How I read the Old Testament

So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" (Acts 8:30-31)

In my last post I asked, Should Christians even bother with the Old Testament anymore? and I concluded with, “Yes, we should read the Old Testament. We should know it well. But now the question is, How should we interpret what we read?”

Therefore Philip’s question is timely. The eunuch replied, How can I, unless someone guides me? I’m not attempting to guide anyone as much as I am simply sharing how I approach the Old Testament. But I do believe I am following the Apostles.

First of all, there is a distinction to be made between interpretation and application. Interpretation is, What does the passage say? What did it mean for the original hearers? Application is, What does this mean for me? How does this work in my life?

As far as interpreting the Old Testament, I believe it can be interpreted as literally as we interpret the words of Jesus. And I think it is pretty clear when Jesus says something that we should take literally and when he says something that is figurative. Even so with the Old Testament. The narrative/historical sections should be read as literal history. When we get to the poetical and prophetical sections, we recognize there are figures of speech, and similes, and metaphors. But each figure of speech means something specific, not whatever we want it to mean at the moment. For example, Ephraim is a cake not turned. Ephraim is not really a cake, it is a figure of speech, conveying something about Ephraim. (I confess, I have never understood this figure!)

Here is how I read the Old Testament and seek to apply it to my own life:

† I read it as the Word of God. I accept the historical sections as true, whether speaking of creation, Abraham, Israel, Moses, the exodus, Joshua, or the sun standing still. I accept the prophecies as true, with many of them already fulfilled in the first advent of Messiah and anticipate the rest to be fulfilled when He comes again.

† I believe Jesus and the Apostles after Him, left us a template for understanding the Old Testament, which can be summed up in a few words:
- The Old Testament speaks of Jesus (it is a Jesus book and is therefore for me as a Jesus follower)
- We are under a new and different covenant. In other words, the law has been fulfilled in Christ and we are no longer under the law.
- The Law consisted of carnal ordinances (feasts, circumcision, sacrifices, temple, priests etc), and these have been superceded by spiritual ordinances (ie the sacrifice of praise)
- The Church is spiritual Israel. As such, we are the inheritors of the promises.

This last one means I can read the Old Testament with the expectation that God will speak to me, that there is something for me, a precept, a promise, a principle for my walk with the Lord. So, when I read the Old Testament I am looking for spiritual truths that transcend covenants. Since I am currently reading in Deuteronomy*, let me offer a few examples from that book:

8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee in the wilderness, that he might afflict thee, and try thee, and that the things in thine heart might be made manifest, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no.
I interpret this literally - this is what really happened to them. But I see here a principle: Here is the purpose of my trials – that what’s in my heart might be made manifest.

8:11 Take heed to thyself that thou forget not the Lord thy God, so as not to keep his commands….
The passage goes on to detail the dangers of prosperity. ‘Nuff said.

10: 12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, and to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul;  13 to keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and his ordinances, all that I charge thee to-day, that it may be well with thee?
That seems rather straightforward.

12:2 Ye shall utterly destroy all the places in which they served their gods, whose land ye inherit, on the high mountains and on the hills, and under the thick tree.  3 And ye shall destroy their altars, and break in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their groves, and ye shall burn with fire the graven images of their gods, and ye shall abolish their name out of that place.
Ah-ha! Spiritual truth time. They literally did this, but we do not have here a command for us to go out and wage war on idols. This is done spiritually, in our hearts.

20:1  And if thou shouldest go forth to war against thine enemies…
Again, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, so this is applied to spiritual warfare.

I could go on and on with examples. Deuteronomy is a great book and full of spiritual benefit for us today. I admit, Deuteronomy is sometimes more difficult than Psalms or Isaiah because there is so much law, so many ordinances etc. We know these do not apply to us, but there is an underlying truth that does. There is a lot about their social and civil life. We can learn about justice and mercy from that. There’s a lot about defiling the land, which is a really interesting concept… There is mention of capital punishment for certain offenses, and aren’t we glad that churches do not deal with sinners this way? But there is that pesky principle of remove the evil one from yourselves which is for today.

