Do you have doubts about God, about the after life, about the truth of Christianity? Would you like to be more secure in your faith?
Paul gives the answer to doubt in Romans 10:17. “Faith comes through hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” The way to gain assurance about God is to immerse yourself in the Word, the Bible.
Assurance comes when we hear from God himself. When we “hear” God communicating with us, we understand that He exists, that He loves us, and that He intends the best for us.
The way to open your heart to hearing from God is to spend time in the Bible. As we read the Bible and open up our hearts to the teaching, this opens up an avenue for the Holy Spirit to speak with us. He may speak directly through the written word. The words of the Bible are God’s communication to us. When we read the Bible, we are hearing from God himself. Like good listener we need to listen closely so we can understand the message. It is possible to read a passage of Scripture and misunderstand, misinterpret, or misapply the message. But as you keep at it, you will become skilled and experienced at hearing God’s communication directly through the written word.
In addition to the written Word, God communicates with us through His Spirit. As we read the Bible we are training ourselves to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and to recognize who is speaking.
Not every spirit that communicates with us is the Holy Spirit, so we need to be very careful when we believe we are in spiritual communication with God. As John the Apostles warns in 1 John 4:1: “Do not believe every spirit, but tests the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophet have gone out into the world.”
One important test of the Spirit is to filter what you hear from the Bible. The Bible gives us not only direct truths that can be compared with what we think w hear from a spirit, but it also informs us of the character and nature of God. As through our time reading the Bible we understand more about the character of God, how He acts and what He values, this gives a sense of who He is. The more we know God through His word, the more skilled we will be in recognizing when He is speaking to us in other ways.
So if you find yourself struggling with doubts, immerse yourself in the Bible. Open up to communication from God and He will give you the assurance you desire and need.