how to study the Bible

i recently listened to this seminar on how to study the Bible, by Matt Chandler at the Village Church in Dallas. he teaches the same basic format i learned at the Austin Stone, but it was encouraging and motivating to hear a refresher.

Learning How to Pray

I have lots of pictures to post, from the costume party and my drive from Colorado to Nevada. However, I'm not on my own computer at the moment, so for now I'm just going to share something from my Bible reading/journaling today. It's kind of long, and scattered and random, but there are about 5 more pages of scattered, unwritten thoughts banging around in my head. Just wanted to share some of the ones I actually wrote down.

"When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give use each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation'...So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Luke 11:2-9

Jesus' disciples had asked Him how to pray, and that was his response. Here are some observations I made on it. Components, or guidelines, of prayer include:
-Acknowledging the holiness of God
-Hoping for His kingdom to be established
-Asking for what you need right now - daily bread, not weekly bread, or monthly, or yearly
-Asking for forgiveness - realizing your sinfulness and need for forgiveness
-Forgiving those who are indebted to you, or have wronged you
-Requesting help to avoid temptation, in order to prevent future sin
-Be persistent - in the ask, seek, and knock verse, my Bible had notes expanding on that, to say "keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking." He didn't say how long to keep asking - He just says (or implies) to not stop. "Somehow, I think he [Aslan] likes to be asked" (one of the Narnia books)
-A reminder that our heavenly Father loves to give good things to His children (vs 11-13)

How much my prayers would change if I followed these guidelines every time! I praise God through song at church, but seldom do I verbalize His holiness in my prayers. And I don't often think about His kingdom, or how I am to help establish it. Often my prayers mostly consist of requests, I'm sorry to say. The concept of asking only for what I need right now, today, is hard to grasp sometimes. I love security too much. I want to know that I'm taken care of today, and tomorrow, and next week, and next year. I think that while it's wise to think about and plan for the future, I often rely on my own plans more than I rely on God to take care of me from one day to the next. Asking Him only for what I need today would help me to focus on the moment, to live for whatever is happening right now, instead of always thinking about the future. I don't even know for certain if God is going to give me a tomorrow - all I know is that He's given me a today. Asking for forgiveness - I do include that one, but not on a regular basis. Although I know I am forgiven without even asking, sometimes if I don't adress my sins specifically before God, I end up dwelling on them and becoming overwhelmed with feelings of guilt, which then get in-between me and God. Forgiving everyone - now there's a tough one. "Love keeps no account of wrongs" (1 Cor. 13) - but I do, all the time. If I were to forgive people daily - either tell them or tell God, or both - I think I would end up with a much greater capacity to love. Anticipating future temptation, and realizing that I will need the Lord's help to avoid it, would definitely help. So many times I look at other people who have "sinned so greatly," and I think "what an idiot. I would never do something like that. I'm above such things." I forget that we are all sinners, and I am just as capable of doing hideous things as anybody else (not to mention my pride in thinking I'm better than anyone else). God promises not to let me encounter any temptation I am not equipped to deal with (1 Cor. 10:13), but if I don't even acknowledge that I'm capable of succumbing to temptation, then I'm just setting myself up for failure. Persistence is definitely something I struggle with. When I pray for someone and don't see any evidence of change, after awhile I often give up and stop praying altogether. I say, "what's the point? They're never going to change. They've resisted God for so long - what can He do about it?" How quickly I forget my God's power! He is the God who softened Pharaoh's heart, the God who holds this whole crazy world together, the God who used a brutul killer to write most of the New Testament and spread the gospel throughout Europe! I also forget His love. I forget that He is my Daddy, and he loves to give good things to His kids even more than my earthly Dad loves to take care of me. So...lots of thoughts about prayer. I'm going to try to change the way I pray. It'll take some time and persistence I think. We'll see how it goes.

Bravo to you if you actually read through this whole jumbled mess. :)

Feminine Appeal

Well, it's been a month, so I guess it's about time for another post. Nothing massively exciting happening lately, like falling from the sky or meeting fairies in the woods, but I thought I'd do a quick book review. For the past few months, I've been going through a book with some other ladies from church. Feminine Appeal, by Carolyn Mahaney. The book is based on Titus 2:3-5 "Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored." The author takes the role of the older woman, and her desire in writing the book is to teach younger women the things that she wished she had known when she was a young wife and mother. Each chapter covers one of the "seven virtues of a godly wife and mother": loving one's husband, loving one's children, self-control, purity, working at home, kindness, and submission. The book is definitely more geared towards married women, so our little group of very single girls came at it from a slightly different perspective. It was still very applicable, even though we had to twist some points a little to make them apply. For example, none of us have kids yet, but we all have younger people in our lives who look up to us. I'm glad we read it, and I'm sure I'll read it again, especially if I ever get married.

learning to breathe

"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." ~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

i've always loved these verses, but always found them challenging. i mean, think about it: "always," "without ceasing," "in everything." seems a little extreme and unattainable. the devo i read yesterday gave me a little different perspective on it. still challenging, but makes a little more sense.

"Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues "without ceasing"; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is." ~Oswald Chambers

Am I Ready?

"God called to him...And he said, 'Here I am.'" Exodus 3:4

"When God speaks, many of us are like people in a fog, and we give no answer. Moses' reply to God revealed that he knew where he was and that he was ready. Readiness means having a right relationship to God and having the knowledge of where we are. We are so busy telling Go where we would like to go. Yet the man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who receives the prize when the summons comes. We wait with the idea that some great opportunity or something sensational will be coming our way, and when it does come we are quick to cry out, 'Here I am.' Whenever we sense that Jesus Christ is rising up to take authority over some great task, we are there, but we are not ready for some obscure duty.

Readiness for God means that we are prepared to do the smallest thing or the largest thing - it makes no difference. It means we have no choice in what we want to do, but that whatever God's plans may be, we are there and ready. Whenever any duty presents itself, we hear God's voice as our Lord heard His Father's voice, and we are ready for it with the total readiness of our love for Him." From My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Watching My Heart

"Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons." Deuteronomy 4:9

"Watch over your heart with all diligence,

For from it flow the springs of life." Proverbs 4:23

Something God has been teaching me lately is the importance of watching over my heart, paying attention to my thoughts, desires, and affections. I think that is something that is so often overlooked, considered unimportant or hopeless. Practically from infancy, the world tells us to "follow your heart." In movies, if a character "falls in love," he has no choice but to act on his feelings, unless he wants to spend the rest of his life in misery and regret. When a person faces a difficult decision, someone usually asks him, "what does your heart tell you?" The world doesn't realize that the human heart is corrupt and full of sin - it will only lead us to death unless we allow it to be led by God's truth. I should not follow my heart until it is in line with God's heart. He can give me His thoughts, desires, and affections, but only if I first lead my heart towards Him.

"We may be inclined to believe that our feelings are caused by life's circumstances or by our body chemistry. Undoubtedly, these things do affect us. However, such factors are not the source of sinful feelings. As we encounter life, our emotions are primarily determined by what is in our hearts. Sinful feelings reveal a sinful heart.....Self-control is what we need to guard our hearts against sin. And a well-kept heart will beget joyful feelings - the kind of feelings that God intends for us to have." ~Carolyn Mahaney, Feminine Appeal