Do you understand what you are reading? How can I, unless someone guides me? That guide is the Gospel, and following that guide you will find  the Old Testament profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Amen.


*All quotations from Deuteronomy are from the English Translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851

Should Christians even bother with the Old Testament anymore?

I was having a conversation with someone recently and an article germane to the discussion was mentioned. At one point the author declared that a literal interpretation (of the passage under discussion) says , “Ignore the Gospel. Just rip the whole New Testament right out of your Bible.” And this would put us back under the Law. This nearly derailed the discussion!

I think many Christians are confused about the role of the Old Testament. I have a friend who asked his pastor why he didn’t preach from the Old Testament. The pastor replied, “We are a New Testament church. So I preach from the New Testament.”

We know that the Old Testament pointed to Jesus and that He fulfilled the Old Testament. Therefore, now that Jesus has come and instituted the New Testament, and we are under grace and not law, is the Old Testament of any further use for a Christian? Is there any point in even reading the Old Testament? Is there any benefit for a believer in Jesus in the Old Testament? After all, we have the New Testament, doesn’t it tell us all we need to know to believe in and live for Jesus?

Is there any value in the Old Testament? Yes. Yes! YES! Consider 2 Timothy 3:15-17
15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

This was written about the Old Testament! There was no New Testament when this was written! The Old Testament was the Scriptures for Jesus. And the Apostles. And the earliest believers.

Is there any value in the Old Testament? Any benefit to be had in reading it? Uh, Yes!

† God is revealed in the Old Testament. It’s wonderful how fully He is revealed! We see His love, His grace, His power, His righteousness, His holiness. Maybe that is part of the our problem with the Old Testament – we’ve been spoon fed a one-sided view of God for so long that we no longer think of God as righteous and holy, as having wrath or even the right to judge. And the Old Testament reveals the Lord as a God who loves and redeems, who chastises and corrects, who has wrath and judges. We need this:
I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

† Jesus is in the Old Testament. Yes, in prophecy and in type. But also in person. You encounter the Son, the Word, all throughout the Old Testament. As in Isaiah 6 above. And Joshua 5:13-14:
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?  
And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?

And so on all over the Old Testament. All through the Old Testament we meet Jesus!

† The Old Testament is full of stories of men and women walking with God. And through these we learn how to walk with God. Some may stumble over this, “But they were under law and we are under grace, how can we learn from those under law how to live under grace?”  The basics of walking with God are the same. The details are different, but not the fundamentals. Do you think that God does not expect and reward complete obedience under the New Testament? Or, was there no faith in the Old Testament? Did the saints then not walk by faith? Have you not noticed that whenever Jesus and the Apostles illustrated a gospel truth, they did so by mentioning someone from the Old Testament? Just consider Hebrews 11. As he exhorts us to live by faith, he presents examples of how this is done - all these people who lived and died by faith, in the Old Testament. Then he applies it, Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. The great cloud of witnesses are all these people in chapter 11, who lived and obeyed and died by faith. They are witnesses that it can be done, this is their testimony.

Repentance, faith, salvation, backsliding, restoration, forgiveness, prayer, healing, obedience, sin. Stories of real people. We read about them and often hear from them. People often stumble over the Old Testament because the sins are so real. “How can this be a holy book when the people in it are such sinners?” Well, that’s the whole point! Abraham and Moses and David are not the heroes of the Bible. It's not about them. It's about God who rescues such sinners!

† You will never fully understand the New Testament until you know the Old. The New is an edifice built on the foundation of the Old. Nearly every truth of the New is presented in some relationship to the Old. “The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed.” The Old Testament is rich in itself, but, when you are armed with the New, what depths you find! what riches of graces and wisdom you mine!


I love the Old Testament. The power, passion, poetry; God, grace, gospel; prophecy, precepts, proverbs; Judah, Jeremiah, Jesus. Yes, Jesus. The Old Testament is a Jesus book! Yes, we should read the Old Testament. We should know it well. But now the question is, How should we interpret what we read?

