In the beginning when I was a new Christian, I read the bible as if it was a book just like any other books which I used to read in the past. No one told me the bible could speak to me. No one introduce me to the bible as a spirit filled book that could speak to me literally. It took a while before the bible spoke to me, something like 2 years. Yes, the bible speaks. This is the hidden truth. Many Christians do not experience the bible speaking to them in their present situation. When I first came to the Lord, Are we angels I had five crises. It was devastating; my entire world and life views came crashing down. Everything that I had built based on my own understanding did not go as planned. The only thing that helped me was my early childhood exposure to God. I was schooled in a Presbyterian Mission school. It gave me the basic knowledge that when we prayed to Jesus he would answer us.
They didn’t teach me that the bible could speak to me. The bible is alive and it speaks to you. For those who do not think that this is a gift, I am now proclaiming this simple fact to you. If you cannot access God directly, your only hope is to read the bible. And before you open the bible, pray and speak to it, asked that you open to the right pages so that God can speak to you through the words therein. This is not hocus-pocus; God will guide you to the very pages that he shall begin to speak to you. Nothing can happen by chance, unless God has ordained it, no event can take its place without the permission from God. This is Truth.
Matthew 7:7King James Version (KJV)
7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
The very best gift that God can give to any person is his active Rhema Word. The Rhema word is an active word from the voice of the Lord. The bible is the Logos word of God, unless it is quickened by the Spirit of the Lord, it remains a static word not a Rhema. That means the word is not in season. The Rhema is the Spirit filled season word that will manifest its intended meaning. It contains the creative power of God to manifest blessings. For most people their ears have not been opened spiritually so the best and simplest way God can communicate with them is through the bible verses. I do not mean the logos or the static word, I mean the words that will stick out of the bible and speak to your spirit man. It touches your soul and your heart literally. You will feel it talking to you in your particular situation when you seek the Lord’s answer sincerely. Jesus said, “My words are spirit and they are life”.
John 6:63New International Version (NIV)
63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you-they are full of the Spirit and life.
The words in the bible is actually a spirit filled media of God, it is called the Truth. Truth is a spirit, and those who seek after it shall find it, and gain wisdom. Wisdom means to understand the true situation and to act in accordance with the counsel of God. God’s Rhema word produces the power to manifest his ultimate verdict in your particular situation. Without the Rhema word, your situation will remain unchanged. Only God’s word from his own mouth can cause your situation to change. His word will never return to him in void, it will always produce the effect as he has sent it. That is why God seldom speaks.
Isaiah 55:11King James Version (KJV)
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
The bible verses or scripture contain the Spirit of God within itself and the words will manifest and speak to you only when you believe that it is the word of God. I shall present my own personal experiences of the Rhema word that brought me the warnings and the decision of God in my life. As this is a short article, I can only share a few occurrences which testify to this fact, they are by no means few. I had plenty of such experience when I was seeking God and reading the bible. If you can accept my words, the bible is a gateway to the throne of God. And in it, God has stated this fact in the Book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 8:32-36New International Version (NIV)
32 “Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.
33 Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not disregard it.
34 Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.
35 For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD.
When I meditated on this verse to try to find the doorway to God, the Holy Spirit sudden revealed to me that the doorway to God is in my hand, the bible. The words, “waiting at my doorway” indicates an expectancy and dwelling in a particular place. And he promised that those who find him will receive favour from the Lord. The bible contains the word of God which is Spirit and Life. When the word from the bible began to transfer into your mind, the Holy Spirit will begin to indwell in your soul and your heart; which is the seat of your life. It can then manifest itself by reminding you what you have read, it will show you the way of the Lord and his words regarding whatever actions you plan to take. It convicts us of any evil thoughts and wrong ways. Unless you have the word of God strongly embedded within your mind, God cannot reach you nor speak to you. You have to drink of the vine and it is the river of life, this simply means read the word in the bible and absorbed it like a drink of water and it shall give you life more abundantly, trouble free life. Even when troubles come, God will rescue you from your enemies of your soul.
