A Strategy For Beholding God: Consistent Bible Reading

These wait all upon Thee,

That Thou mayest give them their meat in due season.

That Thou givest unto them, they gather;

Thou openest Thine hand, they are satisfied with good.  Psalm 104:27-28

The resolve to behold God is essentially about waiting on Him. To wait on God is to join Christ in looking to Him as our supplier and commander. ALL that we have and are, have been and are being received from the hand of God. We truly have nothing to boast about in ourselves. Nothing. Positioning ourselves to wait on God is even a gift of grace that He grants us.

If we would behold Him, we must be always waiting on Him. Neither waiting on nor beholding God come naturally to us. We are naturally inclined to want satisfaction, but our hearts are master deceivers. Waiting on God is a special kind of waiting. It is about being aware of Him, in communion with Him, and totally dependent on Him. It has been said that we become what we behold. I like to take it a step further and say that, whether we realize it or not, we behold what we want to become. Beholding God is what happens when we truly are positioning ourselves to wait on Him. When our lives are shaped by that kind of waiting, everything becomes a finger that points directly to Him.

The hope of the Christian is the faithfulness of God. We know we cannot earn our way into God's favor...Here too, in resolving to behold God and positioning ourselves to wait on Him, we see His grace. As Andrew Murray says in chapter 4 of "Waiting on God", "...He [God] means His very demands to be promises of what He will do." Consistent Bible reading is one area where the demands and promises of God intersect.

Anyone can read the Bible. Anyone can commit to regular reading time. BUT, what such a resolve accomplishes and whether or not it exists is up to God. Christian, if you would behold God and wait on Him, you must be about the business of getting to know Him. The Bible is His special revelation given and preserved for the sake of His people. The point of today's post is this: We must make good use of His Word.

It is too easy to get caught up in waiting on OTHER things. And that waiting leads us to behold other things.

Choose a time each day, choose a plan, and make use of this means. The meat of God's Word is near, if you would wait on Him and behold Him, you must be about the business of gathering it and feasting upon it and drinking from this well that will not go dry. Check out this article for a list of plans and tons of resources. This is the plan I'm doing in 2016.

I have found that no means accomplishes so much as regular time spent in God's Word. It is in reading that Book that I have come to see God, to desire Him, and to find myself completely dependent on Him. The testimonies of consistent time in its pages have filled little books of their own. 

May 2016 be a year of consistent Bible reading. May God use this grace to fill you with such clear sight of Him that our lives are marked by waiting on and beholding Him.

How are you planning to devote yourself to consistent Bible reading in 2016?

Is this something you struggle with?

Bible in 2015 Update

This morning, I finished the Bible reading plan I've been working on!!!! I spent most of the month of March in the New Testament and I really meant to write an update sooner, but I never got around to it.

My time in the Old Testament was some of the richest time I've had in God's Word in a long time. It stirred up a fire and a thirst for more of God and built a greater understanding of who He is. I want everyone I know to read through the Old Testament an hour or so at a time (good luck stopping when the hour is up) until they've read it all! Seriously. Do it.

I'm pretty sure it was March 7 when I moved into the New Testament. The Gospels pretty much accomplished the same thing in my soul that the Old Testament got started. Reading about the coming of the Messiah directly after having steeped myself in the REASON for His coming and the PROMISE of it, was the best move I could have made. I tasted the joy that God was delivering to the world in  a new way. Watching the Old Testament be quoted again and again really stood out to me.

Apart from the Psalms, the book of Ruth, and sections of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the Epistles are the part of the Bible that I am most familiar with. I didn't know what to expect from my time there...It turned out, that I became aware of the urgency with which these letters were written. I never realized just how much Paul went through and I didn't have a timeline set up in my head as to the occasion of each letter. Once again, the time that I had spent in the Word made these days that much more profitable. I felt involved in the unfolding of Scripture. I had a grasp as to what the times were like and why each letter needed to be received.

This morning, I read the epistles that were written by other men and then finished up with the very first book of the Bible I ever read as a Christian (Revelation). Holy Week is here and I'm not sure where I'll be in God's Word tomorrow morning, but I know that I'm so glad that I made this commitment to myself.

What are you reading in God's Word this week? 

Have you ever read the Bible from cover to cover according to a specific plan?

PS - I completely forgot to tell you 

that I was over at Faith's blog on Wednesday.

Please go visit the post that I wrote for her Overcoming Insecurities series! 