Does the Bible tell me how to be happy?

In November 2011, I wrote a post, I just want to be happy . I said then that I would look into what the Bible says about happiness. I made a start and put it aside. One of my goals for my vacation was to “peruse ‘blessed’ in the Bible.” And I did.

Now, I can’t claim that I have made an extensive search of every single instance of happy in the Bible or researched every single word even remotely related to happy; but I have looked over the main words in both the Old and New Testament translated blessed and  happy. And I’ve made some interesting discoveries.

One discovery is that I will have to make another, more general, post about happiness. Another discovery is that the Bible doesn’t really address happiness as we know it, and that also will be covered in that soon-to-come post. But now, on to what I did see in the Bible about blessed and happy.

There is a word for blessed in the Old Testament that is sometimes translated  happy.

Genesis 30:13 And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

Deuteronomy 33:29 Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

Job 5:17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

Psalm 127:5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them [children]

Psalm 128 Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.

Psalm 144:15 Happy is that people, that is in such a case:  yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.

Psalm 146:5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:

Proverbs 3:13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

Proverbs 14:21 He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.

Proverbs 16:20 whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.

Proverbs 28:14 Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

I think it is apparent that blessed fits just as well as  happy in these verses. Maybe better. At least the way happiness is viewed today. So, happy in the Old Testament is really a state of being blessed by the Almighty. But, when you think about it, isn’t that a pretty cool state to live in?

This is even more pronounced in the New Testament. There are two main words translated blessed, but I want to focus on the word Jesus used: μακαριος

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
 5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
 9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

I don’t think you can freely substitute happy here. Happy, at least as it is understood today, would be misleading – “Happy are they which are persecuted.” Really? And would “happy are they that mourn” even make sense?!? No, the idea is clearly blessed.

Here are two instances when it was translated happy

1 Peter 3:14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

1 Peter 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

If we really can use  happy for the circumstances described, then it is clearly used in a much larger way than we generally use it. Let’s be honest, no one who is suffering feels good at that moment. But he can be  happy that he is blessed to be suffering for Christ.

So it would seem that there is no road map to happiness in the Bible. But while it doesn’t tell us how to feel good all the time, it does tell us how to live a life blessed by God. I read that Bob Dylan told Rolling Stone that "happiness" and "unhappiness" are "yuppie words” and that what matters is "blessed or unblessed.” I think he’s on to something!

Now I’m working on a post comparing the classical (and biblical) idea of happiness with the idea that is current today, which I am persuaded will demonstrate that the Bible really does have a road map to happiness.

Tough Men

This is from Chapter XV, Managing A Trail Herd of the book, Charles Goodnight: Cowman and Plainsman. As I read this book I am really impressed by these men.

“It was a rough, hard, adventurous life, but was not without its sunny side, and when everything  moved smoothly the trip was an agreeable diversion from the monotony of the range. But things did not always go smoothly. The stampede was especially guarded against during the first ten days or so of the drive. The cattle were nervous and easily frightened, and the slightest noise might startle them into running. Hence everybody was on the alert, and if we succeeded in holding the herd together the first two weeks, we seldom experienced  trouble from the stampede farther along the trail. The men slept on the ground with their horses staked nearby. Sometimes the demands were so urgent that our boots were not taken off for an entire week. Nerves became so tense that it was a stranding rule that no man was to be touched by another when asleep until after he had been spoken to. The man who suddenly aroused a sleeper was liable to be shot, as all were thoroughly armed and understood the instant use of revolver and rifle.”  Charles Goodnight


