Joel M Bradshaw

45Then [Jesus] opened [His disciples’] minds to understand the Scriptures…–Luke 24

The word for “opened” was used in the New Testament only here and in Acts 16 where God opened the heart of a woman named Lydia. Here, Jesus opened their minds to understand. With Lydia, God opened her heart to serve. Here are a few points to encourage you.

1. Pray for God to help you to understand the Bible when you read it. This is a major activity of God, the Holy Spirit. To guide you into the truth (John 16:12-15).

2. Jesus caused them to understand the Scriptures. It’s never inappropriate to ask God for wisdom or guidance in situations you face. Have a faith like a child and depend upon God. But here, the specific context is the Word of God. All such understanding is from God. We believe God, the Holy Spirit works in and through His Word, the Bible, to cause Scriptures to be “alive and active” upon the reader’s heart and mind (Hebrews 4:12).

3. As you study the Bible and God convicts you, pay attention. God has spoken to us through the Bible. It is sufficient. It is enough. I don’t recommend going outside of the Bible to hear God. That takes being guided by a very objective, established written Word and reduces it to a subjective, relativistic experience. No, we trust the Bible as God’s Word.

When it comes down to it, you can understand the Bible because God wants you to understand it.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God a may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

4. The Holy Spirit is at work in you as you read the Bible. God has blessed you with pastors and teachers that are equipped to help you understand. Every time a pastor prepares to preach or teach, we pray for God to lead us, to aid our understanding. We are praying that God opens our minds like in our verse today. So, in the most Biblically appropriate of circumstances, the Holy Spirit works on you as you listen to your pastor as he shares how the Holy Spirit, through the Bible, has worked on him! You trust that God has led your pastor to preach the Bible in a way that equips the church. When that kind of preaching doesn’t happen, it’s very evident.

5. Keep reading the Bible. Make it a daily habit or routine. I write this blog every day. It once started as something I dutifully did. Now I wake up early to make it happen. Always remember, there is a great difference between asking God to speak to you with your Bible open and with your Bible closed. Keep seeking to know God’s will for your life and situations that you face. It’s the best journey of all.–JMB