Chipping Away At The Old Testament

The last few weeks have gone super well! I started reading my Bible first thing in the morning again. I don't really know how I got out of that habit, but I did. Getting back to it has made a big difference in the rest of my day. I've been working my way through this Chronological Bible Reading Plan. As of earlier this week, I'm officially half way through the plan. If I keep up my current pace, I should be done before the end of March!

I've been reading a mixture of 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Psalms, and one of the prophets each day over the past week or so. Reading Scripture in large chunks and in a chronological time frame has really helped to iron out the timeline of Scripture in my brain! Every now and then, I stop to study a map or to find out a little more about a certain time period. I'm grateful to my Mom for her patience and help with these questions of mine! She is a far better scholar than I will ever be and I really appreciate her willingness to pass the wisdom on. 

This month, the theme of sin has been front and center in my studies. As we come up on the season where we remember Jesus Christ's last days on earth and the events that surrounded His death on the cross, God is preparing my heart! The theme can be summed up in this: the wages of sin is death.

Wherever sin is mentioned, it is followed by the call to repent, a course of discipline, or a promise of redemption. I've been shocked at the way the Gospel is promised again and again throughout the Old Testament. For whatever reason, I hadn't really seen it there before in the way that I've been seeing it recently.

So, that's all for now! I'll be checking in each month this year with a little update on my where I'm at in God's Word. I hope these updates will serve as accountability for me and a little encouragement for you!

Where are you in God's Word this week?

How would you sum up the theme of your time there?

2015 In God's Word

Last week I mentioned "The Glory of God in the Good Resolves of His People" by John Piper, if you haven't listened to it yet, I really think you should!

One of the points that Piper brought up was the importance of regular Bible reading. We are really good at letting Bible reading become an item on our to do list. We are even better at letting Bible reading become an item on our I really need to work on this list....May 2015 be a year of resolving to guard against that!

When Stephanie decided to read through the Bible this year, she also decided to invite others to join her. I'm excited to join her and several others in reading the Bible and chatting about it too!

I've decided to continue working my way through the Bible chronologically. My goal is to read about an hour a day at least four times each week. This reading time will be in addition to my regular time of study.

I'm writing today to invite you to join us. Ligonier has all kinds of great plans complete with printables that you can choose from.

Choose a plan, write a post, and come join us over at Stephanie's blog!

Through the Rain

I had a shadow again this week. We did lots of driving, went for a few walks which included stops to pick things up or find the wind chimes or a bird that we could hear, played Uno, went to the library, read stories, made biscuits, cleaned the sink, and learned about coins.

Yesterday when I took Heidi's daughter home, it was drizzling. I love driving in the rain! I noticed a lady sitting out on a covered patio looking out at the road. It seemed a little cold to be sitting outside, so I wondered what she was doing. That's when I noticed that there were two other people with her. One was leaning up against the wall with his back to the road and the other was sprawled out looking the same direction as the first lady I noticed. 

As I drove by, I only saw them for a few seconds, but my thoughts stayed on them for a while.

What were they talking about? How did they meet? How was it that on a Thursday afternoon they decided to sit outside while the rain came down silently all around them? 

There they sat visiting and enjoying the quiet that rain brings. 

I drove by enjoying the same rain and the same quiet.

Whoever they are, however they met, and whatever they were talking about - sitting there, they reminded me that for all the trouble in this world, there are still patios where people sit and visit without the pressures of life weighing them down, if only for a moment. 

Maybe this weekend will hold a patio moment for you...If it does, get comfortable and let it help you look beyond whatever troubles you. Maybe that moment will be there to remind you of the work that God is doing in your life. 

Whatever you're facing, He's there using it to make you more like His Son. Jesus served well, loved with His whole being, and stayed close to God. How often did He go away to pray? I believe it was His communion with God - not the pressures of life on this earth, or the needs of the people around Him - that kept Him going.

God led Him and God is leading His people today. This weekend, use those patio moments to be with Him and to share what He's been up to in your life with whoever ends up in the quiet with you. 

Would you do me a favor? Would you take a minute now to tell me about a verse or book or scene that left your soul reminded of its anchor?

Setting Goals

Have you noticed how many writers were captivated by fall? Jane Austen helped me to notice, in "Persuasion" she wrote :

My favorite piece outside of this is F. Scott Fitzgerald's "life starts over again when it gets crisp in the fall." Now, I know, it snowed the other day, BUT, it's fall until the day after Thanksgiving. 

 

Like Austen, "every poet worthy of being read", Fitzgerald, and probably even you, fall inspires me.

Fall is a time for me to reset. Resetting looks like reflecting on what has happened and resolving to adjust, change, or continue. 