The psychology of a stampeding herd was difficult to fathom . . . Night after night they have been known to run, taking fright at ‘something,’ as we on the range say, which was apparently nothing, yet ‘something’ to subtle for the sophisticated sense of man. Often three thousand steers have been dozing in peace with the night riders circling around them at an easy gait. Then ‘something happened,’ and with unbelievable suddenness, as quick as the flash of a wakeful eye and as unexpected as the flush of a covey of hidden quail...the cattle were up together and gone. A moment, a second, an instant ago they slept in peace, comfortably scattered and headed to every point in the compass. And yet they rose, they flashed to their feet, apparently all headed in the same direction, and in impenetrable but perfectly co-ordinated mass, they stampeded.
At that electric instant the horse was keener than the man above him. Through his flesh ran a tremor of excitement, his ears came up, his eyes flashed, and his breath came quick as he instantly calculated the course of the herd. And before the man could think that gentle, dozing horse had whirled, sprung, and charged into the night as a part of that wild race.
Charles Goodnight – “In the excitement of a stampede a man was not himself, and his horse was not the horse of yesterday. Man and horse were one, and the combination accomplished feats that would be utterly impossible under ordinary circumstances.”


[The method of curbing a stampede was to turn the cows into a circle.] “They invariably circled to the right. If any old trail driver ever knew of a herd milling to the left, I would like to hear from him.” Goodnight


After the stampede was over and the herd was gathered, the hands laughed, joked, and enjoyed it in retrospect. [an old-timer told of a terrible stampede years earlier] “In the darkness the herd headed for a sixty-foot bluff and poured over the top like hell after a preacher. I was ridin’ on their fetlocks when my night horse – and God, he was a good one – went over the top with them. And I was still a-settin’ in the saddle like a reg’lar hand when he hit on his all-fours and bogged three feet deep in solid rock.”


Goodnight had a feeling that a herd of cattle tends to attract electricity until enough rain has fallen to wet it. Lighting struck one of his herds on the Platte, and killed ‘a big old black steer that was bad to stampede,’ an ‘act of God’ for which Goodnight was grateful. At the same time it knocked down Tom Brannon, the worst swearer the driver ever had on the trail, ‘and he didn’t swear any more for two months.’


“If a man is struck by lightning and is not killed, wet him and stretch him out, and ten to one he’ll come to and get well.” Charles Goodnight


[concerning] the electrical displays of the High Plains country, when men were struck and ‘turned black as ______ in five minutes time,’ when horses were killed and bridle bits melted in their mouths, conchos from their saddles, and shoes from their hoofs; when the lighting struck the earth ‘and rolled along the ground in balls of fire’


In such storms, often accompanied by terrific winds, the horse beneath the cowboy was more comforting than plenty of life insurance, because as the old cowman said: ‘A horse will stand on the ground when the wind is so strong that it will blow a wagon away. I have been on horses and have seen everything in camp blown away, but never a horse went down.’


These were tough men. And this doesn’t even tell the half of it!

Observations from behind the counter

I have no explanation, I'm just telling you what I see.

People come in waves. I mean by this, I will have a wave of black people. Several people over several minutes. Then a wave of white people. Followed by black people etc. I have asked other clerks, I mean Sales Associates, about this and they agree. Just an interesting phenomenon.

People tend to color coordinate their purchases. It is the strangest thing but it happens all the time. They will get a green drink (color of the container or the actual drink), green gum, and ask for menthol (green package) cigarettes. Or red. Or blue. This is so consistent that it is really surprising when they get a red drink and green cigarettes! It only applies to drinks, gum, and cigarettes. Lighters and candy seem to come under a different category. 

There are some nights when it seems there is a spell over the land. No customers. No one one the road at all. It is a really neat time. Then someone comes and that seems to break the spell. They will be followed by several other customers at the same time. When they leave, it returns.

Kinda related to this is the social nature of people. I do get single customers, but frequently, it will be real quiet, then someone will pull up. And that seems to be a signal of some sort and other people will follow. As if it took one brave soul to embolden others to stop here.

It feels like the twilight zone sometimes - people materialize out of nowhere. I will have no customers and no road traffic. I will decide that I can go to the cooler or outside to empty the trash and no sooner do I get into the cooler and BOOM! there's a car! And I can't tell you how many times a car will pull up and they will just sit there. I'll wait but I know, the way to get them in is to step away from the counter and attempt to do something. Works every single time. 

And too many times to keep count it goes like this: No one so I go outside to empty trash; get to first trash can and a car will pull up. Go inside to take care of them. They leave and I go outside to the next can. A car pulls up. Love those nights.

