The most important aspect of every relationship is communication. It is the lifeblood of a relationship. God has provided a way for us to interact with Him both through His living word (Heb 4:12) and through his still small voice in our hearts. (2 Kings 19:12) God’s original desire and purpose was to speak to us directly as He demonstrated in the Garden of Eden through His communication with Adam but when Adam sinned that communication was damaged. Since then, as illustrated throughout the Old Testament through the forefathers and then the prophets He chose certain men through which to speak to His people. We see this concept culminated in Christ the ultimate bridge of communication between man and God. Now, through the miracle of the new birth and because of the living Spirit of the living Christ and His living word within us we can all communicate directly with the father.
God speaks to us primarily through the Bible which is His complete revelation to mankind. The Bible does not make a distinction between the Spirit of Christ and the word (see John 1). And the Bible does not consider itself to be separate from the living Christ. It does not refer to itself as a lifeless document but rather a living document. (again refer to Heb 4:12) I think we run into problems when we try to make a distinction between the word itself and that still small voice that we sense in our hearts (conscience) that confirms the word that is alive within us. It certainly becomes dangerous as history has shown us when people just seek after that voice rather than establishing the scriptures as a foundation. Consider Mohamed, Joseph Smith and David Koresh to name a few.
All of the wondrous riches of God’s word which give us full access to His Guiding voice in our lives cannot benefit us unless we take the time to get His word into us. (John 15:7) In this crazy, harried and hurried world we live in today it always seems to come back to a time issue. If we are too busy to really focus enough to live in his word and really connect with His living word within us then we are not going to be able to hear His voice. It is not necessarily an issue of spending two or three hours a day in prolonged quiet times (unless of course you have the time to do that) as much as it is adopting the practice of meditating on the word continually (psalm 119:11, Joshua 1:8) and praying without ceasing (Eph 6:18).
We do need to hear God’s voice everyday. We would not dream of not speaking with or listening to our spouse, children or even our dearest friends on a daily basis. Even more so we need to be in constant communication with God.
Part of having God’s word alive in us is to understand how to interpret His word correctly before we try to apply it. It is essential that we understand the theology and doctrine of the Bible. Many people at this point when we start discussing theology and doctrine tune out thinking that it is better to leave that dry and boring stuff to the theologians but this is certainly not the case. It is not a dichotomy. We cannot see theology and practical application as two separate things. We have the tendency to compartmentalize these two categories. Theology, we think, is for the seminary and real life application is for church and small group Bible studies. Never the two shall meet. Paul did not do this. He moves seamlessly through His epistles from theology and doctrine to application not making a differentiation but demonstrating a natural progression. Interpretation skills are part of having the word living within you.
