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My last several posts have focused on Nehemiah 8, with the deep desire that the Word of God might be made central once again in the Church of God.

Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday, and though I have written previously about our sins of grieving, quenching and limiting the Holy Spirit in many areas, it never really hit me until yesterday how truly grieved and quenched and limited the Spirit of God must be by the ways we treat the Word of God, particularly as we prayerfully consider the role of the Holy Spirit in giving us the Word of God.

II Peter 1:16  For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17  For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18  we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19  And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20  knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21  For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

II Timothy 3:16  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17  that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Nehemiah 8:3 … And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

Lord God, we praise You when we see how Your Holy Spirit was instrumental in bringing Your Word to us through men. How could we have ever known Your mind, Your heart or Your will apart from Your revealing them to these things to us? We were Your enemies. Our minds, hearts and wills were held captive to our sin nature. We had no capacity to understand You or know You, or even any desire to seek You on our own. Yet, You have been gracious to us in carrying along these men by Your Holy Spirit so they might speak and write from You, not from their own will, not of their own ideas. O, to consider that You Yourself breathed out Your Word to us as a gracious gift to us! Amazing. The Scripture is God-breathed, not man-breathed. To consider Your very breath filled and animated these men to breathe out and write Scripture that we have to read today. To consider Your very breath fills these Words! Yet how often do we open Your Word? How often are our ears attentive to Your Words? Do we really consider Your Word God-breathed? If we did, would we neglect Your Word as we do?

We thank You, Holy Spirit, for the gift of Scripture to us.
We confess how often our ears are not attentive to You and to Your Word.
We confess how we have grieved, quenched and limited You by not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for grieving You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for quenching You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for limiting You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Father, for the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ.
Your Word is a lamp to our feet and light to our path!
May we pay attention to Your Word as light shining in a dark place!
Give us ears that are attentive to You and Your Word, Holy Spirit.

Holy Father, Your very voice spoke from heaven to testify and declared Jesus Christ to be Your very Son. Holy Spirit, You descended upon our Lord like a dove. You were given to Him without measure and remained on Him to authenticate His person and His ministry. Our Father and Holy Spirit, Your voice continues to testify to us today through the Holy Scripture. You have given Your Holy Spirit to us to guide us and lead us into all truth and to sanctify us. Yet how often do we close our ears to Your voice? How often do we close our ears to Your voice when we do not open up Your Word to read or sit and listen attentively to Your Word as it is taught and preached in our churches? O, that we would pay attention to Your voice, to Your Word, like a light shining in a dark place so we might know Your will and walk in it. Apart from abiding in Your Word, we are in darkness and ready prey to be snatched up and devoured by the prowling lion, to be deceived and led into temptation and sin by his wiles and schemes.

We thank You, Holy Spirit, for the gift of Scripture to us.
We confess how often our ears are not attentive to You and to Your Word.
We confess how we have grieved, quenched and limited You by not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for grieving You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for quenching You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for limiting You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Father, for the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ.
Your Word is a lamp to our feet and light to our path!
May we pay attention to Your Word as light shining in a dark place!
Give us ears that are attentive to You and Your Word, Holy Spirit.

Lord God, We confess how we are so prone to wander, to follow cleverly devised myths – even though You have made clearly known to us the power and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We too easily forget those things which are of first importance. So many churches have let go of the centrality of Jesus Christ and His Gospel in our teaching and preaching. What a travesty, what an abomination – especially when we have also been eyewitnesses of His majesty, as Your Spirit has come to us through Your Word to reveal Jesus Christ to us and His very own Spirit has come to dwell in us and to bear witness to us that we are Your children.

We thank You, Holy Spirit, for the gift of Scripture to us.
We confess how often our ears are not attentive to You and to Your Word.
We confess how we have grieved, quenched and limited You by not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for grieving You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for quenching You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for limiting You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Father, for the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ.
Your Word is a lamp to our feet and light to our path!
May we pay attention to Your Word as light shining in a dark place!
Give us ears that are attentive to You and Your Word, Holy Spirit.

Lord God, You are immortal, invisible, the God only wise. You were in light inaccessible, hid from our eyes! We were blinded to the light of Your glorious Gospel and held captive by the prince of this age in his kingdom of darkness, and yet You have been gracious to us and revealed Yourself to us through the Lord Jesus Christ and led us out of darkness into Your marvelous light. Through Your incarnation, sinless life, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension You conquered sin, death and Satan and By grace through faith, we have come to You. You have opened the prison doors and set us free, so we might no longer follow the voices of strangers but that of You, our Good Shepherd. You revealed Yourself to us through Your indwelling Holy Spirit. You revealed Yourself to us through the precious Words of Scripture. These Words are straight from Your mouth to our ears. How can they not be profitable to us? You are good and all Your gifts to us are for our good. Your Word is Your gift to us to be used for reproof, correction and training in righteousness. Your intent is that each of us be competent and equipped for every good work for Your glory, so we might be a light shining in a dark place and those in the world might see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven. You have provided to us the means for us be competent and equipped, to know and to do Your will. When we are not walking in Your will for us we are a reproach to Your holy name. We praise You for preserving and protecting Your very own Words for us through thousands of years so we might grow and thrive in our life and faith in You and bring honor to You. Forgive us when we neglect Your Word and settle for so many other cheap substitutes and expect to be competent and equipped for every good work. Forgive us for not being attentive to Your Word. Why should we not be surprised when we continue to fail and flounder in our battle against sin if we do not hold fast to Your Words? Why should we not be surprised when we see so many clamoring for milk when they should be eating meat?

We thank You, Holy Spirit, for the gift of Scripture to us.
We confess how often our ears are not attentive to You and to Your Word.
We confess how we have grieved, quenched and limited You by not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for grieving You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for quenching You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for limiting You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Father, for the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ.
Your Word is a lamp to our feet and light to our path!
May we pay attention to Your Word as light shining in a dark place!
Give us ears that are attentive to You and Your Word, Holy Spirit.

Lord God, we know there is no true teaching, reproof, correction and training apart from Your Word. Apart from Your Word, we would all be doing what was right in our own eyes. Your Word is an anchor to us. Without it and without Your Spirit guiding us as we read and study it, we would be carried about with every wind of doctrine. Thank You, Father, that You have provided clear teaching straight from Your mouth to us, Your children. Thank You that You have not left us in darkness. Thank You that You have made and continue to make clear Your mind and Your way to us through Your Word and Your Spirit. Thank You for being patient and longsuffering with us. Give us hearts to hunger more for You and Your Word more and more. May we not settle for anything less.

We thank You, Holy Spirit, for the gift of Scripture to us.
We confess how often our ears are not attentive to You and to Your Word.
We confess how we have grieved, quenched and limited You by not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for grieving You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for quenching You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Spirit, for limiting You, for not paying attention to Your Word.
Forgive us, Holy Father, for the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ.
Your Word is a lamp to our feet and light to our path!
May we pay attention to Your Word as light shining in a dark place!
Give us ears that are attentive to You and Your Word, Holy Spirit.

Please add Your PRAYERS as the Holy Spirit leads you.