Into All Truth

"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:”

John 16:13a

So many Christians I know carry in their hearts a life verse, some salient thought that speaks to their whole being about who God is in their lives or the direction God has given them along their journey. This verse is tangible evidence they have a personal God who communicates with them.

The issue for me has always been there are too many verses from which to choose. God has spoken to me and given me rest and comfort through many verses. Proverbs 3:5-7, for instance, is about trusting God with all my heart, not leaning on my own logic and understanding, and committing my paths, my thoughts and my actions unto Him so that He can direct my paths. I love that section of Scripture. This passage of God’s word steadied me as I was dating my husband.

How about “The Lord knoweth how” from 2 Peter 2:9? This small section of Scripture helped me through a very dark time in my Christian ministry, when I was looking through the lens of my flesh and not the Spirit, when surveying what was before me.

And then there is John 14:27, which is often quoted by me. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” What a gorgeous verse when you’re in a valley and the only way to look is up to the Lover of our souls, who gives us perfect gifts in our times of need.

All that to say, I think John 16:13a is the closest Scripture passage I have to a life verse. There was a day this verse was spoken to me, and it has never left my heart. The background of that day was that my church in California had just purchased a new building. The church members had gotten together to sell the old lumber and hardware left from the previous owner, along with home items brought in by the members for a very large garage sale. My pastor was talking with another pastor that day, and I had asked my pastor a question. I can’t remember the details of that question, but I believe by the Holy Spirit’s leading, my pastor knew I could only get the answer from God. I could not just take someone’s word for it, pastor or not. That’s when he said this verse to me, and I have never forgotten it.

Whenever I am perplexed over some doctrine or some difference among faith families in God’s beautiful Spiritual Church, I remind myself, that God, by His Holy Spirit, will guide me into truth. I like to say, not 75% of the truth, not even 99% of the truth, but “all truth.” What salve this verse has been to me, as God has gently guided me on paths of study since I gave my life to Him when I was 23. I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was eight, but I didn’t commit myself to His ways until much later. At that turning, my life has never been the same. Oh, there has been much heartache in the studies He’s taken me through, but they have produced in me a confidence in His Word, along with fruit-bearing Bible readings. He blesses my heart while guiding me into all truth—not at once, mind you—but, little by little, when He sees an open heart and a readiness to take in and absorb what He has to tell me. “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.” (Isaiah 28:10)

Lake Pend Orielle, Ione, Washington. (Fall 2007)

(I linked this up with Christian Mommy Blogger.)