MONDAY Philippians 4:4-7
This week the GPS will explore six ways to enhance your listening for God to speak to you through the Bible. One approach many Christians find helpful is to memorize key parts of the Bible. This takes the Bible’s message off the page and stores it in your mind and heart, where the Holy Spirit can call it to your attention at any moment of challenge or need.
• Begin by reading the passage carefully. Observe whether all of it speaks to you with equal force, or if certain verses or sections of it seem particularly important to your life right now. It’s quite short, so decide if you want to commit all of it to memory, or just one section that seems especially meaningful. (If you need something even shorter to begin with, try 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.)
• Write or print the section you wish to memorize in easy-to-read letters. Place it on your mirror, at your desk, in your car (or make it your computer or phone home screen)—wherever you will see it every day, and several times a day if possible. After reading it, start repeating whatever part of it you can remember. Chances are, by the end of a week or two it will be yours forever.
TUESDAY Mark 4:35-41
Another way God can speak to you through the Bible is for you to use your imagination and place yourself “in” the scene or story the Bible told. This passage contains many vivid details, the kind an eyewitness like Peter would have included in a story. Let its vividness draw you in and spark your imagination.
• Imagine that you are in the small fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee when a powerful storm comes up abruptly. What feelings do you experience? What kinds of storms in your life today set off similar feelings? Are there any clouds on the horizon (e.g. kids leaving home next year, aging parents, health issues) that you think might turn into major storms for you?
• Imagine that you and the other passengers in the boat suddenly see Jesus, in the midst of this scary storm, asleep on a pillow. How can he sleep through all this turmoil? Can Jesus calm storms you face even if he doesn’t change the circumstances you face? Which of the waves you deal with are external, and which are internal and emotional? When have you made Jesus part of your process for calming your fears and anxieties?
WEDNESDAY John 10:1-15
Hearing God through the Bible does not require turning off your brain. Careful study and analysis is often one of the ways God speaks as you read the Bible. For this passage, learn all you can about shepherds in Jesus’ day. Use a study Bible or a Bible dictionary, or search the Internet for terms like “good shepherd” or “Jesus AND shepherd.” (Then read carefully—just because it’s on the Internet doesn’t mean it’s automatically accurate!)
• “I am the good shepherd” is a metaphor. Based on what you learn (or already know) about shepherds, in what ways is Jesus most like a shepherd? (One modern classic about shepherds, by the way, is A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, by Phillip Keller.) When have you experienced Jesus as your shepherd? In what ways do you most need him to shepherd you today?
• To do his job effectively, a shepherd has to understand sheep really well. He has to know what makes them thrive, and what things are harmful (or even deadly) to them. What is the likely fate of a sheep without a shepherd? John said, “… they follow him, because they know his voice.” Through which spiritual practices are you training yourself to “hear” the voice of Jesus so that you can follow him?
THURSDAY Matthew 11:27-30
Many Christians have found that re-writing a Bible passage helps them to hear what God may want to say to them through that passage. A simple form of this practice is just to insert your name where it fits in the verse: “Come unto me, Bob …” However, you can also reword the promises or challenges in ways that fit your current needs and circumstances.
• The first two verses of this passage lay out Jesus’ credentials, as it were—the reason why we should bring our burdens to him. What are the particular claims, facts or experiences that have made you able to trust Jesus? How might you word those verses to express the basis for your trust in Jesus (e.g. “Jesus always sustained and guided my wonderful grandmother …”)?
• What “heavy loads” do you struggle with in your life? (These may be external, like too many demands from too many people, or internal, like guilt or shame.) Write them specifically into Jesus’ invitation. In what ways will taking Jesus’ “yoke” on you (a way of connecting you to Jesus, and matching your steps to his) lighten or remove those burdens?
FRIDAY Matthew 5:1-12
Today we invite you to practice the elements of “spiritual reading” (what the Latin-speaking church called lectio divina). Any child of God can read the Bible this way, though no one ever “masters” or “finishes” it. Jesus’ outline of the qualities that lead to true happiness is a great passage on which to practice this approach to hearing God in the Bible.
• Start by reading the passage slowly, in inner silence. If you need to, read through it again (perhaps in a different translation), waiting to sense when a particular word or phrase begins to stand out in your mind. Then mentally “chew on” that word or phrase. Why is it important to you? Why might the Holy
Spirit be focusing your attention on it?
• Now pray—talk with God about the reflection you’ve been doing. Be real, be direct, be present. Then commit to God that you intend from now on, with God’s help, to live out this text in every aspect of your life—your calendar, your checkbook, your eating and breathing, your driving, shopping and phone conversations. Think of one or more ways to remind yourself of your commitment.
SATURDAY John 2:28-3:3
There is no one “magic technique” for hearing God’s voice through the words of the Bible. But of all the approaches we’ve encouraged you to try this week, probably no other has enriched the lives of more of God’s people through the centuries than praying the Scriptures. Especially when we struggle for words, when our pain or our joy is nearly overwhelming, shaping the words of the
Bible into a prayer keeps a channel open between us and God in spiritually invaluable ways. As we use the Bible’s words, we often find that God seems to speak back to us through them.
• To pray today’s Scripture, take some of its key phrases (e.g. “we can have confidence,” “see what kind of love the Father has given to us in that we should be called God’s children,”