This year, my fall resolves or goals look like this:

* Get the last few credits I need to FINALLY complete my degree. (College got off to a roaring start for me back in Jan 2008. I worked sooo hard through 2010. The last few years have obviously been spent NOT doing school.) - Math credits and Public Speaking credits have been waiting. 

 

* Study writing and set aside time to write. This is my "reward" after finishing ^that^. I'm putting together a list of resources that I plan to go through. 

* Find a "from scratch" recipe for alfredo sauce. 

* Begin journaling recipes again.

* Get your hair healthy, trim a tiny bit every six weeks no matter what. (Since I cut my own hair, it's not about saving $$...I just need to do regular trims.) 

 

* Keep DRINKING from that fountain of living water that God has led you to! If you haven't been reading, this just means read the Bible and asking God to use it to show me more of Him. 

 

What are your goals? 

 

Do you have a favorite quote about fall?

Talk About It

If you heard one thing from yesterday's post I hope it was this:

God is doing something. 

You're here to talk about it. 

 

 

 

Verses like this one from Isaiah 43:19-21 help to REMIND us of exactly what this looks like,

"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 

The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people,

the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise."

 

 

God is doing it.

 

He makes the way, He gives the water and the rivers and the drink.

 

He made us. 

 

We're here to declare His praise.

 

Simple enough, right? 

 

 

 

 

I think we have A LOT more to praise Him for than we even realize! 

 

Look. Listen. Drink. Declare. 

 

It's a process. And we continually get to circle right around to THANKING Him for leading us in it. 

 

Today, let's TALK about Him. 

 

 

Click ^^^ for a list of the posts in this series.

 

No Empty Word

On September 25, I read something very encouraging through the Solid Joys app that was created by Desiring God. 

 

The title of the day's reading was "Life Hangs on the Word of God" which was written around this text from Deuteronomy 32:46-47:

He said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

 

 

God's Word is stronger than any other word that has or will ever exist.

Did you catch this - "for it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word..."

Throughout 2013 God has been showing me just how much I need His Word. 

I have come to see that it really is by His Word that I even LIVE. 

Sure, I can stumble along without it. Sometimes it even seems like I'm doing just fine without it. 

But you know how it goes, THEN you get back into it, you turn to it again, and BAM!!! God is there, showing you a MILLION things that are exactly what you were needing (maybe even looking) to hear. 

If we HOPE to see anything, we have to start with the Word. The Word serves as the glasses to our soul.

If we HOPE to hear anything, we have to start with the Word. The Word blocks up our ears from the lies of the world and makes sense of the whispers and shouts of truth all around us. 

Look. 

Listen.

It ALL hangs on the Word of God.

Click ^^^ for a list of all the posts in this series.

Power of His Word

Over the last 9 days, I've urged you to hear God's beckoning and I've attempted to show you what He's beckoning you to. 

Now, it's time to move onto HOW we respond. 

 

What sets Christianity apart from every other religion is this: For everything God requires, He provides the means for those requirements to be met. 

In this case, the means by which we CAN come to see and to hear, to look and to listen, is by His Word. His Word is where we begin. His Word is where we continue. 

 

His Word awakens our souls and sets our senses on the path to truly experience His creation the way He intended.

 

Isaiah 40:6-8 says,

"A voice says, 'Cry!' And I said, 'What shall I cry?' All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever."

 

 

 

Too often, we underestimate the power of words, especially the words that come straight from God.

 

Simply put, the Word of our God will stand....FOREVER. 

Are you ready to see God's Word for what it really is? 

I'm excited to share with you some of the specific things God's been teaching me about the power of His Word!

 

Click ^^^ for a list of all the posts in this series. 

 

 

 

 

They Matter More Than We Think

Frankly, life does not have to be exciting to be good. You don't have to take trips...Or know many people...You don't have to have a nice car...And you don't have to be important...Life can still be good.
I have spent most of my life living in small towns. Even when I've lived in the city, I've seen that neighborhoods become their own small town, their own safe haven. 
These places are full of people who are all "busy" and yet if they died, life would go on just fine without most of them. They spend their days going to work, cleaning the house, fixing food, taking care of the lawn, checking the mail, getting gas for their car, watching TV, and occasionally they get together with family for a party, a cookout, or a milestone. 
Life in these safe havens have things to teach us...
Time goes on and things don't matter, people do. Yet, it's always the things that bring us together.  We see the same people at the post office, our kids play on the same sports teams, and maybe our Grandma's go to the same beauty shop. As we do the menial things, we get to know each other and we start to CARE for each other. 
 When you know the people around you, you know that we're all in it together. And together, we can see that a quiet life really can be quite good. 
This weekend, especially if you're just taking it slow, take some time to think. We're not going to be around forever. MOST of the things we do don't even matter. Think about the people around you and take some time to pour into them the joy and the life that you have in Christ. 
In Christ, the "pointless" minutes and hours and days have purpose. He gives them to us and He means for us to use them well. 

