It’s early in the morning, and the sun is still readying itself to rise above the horizon. My coffee has been poured, and steam is lazily drifting off it. Like the sun, my kids have not risen from their beds to initiate the hustle of the day. As my favorite chair embraces me, I embrace my Bible and open it to where I left off the previous day.

While my surroundings may seem quiet and still, my heart and mind are preparing to be anything but quiet and still. What eyes cannot see, the heart can feel. I might not be able to see the enemy approach, but in the quiet of the morning a battle has begun. What the enemy sees when I pick up my Bible is an act of aggression because the enemy knows that the Word of God is a double-edged sword (Heb. 4:12). Make no mistake, the enemy will not sit back as I wield such a powerful weapon.

Maybe you have had all the best intentions to read your Bible, but upon opening it have found yourself immediately distracted or confused. On the surface these seem like innocuous experiences, but underneath they are lethal tactics to keep us from reading and receiving the Word of God.

I have good news. We do not fight this battle alone. When Jesus departed from his disciples, he promised to send the Spirit to help us hold fast to God’s Words (John 14:26). He said that the Spirit would lead us into all truth (John 16:13). If reading your Bible feels difficult or disengaging, I want to encourage you that you have the Spirit of God to help you. Allow me to show you three ways the Spirit stands with us in battle and helps us not only read our Bibles but believe our Bibles. 

Killing Sin

Sometimes I am my own worst enemy. At best, my heart’s natural inclination is to be apathetic toward God’s Word. At worst, my heart abhors it. Before we pick up our Bibles, we need help putting to death our sinful nature. The Puritan, John Owen, warned, “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you” (John Owen, The Mortification of Sin). On our own, we are helpless to change our hearts. The strongest among us who can bend metal cannot bend the will of their own heart. Only the Spirit can change our hearts.

Our sinful nature will only be put to death by the power of the Spirit. Owen goes on to point out that to try and put to death sin in any other way is futile. “All other ways of mortification are vain, all helps leave us helpless; it must be done by the Spirit” (The Mortification of Sin). Even before we take the initiative to read our Bible, the Spirit has already gone before us and has given us power to overcome our indifference and disobedience. 

Without the help of the Spirit, our heart would recoil and rise up in opposition as our eyes meet the words on the page. But with the Spirit’s help, sin is defeated, and the Word of God is accessed. Owen again writes, “The principal work of the Holy Spirit is to bring the Word of God into our hearts with light, power, and efficacy” (John Owen, The Work of the Holy Spirit). The opposition of our hearts is no match for the Holy Spirit. It is the work of the Spirit that enables me to kill my sin.

Rejoicing In Truth

Operation Overlord was initiated on June 6, 1944, when the Allied forces invaded the beaches of Normandy. The goal of the invasion was to make landfall and establish a beachhead to stage the liberation of all of France. Had the Allied forces simply settled for the beaches of Normandy, the war would not have ended. So it is with our Bible reading. It is a battle simply to open our Bibles to read them, but simply reading the words on the pages is not enough. God intends the truths of Scripture not simply to be known but experienced—not just read but rejoiced over.

Owen warns that there is a way of reading Scripture that is dry and fruitless. There is a way to read Scripture that does not produce change. He wrote, “Men may have a literal knowledge of the Scripture, and yet know nothing of the power and mystery of it, because they are not taught of God.” We need the Spirit’s help to take the head knowledge of Scripture and make it a lived experience for us. 

It is one thing to read about a lilac bush. To hear that it has green leaves and purple flowers. It is a completely other thing to walk past a blooming lilac bush and be stopped in your tracks by the exploding fragrance leaping off the bush. 

God does not simply want us to hear about his love, but to experience his love. It is a shame to read of forgiveness and not feel forgiven. It is a tragedy to read about freedom and never know what it is to run unhindered by guilt and shame. We need help stepping into the story of Scripture and making it our story. This is where the Spirit’s help is necessary. 

Dane Ortlund writes that the role of the Spirit is to help us experience the heart of Jesus. When we read our Bible, light enters our eyes, and our brains turn images into meaning, and the Spirit turns this into the experience of love, joy, and peace. Ortlund says, “The Spirit turns the recipe into actual taste” (Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers). It is the work of the Spirit that enables me to rejoice in truth. 

Engraving On My Heart

The battle does not end when my reading has concluded. The battle now is for the Word of God to stick with me. Psalm 1 describes the person who is constantly meditating on the Word of God as a tree firmly planted beside a stream of water. It has deep roots anchoring it to the ground, immovable by the fiercest storms. 

If the Word is not planted in our hearts, then in moments of fear, God’s Word will not spring forth to provide comfort. In moments of decisions, we will not have the wisdom of God to lean upon. In moments of confusion, we will not have the truth of God to lead us. But if we have spent time drinking from the Word of God, then the Spirit in our hour of need can cause us to remember what we read. 

The Spirit etches the Word of God on our hearts so that in moments of need we have it at the ready. When our unbelieving friend asks us a hard question, we have the Words of God to share with them. When we need to pray, the Word of God can help us express our needs to God. When we have doubts, we have the Word of God to assure us. 

The Apostles set a good example for us. When they were persecuted, they relied on the Holy Spirit to give them words to speak. They remembered and trusted Jesus who said, “And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit” (Mark 13:11).

As I go through my day, I want to remember what I read. I want the Words of God to have a forming effect on my heart and mind. It is the Spirit that enables me to engrave God’s Word on my heart. 

Reading and Believing

The Westminster Divines wrote that we may come to believe the Scriptures because of the witness of the church, the majestic way it is written, the truthfulness of its doctrine, its perfect organization and completeness. But at the end of the day, these aspects of Scripture are not enough to truly believe. The authors of the Westminster Confession understood that what we ultimately need is the help of the Spirit to believe our Bibles. After writing about all of the different ways we may be persuaded to believe the Scriptures they wrote, “. . . yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts” (The Westminster Confession of Faith). It is the Spirit that enables us to kill sin, rejoice in the truth, and engrave it upon our hearts.

Next time you sit and have the privilege of reading or listening to God's Word, acknowledge your need for the Holy Spirit in order to receive the Words of God. When reading God’s Word becomes a chore or you find it difficult to focus, ask the Spirit for help. Allow the divine aid of the Spirit to impress upon your soul the powerful Word of God.