eager to obey the words I read, and I approached the Word differently. No longer was reading routine. It’s one thing to be curious about what Scripture says; it’s another to hunger for our lives to reflect the truth in the words.

John Wesley said we are to read the Word with “a fixed resolution to do it.” This resolve became the key to my new approach to Scripture. I hungered to obey whatever I found in the Word. How could I apply this verse? What did this passage say about my actions or attitudes? 

The Holy Spirit seemed pleased to show me, but more than that, I found that He didn’t just point to a needed change. When I welcomed the Word into my life, His power accompanied it. The power of that Word gave me grace to change. 

Jesus, thank You for the gift of desire for Your Word. 

 “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). 

“They are not just idle words for you—they are your life” (Deuteronomy 32:47).