PART 3 How To Cultivate a Deeper Relationship with God.

Be a person of one Book
And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him. For they know his voice. And they will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.
(John 10:4-5)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

(John 1:1)

To know God is to know His Voice. To know His Voice is to know His Word.
I had the privilege in my younger years in ministry to serve as an Associate Pastor for a small congregation whose pastor was looking towards retirement. He had served the church faithfully for over 20 years and was a man of impeccable integrity and student of God’s Word. Young as I was though, there was one thing that disappointed me about him; his library. He had very few books. I was convinced a pastor in the ministry as long as him should have shelves and shelves of books lining his entire office. My budding collection was growing and already tripled his.
I asked him about it one day. He told me as a young man the Holy Spirit told him to “Beware of man’s writings.” So from that point on he became a person of one Book, the Bible. His most important books to him were his Strong’s concordance, a Greek New Testament, a Hebrew Old Testament, and some Greek and Hebrew grammars. He had no formal education beyond high school but he would read the New Testament from the Greek and even taught a Greek class for interested bible students. I respected his thoughts and insights on Scripture more than other pastors I knew with Bible and Theology degrees. He was truly a Holy Spirit taught man of the Word. His revelations were from the Holy Spirit not Matthew Henry (with no disrespect to Henry).

Allow the Holy Spirit to Show you God
As spiritual and theologically sound as they may be, be careful not to get caught up in the latest popular authors and spiritual public figures. Don’t let them rob you of God speaking directly into your life, not via a book about someone else’s experience.
I have been inspired many times by reading the experiences and thoughts of great, godly spiritual authors of the past and present but during this season of my life God is directing me to lay aside those second hand experiences and allow the Holy Spirit to show me directly what it means to know God! I refuse to settle for a vicarious relationship when I know I can experience the depth of God for myself. I chose to saturate myself in the Word of God. I chose to hear, read, study, memorize, meditate, and apply the whole Holy Bible, the Gospel, the New and Old Testaments in my search for intimacy.

Your salvation and opportunity to enter into relationship with God cost him his Son, Jesus. The depth, quality and value of that relationship depends on the cost you are willing to pay.

I have chosen a life of faithfulness. I have set your regulations in front of me. I have clung tightly to your written instructions. O LORD, do not let me be put to shame.
(Psalm 119:30-31)

Be a person of one book.