Lord, Your Word is My Guide

If we want to know how to act; if we want to grow in our knowledge of God and of Jesus; if we want to be ready to live our faith, we need to read the Bible. Some of us have been fortunate to know the Bible from your youth. Others have come to know God later in life, and have turned to Scripture to get to know him better. In the Bible we learn who God is. We come to know his goodness, his love for us, his faithfulness to his people and his promises. We learn how to God wants us to live by being faithful to the commandments. We realize that he is faithful even when we are not. God has promised us a Savior to make up for the sin of Adam and Eve and by extension, our sins. We come to know Jesus as our Savior who came so that we would understand how we are supposed to live and gave us a new commandment which sums up all the commandments, to love one another as he has loved us. It is this law which lets us know how well we are doing in following him. The more Scripture we read, the better we know the Father and the Son, and through Jesus and his command to go forth, make disciples and baptize, we know the power of the Holy Spirit. It is common practice to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us as we read Scripture so that we can better understand what God is trying to tell us. After all, the Bible is the living Word of God, meant to be read throughout time and in each generation. We learn something new each time we open it. Jesus told the apostles at the Last Supper that he had more to tell them but they couldn’t bear it all then, but he would send the Spirit to reveal more to them. We can’t take it all in at once either, and need to read it frequently so that we can come to know him better.

Almighty God, you have given us the words of eternal life. Send us your Spirit so that we can come to know and love you better. Amen.