I fell off the blogging wagon a while back when I chose to start podcasting. I’ve been thinking about it, but not acting upon it.
Today, I was in the Word and felt inspired once again to type.
May you be blessed by this message.
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When is the last time you really read the Bible? This is a new habit that I am trying to start. I am sure I have read the Bible before, but it has been so very long ago.
To avoid confusion, when I mean “read the Bible” I am describing the act in which you take your time and ingest the words that you are reading. Normally, reading for me is the act of getting through a section or just trying to do my daily reading.
However, today was different. I was in Joshua 2 reading about the “virtuous hooker” Rahab. I saw a note on the side of the page describing how “she was given a place in the ancestry of the Messiah (see Matthew 1:5)” (via Every Man’s Bible). My brain went “really???, wow!”
I looked up Matthew 1:5 and then saw another note that led me to Genesis.
It was a fun journey and I was able to see more into the scripture than normal. The reason is simple. I committed this week to start actually reading the Bible. I just want to read one chapter a day. Yes, just one single chapter.
Per the website blueletterbible.org (http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/misc/66books.cfm) there are 1,189 chapters in the Bible. I believe that success is showing up at least 80% of the time and based on that if I read one chapter each day (at least 80% of the days), then I will complete the entire Bible in just four years and thirty days.
Most people will react and tell me that you can’t take four years (YEARS!!!!) to read the Bible!!! However, I will easily counter that right now I’ve been saved for at least twenty one years and I have yet to finish the Bible once. In addition, I am for the first time actually paying attention and really digesting the Holy Scripture for what it was meant to be.
I don’t know where you are in life, but I do know that if you aren’t finding quiet time with God daily that you are missing out.
I am frustrated with myself, because I see God’s hand on my life and I see how I am not the steward He desires me to be. He has truly set me up for success and I am wasting the resources He sends me.
I reached my breaking point on Wednesday night. I walked away from the “world” and found a quiet place to cry out to God. I circled my prayers seven times by walking the lake I was at seven times and then laid them at His feet. (That is why I’m in Joshua this week – the story of Jericho).
As the clock switched over from Wednesday night into Thursday morning, I was with the King of Kings.
Many of us do not focus on spending time with the creator of the Heaven and the Earth. We forget that through Him we can literally move mountains.
My prayer for you is that this sparks something inside of you and that you cry out to God for Him to come reside inside of you.
Ephesians 3: 14-21
14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,[a] 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.[b] 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
I pray that you invite the Holy Spirit to dwell inside of you.
Luke 11:13
13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.
Acts 8:15-16
15 As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new Christians to receive the Holy Spirit. 16 The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized int the name of the Lord Jesus.
I pray that you are filled with wisdom.
James 1:5
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.
Finally, I pray that a day does not go by that you do not open your Bible or seek God in prayer.
Catalyst John, sometimes an Entrepreneur Coach, but mostly a Servant of God