"Your Word" Hillsong Worship For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. (Hebrews 4:12) Week 6: Why and How do I read the Bible? The Word. God Breathed, God inspired. The best selling book of all times. Illegal in some countries, at the centre in others. How could one book have so much controversy surrounding it? This book that beacons your soul to lay open before it. For its timeless wisdom to examine, compare, teach and convict. It is only through the word of God that we come to know who God is. His very nature graces the pages of this long and beautifully written novel. It is His story, and He invites us to be part of it.  “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!  Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life..." (John 5:39-40) And what about you? Do you treat this book as the ones do that could be killed for its possession? Do you have a time when you allow it to steal you away, and ponder over the depth and breadth of its wisdom? Do you fight the world and its culture to apply what you have learned? Do you learn from the people that have gone before you? Do you set your goals and your purpose around its message;  around its author? Do you hear him speaking to you through its pages, calling you  to come away, for a time to rest and be in Him?  All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. (2 Timothy 3:16)

"...when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you...." - Jesus (Matt. 6:6) listen... Let there be light

Week 5: Why and How do I Pray? Do you carry a list or feel it within? Have a set time... face to the floor, knees to the ground or do you pull over on the 401 when your eyes are taken hostage for a moment, and you are overwhelmed with His heart? Are you aware of his continual desire to talk with you, to you, through you?  Do you have your own language with Him? A language that holds your heart, on earth as it is in heaven? A language that cannot be described my mere words or human noise, but one that is understood in thought and being... knowing the same Spirit that searches the heart of God, searches the heart of man. Are you hidden in this, or have you asked to see, to hear, to know the hidden things of your maker?  Prayer is a simple expression of Spirit communicating with the fullness of all that God is. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Voice in words, or mind in picture. Thought to feeling or raised hands to surrender. There is no wrong expression to God. He has created you with the ability to communicate with Him, and in an infinity amount of ways He knows the Heart of His people. Be blessed this week in our God. He has given you unlimited access to His throne room, and in the way you commune with Him there. Taste, See and breath in all that He is. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God,which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:6-7)