1 John 2:7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.

Some may understand, others may learn, it is God who speaks.

When I began reading the bible in earnest, I was not just reading, I was hearing.

Matthew 11:15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Romans 8:16The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

I was given ears to hear the Word, my Lord, Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 2:2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;

Jeremiah 23:20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

Daniel 10:12 Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 2:2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ,

Psalm 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

And then my father died.

For years I stayed away from my father because I was ashamed of what I had become and I did not want him to see it. While my father used alcohol for his PTSD, I used drugs.

When he died the shame hit me. This was all my fault. No one was responsible for my behavior but me. That shook me to the core, so one day as I drove to work I said in my heart that I wished I had remained in church all those years.

In that moment God spoke to me, perhaps as He did Abram, “What is stopping you from starting over?”

Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

My first prayer answered was not according to design nor was my repentance. God knew my heart. I went home that night and began reading His Word and I haven’t stopped.