When i got back from vacation one of the assistant managers asked me, "Glad to be back?" 

I told him, "I used to tell people there are no stupid questions. But I've changed my mind."

Random thoughts (from a well ordered mind)

A couple of weeks before vacation I painted the two bathrooms. When I returned I painted the hallway. A couple of hours later I felt like I had been beat up. When I thought about this, I realized I felt the same way after painting the bathrooms. It would seem that this is the result of all the twisting, reaching, and climbing that goes with painting. Ahhh, age.


I am glad to be back in good standing with the library. I have already picked up a couple of books and I have one waiting to be picked up. The other day I went to get the DVD, “Hawaii Five 0 Season 5.” The librarian said, “This is the real Hawaii Five 0!” I agreed and said, “I thought I was the only one.” She said, “Oh no. And I am so angry about what they have done with the new one.”
I went home to watch my DVD and in the first episode I saw a stretch of Kalanianaole Highway that I used to travel nearly every day! That is so cool.


While we were down at Edisto I learned that my daughter talks to dolphins too.


I left for the beach thinking that some plants of mine would be dried up when I returned. I mean, I have to water them nearly every day or they get all shriveled. I thought my star glory vine would be among the casualties. Instead, upon my return I found more blooms than ever on it. I told Mary, “It’s like the vine thought, ‘Well, this is it. I better bloom like crazy for soon I perish.’” She said I give my plants too much credit. She didn’t offer a better answer, just didn’t like mine.

A couple of days later I found a green tomato. She told me that Anne had brought it with her from Ohio. That was over two weeks ago and it was still green. I made the comment, “There’s no way this will ripen.” I hated to throw it out so I laid it back on the counter. Yet the next day it was turning red! I showed it to Mary and said, “You’re gonna laugh at me, but I think it heard me and thought, ‘I’ll show him!’” She just shook her head. It would seem I live in a rather animated world. It’s so much more fun that way.

The wonderful and terrible I

I. This little letter, when capitalized, is amazing. It is wonderful, necessary, deadly. Just one little letter!

I is identity. I am me and not thee. I exist. I am conscious. I am aware of my existence. Aware of the world around me. I relate to it. I am special. Unique, yet like my parents and family. And in my case, slightly odd or a little weird. I love and am loved. This I is wonderful.

I is also self preservation. I am hungry so I eat. I am cold so I put on more clothes. I am hot so I take some off. I seek heat or cool. I get thirsty and drink. I am dirty so I take a shower. I am lonely and seek companionship. I am bored so I seek entertainment. I am not happy or satisfied or fulfilled so I change my life. I am in danger so I flee. or fight. I am oppressed so I resist. This I is necessary. Without it my identity is not only lost, I cease to exist.

I is also the essence of sin. I want my way instead of God’s way. What I will instead of what He will. I will determine my course, my direction, what I believe, what I choose, what I value. Is this I not the essence of sin? Proud, rebellious, stubborn.

Is this not why love and lowliness of mind are the two chief Christian virtues?

Love your neighbor as yourself. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Does this not bend the terribly proud, self-centered I? Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;  does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

And how lowliness of mind bends this proud and destructive I.

Philippians 2:3-4 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Colossians 3:12-14 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.  And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.

Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Matthew 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

1 Peter 5:5-7  Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Oh may God give me grace to walk in love and lowliness of mind so that this proud and terrible I may bend before the Lord, that I may live forever and be the person God created me to be!

Does God speak to us today?

The short answer is, Yes, He does. Every Christian agrees with this. The Bible is God’s Word and is God speaking to us. So the real question is, Does God speak to us in any other ways beside the Bible, or in addition to the Bible?

Recently, I have read several posts by people in the Reformed community about this very question and they are adamant that the answer is, No. In fact, they are nearly beside themselves over this. How silly. And utterly sad. They have reduced the entire Christian life to a book.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God

I have considered a couple of ways to approach this and have decided to offer a few anecdotes.

