Reading Spiritually
People read for lots of reasons: fact finding, entertainment, research, problem solving, etc.
There is something I first heard referred to as the "De Bouno" technique which goes like this.... If I have a situation or problem and I am looking for a good/better response, I simply take a book at random, pick a page at random, and read a paragraph at random. Then merely accept that the passage has some relevance and allow it to open my mind to a greater selection of possible responses to my circumstances. Then I move my feet; that is, I take action, proceeding with confidence that I received what I needed.
Spiritual Reading is slightly different. Spiritual reading is motivated by the question "What would God teach/give me through this reading." It acknowledges that "of myself, I can do nothing; on my own, I am powerless" and I am not capable of thinking beyond my own habits, addictions, and biases except after falling under the influence of some (loving) intervention. Spiritual Reading speaks to the biggest of perspectives about what actions and thoughts and opinions we can use to achieve "highest and best" good. Of course, if we are aspiring to highest and best good for ourselves, it necessarily means that we are looking for highest and best good for others as well ... by definition. God's Will for good is all-inclusive.
As I am about to read Spiritually, I prepare myself by deliberately inviting conscious contact with my Creator. I do this by thinking some simple, Spiritually directed thought(s). For example:
Master Creator, what would you have me get from this?
Or ...
Thank You God for teaching me what you would have me know.
Thank You God for guiding me where You would have me go.
Or ...
Dear God, how would you have me serve highest and best good in this moment?
Then I read - a page, a passage, a chapter, whatever - and go about my daily activities with a renewed Spirit. I proceed with the knowledge and the desire that I am impacted in the best manner possible as I very gently deflect any impulse to intellectualize or verbalize the specifics.
"Strive, through prayer and meditation to maintain a conscious contact with God.
Praying only for the knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out."