Chapter 14: Reading the Scriptures and Spiritual Classics. During the time we've been praying, God has no doubt brought various thoughts to our minds and given us guidance. However, interpreting which thoughts have come from God is highly subjective. In contrast, when we read the Bible, we can be certain we're hearing from God.
Matthew Henry noted, "The Bible is a letter God has sent to us; prayer is a letter we send to Him." So we should set aside parts of our devotional hour for God to speak to us through His written Word. The type of Bible reading we want to do during this time is devotional reading rather than exegetical Bible study. In devotional reading, we are consciously remaining in God's presence and letting Him speak to us through His Word. In a sense, devotional Bible reading is also interactive reading.
Because as we read, we should also be constantly praying, praising God, confessing disobedience in our lives concerning the things we read, making commitments to live by what we're reading, and asking for the power to do so. Reading the Great Spiritual Classics. I also recommend that you spend a portion of your devotional hour reading some of the great spiritual classics. Of course, we don't read them the same way we read Scripture, for they were written by fallible humans.
Nevertheless, many of the great spiritual classics particularly address the kingdom life under various names, and they contain useful insights from fellow travelers along this narrow way. My all-time favorite spiritual classic is William Law's A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. For someone wanting to progress toward a fully surrendered life, I can recommend no better book. It was this book that so inspired John Wesley, Charles Wesley, and George Whitefield.
It lies at the foundation of both the Great Awakening and the Methodist revivals. In fact, to a large degree, through their preaching, the Wesleys were attempting to bring the spirituality of A Serious Call to the masses. One thing to keep in mind when reading A Serious Call is that the author assumes that the reader is already on the vine. It's not a book to give to an unconverted person. It doesn't really address the need for conversion.
And I think it's fair to say that in A Serious Call, William Law doesn't put enough emphasis on grace. He does not omit it, but I think he could have emphasized it more. In his later works, he writes a lot more about the new birth and the role of grace. One of the things that makes A Serious Call so special is that William Law lived everything he wrote. None of what he says is pious imaginings. It basically describes the life he and his close companions were living.
Law wrote many other spiritual books and pamphlets. The following are four of my favorites: An Earnest Address to the English Clergy, A Treatise on Christian Perfection, Of Justification by Faith and Works, A Dialogue with a Methodist, The Spirit of Prayer. You will also be blessed by the works of many other spiritual writers and teachers.
I recommend the following spiritual classics: The Life of God in the Soul of Man by Henry Scougal, On the Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, Let Go by Fenelon, The Complete Sermons of John Wesley by John Wesley, Introduction to the Devout Life by Francis de Sales, Directions for Daily Communion by Matthew Henry, Heart Talks on Holiness by Samuel Logan Brengle, Holiness by J. C. Ryle, The Kneeling Christian by an anonymous author, The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer.
All of these works were written by imperfect humans, so we need to read them the way we eat a fish, watching out for the bones. I've quoted from these works throughout this book. In doing so, I'm not implying that I agree with everything these men taught or practiced. Rather, I'm saying that they spoke well on the particular subject at hand. Many of the people who best lived the kingdom life, such as the Waldensians, Czech Brethren, and early Anabaptists, didn't have the luxury of writing books about it.
They were constantly fleeing from intense persecution, and so they had to devote their energies into trying to keep their movements together. When they did write, they were usually having to establish and defend what their movements believed. The best way to read devotional classics is prayerfully. As we read, we should reflect on how each passage applies to us personally. We should let the authors challenge us to a closer walk with God and to a more complete surrender of our lives. Worship.
I personally don't schedule a time of worship beyond praise and thanksgiving in my devotional hour. However, often it just happens. I may be reading Scripture or a devotional classic, or I may be in the middle of prayer, and I'm so overwhelmed with God's presence and His goodness that I want to just worship Him.
William Law describes it this way: "Sometimes the light of God's countenance shines so bright upon us, we see so far into the invisible world, we are so affected with the wonders of the love and goodness of God, that our hearts worship and adore in a language higher than that of words, and we feel the ecstatic joy of worship." May your devotional hour transport you to those heights as well. Close with prayer.
After we have read both the Scriptures and a portion of a worthwhile spiritual classic, we will likely find that we have a lot more things to talk about with God, new resolutions to make based on what we've read, spiritual needs in our lives of which you've just become aware, sins we need to confess, thanksgiving for the insights we've been receiving. We should close our devotional time by praying to God about these things. Satan's Designs.
Because our devotional hour is such an important part of the kingdom life, Satan will do whatever he can to torpedo our devotional time. I can speak from experience, as it has happened to me.