My own testimony includes the Lord speaking to me (I wonder if this means they would say I have been deceived from the beginning and never really saved at all). As I wrote in an earlier blog post: I had been to church and come under conviction of sin. I was confused by this, “So I left and took a walk to think this through. While on this walk, I had the most wonderful encounter of my life. I became aware of a presence in front of me, a little above me. And then these words, ‘I am Christ. I am alive and I am God. Trust me with your life and I will take you to the true God.’ ” I went home and did just that. I trusted Him with my life and He did indeed bring me to the true God. He got me, and I got God.

Shortly after coming to Christ I had a dream and in the dream God spoke to me and said, “Look behind you.” And I saw God going on and on, endlessly. He said, “That is My past. Now turn around.” And I saw the same thing going on and on in the other direction. He said, “That is My future.” The eternalness of God.

About a year later, I spent much of a Sunday afternoon in anguished prayer, on my face on the floor, seeking the Lord. Then it was time for church. On the way I heard the hymn, Were You There? The Holy Spirit revealed to my heart that if I had been the only person ever lost, Jesus would have died for me. And the love of God was shed abroad in my heart! Amen!

I developed the habit of taking walks to talk to the Lord. One night I was struggling with the question, Do I trust Jesus once and that is good for all time, or do I have to have an act of trust every morning (in order to be saved)? If the latter, I was in trouble, because I was not doing that. While on this walk the Lord revealed to me my heart: ‘If the blood of Christ does not avail for me, then I have no hope.’ In other words, I am trusting Christ every minute of every day! I was excited!

One Saturday night I was on such a walk, praying about the service the next day and my message. And the Lord spoke to me: “Offer Christ.”

On another such walk, I was praying for the church and my teaching series on the Church. The Lord revealed to me, “I am the only one who can say ‘My church.’” Oh how this word did free me to teach the truth about the church!

I remember another time praying about what to preach the coming Sunday. I was kneeling in the living room of the house. The Lord said to me, “Revelation 2:1-7.” I had to look it up! But that is what I preached on that Sunday.

After I had been in York a few years (maybe 5) I pursued an opportunity in another church. I had met with the pastor and we had discussed this and had come to the point of scheduling a time to candidate. As I was praying about this, God woke me up one morning at 5 am and told me that it was not time to go, that I had not finished what He had sent me there to do and then showed me exactly what it was He wanted me to accomplish. As soon as it was respectable, I called my friend and told him I couldn’t come and why, and then set about doing what the Lord had shown me to do.

One Sunday morning my oldest daughter came up to me after church. She was just a young girl at the time. She said, “Daddy, God spoke to my heart this morning. He told me I was His child.” I had not preached about that at all that morning, it was just the Lord bearing witness with her spirit that she was a child of God. Several years later, another daughter, also a young girl at the time, came to me and told me that God had spoken to her about the church I was pastoring. She had written it down. It was a prophecy and I shared it with the church.

Does God speak to us today? Yes. Always through His Word, but in other ways as well. Sometimes a leading; sometimes a feeling – I had begun teaching through Daniel, but I never did feel good about it; at some point in the second chapter I told the church, “I don’t think I should be teaching this right now…”; sometimes in a dream – I’ve had two or three such dreams; sometimes a ‘word’ as I have related above. Did any of this constitute “new revelation”? No, at least not in the sense of a new teaching, a new doctrine, a new revelation of God. None of it added anything to the Bible. Just the living God speaking to His children, to guide and comfort them.

Does this do away with the Bible? No. With reading and studying the Bible? No. Do these feelings, thoughts, or dreams supercede the Bible? No. In fact, if I have a “word” that  contradicts the Scripture, then that word, whatever it is, is not from God. I know that there are dangers in this. I have heard them and seen them, just like you. I had a man “prophecy” over me once in a prayer meeting, and when the meeting was over, I couldn’t recall the first word. Pretty sure that was him and not God! But as you can see, there have been other times when God did speak and I knew it. And remember it. Do we need to spend time “listening for a word from God”? No. You have the Word of God, seek Him there. As needed, God will speak to you that word of guidance and comfort. And you will know His voice.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me