A: Indeed I do. In the Scriptures you have the word of life; you have the word of God. Without the Scriptures, you would have to get the word of God direct from the lips of those who are receiving impartations from God, but there aren’t so many of those in the world today. Therefore, don’t let loose of your Bible! It’s the most important book in the world.
Now, the best approach is this: You meditate – you may even have the Bible in your hands – and you meditate and turn within:
“Father, I’m seeking Thy word. Father, I’m seeking the kingdom of God, the realm of God. I’m seeking that word of life which is life eternal. I’m seeking Thy word. I know that ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,”2 and I know that in this book there are spiritual saints and seers and sages, leaders, saviors, all of whom have been divinely inspired. They have written in this book the word of life, and I know that in this book there is a word of life, and I’m going to open it. Father, instruct me. Father, give me light on this volume. Father, lead me back to the very consciousness of your saints and sages and seers who wrote in this book. Let me see the vision they saw. Let me hear the words they heard. Give me the message that they meant to convey.”
Then you are still for a few moments, and you open your Bible. What your experience will be in the beginning, I don’t know. But I know that if you persist in this, the day will come when you will open your Bible, and things will stand out there as if they were in electric lights, and hidden meanings will reveal themselves to you.
I’d like to give you one illustration of it. For many years, my students asked me, “Tell us about the 23rd Psalm.” I would say, “I’m sorry. I don’t understand the 23rd Psalm.” I never give a spiritual interpretation of a scriptural passage unless I have received direct illumination on it. I never give my opinion; I never give my thought. If I haven’t had a light on it, I tell the students that I don’t know.
One day I opened my Bible, and all of a sudden that 23rd Psalm stood out as if it were completely encased in lights, and I went on the platform and gave what I have called “The Secret of the 23rd Psalm.” It’s now embodied in one of our pamphlets, and really, it’s one of our most important ones.
In the same way, the question came up to the desk often, “Tell us about the 91st Psalm.” And I would say, “I don’t understand the 91st Psalm. It doesn’t make sense to me. I can’t tell you anything about it. I don’t get a meaning from it.” Then one day in meditation I opened that Bible, and I opened to the 91st Psalm, and all of a sudden the whole secret of the 91st Psalm revealed itself to me, and it was all in the first verse: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High…” There was the whole secret of the Psalm: None of these things will come nigh your dwelling place, IF you are one who dwells in the secret place of the most High. If you do not dwell in the secret place of the most High, if you don’t live and move and have your being there,you will be one of the thousand at the left or the ten thousand at the right that fall. All the evils do come nigh your dwelling place.
And so it was revealed in that flash that none of these evils can come nigh the dwelling place of those who live and move and have their being in God; those who live and move and have their being in truth; those who abide in the word and let the word abide in them. “Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee3 ; Acknowledge him in all thy ways, and he will give thee rest.”4 Over and over again, Scripture says that the way to peace, the way to harmony, is to dwell in God, to keep the mind stayed on God, to acknowledge God, and the rest follows.
You will find that my writings are built entirely on the Bible, and they’re built entirely on spiritual interpretation of the Bible as has been given to me in revelation. You will never find in my writings anything with a theological meaning. You will find nothing with a “churchly” meaning, or a denominational, ritual, or ceremonial meaning, because that part of the Bible doesn’t enter my consciousness. I am interested in the Word of God, which we are to keep in our mouth and in our minds and in our hearts, and which becomes flesh. The Word shall become flesh – the word of God which you keep in your consciousness becomes your employment, your success, your art, your literature, your everything.
And so my way of approaching the Bible is, first of all, to pray for spiritual light, for spiritual understanding, and then to open the Bible and let God interpret it for me. Meanwhile, you have in my writings all of the passages that have been revealed to me, and every one of those is with power.
1 This excerpt is from Recording #383A, 1960 Auckland Closed Class: “Healing Principles of The Infinite Way.” It is posted with kind permission from the Estate of Joel Goldsmith, which holds the copy protection on the recorded classes and the copyright on the transcripts. The full transcript of this recording is available at The Infinite Way Office website or by calling 1-800-922-3195.
2 Matthew 4:4.
3 Isaiah 26:3.
4 Proverbs 3:6.