Ask God what He has for you

Summary

The goal here is to deepen your relationship with God in two ways. First, we start practicing listening to our spirit so we can discern what thoughts coming into our spirit come from God, which come from our own hearts and minds, and which are coming from our spiritual enemy.

When I first started using this approach, I found it helpful to have a backup reading plan and there was even a couple times the silence seemed to push me to follow my default or maybe I heard God whisper to my spirit "go with your default" and I was greatly blessed by what my default reading plan had.

Don't be discouraged. The goal is to know God more deeply, not copy a method or meet some imaginary goal post.

Background

I think it might be important to explain why I think this approach is even valid at all. In John 3 when Nicodemus came to Jesus, Jesus challenged Nicodemus that he needed to be born again. Nicodemus had his flesh body, but he needed to have the Spirit birth him a spirit. In the next chapter, in John 4:24, Jesus tells the woman at the well that "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

From these two passages in John, it is clear that everyone who believes in Jesus is born of the Spirit so that they have a spirit. The parallel between the body and spirit strongly implies that we relate to the spirit world through our spirit much like we relate to the physical world with our body. This seems to be confirmed when we are told that we must worship God in spirit.

So, this approach for reading the Bible is trying to help you hear God's spirit as He speaks to your spirit. The thinking part of us (mind/heart/soul) seems to process all the input from our body as well as our spirit, so we need to learn to discern what is coming from within us, what is from God, and what is from the enemy or the world around us.

The process is simple, but the journey may not be

Just ask God what He has for you.

Then listen. Patiently.

Pay attention to the thoughts that come into your spirit. Do you sense, see, hear or have a thought pop into your mind that could be God answering the question?

Is there a verse that came to mind - either the words of a verse or the reference? If so - read the verse. Pray over it. Turn this into a conversation.
Did you have words come to mind? As John 4:1 says - we need to test what we're hearing spiritually. (The verse before John 3:24 makes it clear that this testing is in the context of hearing the Spirit of God that abides in us and the possibility of spirits trying to mislead us.) Does it bear the fruit of Christ in your heart and mind? Does it align with the teaching of the Bible? If you know it's the voice of God and it matches His character as presented in the Bible - rejoice and respond as is appropriate. If you're unsure, ask Him to confirm it. I can't think of anything God hasn't confirmed when I asked because I really wanted to know Him authentically.
Is there a person that came to mind - do you need to call them, visit them, talk to them somehow? Do you need to forgive them or ask their forgiveness? Do you need to pray for them? Do you need to love them in some special way? If you aren't sure? Ask God. And listen.
Was there a sin that came to mind? If so, did you feel like a loving father was calling you to repentence or did you feel like you were being condemned? There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1) If it felt condemning, that likely wasn't the voice of God. If it felt chastising, as that of a loving father, that may well have been of God.
Did you see a picture in your mind or vision or something else? Evaluate it. If it bears the fruit of the Spirit and draws you into loving God more deeply and your neighbor more deeply and fully complies with the truth of the Bible, then you likely just heard the voice of God. If it bears the sickly rot of condemnation, fear, hate, bitterness, or any such joy-sucking, loveless fruits of the enemy, that was probably the enemy. If it caused feelings to well up inside you - were those feelings, ideas, and desires pointed toward the Spirit or the flesh?
Did you get silence or aren't sure you got anything? Were your own thoughts too chaotic? You can patiently try again, or you can pray and ask God to speak to you through another passage of the Bible you've previously chosen. Then try again later today or tomorrow.

What if you hear silence or can't really tell what you're hearing?

I had successess as well as periods of silence when I really started this. I would encourage you to keep trying. No matter how long it takes, it is worth hearing the voice of God. If I wasn't sure or heard nothing, I went to a default reading plan I had previously started. I started by mostly having references come into my mind. And every once in awhile, they weren't even references to real verses (like John 2:26). What an obvious way to know you didn't hear from God. Don't let the enemy or your own human frailty discourage you from seeking God more. It probably took weeks for me to slowly begin to recognize the differences between God's voice in my spirit and other competing voices. Sometimes his voice was more authoratative. Sometimes the thought He sent was so multi-layered that only an infinite God could pack so many ideas and feelings into a single response. But, even now, a few years in, I sometimes still struggle to discern. Make sure that you only attribute to God what is inline with His Word, His character, and produces the fruit of the Spirit in your heart and life.

Be careful! Seeking to hear the Spirit of God, the creator of the universe speak to you is an awesome thing. I first remember begging God with tears to speak to me, probably over a decade ago. I literally fell asleep praying for God to make Himself known to me in a real way because I felt so distant. The next morning I woke up early to a reference just on repeat, running through my mind. I opened the Bible on my phone and read the passage and through a single verse God convicted me of sin I knew was sin but was trying to pretend wasn't a big deal. God also seemed to warn me through that verse that if I really wanted to hear from God, I needed to be ready to hear whatever God wanted to say to me. I knew I needed to be willing to repent and be cleansed by Him in the process. I'm embarrased to say how long it took for me to truly ever want to ask God to speak to me after that experience. God, in His love, made it so real that I had to really evaluate whether I was truly willing to hear my Holy Father in heaven speak to me on His terms. Do you want to hear what He wants to say, no matter what it is?

For me, this has been a long journey. As I walked through this approach, I had to seek forgiveness from some I had wronged that God brought to mind. I had to work on forgiving those who had wronged me and I still felt bitter towards. I had to repent to God for various issues in my life I was just ignoring. If you really want to hear God, be prepared to get rid of everything you have let come between Him and you.

That said, I would strongly suggest that you start by committing to responding as you know you should to whatever God reveals to you. Then ask Him if there is anything you need to do to hear correctly. Repent, confess, forgive, do whatever God calls you to do. If His response is a reference that is 5, 10, or 100 chapters long. Read every single last word. One of the first passages that came to mind when I knew God was speaking to me felt like a test - God asking me if I was really going to follow through with the reading He gave me. It was something like 6-8 of some of the longer chapters in the Bible. When I finished, I felt the Father's smile - not because I read so much, or even I think because I just obeyed, but rather I think because my heart was right towards Him.

It is an amazing thing to hear God speak to you. It is a beautiful thing to hear God tell you that He loves you.

I pray that God might bless you through this approach to reading the Bible. I pray that He will protect you from being deceived by false spirits or drawn away by your own lusts and desires distorting the Truth. I pray that you would feel His face shine on you as He graciously make this who thing possible. May you feel Him smile on you as He grants you peace as you come to know Him and hear Him and love Him more deeply then ever.