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illumination needed



"The unfolding of your words gives light; 
it imparts understanding to the simple."  
(Psalm 119:130) 

 "Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures..." (Luke 24:45)

 Not routine.  It is important that we read the Scriptures aware of the presence of God, and that we are asking the Holy Spirit to help us understand and apply the Scriptures rightly.  We must be sensitive especially to those areas the Spirit is drawing our attention to, and then pray about those truths, commandments, or promises. This is the teaching ministry of our Lord to us through the Holy Spirit.  We need him to illumine our minds and hearts as we read.   

 J. I. Packer explains this:  "The work of the Spirit in imparting this knowledge is called 'illumination,' or enlightening. It is not a giving of new revelation, but a work within us that enables us to grasp and to love the revelation that is there before us in the biblical text as heard and read, and as explained by teachers and writers. Sin in our mental and moral system clouds our minds and wills so that we miss and resist the force of Scripture. God seems to us remote to the point of unreality, and in the face of God’s truth we are dull and apathetic. The Spirit, however, opens and unveils our minds and attunes our hearts so that we understand (Eph. 1:17-18; 3:18-19; 2 Cor. 3:14-16; 4:6). As by inspiration he provided Scripture truth for us, so now by illumination he interprets it to us. Illumination is thus the applying of God’s revealed truth to our hearts, so that we grasp as reality for ourselves what the sacred text sets forth. (from Concise Theology)

 I love how C. H. Spurgeon describes this (as edited by Alistair Begg)... "Many can bring the Scriptures to the mind, but the Lord alone can prepare the mind to receive the Scriptures. Our Lord Jesus differs from all other teachers.  They reach the ear, but He instructs the heart; they deal with the outward letter, but He imparts an inward taste for the truth, by which we perceive its savor and spirit. The most unlearned of men become ripe scholars in the school of grace when the Lord Jesus by His Holy Spirit unfolds the mysteries of the kingdom to them and grants the divine anointing by which they are enabled to behold the invisible."  Read the rest here. 

 One danger of daily Bible reading is trying to read too much in too little time.  It is better to slow down and read what is appropriate for the time we have.  We need sufficient time to reflect on his truths. Journaling also is helpful.  Pray before and after for the Spirit's illumination.  

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