how i know…

The loved one asked the question… How do you know God’s Word is really God’s Word…?

And I wonder why he’s asking… for himself… or for a prepared answer to give…

He says… What’s the difference…?

Seeking for yourself is different than being ready to defend the Word as God’s Word… because there is no answer which will satisfy one who just wants to argue… who only wants to prove you wrong… and our answer to those questioning should be formed as a testimony of our experience with His Word… How I know…

Because the short answer won’t satisfy anyone but God…

The short answer is… we believe Scripture is God’s Word by faith…

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Hebrews 11:2 ESV

The same faith by which we believe God created the universe… all things seen and unseen… we believe He wrote a book over thousands of years… through thirty-some-odd men… preserved it… translated it… and gets it into our hands…

That’s the place I started… by faith I told Him I would believe His Word was His Word because He said it was…

I told Him if I didn’t understand something… or didn’t agree with it… or just plain didn’t like it… then I was wrong and He was right… Please reveal Truth to me…

And as I have lived by the Word… by faith… I’ve come to find it true…

True to what I experience in the world… true to who I am… true to give sure counsel which brings healing and transformation… and incomprehensible peace…

And as I lived trusting that His Word is His Word… He began to speak it back to me…

Timothy Keller in his book on prayer… talks about how… like children… we learn to speak God’s language through Scripture…

…our prayers should arise out of immersion in the Scripture. We should “plunge ourselves into the sea” of God’s language, the Bible. We should listen, study, think, reflect, and ponder the Scriptures until there is an answering response in our hearts and minds. It may be one of shame or of joy or of confusion or of appeal — but that response to God’s speech is then truly prayer and should be given to God.

–Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

I’ve found this to be true… Scripture is His language…

I pray… speak to Him… and He often speaks back His Word…

By faith in Jesus… and the power of the Holy Spirit… I meet Him in His Word… He’s there among the pages… living… active…

And the more I know the Word… the more I see it fleshed out in the world around me…

How I know… His Word is His Word…? By faith… trusting it to be true… and acting on it…

How do you know…?

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2Timothy 3:16