God is Right There

What a morning it has been! I woke up to the sun coming in through the window and decided that I would get out of bed and head out to the patio. I love beginning my day outside in the fresh, cool air while it is still completely peaceful. 
This morning I brought out a glass of water, my Bible, and my journal. I decided to read the five Psalms of the day (take the day and keep adding thirty to it until you run out of Psalms). As I read Psalm 5, 35, 65, 95, and 125 I saw one theme:
The cause of the Lord stands. 
I was also reminded that my soul needs to KNOW that God is at work. He is my salvation. He surrounds me and keeps me walking in that salvation that He has given to me. 
Everything He made is in His hand. I can be sure of that. In Him, we have our cause. Oh that I would be led by that cause daily! 
Since then, I came inside and had breakfast and visited with my Mom. Then I settled back down to read "Knowing God" by JI Packer. I'm not one to re-read books, but there are a few books I do re-read. This book is one of them. 
If there is one book you should read this year (I hope I haven't already said this...), you should read "Knowing God"! It has been a few years since my last trip through it....I forgot how RICH it truly is! 
In the first chapter, Packer quotes Charles Spurgeon in a call to the journey through coming to truly know God, 
"Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity...Go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea; be lost in the immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead..."
Any of you who have spent time with God in an attempt to KNOW Him, know this to be true. Whatever questions are raised, whatever convictions are had, there is NOTHING like sitting with God. 
However strange it sounds, there you find plain truth that leads to the clearest thinking you can have about life. And what PEACE and JOY and SECURITY truth brings. 
Packer describes Psalm 119 as communicating the fact that,
"His supreme desire was to know and enjoy God himself, and he valued knowledge about God simply as a means to this end. He wanted to understand God's truth in order that his heart might respond to it and his life be conformed to it."
I promise...If you take the time to read this book you will be on your way to knowing and enjoying God and having a heart that responds to His truth and a life that is conformed to it....And there you will most certainly find REST. 
The last few weeks have been full of spending time with people who love God and to be able to know them and the God that they love is absolutely refreshing. 
I hope this spring has been this for you too! If not...It's not too late! Today, dig in. Seek Him! 

2013: One Word

As I prepare to look back on 2012, I am excited to look ahead to 2013! 

I really don't have any specific reason to be excited for this year, but for some reason, I am really looking forward to it. 

The last few years have been difficult years for me. There have been HUGE high lights and I have definitely enjoyed them. Still, I have had some things to deal with and face and decide. Things that I didn't see coming.

Nevertheless, God has seen me through. I have wrestled and struggled. I have been extremely happy and extremely sad. 

I feel ready to move on.

I feel ready for something new.

Maybe that's what makes 2013 different. It is one big empty slate. An empty slate, I am trusting God to fill.

He has been there in times that I have called "good" and called them good. He has been there in times that I have called "bad" and called them good. Maybe now, more than ever, I know that He is always at work. 

For 2013, I have decided to dwell on one word. In dwelling on that word, I will make it my goal to pursue it and look for it throughout the year. The word I will try to live out is this: DRINK. 

" Jeremiah 2:13, 'Be appalled, oh heavens, at this. Be shocked. Be utterly dismayed. For My people have committed two great evils. They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water and have hewn out for themsleves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.' 

Go to the fountain, go to the fountain. The opposite of coming to the fountain is evil, the essence of coming to the fountain is drinking and drinking and drinking until it satisfies your soul and you say, 'Ahhhh...'" 

John Piper

WHATEVER 2013 holds, the ONE thing that I MUST do is DRINK. More even than my body needs water, my soul needs water. I do not feed my body just any water. Neither can I feed my soul just any water.

God has given me an unlimited supply of the water my soul needs. Yet, over the last few years, through everything that has happened, I haven't given my soul the water. I have held my breath. I have grown weary and anxious. At points, I was even ill.

In 2013 I am sure there will be cooking and traveling and time with friends and pictures and writing and shopping. The day to day events of 2013 will probably look a lot like the events of the past 22 years. There may be death and sickness and tragedy or birth and life and health. Since I have no expectations, there will be things that I don't even expect.

WHATEVER 2013 holds, I will set my mind to going to the fountain to DRINK. 

It's simple, it will give me life, and it will make 2013 a year to remember. I hope you'll join me!

What's your focus for 2013?