Would you choose to watch a sunset while blindfolded? I mean, you would still feel the warmth of it—but would you catch the full depth of the experience without being able to SEE it? This is the way I spent much of my Christian life approaching God’s Word. I missed the depth and satisfaction of the experience God desires for us to have when reading His Word. If we want to be transformed by God’s Word, we can’t read it as a purely intellectual endeavor or simply out of forced habit.
To experience the full flavor of the multi-dimensional effect of God’s Word, it must be read with the eyes of our heart wide open and in full surrender.
Although God’s Word has a supernatural power on even the hardest of hearts, unless we approach it with our heart fully surrendered, it will never satisfy us as God intended. Reading God’s Word without a fully surrendered heart is like putting on a blindfold to watch the sunset.
When our heart is hard or indifferent, we miss the magnificent experience of the beauty and power of God’s Word.
In the parable of the sower, Jesus taught us to scrutinize our own heart when we hear the Word. Jesus said:
“Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!“
Matthew 13:3-9 NKJV
David Guzik, in his commentary on Matthew 13 explains
We benefit from seeing bits of ourselves in all four soils.
- Like the wayside, sometimes we allow the Word no room at all in our lives.
- Like the stony places, we sometimes have flashes of enthusiasm in receiving the Word that quickly burn out.
- Like the soil among thorns, the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches are constantly threatening to choke out God’s Word and our fruitfulness.
- Like the good ground, the Word bears fruit in our lives.
The same seed is cast by the same Sower—the difference is the soil: My friend, what kind of “soil” will you have for God’s Word?
Good ground and God’s Word make a gloriously rich combination for a satisfying and fruitful life. When God’s love draws us to surrender to Him, our heart is drawn to His Word like water in the desert. We run to it with all of our might! When our heart belongs to God, we long to know His ways. It changes the way we read His Word. Our desire for God’s Word is manifested like the heart of the Psalmist who wrote:
Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments.
Psalms 119:129-131
Until my life was surrendered to God–I never felt this way about the Bible. Reading it was just a chore. Surrendering my heart to God changed my desires. It still does. Day by day, when I surrender to living in God’s ways, He draws me into His presence and His Word becomes personal, understandable, and welcoming. It’s a love letter. Conversely, when I choose to live my own way, then I’m reading His Word without His presence and, of course His Word becomes fearful, boring, and nonsensical.
It‘s just that simple.
In God’s presence, His Words leap off the page and into our heart–as if He is reading them directly to us. You see, God’s Word touches our heart when we come to Him with a heart ready to be touched. When we are surrendered, God’s Word gives us joy; refreshes us, moves us to be excited about life, drives away hopelessness, brings peace, imparts wisdom, and reminds us of just how much we’re loved!
After we are born again, it is the beginning of surrender. Many people never understand what they must do to grow. So they get the good seed from the good Sower but it never produces fruit. It takes hard work to—make room for God’s Word in our heart, to get rid of the weeds, and to quit planting the wrong stuff in our heart. Remember, JESUS IS THE WORD and thus, the Bible is unlike anything else we will ever read!!! (John 1:1-3)
Our heart-obedience to His Word is the best evidence of our love for Him.
When we hear “I love you” it is only significant based upon the relationship of who is speaking. It means nothing from a stranger. The closer the relationship, the deeper the meaning and significance of words. It’s even more so with God’s Word because He is alive in His Word (John 1). When we are surrendered to God, then His Word has a much different effect upon us–it becomes alive in us, empowers, revitalizes, comforts, makes us wise, and emboldens us in HIS power and love. When we surrender to God in every area of our life and let His Word transform us—we are supernaturally empowered to be all He made us to be!
God’s Word is His love story and it will change our heart more powerfully than we can imagine.
We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.
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