In Psalm 91, it also says he who dwells in the shelter of the Almighty, shall be protected by him. So how can anyone dwell in his shelter, where is the shelter of God? It is in abiding by his words, which we dwell in his shelter. Only when we abide in him then he protects us from danger and harm. You cannot just read the bible; you need to do and practice what it says. Then you are building your house, your soul on a solid Rock and when the storm of life comes, you shall not be swept away. Many Christians don’t spend time reading the bible; they attend church on a Sunday and expect God to do the rest for them. They never wait on his doorways, they had no time for God, so God had no time for them, their worship of him is but man made rules and regulations. These Christians fall away when the testing of the word comes, they had no roots because they are not good soil. And the word of God cannot take its root; they did not connect to the One True Vine, Jesus (Yahushua), the Word of God. You need to spend time in the word of God before you can move in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 91 New International Version (NIV)
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
Matthew 7:24-25New International Version (NIV)
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
Those who read the bible but do not put his words into practice will not be able to build their house on this Rock, Jesus is the Rock. No practice means no believe and no roots. Actions will define your believe, it’s not works its believe and acting it out. Its doing and manifesting the word of God in your life so that you become the living word because you now live in the word of God.
I shall now give 3 distinct incidences that God spoke to me through the bible verses. In the year 2001, while I was working in an engineering firm, I had a principle engineer and he was a man of insolent and vulgarity, he will abuse many to gain attention and promotion through intimidation. At that time the Lord has told me to move to another company so I have decided to resign and handover my duties to this engineer even though it was not my best choice. I had told this man that is he does not change his ways some sickness will come to discipline him. It was a prophetic word spoken without malice; it just came out that way. Three years later while I was reading the book of Isaiah in the night, the word from the bible spoke to me:
Isaiah 60:14New International Version (NIV)
14 The children of your oppressors will come bowing before you;
all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
I was surprised and I reply I had no enemies so why my enemies would come to say sorry to me. The next morning this engineer came to me and wanted to see me, he needed help as an evil spirit had come upon him and he could not sleep for 7 days. He was on the verge of suicide. This was three years after I had warned him of his bad attitudes. And so the bible told me this would take place and it did. Cutting the long story short, I got him baptised into the Lord Jesus Christ and his sickness was contained.
The second incident happened in the year 2002, everywhere I read from the text of the bible that month the word plague would appear. From the Book of Numbers, to Samuel to Jeremiah the word plague came and I knew in my spirit that God is going to send a plague to my country. I show only one verse below.
2 Samuel 24:13New International Version (NIV)
13 So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”
The second verse that came to me was:
1 Peter 4:17King James Version (KJV)
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
In the year of the SARS, 2003, there was one pastor who went to pray for the sick and he died of the SARS virus fulfilling 1 Peter 4:1.
The third testimony was about my long acquainted friend betraying me and I was not to trust him. This happened in the year 2010 when I was doing a project, he was my electrical contractor and on that day of work, he took off without completing my work without saying a word, thereby fulfilling the warning of the Lord to me that week.
Jeremiah 9:4New International Version (NIV)
4 “Beware of your friends; do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer.
This same word came three times when I opened my bible that same week he didn’t honour his contractual work to me.
I choose these three examples not because God spoke to me only these three times. I used these examples to show that God will tell his servant what is to come. He provides us his guidance on the situation in the world, our friends and our enemies. There were many words spoken to me either through the bible or through his voice. This article is written to those who do not understand the need to read the bible daily. The word of the Lord gave me peace and confidence, as he has already warn me of things to come so I avoid the places of wrath and I prepare against those who will betray me or come against me. I didn’t just picked these verses to show God speaking to me, but that God actually speaks to me using these verses.
Isaiah 32:17New International Version (NIV)
17 The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.
Amos 3:7King James Version (KJV)
7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
When you bear the fruit of righteousness because you believe in him, you shall be ruled by the peace which is of God and not your own strength or resources. You shall have confidence in the protective hand of God; it is real and not a fake imagination of the mind. God is good and he is trustworthy, all his words to me manifested its truth and I was comforted by his warning. This is not the same as picking any verse in the bible that speaks of comfort, it has to be the quicken word of God that bear witness to our soul for it to have any manifesting power. To this truth, I testify for the Lord my God, in whom belong all the glory and honour. The Bible speaks to you when you believe in him who died for you. The key to the kingdom of God is believe for without faith he will not reveal himself to you nor will he speak to you through the bible words. Oh, how many people have forfeited their peace by failing to believe in the One True God of the Universe.