Grace cannot easily operate under coercion, duress, shame, or guilt. God does not ask and expect you to do anything new until God has first made it desirable and possible for you to do it. If it is God’s voice, it will take away your illusions and your violence so completely and so naturally that you can barely identify with such previous feelings! I call this God’s replacement therapy. Then you must listen for a deeper voice than your own, which you will know because it will never shame or frighten you, but rather strengthen you, even when it is challenging you. This might take some time, but without such freedom from your own need for control, you will invariably make a text say what you need and want it to say. Once you have attained some degree of openness, try to move to a position of detachment from your own egoic will and its goals and desires-to be correct, to be secure, to stay with the familiar. Pray as long as it takes to feel any certitudes loosen. With an open heart and mind, seek the attitude of a beginner and learner. Offer a prayer for guidance from the Holy Spirit before you make your interpretation of an important text. I’d like to offer some spiritual advice so that you can read Scripture the way that Jesus did and use it for good purposes.
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