Episode #336 Have a Two-Way Conversation with God Through Scripture – Learning to Enjoy Life with God

Have you ever wished that your Bible reading could become more of a conversation with God? You know, back and forth, where he's sharing things and you're talking about what you're reading? Well, that's exactly what we're talking about today because I believe that's what God offers each one of us. Not just pastors, not just special Super Christians or biblical scholars.
This is actually part of something I talk about in my Captivated Playbook. My relational reading method walks you step by step through how to engage with God as you read your Bible. And one of those steps is that God responds to you as you read and reflect on his word. Because of the Holy Spirit, because God's Word is living and active, and God himself is living and active and involved in our lives. He brings new revelation to us as we read his Word.

God does his transforming work in us. We don't have to do that in ourselves. And most of that transformation comes as we take action based on what God reveals to us, not just what we can figure out based on our own intellect or understanding.
I'm gonna be reading for us today from Luke 24. And in this passage, we're looking at the story of the disciples who met with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. Basically, we're catching up with these disciples after Jesus has died on the cross and resurrected. It's three days later and they're on the journey from Jerusalem back home to Emmaus. Jesus himself appears to them on the road, but they don't recognize him. So he's meeting up with them and he's like, “Hey guys, what are you talking about?”

And their response to Jesus is basically like, “Have you not heard? Where have you been? Everyone in Jerusalem knows what has happened. And we had hoped that Jesus would have been the Messiah, but he can't be because he's died.”

And we're picking it up in verse 27, and it says, "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."

So Jesus is saying, “Hey, let's go back to the very beginning. Let me show you all of what scripture says about the Christ.”
And so they're walking along and he acts as though he's about to go on past them, and they invite him instead to come into the house to stay and to eat with them.

And so we're picking it up in verse 30, just a few verses later. It says, “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

I think it's insightful, even though it's not explained, that their eyes were opened to recognize Jesus in the time sitting at the table. When he's sharing a meal with them, when he's blessing it, he's thanking God for who God is and for the food, and he's passing the food around to them. That in this moment, their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and then he immediately vanished from their sight. And then they reflect on how he opened the scriptures to them when he's explaining all of the law. Going back, all of Moses and the prophets concerning himself. And in their reflection in that moment, they're like, “Oh yes. Didn't our hearts burn within us as he opened up the word, as he brought revelation to us about what scripture says about himself?”

Now that's encouraging because sometimes God is speaking with us and we don't recognize it. Sometimes God is there with us in a circumstance, and we don't notice him or we can't perceive that he's there. Sometimes we can read the Word by ourselves and it doesn't make sense. We don't understand, and we need God to reveal himself to us. We need him to open our eyes to explain the Scripture to us, to bring us revelation that we can't arrive to on our own. The revelation that God brings is so much better than what we could just figure out by our own understanding.

And sometimes it's in reflection, just like it was for these disciples when their eyes have been opened, when they're like, “Oh. Didn't our hearts burn? Wasn't there a recognition in our spirit when he opened the scriptures to us?”

Now, the good news is that same experience of God opening his Word to us, is available right now today. The Bible isn't just something you read. It's a place God meets you, and he continually brings revelation of himself. If knowing how to engage with God this way is unfamiliar, or you're simply wanting to experience it in a greater measure, my Captivated Playbook is for you, and there's a link here in the show notes for where you can get it.

As always, I wanna leave you with a question that you can then take into conversation with God in listening prayer and the very next time you open your Bible. And so here's our question:

God, what's something you want to show me today in Scripture about who you are?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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